Tea Forte

Not sure how long it ended up brewing…was using my tea timer app and got a phone call, which completely turns off that app. Little over 3 minutes, maybe?

Regardless, this is a pretty nice tea. Scent is more peachy than mango, taste is more mango than peachy. There’s a slight grassy-sweet taste to it that I’m not sure I enjoy. I’ll wait to actually rate this tea when I’ve brewed it up at the right temp and for a length of time that I know.

Blea.

Just? Blea.

I don’t think I steeped this right at all, but it is really good! I can’t taste the citrus much, but the mint is very clean and refreshing. Similar to Tension Tamer, but with less of the lemon taste. I only have one satchet, but would drink again!

I reviewed the Tea Forté Kati Cup and a few teas on my blog; here’s what I wrote about Chamomile Citron:

…The big surprise for me was how much I enjoyed the Chamomile Citron. I am usually not a fan of chamomile, but Tea Forté’s blend of Egyptian flowers mixed with hibiscus, rose hips, peppermint, lemongrass, lemon verbena and licorice root yielded a pretty pink liquor that was calming, delicious and addictive. I knew after my first sip of the aromatic infusion that I had to have more, and that it would become a staple in my tea chest. This sweet and tart brew was wonderful unadorned, but I added a bit of rock sugar and it was outstanding…

To read the full post: http://glamorosi.blogspot.com/2010/04/review-kati-loose-tea-system-by-tea.html

I reviewed a few Tea Forté products on my blog; here’s what I wrote about Green Tango:

…Green Tango is organic green tea with mango. It features Chinese Jade Wing green tea with South African green honeybush and mango. The leaves smell like fresh fruit with a hint of the earthy scent of green tea. Once it’s brewed the pale orange potion evolves into a heady bouquet of mango perfume. The flavor is mellow in a pleasing way with a faint vegetal aftertaste of green tea that anchors the blend. Although it was definitely enjoyable on its own, I added a teaspoon of honey to enhance the sweetness, and that brought out the taste of the honeybush…

Read the full post here: http://glamorosi.blogspot.com/2010/04/review-kati-loose-tea-system-by-tea.html

Now that it’s so hot, I’ve gravitated to iced teas (except when I’m craving a good cup and decide to turn on the A/C to make it really enjoyable). I had not tried Tea Forte’s iced tea blends, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Nantucket Tea sampler I bought two days ago. The first candidate: Pomegranate Blackberry is fantastic! Fruity and smooth, I really like this one. Now, I need to buy a larger supply of it…and test the rest in the sampler packet. I’m hopeful that most of them will be enjoyable.

Oh, but i am a happy camper – finally a black currant tea that doesn’t smell disgusting and is nice and fruity and tastes like the black currant teas I used to love. Woo Hoo!!!!!!

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending this to me!

This is one that I hadn’t tried before from Tea Forte. It has a nice mango flavor – although it isn’t incredibly strong. The green tea is smooth and mellow and really pleasant as an after dinner cuppa. A nice buttery finish.

Colour: Light Red/Pinkish Ruby
Aroma: Smells like Christmas..cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar
Taste: Fruity, astringent, slightly sour

Seems to be a disconnect between the wonderful warm homey smell and the sour fruit tastes. Looks good, smells good, tastes like SNAP!

As a jasmine lover, I was a little surprised to see that this tea wasn’t yet on the website – I remedied that though!

(Thanks to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me this sample!)

The dry leaf has a very pleasant yet somewhat subtle jasmine aroma – The fragrance of the liquor becomes much softer almost to the point of being non-existent but not quite. I generally do prefer it when the liquor is a little more fragrant than this, but there is something about this aroma that is intoxicating, even though it’s quite subtle.

The flavor is so lovely. Sweet jasmine with a hint of sharpness (but in a good way). The Sencha is smooth and vegetal – slightly grassy but not too harsh. It has a very nice sweetness that makes me want to keep sipping and a beautiful feminine quality that makes this taste so luxurious and indulgent.

Thank you so much to AmazonV for this loose-leaf sample. I concur with her review/tasting note except that I think I liked it better. The raspberry tasted a bit more true to me and the color of the brew is a luscious ruby red.

I also agree that this will be better iced. As a hot herbal tea, it really is not bad. Once again I am reminded of how much rooibos can interfere with flavors. No rooibos here, thankfully. This will be a contender for purchase.

This is a very good Sencha. No bitterness and a nice nutty flavor. It’s pleasantly rich and smooth. Not at all grassy.

wow! welcome to nyc’s horrible transit line. woke up with 3 snoozes, the subway didn’t stop at my normal stop so i had to grab a cab so i wouldn’t be late to work. i know this is supposed to be a “tea note” but of course i am ranting because who wants a thursday morning like that ! geez. so to calm myself down i listened to some good old david bowie and am making myself a cup o tea.

hmmm maybe this wasn’t the best choice to brighten my day. i thought the floral would do a nice pick me up but i wasn’t too stunned with the flavor. it wasn’t really green and it wasn’t really floral. it was hardly and oasis… meh i guess i will have to revert to my favorite genmaicha later.

Sweet and fruity! This is one of the better black currant black teas that I’ve tasted, and definitely one of my favorites from Tea Forte. The flavor is smooth, no bitterness, and a pleasant level of astringency.

Very nice indeed!

Got 2 of these to sample… one word: meh

I think this tastes almost better cold-brewed than hot-brewed.

To review this tea, I decided to once again utilize my awesome Tea Forte Cafe Cup!
Tea Forte’s website recommended steeping this for at least five minutes, so I poured just boiled water over one pyramid bag and let it steep. The teabag actually remained in the cup for six and a half minutes, but I figured this would not be an issue, as most rooibos blends rarely oversteep.
The dry leaf smells delicious! Lots of tasty smelling berry aroma.
The liquor brews a deep, dark red, very nearly the colour of some red wines. While it still smells like berries, the berry scent has changed to smelling very nearly like juice.
The taste of the steeped tea is very smooth, with a fullness that is neither thick nor watery. The finish is much stronger in berry flavour than is the taste while on the tongue, as though the dominant flavour migrates seamlessly from rooibos to berry.
The smell of this tea was far more bold than the flavour, almost making it a bit disappointing to drink. (I guess I shouldn’t let the aroma set my expectations.)
All in all, it was a very tasty tea. Wonderfully fruity, the hint of the rose petals that are part of this tea even peek out in the aftertaste.
On my personal enjoyment scale, I believe I would rate this tea a 75/100.

Oolong with a bit of cocoa prior to infusion. After infusion – oolong and slightly vegetal-sweet. The liquid is light yellow in color and it is sweet in taste and very light – or should I say delicate??? This is nice but pretty pale in flavor. If you’re up for something mild this may be it.

This is a good standard bagged Formosa Oolong. I steeped earlier and had an emergency and am drinking it cold now…not too shabby

Medium orangish-brown in color. Smells a bit like currant jelly or jam. It’s a bit more flavorful taste-wise then sniff-wise. This isn’t bad…actually I kind of like it! I think it’s one of the better flavored ones from Tea Forte that I have tried.

The fancy teabag/pyramid/thing had a wonderful fragrance when I took it out of its packaging. The vanilla was deliciously fragrant and smelled like actual vanilla bean rather than some random perfume or extract. I could smell the tea base underneath which had an oddly lightly spiced sort of scent. I had to concentrate for my nose to pick up the coconut, but I think I detected it up. There’s something about coconut that just seems to blend really well with vanilla.

Unfortunately it pretty much all vanished as soon as the water hit the teabag, and just smelled like steeping tea. The taste of the tea started off rather weak and somewhat flat and only slowly did the flavour creep in, first the tannic flavour of the tea (which was fairly gentle and mellow compared to many of the bases used in flavoured blends – a point in this tea’s favor) followed by a sweet, vanilla-ish flavour. It’s not really the bursting-with-vanilla-flavour taste I was expecting, and it was kind of a let down in this regard. Not really getting the coconut flavour either.

This tea might benefit from adding a bit of sweetener and possibly milk too, although I think it would have to be steeped longer, as right now I think it’s too mild to stand up to the milk. It’s not a bad tea – it doesn’t have me jumping for joy, but it’s a nice easy-drinking black tea.

Pretty much as it is described…Vanilla, Berry, Rooibos. YuP!