Tea Forte

Wheeeee! Sip down! (208….)And now it’s time to have some water and caffeine free options for the rest of the night. I think my kidneys would like a break lol. Snuck one of these from the great Canadian travelling teabox as Lala has been kind enough to share and I know I like this one. Mostly I just wanted to end my sip downs for today on a flavoured note! Now to have some enchiladas for dinner and bake some pumpkin spice muffins!

backlog! sample sipdown. I had this last night as well near the end of it..just before i got to take my nap between 3:30 and 5 lol I’m super glad that lala sent this my way as it’s not something i would have picked up because of the coconut even though the mango would have tempted me. Verdict after this second bag? Delicious! For sure something i could keep around at work for a bagged tea in a pinch :) thanks lala!

I received this in the mail today from lala as a surprise sample and knew i had to try it right away. I am generally not a fan of coconut, but i loooooveeeee mango. Since i’m under the weather today, the simplicity of a tea bag appealed to me a lot. Opening the package i was blown away by the coconut, which kind of scared me. But then, the mango creeped out. It smelled like fresh juicy delicious mango! I brewed this one up at a green eta temperature rather than the recommended black from the instructions.

Seriously? This is really good for a bagged, COCONUT, tea no less. Looks like others haven’t had nearly the luck that i did with this one but man i really like this. It would for sure be one that i could tuck in my drawer at work for those days when you just need a quick bag of tea.

Thanks so much for this surprise sample lala!

I could not drink this tea. It has a strong tart & astringent taste and literally made my tongue curl. I will not drink this again. I put the rest of the box on the ‘free’ table at work. Hopefully whoever picked it up liked it better than I did!

This is a tea where after I downed my sample, I knew I had to get more. It is so rich in taste and smells so good, almost like you would expect for something with the word “blueberry” in the name. I would describe it as “heavy” and “filling” as well as luxurious for your taste buds. (I finished my canister and will definitely buy more.)

This is my second steep, experimenting with steeping times.

Instead of the typical 3 minute steep I do with most black teas, I tried 2 and a half minutes with this. It may have made a world of difference.

The astringency is non-existent here, in place a simple well rounded cup of Earl Grey.

The Bergamot is lighter, not so much heavy but a full bodied flavor. The refreshing aftertaste still follows, and better compliments the tea overall.

I would guess the astringency from my initial steep was now due to the black tea being over-steeped, on top of the Bergamot becoming a heavier factor. It is best to steep this tea at shorter times for a more well rounded cup.

I’ve owned this tea for quite a while without any impressions of it logged.

I don’t really have much experience with orange or citrus tea, but with the limited amount I have acquired, my impressions have been fairly great. I do recall a fabulous experience with a dark Darjeeling orange pekoe, as most of my experiences before that with orange pekoe weren’t favorable.

Opening the tin presented quite a strong and distinguishing Bergamot citrus aroma, so strong that the scent lingers, faintly. I would have thought the Bergamot overpowering, but it is more an initial and bold scent, with a citrus freshness that follows.

Steeping gives a nicely deep amber tone. The aroma of the brew is significantly less bold than the leaves, leaving a pale, almost flat, scent.

The initial sips show me why the cornflowers needed to be there, as they settle down the extremely bold flavor of the Bergamot. There is a dull astringency, which I could probably credit the black tea that is barely present, but it seems more the citrus as it is also a refreshing closer.

All around, this is quite a bold and delicious tea. I can see this working better with milk, as the Bergamot does call for it. Straight or sweetened with milk, this is a very full and rich cup of tea.

Made this one as a cold brew, brewed for 12 hours.

It tastes very similar to the hot brewed tea, but the coconut flavour is less. The coconut almost tastes more artificial and it is less sweet. There seems like there is limited mango flavour as well. There is a metallic aftertaste.

I think I prefer this one as a hot brew.

Coconut is very hit or miss for me. I like real fresh coconut, not imitation coconut, dried coconut, or coconut flavour. But when I saw this tea I thought I had to give it a try because it smelled so delicious. I had some coconut tea from Hawaii a few years ago and it was soooooo good. I had to see if this one was a good.

While brewing is smells like rich, creamy, buttery, coconut, almost like coconut cream. There was a slight tartness to the smell, made me think of coconut and lime. The taste if the tea is strong coconut, smooth and rich. There is a very suble mango flavour, but it really could be any tropical fruit.

It’s pretty good, not the same as Hawaii but it will be good enough for now.

This makes an excellent iced tea!

The box for this tea kept beckoning me at the store and I finally relented. It was SO worth it. Wonderful cherry fragrance, tastes natural and sweet. The green tea is subtle here and the rooibos adds a mellow character. Tempted to get this in loose form next time, but not sure since the bags are so convenient and easy to obtain.

Dominated by hibiscus and cinnamon, which I did not expect based on the name. When will I learn to read ingredients?

It was okay, for tasting mostly like two of my least favorite tea ingredients.

Given the intensity of ginger in some other Tea Forte blends, I was surprised at how mellow this tea was. The ginger gave a nice spiciness but wasn’t overbearing. The apple was discernible, and gave it a nice perky tang.

I am really happy that Tea Forte bucked the “apple MUST go with cinnamon” trope. There is zero cinnamon in this tea, which I think is an excellent amount of cinnamon to use.

Smells very much like rosemary, but the taste is dominated by hibiscus. Interesting, but I’m not sure I like it much.

Second brew—thank goodness the hibiscus all got into that first cup. Now I can taste rosemary, but not much else. The tangerine (actually mostly orange, if the ingredients are an indication) seems to have gone the way of the hibiscus. Still does not have a discernible taste of actual tea.

Another from the last few weeks . . .

It tasted like Play-Doh smells. Kind of a cloying, chemical, quasi-vanilla sweetness. Didn’t pick up on much actual vanilla, nor any berry.

Had this last week. I suspect that mint + green tea is just not my thing at all. I didn’t even finish the cup.

Third brewing of the same leaves. I’m surprised how well it’s held up, though I think this is the last round. No mintiness at all now, but the rest is also fading.

The flavor was unexpected. I’m not tasting much fig or honey. It’s mostly licorice-y with some mint. (Tea Forte seems really fond of putting mint into things that don’t have minty-sounding names.)

It really grew on me, though, despite my prejudice against minty teas, and despite not really tasting like the name.

I rebrewed my leaves, and the second round was less minty, but about as licorice-flavored as the first time. That suited me better.

I am sorry to say this, but this is a horrible tea. The whole cup is infected by the extreme tartness of hibiscus… I can taste the woody notes of cinnamon, but it does nothing about the tartness and only makes the the tea taste even stranger. I guess I should avoid all herbal teas by Tea Forte, really.

It appears everyone else either loves it or hates it. I however find it only comme ci comme ça. The predominant flavour is defenitly coconut and the white tea and safflower blend together nicely but are still discernible. I had to leave it to brew for around 8-12 mins as I find it’s a tad weak for my liking, I like it when I’m packed a solid punch! After that wait time the coconut was obviously stronger and I began to enjoy it more and more with every sip. A fairly nice tea.