Leah's Tea Recommendations: Loose Leaf and Bagged Tea

Today I decided to make a little list of teas that I recommend to the readers of the UK and US. On the first image, you'll find the best places to acquire loose leaf tea, which is the highest quality of tea. The second graphic depicts the best bagged tea you can find in The UK or the US. Many people on Twitter have asked me recommendations on what brands they can trust, well here they are.

A couple exceptions should be noted. Lipton is on my graphic, but only for bagged tea. Their loose leaf tea is not good at all. Tiny tiny pieces and not a very good taste. However, their bagged tea here in the UK is quite nice and in the US if you're looking for something as simple as black tea gets, it's a great option. I hope you enjoy these graphics as much as I did making them. If you see a brand and want further recommendations on what kind of tea you'd like in that certain brand, comment below or tweet me (click the bird on the side bar) and I'll happily help you find a delicious tea.

Current tea I'm drinking: Twinings' (bagged) vanilla black tea. Oh so good! Below the graphics see the little note I've left for people interested in a tea exchange.

If anyone is interested in exchanging tea, I'm looking to do that. I think it would be fun to trade tea from anywhere in the world. If you're interested, click whichever contact link best suits you on the right. I'm in the UK, but I would be willing to ship to other countries!

PS- many tea companies I have listed are on my Amazon store. I have one for the UK and one for the US. Check them out!

Go to Leah's Tea Store US

Go To Leah's Tea Store UK

Leah

Coconut Oolong by David's Tea

Coconut Oolong

Oolong

Rating: 4/5

Order online here at the David's Tea website

My cousin Emily sent me 4 different kinds of David's Tea and I've decided to review this one first. I was mostly intrigued by the looks of the tea. Very green, with flecks of coconut inside and it came in a little tin the size of a lip balm container. Here, I took a photo for you:

Isn't the little mini tin cute? I also picked this tea because as it turns out, I've never reviewed an oolong. However, that's mainly because I've never had oolong tea. I'm mostly a black or fruit tea kind of gal, but that doesn't ever keep me from trying new things. Oh, and this is the first review where I use my new tea infusing mug that my partner recently got me. Thank you, Ollie. Anyways, I got down to business and took a scoop of this coconut tea and got a close up for you. I put more than what I scooped into the mug, but I didn't want the leaves to be overflowing for the photo. Here's the close up:

So those yellow looking bits are flakes of coconut. The lighting in my kitchen makes the coconut have a yellow tint, but really the little flakes are a light green. Also, please ignore my adorable koala bear slippers. But while you're noticing them, aren't they cute? What I love about this tea is that the leaves are giant and therefore I won't have to deal with little floaters in my tea that have escaped the infuser/filter. Speaking of, how about I show you what the tea looks like after I've poured boiling water over it?

Now you can tell that the flakes of the coconut are green and not yellow. See the tea leaves? They're big and almost salad like. Lovely. You'll want to let this steep for 4-7 minutes. I did mine for 5 minutes.  For those of you that are black tea drinkers, don't be alarmed by the light coloring of the tea when it's been 5 minutes and the tea hasn't changed much in coloring. This tea, when steeped, is a beautiful light yellow color.

If you don't like the astringency of black teas, then you might try an oolong. It's very light and crisp, a very smooth drink. There is still caffeine in oolong teas, however not nearly as much as black tea. If you're interested in drinking oolong, but you stick to herbal teas because they don't have caffeine, have no fear. I have a solution. If you brew the tea once, dispose of the water and reuse the leaves, then you get rid of most of the caffeine. The reason I bring this up is because the taste of this oolong reminds me of the taste of herbal teas, non-offensive and light. Also, there are hints of lemongrass in the taste of this tea because there are also flakes of lemongrass in it. I've just done a little a research because I tasted a hint of citrus.

Anyways, why did I give this tea 4/5 stars? I did so because it tastes wonderful, I love coconuts and they are prominent in the taste of this tea. If you don't like coconuts then there's not a reason you should really give this tea a try, but if you do-you'll go nuts for it. Ha, get it?

I would explain the taste of this oolong as a fresh and mild with a sweet finish. It's just good. It loses a star because of one reason. I think it smells funny before you brew it. I'm not entirely sure how to describe the smell of the tea before it's brewed, but it just smelled strange. Now my entire kitchen smells of funky tea. Other than that, not much to complain about. I will drink this tea again for sure.


Leah

Midsummer Night's Dream

When you think of Midsummer Night's Dream, you think of Shakespeare's work, right? After all, it's one of his most famous plays ever written. But before you begin to think about manipulative fairies of the forest and women falling in love with donkeys (yes that happens in the play) let me begin talking about today's review on David's Tea's 'Midsummer Night's Dream.' It's another herbal tea. I know I've already reviewed another excellent herbal tea, but the tea collection I have is at home in Wales and I won't get back to Wales until Sunday night! This will be the last review until Monday, when I have more time. Also, my cousin is going to mail me some Rooibos tea when I get back, which will be another great review. Rooibos is delicious! Let's start with the lovely photo of the tea, close up:

Beautiful, right? The green leaves you see are spearmint, and the large bits are apples and gooseberries. You can also see the red from the marigold flowers and safflowers. Of course the dark red dried petals are rose petals. On the package it says artificial flavoring is added. I did some research and apparently the artificial flavoring is actually orange oil. Okay, let's get to the good part. Have a look at the beautiful tea as it steeps:

I admit, this isn't the most beautiful tea when it's in with the hot water. I almost didn't post this photo, but it is what it is. Don't forget to put the lid on the tea pot as it steeps, it seals in the heat. Oh, also-I came across something quite nifty. David's tea sells filter cup liners (mug shaped) so you can use the liners like a tea bag. Just take an empty mug, put the tea liner in, put the tea and hot water in, wait the steep time, and take out the liner. Voila! You have perfectly steeped lose leaf tea. If you want to go more eco friendly, there's also several re-usable options out there. You can buy these items at a lot of home goods stores. Here's the link where you'll find them: Click! I've sent you to Amazon since there are several price ranges and several options. 

Let's get down to the taste of this tea. Citrusy, light, refreshing and so delicious! I was surprised at how delicious this tea is. I found that this tea is delicious without milk, however if you want to add milk to this tea it kind of tastes like an orange dreamcicle. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, not only is it amazingly delish, it's a childhood favorite. It's orange sorbet and vanilla icecream on top of one another in the form of a popsicle. I have to say, this is probably the best tea I've ever had and I've had a lot of tea. As usual, I tried this blend cold. It's just as good cold as well. In fact, cold it reminds me so much of a summer's night, and I think that's why they came up with the appropriate name for it. The gooseberries in the tea is really what gives it the amazing aroma and taste. I've had home grown gooseberries before and they are great to use with desserts. I never thought of adding it to tea but I'm glad David's thought of it. See below for the coloring of the tea.

Yes, it's kind of urine colored, but still worth it! I steep this tea for 7 minutes, because herbal and green teas are generally quite weak, as opposed to black tea, which is strong. This tea is a great choice if you want to have a hot drink before bed because it has no caffeine. I added one packet of Splenda to this tea and it really brings out the citrus flavors. If you don't like adding sugar or sugar substitutes, this tea is still very flavorful. Now onto the rating. I give this tasty tea a 5/5 because it is the best tea I've reviewed so far and I think I could genuinely drink this daily and not get tired of the taste. Any questions? leahknadeau@gmail.com

Blueberry Jam: organic black tea

What I love about this tea is that it's a black tea that tastes like an herbal one. Don't like black tea, but love fruit and want some caffeine? This tea is perfect for you. When I first opened the pouch that this loose leaf tea came in, I was amazed. It smelled so fresh and fruity. This is what the tea looks like before I steep it for 5 minutes. If you like weaker tea I'd suggest 3 minutes, but no less. Remember, this is still a black tea and black tea needs to be steeped for a minimum of 3 minutes, from my experience.

What you see above in my spoon is: stevia leaves, organic black tea, elderberries, cornflower pedals and finally, of course-blueberries! What's great about this tea is that it has stevia leaves in it, which is a natural sweetener. As a reader requested yesterday, I'd like to point out that this is perfectly safe for Diabetics. Just don't add your own sugar and you're fine!

This is the tea after it has been brewed. Notice the lovely amber shade, which is from the black tea in this blend. There's a sweet taste to it which completely overpowers the bitterness of the black tea. I didn't feel the need to add any milk, despite the fact that I always add sugar to any black tea. However the added blueberries make this tea blend sweet, not needing the milk to even out the bitterness of the black tea, which I usually rely on. What I love about this tea is that it's very easy to drink. Sometimes I find regular herbal blueberry tea a little bit too sweet. This is the perfect blend of sweet and bitter, a very neutral, non-offensive hot beverage. I give this 5 stars out of 5 because there isn't a thing I'd change about this tea! I love this tea from the one and only David's Tea!