2013/01/24

Nature's Leaf Tea - Green Tea with Bergamot and Chocolate Midnight

Nature's Leaf Tea sent me some free samples, all I have to do in return is review their teas. It's a good deal, and if you get a chance to get free samples of their tea go for it.

Samples


First off I'll say Nature's Leaf is not at all stingy with their free samples. I was expecting enough for 2-3 cups in a baggy, what I got was an ounce of each sample in nifty resealable pouches. They also have good customer service, when they could not send my free samples right away due to a shortage of bags they let me know via Steepster. Even then it did not take long for the teas to get to me, less than 2 weeks between requesting and their arrival in the mail.

Bergamot Green Tea
The first tea I tried was the Bergamot Green Tea. This tea is literally Sencha green tea with pieces of bergamot rind mixed in it. With green tea you must be careful to not let the water get too hot, a lot of people think they don't like green tea because it's 'bitter' when they're just brewing it wrong, if you add boiling water to green tea of course it will be bitter, you scalded the leaves! And you can not use color to determine when green tea is done steeping, green tea has a much lighter color than black tea, by the time green tea gets half as dark as black tea you have oversteeped it. For this particular tea the suggested temp is 175 degrees and one minute steep time. I need to get a proper tea thermometer but for now I'm using a digital meat thermometer.

Here is my Bergamot Green Tea Steepster review:

What a cup of green tea should look like
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.
In the second steeping the bergamot was stronger, the tea slightly bitter from the bergamot, but still good. This Earl Grey with Bergamot tea is really strong and good for multiple steepings, I've already steeped the same leaves four times and it still has not weakened.

I cannot resist a good chocolate tea so I also tried the Chocolate Midnight black tea. Here is my Steepster review:

Chocolate
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...
Very dark tea
The directions on the packaging said 2 teaspoons to 8oz 195 degree water, I think 1 teaspoon would have been enough. Chocolate Midnight is made with Yunnan black tea, and Yunnan is a very strong dark tea, a lot stronger than I am used to and I did get a slight caffeine headache afterwards so I will be using less tea leaves per cup in the future. Chocolate Midnight is also infused with vanilla has large shavings of Belgium dark chocolate, it's tempting to pick the chocolate out of the leaves and eat the chips as they are.

I had also gotten a sample of their Soothing Charm Throat tea but have been so busy this week I have not even gotten a chance to try it, much less give a review.

3 comments:

  1. So lovely! We love tea too. We've heard of many type of tea..but Chocolate Midnight is new.

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    Replies
    1. I think Chocolate Midnight is one of Nature's Leaf newer teas.

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