Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Product Description:
Organic green tea paired with fragrantly fresh citrus and the sweetness of wildflower honey. A delicious taste of desert any time of the day.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve been trying a few teas from Tea Forté lately, and while many of them are very vibrantly flavored, I like that this one is a little more mellow. It has a very smooth delivery with very little astringency. It is a very soothing, very calming kind of tea.
The green tea base is a Sencha, and it is light and sweet. It isn’t what I would call vegetative, in fact, I’m having difficulty detecting any grassy tones to this whatsoever. I brewed it at a relatively low temperature (165 ° F) so that may have something to do with it.
The lemon is beautifully represented in this cup. It is a bright, sunny lemon-y taste, but without the sour pucker. It has a light sweetness and yes, there is tartness also, but, it isn’t a strong sour taste.
Another delicious tea from the new Organics Line from Tea Forté!
Cherry Marzipan from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green & Rooibos
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Product Description:
Special reserve green tea with the tart-sweet lushness of acerola cherries and the depth of nutty toasted almond.
SKIN SMART ECO TEABAGS CONTAIN: organic green tea, Fair Trade Certified™ organic green tea, organic rooibos, natural cherry flavor, organic raspberry leaves, natural almond flavor, natural flavoring (berry), organic acerola cherry extract, (organic acerola, organic maltodextrin)
Taster’s Review:
This smells incredible. The aroma of cherry and almond is teasing my olfactory nerves, tantalizing me to take a sip. Well, of course, I’m going to give in. I’m never one to resist such temptation!
Very tasty, indeed. The cherry is lightly tart, which is particularly noticeable at in the aftertaste. There is also a fresh, fruity sweetness to the cherry flavor, and it melds beautifully with the toasty, sweet nutty flavor of the almond.
But what I think makes me happiest about this tea is that I can taste the tea. It tastes fresh. It has a crisp vegetative taste to it, and no bitterness. The rooibos is not a strong flavor to this cup, but it seems to accent the nutty flavor of the almond and the sweetness of the overall cup. The addition of the berry flavor and raspberry leaves help round out the flavor, enhancing the tart notes and solidifying the fruit flavor.
This is the first of the teas that I’ve tried from the new Skin-Smart line from Tea Forté, and I have to say that I like what I’m tasting. If judging by taste alone, I would say that this tea represents the way I want my skin to look: fresh and vibrant!
The Cocktail Collection from Tea Forté, Part 1: Silkroad Chai
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Product Description:
Infuse the flavor of black tea and exotic chai spices into Spirited Tea™ Rum & Tonics, White Russians, or your favorite concoctions.
Taster’s Review:
This Tea Forté Cocktail Mixology Collection is really cool! The set includes three different teas in the signature Tea Forté silky pyramids: Silkroad Chai, Lavender Citrus & Lemongrass Mint. In addition to the tea, there are two glass “infusion chambers” – perfect for infusing these teas – as well as a little recipe booklet.
Today, I am going to write about the Silkroad Chai.
I tried the Silkroad Chai two different ways. The first, I brewed using the Chai Cooler Mocktail recipe (this recipe was found in the recipe booklet in the Mixology Collection). To make the Chai Cooler, I simply poured chilled ginger ale over the pyramid infuser (which had been placed in the infusion chamber), and allowed it to infuse for about an hour.
The result is a very tasty alternative to iced chai! It is sweet and spicy. I don’t drink a lot of soda, so it is unusual for me to experience carbonation with a chai. There is an earthiness to the cup.
For my second tasting of Silkroad Chai, I steeped the silk pyramid in the infusion chamber for about 20 minutes in chocolate flavored vodka, and then I warmed up a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and 1% milk, frothed it up added the Silkroad Chai infused vodka, and a little bit of agave nectar. I continued frothing to incorporate all the ingredients.
With this cocktail, the solvent flavor of the vodka was pretty overwhelming. But then, I’m not a drinker of alcohol. This was, in fact, my first alcoholic drink in many months. Even though I found the vodka rather strong, I could taste the flavors of the chai. Unlike my aforementioned mocktail, the ginger was not as prevalent, instead, I found myself really tasting the cinnamon. The flavor of the black tea was light, as was the ginger. The cloves were a little stronger than in the mocktail and complimented the spicy tones of the cinnamon very well, and this combination seemed to bring out the chocolate flavor of the vodka quite nicely.
Both experiences with this Silkroad Chai were very enjoyable… now I am wondering how it would taste brewed traditionally!
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!
Kiwi Lime Ginger from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos & Honeybush
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Product Description:
The sunny scent of fresh picked citrus complemented by the comfort and taste of ginger with a lingering finish of the topics.
Taster’s Review:
I was a little worried about steeping this single steep in my KATI tumbler for fear that the thin, needle-like leaves of the rooibos would filter through the mesh infuser basket. But I am happy to report that no rooibos leaves (or any other particles) managed to fall through the basket! Yay!
Prior to infusing this tisane, I could smell the lime and kiwi very prominently, with mere hints of ginger lingering in the background. It was a little surprising, actually, as ginger tends to be a very aggressive spice that often overthrows the other ingredients in a tisane blend. And while I do enjoy ginger, I am glad that I could smell the lime and especially the kiwi here.
The aroma that I’m experiencing after brewing is slightly medicinal. I can still smell the citrus notes, and a softer note of kiwi. While it does smell slightly medicinal (sort of like eucalyptus), it isn’t exactly off-putting – but it does give me cause to approach it somewhat apprehensively.
This is tasty! The lime and kiwi are prominent in the flavor, as is the ginger. It is only mildly peppery, and it is a very pleasing contrast to the sweet kiwi flavor and the tangy lime. The combination of the honeybush and the rooibos provides a nice background – one that is nutty and slightly sweet. It melds well with the other flavors of the cup.
Another winner from the Herbal Retreat Collection from Tea Forté!