Nature's Tea Leaf

If you live in NYC, you probably know about the dumpling wars. There is a small cluster of dumpling shops on the lower East Side area and there are constant wars about which is better (and no, Momofuku doesn’t count, we’re talking little dive $1 for 5 dumpling kind of joints!). My favorite is Vanessa’s: not the one in Union Square (which is decent) but the original shop. Not just because of the dumplings which, let’s face it, are very similar from shop to shop. But Vanessa’s has these fantastic sesame pancake sandwiches stuffed with crispy pulled pork or even DUCK. And to top off your greasy, delicious sandwich there’s the world’s best Hong Kong Milk Tea.

As amazingly delicious as HKMT is, it’s laden with calories from the sugar and evaporated milk AND condensed milk. Ugg, but it’s so good! I would love to find a lighter replacement, so I was thrilled to see this from Nature’s Tea Leaf. But can it replicate the wonders of Vanessa’s Hong Kong Milk Tea?

Well, of course it’s not thick and creamy from the milk, but it perfectly captures the condensed/evaporated milk taste. The tea isn’t cloudy so there’s no actual milk bits floating around, it’s just flavoring. Magic flavoring! I cold brewed this and without any sugar or other additions it really does taste like milk tea. Creamy, milk, with that distinct evaporated milk taste and a burst of sweetness. Mmmmm. I think I’m in love!

This tea is an odd one for sure. But when I saw it on Nature’s Tea Leaf site I felt compelled to try it. I love mint and it just seemed so unique! And I know a lot of people here are against the pseudo-science health benefits attached to tea but personally I’ve found that at least in terms of digestive issues they’re quite helpful! So why not give a traditional health blend a shot?

The smell of this brings back memories. When I was little I absolutely loved going to Chinatown (not that this has changed at all haha) and my aunt works in the NYC courthouses, which are about 4 blocks away so sometimes she’d take me to work and then to explore the winding streets of Chinatown. Now I know it’s not that big in size, but when I was a kid it was a huge, mystical land full of magic and adventure. Everything was wonderfully foreign and I loved going into the big grocery stores and peering into every jar of spices and herbs. This tea smells like that, medicinal but also quite pleasant and homey.

The taste is… odd. Not bad odd, but it’s really unique and hard to wrap my head around. The mint is very present but not assertive, definitely with the sweetness I associate with peppermint. The 3 roots add some incredibly complex flavors—it’s tart, fruity, with a berry-like sweetness and then a bit bitter (not in a bad way, akin to grapefruit juice) followed by a deep earthiness that reminds me of wet moss. You know the smell of the woods after rain in spring? Like that. Then at the end, suddenly pepper! It’s a whole taste adventure in a single tea.

And, best of all, it definitely did sooth my nausea a fair bit. Hooray! Definitely a winner, if just for the bizarre but pleasant adventure it took me on. Thanks to Nature’s Tea Leaf for the chance to try this!

2023 An Ode to Tea – Y

Another ancient favorite – time to go! I can’t wait for the day fresh nuanced Yunnans are back in my cupboard. Whenever that might be, I hope the harvests are fantastic.
2023 sipdowns: 38

Wow, even an old golden Yunnan can really remind me how much I love a golden Yunnan. This is one I definitely would have bought from Nature’s Tea Leaf if I had ever gotten around to buying some of their fantastic teas. A shame I never did.

First to review this one?!? I’ve very grateful to NaturesTeaLeaf.com for the samples! I’m starting to find that Yunnans are a necessity in my tea collection! I love the flavor! The leaves here are more golden yellow than black. They kind of remind me of little caterpillars. the flavor that is more light than I would have expected, but maybe the water is cooler than the suggested 195 degrees. It has a lighter, fresher flavor than I expect from a yunnan (though I must admit I haven’t tried many of them yet.) The flavor is malty, a tiny hint of dark chocolate, honey, some sort of stone fruit. Come on… fruit drizzled in honey and chocolate? Yes please! The second steep, I used just boiled water for 10 minutes. This stuff doesn’t get astringent, even when I drank the last of the cup cold. As expected, this cup had the deeper flavor that I love. I’ll probably start collecting Yunnans like I collect Earl Grey Creams. This one is a great one to add to the collection! So so good!

Apparently I wrote a review on this tea before, but it’s from more than 2 years ago. I did manage to look at it and use the knowledge gained to make the tea today since my throat is still tickley. Thus, I did not use honey in it, but rather just plain sugar. I can put honey in something else later if it’s still bothering me, or drink some more of the yucky tea.

This tea is good but relatively bland. I don’t know if there is anything actually in this tea that is supposed to help the throat or if it was just a snazzy name. (By the by, the name on my package is actually Soothing Chamomile Rosehip Throat Tea but it’s the same tea according to the ingredients I just think NTL likes to rename their teas sometimes).

It doesn’t taste bad per se, it’s just chamomile tea with a few other herbal ingredients thrown in. Chamomile is the dominant flavour.

But at least it’s good for hydration, right? I made a pot of it and put some in my giant cat mug and left some for one of my coworkers if she chooses to drink it. If not, herbal tea is usually fine in the microwave.

Well, this is a nice neutral chamomile blend that does indeed seem to be soothing my throat because it hurt a lot this morning when I woke up and it’s better now. I know some improvement is normal over the course of the day, but I do think that this tea is helping.

My first cup I put some honey in and I think I put too much in because the tea tasted quite weird. Second cup has a tiny bit of sugar (because I put sugar in everything, I know I’m bad, bad Starfevre oh well) and it tastes much better. This is a very neutral blend.

I think I’ve found my new favorite chocolate tea. This is the most chocolatey tea I’ve had. I really like the creamy texture it has. I was going to add milk but once again we’re out, but this tea is fine without it.

The caffeine level in this tea is really high so I don’t think I’ll be sleeping well tonight…

Full review coming on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 29th but here are my snippits:

Sechong Oolong from Nature’s Tea Leaf provides a provocative and note layered cup. From mineral to woodsy, caramel, to chocolate notes, I find this tea to be quite enjoyable. Perhaps it is the mixture of many different plants that provides the multiple layers of flavor notes but I find it interesting and delicious.

The creamy, sweet, vanilla notes are present in both early and later infusions. The tea has a mild sweetness from this note, which is quite lovely and comes over as a rock sugar flavor.

Some fruity apple notes come forward melding with the caramel and rock sugar notes making me think of caramel and candied apples.

I really like the later infusions where the rock mineral and rock sugar notes come together – its such an interesting flavor and I can’t recall a tea I have had of recent that had this same profile. I am not saying they do not exist but rather it has been some time since I have enjoyed a cup like this and I am very much enjoying every infusion of this leaf!

This is not Earl Grey but I still love my bergamot. This tea is more vegetal than citrusy, a nice break from all the dessert teas I’m usually drinking. The bergamot becomes more noticeable as the tea cools, and a pinch of sugar may help bring out the bergamot even more but this tea is fine alone. Has a slight peppery taste too, must be the sencha.

Oh what a day! I had so many errands to run today and it is freezing outside (well, freezing from a Southerner’s point of view!) I arrived home, weary and chilled, to find a package from Nature’s Tea Leaf waiting for me – oh joy! I instantly decided that this Milk Black Tea would be the perfect cup of comfort to pick me up. The dry leaves smell interesting, but not in a bad way. The aroma reminds me exactly of powdered milk. I love a cup of strong black tea with a little milk and sugar, so this tea definitely appealed to me. The tea leaves are basic, small black leaves but during steeping they really expanded and filled up my little tea pot – very pretty! The tea liquor smells more sweet than the dry leaves. The flavor is very nice with a fresh milk flavor. It’s a little creamy, and the creaminess increases if you add a little milk. I added sweetener and then a little milk, which was perfect for a cold day. I think it would also be nice as a breakfast tea in the summer with just sweetener. All around a very comforting cup!

-Standard small black tea leaves.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of rich milk. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet warm milk.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium brown color.
-Sweet, fresh milk flavor with an evaporated milk finish. Slightly creamy mouthfeel.
-Best with milk and sweetener or just sweetener.
-Very good tea. Fresh and comforting cup.

First attempt at making iced tea in a long long while. Somewhat haphazard even though I have an iced tea pitcher now.

Made with the hot brew method, hot water to steep and then cooled off in the fridge for a while (well, days really because my fridge inexplicably stopped making ice) and then drunk with ice. I added about a tsp of sugar and I expect I should have added more. If nothing else, this experience has taught me that I prefer my cold beverages to be sweet.

This tea that I’m drinking is not so sweet. The flavour doesn’t really hit me until I’ve stopped drinking and then it’s a very lemon tea. I should probably get up and put more sugar into it, but I am surrounded by and covered in cats at the moment so I don’t want to get up, so I guess I’ll suffer through this. I have a couple of more glasses of tea in the pitcher so I’ll experiment with more sugar later, and probably an un-lemon black tea.

So I will say that the tea was reheated in the microwave after I made it due to the fact that I didn’t want to get up and make a cup of it from the pot after the timer went off (It didn’t oversteep, just cooled off) because of the cat in my lap. This particular kitty of mine has cancer so I try to indulge her whenever she lets me so I figured that my tea could wait a while.

On to the tea. It’s definitely a lemon tea, I can clearly taste the lemon in it, especially on the aftertaste. I’m not sure, but I don’t think I prefer it over using an actual lemon though, but if an actual lemon is not available this is an acceptable substitute. I think I might give it to my mother for the makings of iced tea. She likes her iced tea to be plain black, unsweetened, with lemon and it seems that this would be perfect for that.

Well. This is certainly interesting. Not sure how well I like it but it certainly is a strong taste. Strongly savoury despite the bit of sugar I put in. I almost feel like I should be pouring this tea over potatoes to make some sort of dinner dish, that’s what this tastes like to me.

I think this is a love it or hate it tea and I just don’t love it.

Thanks to Nature’s Tea Leaf for a sample of this tea.

For my first steeping of this tea, I noticed it said to steep only a minute. Well, I started steeping it… and then promptly forgot about it. One of these days I will learn to set a timer instead of faking it. Five minutes later, I went back to try the tea – prepared for the worst – and it was actually pretty good. Wow! I’m impressed. Normally green teas are way too fickle to handle a five minute steeping.

This tea is a nice flavor. It almost taste like a white tea and has a very soft taste. Definitely not vegetal at all and a good green for people who don’t like grassy greens (and have a tendency to forget their tea is still steeping – LOL)

I actually wasn’t expecting to like this one but it’s just so interesting! Mostly floral with a slight hint of citrus and a much bigger hint of mint. This is quite tasty compared to my experience with other ‘slimming’ blends, say from Teavana. I can’t really taste the pu’erh that is supposed to be in here but it just might not have been in the 3 scoops I used to brew this up.

Thanks to Nature’s Tea Leaf for a sample of this.

I’d heard of Jasmine Pearls before, but I had never heard of Jasmine Daughter Rings until I stumbled on their site. They’re very similar, but rolled into an “O” shape instead of a ball. It reminds me of the paper curls I used to make out of boredom by rolling a piece of paper onto a pencil. As they unfurl, they lose their curliness and get more flat. The tea is definitely fun to watch.

Even though they are billed as jasmine flavored, the jasmine isn’t overpowering. I found the flavor a little bit off and I wasn’t liking this as much as some of the other teas. I think it might have been the green tea base that I wasn’t too fond of. It tasted a little flat to me. I think I still prefer the flavor of jasmine pearls a little bit better, even though they can be more intense.

Side note: Nature’s Tea Leaf also has a “Dragon Pearls” tea that is NOT jasmine that is actually not that bad. They have lots of unique teas.

Well I tricked myself with this one because I assumed it would taste somewhat like raspberry. However, this tea uses the raspberry leaf – so no raspberry flavor. My mistake.

This is a great afternoon/evening tea. It is mild in taste but somewhat full bodied. A bit woodsy/grassy in a nice way. The liquor is a golden color and the smell reminiscent of an oolong earthiness.

Edit: I got home tonight and was craving this tea again. So I made a pot. I also hiked up the rating as this tea seems to be growing on me.

I had been wanting to try a milk black tea and I finally got around to put it in my tumbler on my way out the door this morning.

This tea tastes to me as if I had brewed some black tea and added some milk, in just the right mix. It is great as a morning tea and while I took it without honey, I think with a teaspoon of honey this would be perfect -

Loose
Appearance: rich, dark med size leaf
Aroma when Dry: creamy, sweet, desserty, butter
After water is first poured: peppery, creamy, sweet, silky, fresh
At end of steep: nutty, creamy, earthy
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: pale brown
Staple? YES
Preferred time of day: afternoon, evening
Taste:
At first: peppery creamy coconut and condensed milk
As it cools ? Gets creamier, reminiscent of cocoa froth, chestnut mixed with almost cashew sweet notes
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No

Lingers? Yes, smooth hints of spice, velvety close, almost like a light chai

Want to try chilled

Second steep (3 min)
Aroma: light milky, brothy
Taste:
At first: light, brothy, earthy, salty
As it cools: gets milky again

Third steep (6 min)
very light,milky, brothy, salty

So good! I can’t believe I’m the first one to log this tea, because it’s seriously good.

I’ve only had lotus seeds once, in the paste that they use to fill steamed buns. A good friend of mine in California brought me some steamed buns while I was living there … and one batch of them were lotus seed paste buns, and they were so good. I have tried to find something like it again, but it hasn’t been easy … all the steamed buns I find are usually BBQ pork.

Not that BBQ pork is bad, but, I want more lotus seed buns!

Anyway… this tea definitely reminds me of the lotus seed paste I tasted way back then. It’s been a lot of years (let’s see … I’ve lived here in the Pacific Northwest for more than 10 years now … so it’s been at least eleven years since I’ve had those lotus seed buns!) It has a sweet, creamy, nutty flavor to it, as well as a hint of freshness and a touch of vegetative taste. And there is also a slight bitterness to the cup, nothing off-putting, but instead, kind of lively … it contrasts with the sweetness and creates a very pleasing taste.

YUM!

I didn’t have time to post yesterday. It’s just as well, I was in a blue mood. The highlight early in the day was this tea. Last time I used waaaayyyy to much leaf. This time I went with the web site directions of 1 tsp per cup. The dark roasted oolong blend most excellently with the white and dark chocolate curls. The second cup was even more chocolaty. I could also taste floral oolong notes in the aftertaste. The third cup had more of a plant taste along with the chocolate. Did I mention the chocolate?

Finally had the time to try this one. I added a scoop of leaf to the press and added water. The awesome chocolate (I know ‘cause I picked some out and ate it) melted fast. I looked at the remaining leaf and thought oh that’s not enough. I added more. I forgot this is oolong. It expands. So, my press runneth over with leaf. Not really but it was a lot of leaf.

I didn’t care for the first cup. The taste was heavy on the roasted oolong. The chocolate was light in comparison. It was probably because I used too much leaf or because the three minute steep is too long.

The second cup at two minutes was really good. The oolong to chocolate balance is excellent.

The third cup was a little lighter but similar to the second. Now that the roastedness has calmed down I can taste the floral oolong in the aftertaste.

Watch your steep time on the first cup and this is pretty tasty.

This is part of a bunch of flavored pu’erhs I got from Nature’s Tea Leaf about a year ago. I have lots left since I haven’t been focused too much on drinking my pu’erhs.

I decided it would be wise to forgo the xiying for this blend since it’s made with orange, and I didn’t want the orange to affect the inside of the teapot. Instructions on the bag said to steep this at 185 f for two minutes and that’s about what I did. This is a really tasty after lunch/dinner tea because the orange is very natural tasting and the pu’erh is good for digestion. Reminds me a lot of a chocolate orange. I hope this tea revives me because I’m just not feeling too energetic today. This evening class I am taking is really quite time consuming and I’m tired!

Second steep with boiling water is also very good but the orange flavor had faded quite a bit….