Mighty Leaf’s Orange Dulce is part of my daily rotation of teas. While my fellow Earl Grey lovers might find the orange essence a mere echo of the bite of bergamot, I find it a refreshing change, going for the subtle over brass. The vanilla turns this drink into a sort of instant London Fog, perhaps a sweeter springtime one.
Mind you, I still drink Smith’s Lord Bergamot in the mornings, but Orange Dulce is quite right at any time of the day. Even during 6 hour meetings.
Maker: Mighty Leaf [product link]
Type: green tea (genmaicha)
Brew: 1 rounded tsp / 12 oz, 3 min at 180°F
Genmaicha is also known as “popcorn tea”, as the brown rice grains that pepper these types of blends will often pop while the tea brews. All good genmaichas have strong undercurrents of well-cooked brown rice, giving them a unique taste among teas. Of course, if you don’t like brown rice, genmaicha will definitely not be your cup of tea.
To this end, Kyoto Rice is quite a fine genmaicha, and already arrives with some of its rice pre-popped, which may contribute to its very full brown rice taste, which also sweetens the green tea. This genmaicha is approachable for those who aren’t the fondest of green tea in general. An aside: I find that Mighty Leaf’s higher-rated green teas (like Green Tea Tropical, which uses a medley of tropical fruit) are approachable in this manner.
As an accompaniment to Asian lunches at the office, this tea is unbeatable for me. It’s not flexible enough for me to always desire it, but it’s still quite good.
Rating: 3/5—a good, sweet genmaicha.
Maker: Mighty Leaf
Type: Herbal
Brew: 1 heaping tablespoon to 12 oz boiling water, 5-7+ minutes
Notes: Comes only in loose leaf
One thing that’s disappointing about Celestial Seasonings’ Sleepytime is that I can never get through it in time, the stuff goes stale so quickly once you’ve opened the box. I could fix that by dumping my Sleepytime teabags into a tin—or I could try a higher quality loose leaf blend that was similar, and dump that into a tin.
The wonderful thing about full-leaf teas, even herbals, is that they’ll last longer than bagged tea, tinned or not. And the wonderful thing about Mighty Leaf teas is that they often add a little more to the mix than more widely available teas like Bigelow or Celestial Seasonings; in the case of Calming Moon, the licorice and fennel add the right notes to an already successful Sleepytime-like blend.
Is this tea as effective as normal Sleepytime? It’s not as effective as Sleepytime is for getting me to sleep, but at the same time it does have a calming effect on me before I even take the Ambien (and my jitters pre-Ambien are noticeable when I don’t drink it). It’s probably the mint that does it. Something like Sleepytime Extra is going to be far more effective than either; valerian root is a badass herb, and in Traditional Medicinals’ Nighty Night, the combination with passionflower is very nearly an insomnia killer for me.
Calming Moon is more of a better-tasting but less effective replacement of Sleepytime for me, and I drink it on a limited basis (when I need extra calming at night).
3/5—a sometimes pleasure.
Updated rating: 4/5—my nightly night-cap now. I really need extra calming, and having it arrive in a better-tasting package is worth more to me.
I decided to get back into the habit, seeing as the weather is (somewhat) appropriate for tea these days in the Pacific Northwest.
One of many Dragon Well green tea blends, and only slightly smoky. I’m not actually one for most green teas or most smoky teas, but I’m okay with this one—but it’s not a favorite of mine.
This, on the other hand, I love. It’s one of the only white teas I do love, and mostly because for once the earthiness of a white tea is the perfect base for the lightness of the peach. Also, it isn’t as loaded with caffeine as the black peach teas I do drink.
Rooibos is a pleasant night-time treat. I find I prefer this tea hot, but as a cold iced tea, chocolate mint works quite well. (Stick to brewing it for 7 minutes if you prefer the chocolate notes to those of the rooibos.)
Oh my gods, this tea is so good. I’ve never had a better dessert tea. Never. Plus it’s not a caffeine tea (apart from the chocolate), so it’s safe after dinner.
I miss this tea so much, I regret not buying a bag of it.
I also got the Chocolate Truffle Tea Collection. It comes with tins and includes the Chocolate Mint Truffle.
The Mint Melange is somewhat similar to Celestial Seasonings’ overpowering peppermint tea, but it takes a lot of the edge off for a more delightful and subtle drink. If you want a digestive medicinal, go for the Celestial Seasonings’ peppermint, which excels at that.
I was surprised by the Ginger Twist, which was like what I imagine a high quality ginger ale (like Canada Dry) would taste like in a parallel universe where every drink is a tea. It leaves a similar, but not that similar, odd aftertaste, as ginger does.
I have no idea what to do now. I surely can’t buy the entire Mighty Tea tea rack.
Calming moon and Kyoto rice are in the mail, along with a supposedly better mug infuser and suchlike.
AKA, I can too enjoy life! (That will have more context tomorrow, when my newest Tor.com post goes up.)
Here are my absolute favorites:
Lots of herbal teas I’ve tried are disappointing in their “full leaf” forms: often made from spindly little shattered herbs, rather than the broader leaves of most other teas. And quite a lot of herbal teas seem to insert “citrus” flavors via dipping the herbs in some kind of orangey liquid.
Chamomile Citrus is different. It has actual bits of citrus peel in it, for one thing. It’s the best chamomile tea I’ve ever, ever had.
The Republic of Tea has a version of this they call “chop wood, carry water” tea, and my, it’s a wonderful tea to drink while working—less caffeine, even less than normal green tea, but with a roasted and nutty flavor. It’s how I always wanted coffee to taste.
The Mighty Leaf version is made of pure awesome.
I’m usually not a fan of fruity teas, particularly not “tropical fruit” teas, but I make an exception for Mighty Leaf’s Green Tea Tropical. If you want a sweetish green tea that actually does taste a bit like real tropical fruit has touched it, this is a definite improvement on more pedestrian green tea when accompanying meals.
Although “meals” for me are still rather Asian in nature, so I dunno if it would work well with, say, a Big Mac ((That somehow seems wrong.)), but the thing is I could see it working. But I’m not going to try to find out.
I was always fond of Earl Grey (including Twinings’ Lady Grey and the Republic of Tea’s Earl Greyer), especially with milk. That’s a bit dangerous for me, because I’m lactose-intolerant.
However, Orange Dulce from Mighty Leaf is rather like drinking a good Earl Grey with something sweeter, but not too sweet, mixed in—i.e., the bergamot oil is present, as well as sweeter orange notes and a good dose of vanilla. I’d call it milkish, but vanilla does that to me these days. I haven’t had real milk in years.
So, Earl Grey with the milk and yet without the milk. Also, Mighty Tea does a good Earl Grey.
I’ve been experimenting with rooibos tea a bit ever since I tasted Republic of Tea’s Little Citizens Strawberry Vanilla Tea, and have found it wonderful for holding sweet tastes, like vanilla and chocolate and, well, really desserty stuff. Way better than black tea.
However, sometimes I want an actual non-dessert rooibos tea, and so far, African Nectar is like… drinking African Nectar. I like it in the afternoons, when I’m not drinking the Hojicha.
More teas I want to try include Calming Moon (which has been commented by some to be like Celestial Seasoning’s Sleepytime, but prepared by the gods), more Chocolate Mint Truffle (the sample I just had was excellent as a chocolate tea and, of course, based with rooibos), Kyoto Rice Green Tea (i.e., popcorn tea), and… I don’t know. More!
Mint Marrakesh and Bombai Chai are for next evening. Or sooner. I think I’m going to have a cuppa of Chamomile Citrus though.
