Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: MarketSpice
Product Description:
Popular all year round, this Chinese Hunan black tea combines the flavorings of Chocolate, Mint and Raspberry. A tea that truly satisfies your sweet tooth!
Taster’s Review:
I was tempted to save this tea review until it was closer to the holiday, but, I decided that I wanted to do it a little earlier, because not only is it a fantastic tea, it’s something that I think you should get NOW so that you have it for the holiday. This would be the perfect tea to serve to your holiday guests!
The scent alone is enough to make your taste buds do the happy dance. Dry, this aromatic tea gives off notes of mint, chocolate and berry. The combination of these three scents is brilliant. YUM! Brewed, the tea has a little less of the raspberry scent, and a little more of the chocolate. In fact, as I brewed this tea, my daughter had a couple of friends over, and they asked if I had baked chocolate muffins! Yeah… that’s what it smells like.
The flavor is more of a medley of these three flavors, as well as the distinctive flavor of the Chinese Hunan tea. The black tea tastes rich and bold. It is a more mildly-tempered kind of tea compared to, say, an Assam, which while it is quite bold and malty (and delicious in its own right), it can be a rather temperamental tea and become bitter quite easily. This Hunan is much more forgiving, and maintains its bold, rich flavor without easily becoming bitter.
And this is a good thing, since you want to infuse this a little longer than you would an Assam to extract the most flavor from the other ingredients as possible. As I said before, the flavor of this tea tends to be more like a medley, like a well-integrated blend of chocolate, raspberry and mint. Each of the flavors seem pretty even in terms of strength of flavor. This is neither too minty, nor too strongly raspberry, nor composed of too much chocolate (although, this chocoholic would argue that there is no such thing as too much chocolate.)
This is such a delightful blend … a fantastic blend to serve whilst decorating the holiday tree, or just enjoying the company of family and friends.
Raspberry Mint from Souvia
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Souvia
Product Description:
A nutritive blend that will please your taste buds. Refreshing and cooling on a hot summer day.
Ingredients: apple bits, hibiscus, black berry leaves, peppermint, bean peels, chamomile, raspberry leaves, flavoring
Country of Origin: Germany
Taster’s Review:
This is really quite nice. I was a little unsure about it when I first poured it into my cup, because the color was a deep, ruby red and the liquor was a bit thick, and my thought immediately was “too much hibiscus!” However, while the hibiscus has colored and thickened this tisane, it really hasn’t adversely affected the flavor.
Yes, I can still taste the hibiscus. But this is not an overly tart tisane. The hibiscus seems to round out the flavor of the raspberry, enhancing the tartness without going overboard.
For me, the real star of this tisane is the peppermint. I really enjoy the refreshing, crisp taste of the peppermint, and the way it provides contrast to the sweet/tart flavor of the berry notes. And it is just the right amount of peppermint: minty undertones without tasting like toothpaste.
This is a very satisfying tisane … one I wouldn’t mind drinking every now and again. I was unable to find this tea on the website, so I don’t know if it is still available. I hope so, because I’d like to add it to my shopping list!
Cucumber Mint from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Product Description:
Special reserve green tea with invigorating cool notes of cucumber, fresh mint and the taste of sweet blueberries.
Taster’s Review:
We (the SororiTea Sisters!) have been sampling some of the newest teas from Tea Forté as part of their new Skin-Smart line. And so far, I’ve been liking what I’ve been tasting!
This Cucumber Mint green tea tastes very fresh and exhilarating (thanks to the mint), and yet quite soothing (thanks to the cucumber). The green tea base is light and has a somewhat grassy taste that seems to enhance the flavor of the cucumber. I have tasted a few cucumber flavored teas now (not a lot, but a few), and I think that this is one that I find to be very true to the flavor of cucumber. It doesn’t seem muddled by the other flavors in the cup, the cucumber really shines through.
The mint has a crisp, clean taste and doesn’t overwhelm the cup – mint can sometimes be a selfish herb and take over the whole composition of the cup. But that doesn’t happen here. The mint is an accent flavor, and it does its job right.
As for the blueberries, I don’t get a lot of berry flavor here. There is a hint of berry sweetness as well as a distinctive tangy taste toward the tail of the sip which can be more discerned in the aftertaste than during the sip.
I like the focus of this Skin Smart line; I like that Tea Forté recognizes that beautiful skin starts from the inside! Click here for more information about the Skin Smart line from Tea Forté. And I especially like that this tea not only promotes a healthy complexion but is also quite tasty.
Here’s to good skin health!
Mojito Marmalade from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos & Honeybush
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Product Description:
A tropical oasis of lush citrus with refreshing notes of spearmint and the natural sweetness of high-mountain grown South African rooibos. Your purchase helps protect fragile ecosystems.
Ingredients: organic honeybush, organic spearmint leaves, organic orange peel, organic rooibos, organic sunflower petals, natural flavors
Taster’s Review:
This tisane from Tea Forté is part of the “Herbal Retreat” collection – a beautifully boxed set of elegant pyramid sachets or “single steeps.” What’s a single steep, you ask? Well, not long ago, I reviewed one of my favorite tea products of all time, the KATI tumbler. The single steeps were made to go along with the KATI tumbler, and they are loose leaf teas and tisanes that are packaged with just the right amount of tea in each package for a single steep in the KATI tumbler. I love these single steeps because they offer the ultimate convenience with no measuring and no fuss, but I still get to enjoy the quality of loose leaf tea. And you can be sure the next time I’m planning a trip, I am going to get myself some of these single steeps so that I can bring loose leaf with me and not have to settle for those horrible tea bags provided by the hotel.
But I digress… I’m supposed to be telling you more about this Mojito Marmalade. This is a rooibos/honeybush blend. The aroma of the dry leaf has a pleasant minty note and a citrus-y tone. I can smell nutty hints from the rooibos and honeybush as well, but these aren’t as strong as the orange and spearmint.
The brewed liquor is sweet with a tangy orange flavor. What’s really interesting to me is that this really does taste like marmalade. It has that candied orange peel taste to it. The taste is so spot-on that I can almost feel the texture of the marmalade as I sip this.
While spearmint can be a very dominating flavor, I like that here it is more of an accent flavor rather than the main focus. That is not to say that the flavor of the mint is muted – not at all! But, it isn’t so aggressive that it overpowers the sweet marmalade-y taste that I’m enjoying.
The rooibos and honeybush are tastes that are less apparent, and I sometimes catch myself trying to taste it. There are faint notes of sweet, nutty tones, and there is a slight woody tone toward the finish. The aftertaste is sweet with a tart citrus note. It even tingles a little bit on the tongue!
This just may be my favorite tisane from Tea Forté to date. It’s really delicious!
Moroccan Mint from Mhai Diva
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mhai Diva
Product Description:
Green Tea, peppermint leaf, peppermint extract
Taster’s Review:
When I opened the pouch of this tea, I was taken by surprise! The essence of mint in this tea is strong. Many Moroccan Mint teas out there are generally just green tea and peppermint leaf, but this blend also has the peppermint flavoring, which really amplifies the mint flavor and aroma.
If you love mint, this is the Moroccan Mint for you. The peppermint is exhilarating and leaves my mouth feeling fresh and clean. It is a very bright and crisp mint flavor.
But even though the mint is strong, it doesn’t overwhelm the green tea notes – which saves this tea from coming across as something that you might substitute for your mouthwash in the morning. The sweet hint of vegetative flavor from the green tea accents the herbaceous notes of the mint and create a delicious, restorative cup of tea.
I like this one served hot or iced. I especially enjoy it after a meal – the mint helps to soothe the stomach while also freshening the breath! (And it tastes yummy too!)