Orchard Peach from Piper & Leaf

OrchardPeachTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Herbal

Where to Buy: Piper & Leaf

Tea Description:

A Juicy Fruit & Herbal Infusion of Pineapples, Papayas, Rosehips, & a Special Herbal Blend (lemon balm & mint).

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

In the past, I have tried different Piper & Leaf teas.  What I have found is that you have to experiment with their steeping parameters to get the right flavors to really pop.

Orchard Peach is an herbal filled with huge chunks of peaches and a cluster of other ingredients including hibiscus and spearmint.  As a dry leaf mixture, I didn’t really get any kind of notable fragrance.  More or less just a sweet smell.

I brewed this up like I would any herbal (212F-5 min) and poured the mixture into a cup of ice.  Yes, I know that this isn’t the true way to make the iced tea but I’m at work so I figured this was the easiest way to go about it.  The mixture produced this beautiful dark red purple liquor.  The color was stunning.

Took my first sip and blam- this tea packs some flavor.  I was expecting to have to fumble with steeping longer or shorter.  Not the case at all.  This tea tastes like a fresh peach jam punch.  The flavor is a bit hard to explain.  I think because it looks more like grape juice, my head is saying this should taste like grape.

The first flavor that hits you is the sweet flavor.  The peach notes aren’t like a fresh peach but more like a fresh peach jam that you picked up from a farmer’s market.  There is a really slight syrup sweetness that I’m associating with a jam.   After the sweetness you get this really nice tart flavor that brings in a beautiful contrast.  Here and there I can pick up subtle lemon notes but they are very subtle and are more like a citrus note.  The only flavor I didn’t pick up strongly was the spearmint.  Being a mint fan that makes me sad but that is probably for the best.  Not sure how a minty peach jam tea would taste.  Maybe Piper & Leaf are just looking out for my best interest.

Out of all of the Piper & Leaf teas, this one surprised me with not having to try and figure out proper steeping parameters.  This one packs a delightful punch and the ingredients that are left over in the tea strainer remind me of cranberry salad.  That just makes me smile.  I’m really happy with this one and it is hitting the spot on this hot summer day!

Sassyfras Strawberry from Piper & Leaf

sassyfrasTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy: Piper & Leaf

Tea Description:

A Delicious Burst of Strawberries, Sencha Green Tea, Sassafras Roots, Red Beets, and a Subtle Herbal Blend.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Another sample from Piper & Leaf. Another tea I shared with my dad over the Mother’s Day festivities.  Another tea I so wanted to fall in love with, but alas. . not so much.

I brewed this one up per the instructions on the sample.

This tea smells delicious.  As with the other Piper & Leaf samples I have had, the teas smell fresh.  Crisp.  Beautiful to look at and brews up smelling amazing.  But first sip was met with a twinge of disappointment.

The tea had a strong strawberry flavor but had this weird taste that I couldn’t wrap my head around.  It was like the two flavors were competing against each other instead of mingling together.  My dad said the same thing.  He said it wasn’t something he would need to have again but that it was a unique tasting tea.  I’m not sure if the unique odd flavor I was picking up was the sassafras root or the red beets.

I would love to hear somebody else’s thoughts on this tea.  I can’t say that I’ve had sassafras a whole lot or even beets for that matter.  I’m wondering if it was just user error or if it was just the uniqueness of the different ingredients.  I am hoping to place another order with Piper & Leaf to try the rest of their offerings and I will more than likely give this one another shot.  It just sounds so very interesting!  I feel like I need to give this one another shot.

Applecart Blossom from Piper & Leaf

applecartblossomTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy: Piper & Leaf

Tea Description:

Reminiscent of strolling through an apple orchard on a fine spring day and catching its light, enchanting scent in the wind. This lovely green tea with local apples is porch swing approved.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Today has been a very humid and rainy day.  The sun has tried to peek out here and there but for the most part it has been just a “meh” kind of day.  Until the mail showed up. . .and my  shared order from Piper & Leaf showed up.  Yay! New tea to try! Day isn’t so meh now.

Opened the box and immediately grabbed the Applecart Blossom sample.  I was super excited to see that they offered flavored green teas and this one went in the cart right away.

The boyfriend and I are in the middle of a Northern Exposure binge.  I had never seen the show before and it is one of his favorites. Thought this would be a great time to sample up these teas.   So I threw the sample in the Breville, set the parameters to green, and set up two mason jars with ice.

This is delicious.  There are huge pieces of apple in this and that comes thru in each sip.  Fresh crisp apples.  The green tea just adds to the perky flavor.  Each time I take a sip of this iced beauty the word bright comes to mind.  This is just a simple great fantastic apple flavored green tea.  No artificial flavor here.  I brewed up a second infusion and I am still picking up the fresh crisp flavor.

I am very pleased with the teas I’ve had from Piper & Leaf so far and I’m looking forward to trying more!