Tea: It’s good for you!

By christy / in Benefits of Tea, Green Tea, Healthy, Herbal Tea, Organic Black Tea, Organic Green Tea, Organic Herbal Tea, Uncategorized, Wellness Tea / May 22, 2020

Now, more than ever, we are all thinking about our health. Luckily for Two Leaves and a Bud tea drinkers, your perfect cup of tea isn’t just delicious, it’s also good for you!

Whether you’re sipping black, green or herbal tea, there are all sorts of health benefits to be aware of. Here’s a quick rundown:

Herbal Teas:
Herbal teas (also known as tisanes) feature something great for wellness…herbs and spices! The benefits depend on the blend. For example, our Organic Invigorate is a blend of peppermint for concentration and blood pressure; lemon oil for mood health; lemongrass for digestion; and nettle for boosting immunity. Our Alpine Berry has vitamin C and antioxidants, and it includes hibiscus, which has anti-inflammatory properties and can lower blood pressure.

Green Tea:
Many people are familiar with green teas like our Organic Matcha Mint and Organic Energize as a rich source of antioxidants. But green tea has also been found to be high in the amino acid L-Theanine, which can have a number of benefits like counteracting stress (which we could all benefit from right now!), improving memory, and helping to prevent strokes.

Black Tea:
While not normally recognized for their healthful properties, black teas like our Organic Assam and our Organic Darjeeling feature a number of benefits. Those include high flavonoids for heart health; polyphenols, which are a source of antioxidants; and catechins and tannins, which can improve oral health.

Two Leaves and a Bud also features an entire collection of Wellness Teas, blended specifically for their benefits, and for your drinking pleasure, of course!

Happy sipping!

Organic Peppermint Tea: Grown in the USA

By naomi / in Herbal Tea, Organic Herbal Tea, Products from two leaves and a bud, sachets, Tea Education, Uncategorized / November 7, 2018

After Two Leaves and a Bud CEO and founder Richard Rosenfeld and his wife were smack in the middle of a big field of peppermint, growing knee-high, Richard shared, "Our shoes and clothes had a strong pepperminty smell for the next four days!"

You see, Richard was visiting the farm in Eastern Washington State that grows organic peppermint for our tea company. As Richard tells it, his mission for this company is to produce the world's best tea sachet. And visiting this grower of organic herbs is part of that mission.

"I want peppermint tea to be buttery, not too peppery, smooth as opposed to sharp, still slightly astringent with nice cup color," he says. "Of course I am extra pleased that we have found that in American-grown peppermint."

Close-up of peppermint leaves used to make our organic peppermint tea.

Although many of us are familiar with the rainy aspects of Washington in the western portion of the state like Seattle, the eastern side of the state is hot and dry — one of the driest climate zones in the country, but it's well-irrigated from the Grand Coulee Dam. Herbs and spices grow beautifully there in huge crop circles, and our particular peppermint provider grows about 250 acres of peppermint, or half of a crop circle. In fact, most of the peppermint they grow isn't for tea at all — it's harvested and used as an essential oil, an ingredient in things like shampoo and toothpaste.

The leaves used for our Organic Peppermint Tea are harvested by the growers at the exact peak moment of the oils maturing in the plant (as a summer crop, peppermint only has one harvest per year). They chop the whole plant and leave it lying in the field to dry. Once dried, they collect it and separate the leaves (used in our tea) from the stems (used for someone else's essential oil).

Two Leaves' Organic Peppermint tea in a compostable sachet.

As for being organic, that comes down to lots and lots of weeding by hand, Richard says. "It costs 10 times as much as a non-organic peppermint," he says. "They're removing one weed at a time, as opposed to spraying the field (with pesticide or herbicide) from a plane."

This tea has been one of our top-sellers since its inception. The praise we receive for this tea affirms what we already believe: this truly is the best peppermint tea.

We’re getting crafty with tea cocktails

By christy / in Herbal Tea, Organic Herbal Tea, Products from two leaves and a bud, Recipes with Tea, Tea Beverages, Tea Cocktails, Uncategorized / September 29, 2016

With peach season nearing an end, we want to give you another excuse to savor this delicious stone fruit while you still can.

We have had the pleasure of working with a professional craft bartender, Nic Lazzareschi, to mix some of our favorite teas into cocktails!

We give you the "Peach Soother"! It's a tasty and relaxing cocktail that literally anybody could make, but it's got enough flair that you'll feel like you could open up your own bar...maybe. Some of the ingredients take time, but we promise it's worth it.

Peach Soother PEACH SOOTHER

1.5oz Two Leaves and a Bud Organic Chamomile infused gin

1oz peach simple syrup

.75oz fresh squeezed lime juice

Combine all ingredients and ice in a shaker and shake well. Strain liquid into a glass and garnish with a lime wheel, slice of peach, or a sprig of rosemary.

Chamomile Infused Gin

Add 1g of Whole Leaf Organic Chamomile to 5oz of gin

Allow to infuse for 1 week, then strain out the tea

Peach Simple Syrup

Cut 3 peaches* into pieces

Add peaches and pits to a pot with 5oz water and 5oz of sugar (5oz is roughly 2/3 of a cup)

Bring to a boil for 5 minutes. While boiling, use a masher to crush the peaches.

Strain out pits and fruit. Store extra simple syrup in fridge

*We're from Colorado, so we use Paliside Peaches, of course!

We can't thank Nic enough for this tasty creation! He is based in Boulder, CO, so if you happen to be in the area, find him at Basta, and see what else he's cooking up. We'll have more unique tea cocktails by Nic to share with you throughout tea season, so get ready! Cheers, tea lovers.

Raise the roof for Rooibos!

By naomi / in Healthy, Herbal Tea, Tea Education, Uncategorized / September 18, 2015

So red, it must be Rooibos.

Pardon the unintentional pun, but Rooibos, also known as red tea, sometimes seems like the red-headed stepchild of the tea world. Black, green, herbal and even white tea seem to get a lot of attention, so let's take a moment to appreciate red tea, with some fun facts:

Rooibos is primarily grown in South Africa, and is practically a national drink there. It's also called "Bush Tea" or "Redbush Tea" - especially in the UK.
What is it, exactly? It's a kind of herbal tea, meaning it doesn't contain any leaves from the camellia sinensis plant. The Rooibos plant itself is a member of the legume family, has little needle-like branches and pretty yellow flowers.
Don't be intimidated by the name, just say "Roy-bos" and you'll sound like a pro.
Rooibos doesn't have caffeine, but it does have all sorts of other great things, like polyphenols, which get a lot of attention because these macronutrients may have an important role in preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Our own sachets of Rooibos, which we call Organic African Sunset, include just a touch of lemongrass to brighten up the flavor a bit.
Since South Africa has hundreds of commercial rooibos growers, quality control is quite important to the South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. In 2012 they came up with a flavor wheel that you can use to determine the quality of the rooibos you've just steeped — flavors like sweet, woody, fruity and floral are good qualities in red tea, and earthy, vegetal or astringent tastes are negative qualities.

We've posted the flavor wheel here so you can brew up a cup, and compare for yourself! Akubekuhle! (That's cheers in Zulu. Did you know there are 11 official languages in South Africa?!)

The official South African Rooibos flavor wheel! (Or flavour wheel. That's cool too.)

Plant it, pick it, steep it

By naomi / in Herbal Tea, Recipes with Tea, Tea Education, Uncategorized / July 30, 2015

When life gives you mint and lavender ... brew tea.

As tea lovers, you guys know that herbal tea isn't technically "tea", right? (For those of you who don't, a quick explanation: Tea leaves are actually all from the same plant, which is called Camellia sinensis, and grows in very specific climates. Those leaves are plucked and then prepared in different ways to create black, green and white teas. Any other kind of "tea" comes from other plants, and is therefore referred to as herbal tea, or infusions.) But we still refer to infusions of leaves from plants like mint, hibiscus, herbs, and anything else that tastes great as "tea", and the best news is, you can grow your own!

Since it's summertime and our greenish thumbs are still happily digging in our gardens (though not for long -- the growing season here in the Colorado mountains is super short), we got to thinking, "What would we recommend planting for an easy garden of good herbal tea ingredients?" This is a loaded question, because it really depends on the climate where you live, but here are a few suggestions that are almost foolproof:

Mint, any kind of it: Mint grows like a weed, and there's nothing easier than plucking some mint leaves and steeping a bunch of them in hot water. Plus, once you've got some fresh mint you'll be adding it to every tea concoction you whip up ... not to mention cocktails.

Lavender: Looks and smells gorgeous in the garden, but sounds a little strange in the cup? Nah - some of you are addicted to our loose Lavender Earl Grey. This pretty pale violet flower known for its relaxing qualities brews up gorgeously, and you can add it to just about any other cup of tea for added scent.

Anise-Hyssop: This one is like a warm cuppa' licorice when brewed, and a bonus is that the flowers may attract butterflies and hummingbirds!

Chamomile: Our Organic Chamomile grows in Egypt, but you can try this one yourself, too. It's an annual, so you'll have to plant it every year, but these little flowers look like tiny daisies, and can help with insomnia.

Rose hips: You can't snip your roses for bouquets if you want rose hips to form, but once you pick the rose hips, crush and brew them and you'll get a tart infusion that's got lots of Vitamin C! And don't forget to strain the liquid before drinking, because those hips have little seeds and hairs inside.

Lemon balm: Nothing says summer like a tea brewed from lemon balm, but it's in the same family as mint, so it'll spread fast unless you work hard to contain it.

What are you guys growing out there that you've turned into tea? We're always open to suggestions!