Forsman Tea

This is another tea I’m not sure really deserves to be called a proper chai because the spices are really quite muted – though the little bite of black pepper is nice and interesting. However I’m really liking the addition of the coconut to this tea which gives it a smooth, almost exotic flavour. It might be contributing to the oddly fruity taste I’m picking up when I drink it. I actually really like this tea but it’s not what I generally look for in a black chai.

Backlog:

Not a bad tisane … I like the strong chocolate flavor. Forsman Tea seems to have followed my rule: more chocolate = better … because this is really nice and chocolate-y.

The rooibos is distinguishable here but I’m not minding that so much because the nutty flavor of the rooibos melds nicely with the bittersweet chocolate-y tones. I don’t usually taste a “caramel-y” note with rooibos, but I was surprised to discover a hint of caramel-like flavor to this. A nice complement to the chocolate.

Overall, a really nice rooibos selection from my Amoda Box.

Oh my, this smells absolutely incredible and looks pretty too. And on top of that, it even tastes great. One of my faves.

A very creamy taste, great for those moments when you crave something sweet and strong.

The taste makes me think of dark green forests.

It’s very clear from the first smell of the dry leaves that this really is a pear tea. Such a fruity smell and taste. Love it.

This tea completely surprised me when I had it for the first time. I thought it would be very mild, almost boring. But no, what a strong, beautiful yet mild enough flavor. After each sip I find myself wanting more. A perfect morning/evening tea, one of my absolute favorites.

sample sipdown! thanks kittenna i really like this one! It’s chocoaltey and not very rooibsy :)

This is my favourite chai tea to make with milk. I like the spice combination and the strong flavour of cardamom. A wonderful, warm autumn time drink.

Ahhh, the seasons. The bane and joy of one’s existence, especially in a land containing all four of them! Added with all the nice holidays life is grand, especially when one has the mind as dirt-, ahem, inventive, as yours truly. If you still regard seasonal candy as innocently as children I’m not tarnishing your mind. For now.

To celebrate a phenomenon called vacation (a word far too unused for art people so we need the society around us to remind us for that small thing) I’ve decided to dedicate this post to all the strange Christmas teas found from my cupboard, which were promptly forgotten after receiving them from a classmate since she isn’t a tea drinker.

Therefore the tea name on this post has actually very little to do with these teas, except that the provider is the same in most of them. And it’s all white outside. With horisontal snowing and over knee-high snow banks. Not kidding.

Ratings: naughty / nice

‘Green Christmas Tea’ by Forsman Tea; green sencha flavoured with cherry, grapes, white chocolate and orange peel bits.
First sniff: sweet, getting some notes on a subtle choco and orange, otherwise very dodgy aroma. A little twist of greeness in the scent.
Initial sip: …Taste..? Ah, there it- ick. Ugh. Ew. Not nice. Definitely not nice.
Naughty, naughty tea!

’Santa’s kiss’ by Forsman Tea: black loose leaf tea spiced with cherry, grapes, white chocolate and orange peel bits – should I be worried at this point?
First sniff: almost identical without the previous tinge of green (obviously), somehow the sweetness is actually stronger now..sweet orange.
Initial sip: I’ve been kissed a lot better than this. Sloppy Santa.
Naughty.

‘Christmas Tea of Health and Well-being’ (rough translation, but that’s what it screams at me) by Forsman Tea: First off, it’s rooibos. Flavoured with cinnamon, vanilla and orange and I quote: “velvety flavour”. I should really worry now.
First sniff: the sweetness that rooibos usually has on its own is now increased with something that is NOT cinnamon NOR vanilla but a twisted version of orange infused with…something vanilla-ish-if-you-push-your-imagination-hard-enough. As it brews the scent takes turn for worse. Starting to think it wasn’t so good idea to taste all of these pouches at once – I might just cripple my taste buds.
First sip: My tongue is going to hate me for a while.
Naughty.

‘Christmas Tea (Selected Quality)’ by Lipton: black tea with spices (they mention cinnamon), rosehip, orange peel…and ‘flavours’. Oh the joys of mystery in Christmas season, eh..
First sniff: Okay, there seems to be some berries in it…maybe lingon or cranberry…and I see some cloves as well, that’s nice…and some small little things I can’t seem to pinpoint, maybe some peppers..? Sadly the scent is only sweet with no traces of other layers and the orange peel dominates a lot. Oh well. Here we go.
Initial sip: Seemingly tasteless at first, a very thin taste afterwards..it was an opened pouch so I’m guessing it has aged before given in this household, since the scent while brewing was way better than the previous three. Plain. Simple. Now getting somewhat ‘old’, muffled taste. Definitely not the best teas I’ve enjoyed but from this foursome this is the nicest.
Nice.

And now some chai to wash my mouth.

I haven’t tried Matcha before but I have a feeling this wasn’t a good Matcha to start with. After i bought this I noticed that this was actally Chinese. I believe real Matcha is Japanese. I felt a little cheated. And the tast is bitter and color is muddy. I wish I hadn’t bought this. :(

This is a pretty tasty Rooibos. I agree with the other reviewer it is chocolaty but in a chocolate liqueur sort of way. I had it plain but I might try messing around with different additions and see how that changes the flavors. I would not buy this normally but it was a nice addition to the Amoda box this month.

Yum, a generous mug of this tonight. I still maintain my opinion that it’s very chocolate-liqueur-esque, but actually fairly tasty. I do want/need to find a milk chocolate rooibos, or rather, honeybush. That would be the perfect caffeine-free chocolate tea.

This tea is pretty good for a rooibos! Definitely tastes chocolatey, in a chocolate liqueur sort of way, which is surprisingly tasty. Enough rooibos flavour that I can tell it’s there, but it’s not objectionable. Overall, it’s a reasonable selection that I’ll finish off, but not repurchase.

Also, sorry for the very short tasting notes lately. I’m feeling very uninspired…

ETA: Also a good second infusion.

The color of the tea is very light indeed and the scent very sweet and fruit-like. The taste lingers on in your mouth for some time and you each sip seems to enchant you further. I began to miss the smell. Suitable for any situation but a superb tea for me-time and tea lovers. A big surprise from Forsman tea, without a doubt one of their best.

Light, Darjeeling-like in color and with a sweet flowery scent. The taste is quite mild and leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste. Not a flattering tea, but not many teas from Forsman Tea are. Good for company, but not for connoisseurs.

Here’s another tea purchased at the Victoria Tea Festival imported via the Dream Tea Boutique (http://dreamteaboutique.com/).

I’m afraid that I don’t know what a quince is supposed to taste like, never having tried one, and I had to resort to Google to find out what a ‘cherimoya’ even was. But regardless I found the flavour of this tea to be very agreeable. It’s tastes light and fruity with a bit of a tropical tang to it – from the pineapple maybe – as well hints of citrus and apples. I like that this tea company offers something different from the usual flavoured black tea fare. I mean what other company can you think of that can say they carry a cherimoya-flavoured tea?

Sipdown. This tea lost a lot of its flavouring over the years – not too surprising given how long I’ve had it. Despite that I still get some melon notes even if they aren’t as strong as when the tea was new.

This tea comes courtesy of the Victoria Tea Festival – a tea store based in Coquitlam called Dream Tea Boutique (http://dreamteaboutique.com/) imports Forsman teas (which is apparently a Finnish? tea company). I haven’t seen Forsman teas for sale anywhere else in the country which is a shame since they have a nice selection of both flavoured and unflavoured tea.

The black tea base they use is a smooth, light Ceylon that compliments the fruity flavours without being weak. The cantaloup flavours are nice and not too strong or artificial and I can taste a hint of the dried pineapple in there too. I bet this would be lovely iced.