Summer Hours

In response to the customers who have requested I open earlier in the day, and to those who have requested I remain open later in the evening, and given that The Good Leaf remains a one woman operation, I think I've come up with a great solution.

Summer hours beginning this Saturday, May 3oth.

Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Sunday: 10am - 4pm
Wednesday - Friday: 12pm - 9pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday

Thanks for your input and I look forward to seeing you soon!

The Good Leaf will be closed for Memorial Day Weekend

Blending, Brewing, Baking, Blogging, Tweeting and now....

Tubing!

We're putting up some YouTube videos. We've got three uploaded so far. Here's our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/thegoodleaf. If you look at the little icon on the left side of the page, you will find out that I am a guru!

Anyway, it's been fun and film-maker EJ has been doing a great job; until the camera fell on the floor and broke. So, please enjoy our brief first season because we're on hiatus pending repair.

First Flush Darjeeling

Just as wine lovers eagerly await the late November arrival of the new Beaujolais, tea lovers anticipate the springtime arrival of the first flush darjeelings. The Darjeeling region of India is in the foothills of the Himilayas. The harsh weather conditions result in slower growth of each year's tea crop and only three to four pluckings occur each year. The first plucking, after the early spring rains, yields the first flush darjeelings. Like early season wines, early season teas tend to be lighter and fruitier with some astringency.

This past year, drought conditions in the Darjeeling region resulted in great concern over the quality of the 2009 Darjeeling harvest. But I'm very happy to say that despite this concern, the Risheehat estate has produced a wonderful 2009 first flush Darjeeling, and I have some (so you can have some too).

Light and delicate, this tea has characteristic astringency and really nice tropical and stone fruit flavors. It's also available at a very reasonable price.

My webstore is in the midst of a major overhaul, so I don't yet have it available there, but it's in the shop right now, and if you stop in, I'd love you to try a little. And if you'd like to order some online, just send me an email and we can arrange it.

Happy Mother's Day

If there was ever a perfect Mother's Day gift ....

Several posts ago, I described the pretty tea cozies Petra has been making for our shop and told you we had a project in the works. Today I'm really excited to be debuting The Good Leaf Tea Wallet by Petra. The tea wallet is perfect for anyone who likes to take gourmet loose tea on the go, whether traveling to work or taking a short trip.

Crafted from quality cotton fabric, in vibrant prints with coordinating lining, these loose tea wallets come loaded with a tin of gourmet loose tea, a stainless steel tea measuring spoon, starter pack of tea filters which fit in their own pocket, and a few packets of raw sugar. The wallet folds closed and is held together by an elastic band; even the elastic band is pretty. Petra has a great eye for fabrics and exquisite attention to detail and these tea wallets are exceptionally well-made.

Available only at The Good Leaf, these hand-crafted gourmet tea wallets sell for $19 and come fully loaded. Just in time for Mother's Day.

One more thing: If you can't get into the shop or don't live in the area and would like a tea wallet, you can order one. But I don't have them up on the website just yet. (I have a bunch of updating to do). If you would like to order one, email info@goodleaftea.com or give me a call at 518-434-0132.