Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Company Description:
Combining fine black tea, Madagascar vanilla and coconut slivers produces a smooth and luxurious indulgence. Naturally sweet.
Taster’s Review:
When I first received this tea from my SororiTea Sister (Tea Equals Bliss, of course!) I had thought that I had tasted this tea previously… but I hadn’t. I would have remembered tasting such an exquisite tea!
The dry leaf has a strong scent of vanilla with a lingering note of coconut. It smells deliciously exotic. It brews up to a beautiful coppery color. The liquor smells a bit more like coconut than vanilla, but still smells yummy!
The black tea base is smooth and robust. It isn’t bitter, and it has a light background note of cocoa and flower. It has a fair amount of astringency that leaves the palate feeling invigorated.
The vanilla is pleasant here. It seems that vanilla is difficult (sometimes) for tea companies to get just right – and the flavor of the vanilla is either too soft to be tasted or too strong to be able to enjoy the other flavors of the cup. But that hasn’t happened here. The vanilla tastes sweet and creamy, and perfectly accents the coconut essence.
The touch of coconut in this blend is so delicious! I can even taste that light “oily” taste of the coconut that should be there, but often isn’t there in coconut teas.
This tea gets the coconut and vanilla JUST RIGHT, and these flavors do not overpower the black tea base. It is a harmonious blend of flavors that creates one of the BEST teas that I’ve tried from Tea Forté. I highly recommend it!
PRODUCT REVIEW: Ceramic Tea Tray from Tea Forté
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Company Description:
Tea Forte’s set of ceramic tea trays offer a dramatic and festive presentation for serving our Silken Tea Infusers. Return infusers to these trays after brewing to catch the drips. Each gift box contains two trays. An ideal accompaniment to any size of our tea package options.
Product Review:
As I’ve professed before, I am not a big fan of gadgets, especially when it comes to tea. Tea, in my opinion, is best enjoyed when kept simple.
That being said, I have to admit that these ceramic tea trays from Tea Forté are REALLY cool! Not only do they provide a great service (keeping tea preparation area neat and tidy), they make using tea sachets fun and stylish. Even as someone who loves my loose leaf tea – I can still really appreciate this nifty little tool.
Imagine having tea with a friend… this simple yet effective little tray helps eliminate that awkward moment when you don’t know what to do with your tea bag. This is a moment that most tea drinkers have experienced… You don’t want to put it on the table – it will ruin the table or stain the tablecloth! You don’t want to use your napkin – that will render your napkin useless. And you don’t want to put it on your saucer – because it will result in a messy, gauche saucer. Having one of these cute, inexpensive tea trays 
(they’re just $6.00 for a package of two trays) gives you a place to put your tea bag while adding a sense of elegance to your tea table.
What I think I like most about these little trays is that they can suit just about any type of style desired. They are minimalistic, and yet, they can be whimsical, cute, charming, elegant and even somewhat masculine, if you want them to be.
Sencha from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Company Description:
This steamed, organic green tea steeps a pale and delicate liquor. A hint of roasted chestnuts complements the freshness of a spring downpour.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is somewhat surprising for me. I’ve tasted a lot of Sencha teas, but I can’t remember one that is quite like this.
The flavor is somewhat delicate and yet quite rich tasting. It has a very pleasant nutty flavor to it, and here is the surprising part: I can detect virtually NO grassy flavor to it! It does have a freshness to the flavor, but it isn’t what I would call grassy. Perhaps slightly (ever so slightly!) vegetative… but even that is not the right word to describe the fresh flavor that I am getting from this tea.
As it cools slightly, more of the vegetative nature does reveal itself, but, again, this is not strong… and the sweet nutty character is much stronger. (And so delightfully yummy!)
It does have a somewhat grassy scent to it though… which (as the company description sort of implies) reminds me of the smell of grass after an early morning rain. It surprises and even pleases me a bit that the grassy flavor does not translate into the flavor – although I am not as opposed to grassy flavors as I once was. This tea is refreshingly different.
And I like it!
Jasmine Green from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Company Description:
Lightly steamed “sencha-style” then scented with jasmine blossoms, this fragrant blend is clean and floral with grassy overtones.
Taster’s Review:
I adore Jasmine tea. There is something so luxuriously sumptuous about the flavor – it tastes indulgent and feminine – I feel like royalty when I sip a jasmine tea.
This is a wonderful jasmine green tea from Tea Forté. The aroma when I first opened the package was a bit more subtle than I expected a jasmine tea to be, and the fragrance of the liquor is even softer. A bit disappointing, because the bouquet of the jasmine is one of the things I find most enjoyable about drinking jasmine tea. I love to inhale its essence deeply before I take a sip and this practice greatly enhances the experience of drinking a jasmine tea.
But, I will say that there is something about the scent of the liquor … it’s almost intoxicating, even if it is a bit softer than I’d like it to be.
The flavor of this tea is remarkable. The fresh Japanese Sencha base is a little grassy, but it is a soft grassy taste and complements the sweet, floral jasmine very nicely. The tea has a slight edge to it – just barely sharp – that cuts through some of the sweeter notes and gives this jasmine tea a nice dimension.
Overall, a very pleasing jasmine tea.
Black Currant from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Company Description:
Black currant and blackberry leaves infuse our rich black tea for a fruity, aromatic cup. Naturally sweet and fully satisfying.
Ingredients
blackberry leaves, black tea, flavoring
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tasted a few black currant black teas over the years, and I really can’t remember one that I disliked. But, I can’t remember one that I liked better than this one, either.
Having previously reviewed this tea, I was curious to find out if my thoughts on this tea have changed at all…
The aroma is still fruity – subtle before brewing, and developing more fully in the coppery liquor. One thing that I am noticing though, is that the black current essence seems a bit stronger in this cup than I had previously indicated. It is almost wine-like in its depth of flavor. It doesn’t taste fermented, but it does have a nice, fruity flavor with a pleasant level of astringency – like a good, dry wine.
The black tea base is bold and flavorful. It is brisk enough to be that first cup of the morning, yet smooth enough to make a good afternoon cuppa (perfect for that afternoon pick-me-up!) The rich flavor would make this a thirst-quenching choice for iced tea as well.
Overall, a very pleasing cup of tea!