Happy Earth Tea

A Stellar Masala Chai!

I really love a good Masala chai and am very picky about it. Roch-cha Chai is positively perfect! It is an authentic Masala chai recipe that comes from the owner of Happy Earth Tea who is a native of India.

This is a high quality Masala chai that is well balanced and delicious. The Assam base is a solid, top quality, organic, whole leaf tea. And the spices exemplify the Goldilocks principle – They’re just right! So many Masala chai blends go nuts with the cinnamon thereby muting the other spices. This Masala chai allows the wonderful ginger, clove and cardamom to shine with each spice complementing the others perfectly.

All ingredients are 100% organic too. This will be my go to Masala chai for sure! I love Happy Earth Tea!

Superlative Yunnan Tea!
This is, quite literally, one of the very best Yunnan teas that I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. It is sweet with notes of chocolate and caramel, as well as an apricot fruitiness. There are pronounced and pleasant rose like floral notes. There is also a mild maltiness with a subtle hint of almond. The overall best description of this superlative Yunnan tea would be Darjeeling-esque – In both aroma and taste – The love child of a tippy Yunnan and a second flush Darjeeling if you will. A single steep with a water temperature of 200-203F for four minutes worked best for me.
This tea will be a permanent item of my tea pantry for sure! Happy Earth Tea has the fastest shipping I have ever encountered, and I can’t wait to try the generous sample of premium Colombian black tea they included with my purchase!

If you enjoy Darjeeling teas that offer taste with multiple infusions this Darjeeling Sungma First Flush 2014 from Happy Earth Tea is one of those teas. Just because this tea is no longer offered on their site doesn’t mean you can’t try one of their many other Darjeelings. Take a look at their site and find something that makes you do a double-take. I bet you find at least one! I found several I was interested in trying!

Full Scoop:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/04/12/darjeeling-sungma-first-flush-2014-happy-earth-tea/

Had a sample of this today, made the mistake of forgetting it on the second steep while I went to the bathroom, so a bit bummed by that as even with this the subsequent steeps were very nice. Using off boiling water (didn’t read the site instructions til now), 100 ml gaiwan, and a layer-ish of pearls to coat the bottom, this definitely has a juicy fruitiness to it and a bit of a citrus tang that is reminiscent of lime leaf overlaid over a smooth honey character I find a lot in oolongs this green.

It has a pleasant, light grassiness to it (that can turn bitter and astringent if oversteeped, as I discovered…) and is on the bit less floral side, which, combined with the overall mellow character, I quite liked, even though there is a definite note of a softer jasmine or something similar to it and I normally detest jasmine in tea. There is also a creaminess that hints to a bit of rice to the taste and aroma, so I thought the site description pretty accurate, or at least not as much of a stretch as I usually find those things.

A little bummed I don’t have anymore, given how I botched the earlier steepings, but it was generous despite that as I still got five more cups out of it. I might order some more once I finish up my other oolong samples if it still stands out in my memory as I was a fan of the strong but mellow character, the more subtle floral notes, and the general flavor profile.

My favorite Darjeeling (out of ~20 I’ve tried). Amazing. light copper body with hint of great honeysuckle’ish muscatel flavor. I wouldn’t say mint myself. AV2 clonal with about 20-25% oxidation if I was to guess. I get it en mass from a guy that works for the Giddapahar estate.

I’ve had this for quite some time, and I finally have drank my last pot. Luckily, this is just in time for spring harvest. You open the package and you are enveloped with these fragrant small emerald green and platinum leaves. They give off a beautiful fresh flower (daises), hay, and dry grass aroma. I pulled out my trusty tetsubin, and I got to brewing. First, the taste begins with a sweet mango tang; however, this flavor quickly fades away as the palette readjusts to the liquor. Then, the cup moves into a honey dipped peach taste that has a lingering astringency. Finally, the brew is surrounded with a drying grass taste and a pleasant orchid background. The drink leaves your palette with a nice lingering sweetness and a well oiled tongue. This tea is a fantastic spring time drink. The cuppa is a nice and well rounded liquor filled with soft spoken and curbed tones. This tea doesn’t carry any of the traditional “crisp” first flush tones. Instead, this tea yields a pleasant gardenesque quality that is light and airy, yet it still carries a nice full body. I am sad to not have any leftover, but I know I will be picking some more up in time for spring harvest. I highly recommend checking this company out, for they have “darjeeling” suiting anyone’s taste. In my experience, if you want a nice light flowery cuppa or a deeper and heavier bodied liquor they are sure to carry it.

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I am working my way through some samples from Happy Earth Tea. Most of them have been good, some okay. This one is great. It is so juicy, so fresh. Such a balanced cup, both sweet and perfectly astringent. Every sip leaves me wanting another taste. This is one of the best Darjeelings I have had since the fresh ones I received last spring from Teabox.

Recently I read Haveteawilltravel’s review of Arya Ruby First Flush and it made me want to try the tea so much I went straight to the website and picked up a few samples. The review combined with my growing anticipation for the first flush season effectively put an end to my temporary halt on tea purchases and I can’t say that I regret it because along with the four samples I ordered, they also sent 3-4 additional samples. Needless to say this was an exciting box to open.

This is the first sample I have tried out of the bunch, and if the rest of them at all like this one I will definitely be ordering from them again. The leaves are beautiful and have been well cared for. Despite being almost a year old it still tastes incredibly fresh. There are notes of peach, apricot, flowers in the spring air and just the perfect amount of that Darjeeling-like astringency. Actually, the best description of this tea is the one included on the website. It might be the most accurate vendor description of a tea that I have read. Overall an excellent experience.

Thank you Haveteawilltravel for pointing me to this company!

This is another one of my favorites from this company. The dry leaf is incredibly fragrant. Once you open the punch you’re blasted with sweet smelling flowers and a soft woodiness. The leaves are darker than the first flush, but they every bit as tippy. You can easily spot multiple platinum tips in a handful of this sweet smelling leaf. I poured a heavy amount in my tetsubin and brewed away. The steeped leaves are still sweet, but they carry a wet wood roughness and a tangy maple aroma. The brew is thick and dark red. The initial sip begins with some smooth oak and moves into a walnut nuttiness. The drink finishes with a thick muscatel and some dark fruit in the background. This is a heavy muscatel toned beverage. I enjoy brewing this later in the day, so I may sit and unwind and pay attention to the transition of the flavors. It’s enjoying as how it begins almost rough and “bitey”, and then it softens and curbs the palette. This a great example of what a fine Darjeeling should taste like. You can also easily notice the sweet fragrant sweetness that lingers in the throat long after drinking. Personally, I enjoy both the First Flush and Second Flush Arya from this company; however, I prefer the First Flush in the morning for it’s crisp tones and Second Flush in the evening for it’s complexity and heavier tones. I highly recommend this tea, and there is not much of it left. The aroma from the liquor of this brew is something to experience. I am incredibly excited to experience this years harvest.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-T79fkzGe4/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I’ve had a lot of this tea for some time, and I wanted to wait to make it through all of what I had until I reviewed. The tea is beautiful! The dry leaf consists of long whole leaf curls with an array of colors. They range from brilliant green to dusted silver. These gorgeous leaves give off an intoxicating scent of daisies and winter honey. They are just sweet and flowery. I usually drink this every morning before work, and I pack my tetsubin full of this beautiful Darjeeling. This morning I did just the same. I brewed up a pot and took in the scent of the steeped leaves. They still carry that floral scent, but it’s mixed with some burnt sugar and other tannic sweetness. The cuppa is perfect. This by far one of my favorite Darjeelings to date. The brew is much darker and carries thicker tones than most First Flushes, for the tea is more oxidized. This difference in processing makes the tea a rather unique Darjeeling. The taste is phenomenal! The initial sip begins with a drying floral sweetness, and then it moves into a smooth nuttiness. I detect silky caramel in the background that moves throughout the tastes. This tea has a ton of mouth action. The brew begins with an oily base that coats the mouth and throat, and then the oil dries and leaves the mouth, throat, and belly with a wonderful cooling effect. The brew has very little astringency and carries so many complimenting flavors. The drink is crisp and cool, yet it’s also heavy and full bodied. I enjoy drinking this every morning, and I’m sorry to see it go. However, it’s getting to that time of year and I’m very excited for 2016’s harvest. I highly recommend this tea to Darjeeling connoisseurs and novices alike. You won’t be disappointed.

Also, a brief word about the company. I was recommended this tea from a friend awhile back when I was searching for the perfect Darjeeling. I looked this company up and low and behold they were local for me. If you ever in the Western New York area you must stop in. This company’s tea studio is beautiful and the owner is most hospitable. In fact, some of my most memorable tea sessions happened in that studio. The atmosphere is perfect, and the tea is top notch.

https://www.instagram.com/p/8Vlj2NzGQ8/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I received a sample of this in my Christmas card from Haveteawilltravel. I’ve never heard of this company before, but I’m impressed by this particular tea! The leaves are BIG (tough to measure accurately; this is one of those teas that makes me wish I had a scale) and have a nice malty aroma when you open up the bag. Steeped, the tea is smooth and rich with a nice plummy flavor. A great tea to start the day with!

Good morning Steepster. My day did not get off to a good start as I already spilled a cup of coffee on myself and the floor of the cafe I was at this morning. Maybe this is a sign I should give up on coffee?

I got this as a small sample pack from Happy Earth a while back. I didn’t time my steeping too closely, so I would say this is a pretty forgiving tea. This stuff is also truly delicious! I am definitely getting the notes of chocolate, malt and spice. It does have a slight fruitiness in the finish. They call it plum, I was thinking red wine. It’s a very rich and bold tea, it stands up well on its own but mght also be nice with a touch of milk. Another quality Nepalese tea from Happy Earth. So glad I tried this one, I might need more :)

My review is for the 2015 version of this tea. It definitely has a ruby color, almost orange in appearance. I don’t really wan to give this a numeric rating as I’m not a big fan of second flush darjeelings in general. I am much more partial to the first flush. This cuppa has a woody, slight citrusy flavor with a touch of muscatel in the finish. It’s a bit brisk. I’m happy for the opportunity to try this but still not a second flush convert ;)

Looks like I am the first person to review this particular tea blend. I got this from Happy Earth the last time I placed an order with them. This seemed like it would be a good after lunch tea as the peppermint, cardamom and ginger will all aid with digestion. It’s a bit odd having a green chai instead of a black chai but I actually like this a lot. It’s spicy and pungent! I rarely drink green tea with soymilk but it’s pretty good that way… and also plain. I’m glad I bought this…

A few years ago I went a bit crazy with buying FF darjeelings and samples and ended up with a lot of teas I couldn’t drink before they went stale. Last year and this year I got the FF darjeeling sample packs from Happy Earth Tea and really liked trying a few to see which ones I liked the best. Now I’m only going to have one FF darjeeling in my stash for now and that’s the Arya Ruby which I bought a full size of.

As for the Muscatel Valley, I drank this at work so I don’t have an exact idea of my water temp but it was well below boiling. Color of the tea liquor is a medium yellow and the aroma of the brewed tea reminds me of bee pollen and a flowery meadow.

This is a gentler tea without a lot of astringency and definitely doesn’t need milk or sugar. I don’t know why you would add milk to a darjeeling but maybe some people do.

This has a nutty taste that reminds me of some green oolongs I’ve had. Definitely picked up on a mango note and a slight muscatel finish that’s a bit zingy and cleanses your palette. It has a very relaxing and happy quality as I’m sitting here sipping it. If I had more of this to play around with I probably would try steeping it for shorter periods of time, say 1 to 1.5 minutes. Enjoyable, though the Arya is still the winner for me this year :)

Chose this as my morning tea. I feel that it’s hard to go wrong with anything from the Jun Chiyabari Estate, at least I have always liked the teas I’ve tried from there.

Compared to the Himalayan bouquet of yesterday, this is a stronger tea with more “oomph”. It reminds me more of a second flush darjeeling. I am getting a definite “spice” flavor from this tea along with nuttiness & a bit of muscatel. I decided to add a bit of agave syrup to this cuppa and found the sweetener made the flavor of it really sparkle. The agave definitely brought out the grape notes! Also nice because it has no astringency in the finish. I would say Nepali teas are like darjeeling’s gentle cousin… :)

Glad I got the chance to try this…

I just reviewed this recently so please read my previous tasting note. I got a whole 2 oz. bag of the tea and I was surprised at how big the bag is, but the leaves are huge and fluffy! This is a great mid-morning tea and perfect for work as it is non-fussy and needs no sugar or milk. just yum! Floral-olive-nutty goodness.

p.s. Steepster seems really like a graveyard lately, I think a lot of people stopped posting after the site functionality issues which is too bad. I’m also on Insta under the name of: TeaBrat if you want to follow me there.

Another sample from Happy Earth Tea. This has a very appropriate name because it seems like a bouquet of flowers to me. As others have remarked this isn’t a “black” tea in the traditional sense, it steeps up fairly light similar to a darjeeling. I got a yellow tea liquor color from this. This is a very gentle, uplifting tea with no astringency or bitterness. I get the raisin like sweetness and the nuttiness in this blend. Combined with the floral nose, this is pretty dreamy. I would drink this as an afternoon tea it’s so mild and refreshing. No need for sweetener or milk! Would probably be good iced as well.

I am saving up to get a large order from HET but need to try all my samples first. I think this is going in the “buy” list for me. :)

I am quite fond of Nepali teas. Did you know 10% of Happy Earth’s Nepali teas go to the Ama Foundation? check it out. http://happyearthtea.com/pages/social-partners

I am definitely happy with this ff darjeeling sample I got from Happy Earth tea.

I brewed up my whole 5g sample because I was using a tea tumbler for this one. The predominate note I am getting is fruity. I thought peach/nectarine but it has a little bit of pineapple too. There seems to be a slight nuttiness about it as well. Only a hint of astringency in the finish but that might be because I steeped it too long. I did get a 2nd steep out of this that brought forth more pineapple and slight lemony notes.

Pleasant. A very earthy and roasted flavor with the sweetness of raisins. The aroma was mostly raisin with a hint of sweetness. It had a malty freshness that I enjoyed.

Sample from Happy Earth Tea – thank you so much.

This tea was quite successful. i stopped buying First Flush Darjeeling because they are very temperamental. Too hot, too long and you can ruin it.

I faced the challenge lol
It was easier than i thought.
3g 8oz 190F just few sec under 3min.
I didnt cover the pot either. i was afraid to burn the leaves.

it is highly aromatic, light and brisk. Astringency creeps up as it cools so i recommend to drink it while its hot. it has some resemblance with yunnan greens in floral grass and nuttiness.

overall Im very happy with the session. i should not be afraid of FF.
Thank you so much Happy Earth Tea for the opportunity to try something i wouldnt pick up on my own. It was a great learning experience.

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