480 Tasting Notes
You can smell the chai when you open the bag, but you can’t really… see it. After shaking it around I found two cardamom pods and some ginger, I think. It’s whole-leaf tea, assam I believe; brewed there’s no chai smell. Taste—malty assam, maybe some ceylon, I think a touch of cardamom.
Been seeing these around Winners and finally decided, two bucks an ounce? What the hell.
When I opened the bag, I saw… Giant white chips. Not flakes, but centimetre-squared chips. What the hell is this? Turns out it’s giant-ass chunks of coconut (not pictured, btw). But once I got over that (I stuck a spoon in there and mixed it all in—large chunks, low density, it’s inevitable that they all just rose to the top; happens with davidstea blends), brewed it up… Woodsyness from the rooibos, with a touch of spice. Not strong, but definitely makes me think ‘watery chai’. Could probably try stovetop (really, I find most chais are pretty watery just brewed…). Not really getting any ‘fruityness’ that others are describing—well, nothing beyond the kind you get from rooibos. Don’t taste the coconut. Which by the way ‘coco chai’? Tricky and misleading. I should have realized there was a reason they dropped that ‘A’.
But still, not bad. Something to drink at night. I should try stovetop, though. And almond milk. A nice goodnight cup.
Question, Teaze: What’s the point of selling this looseleaf in a resealable pouch if, within the resealable pouch is another, non-resealable pouch you have to cut open. I don’t… extra extra freshness…? Maybe? Buy one of those machines that seals these pouches for you and apply it directly above the ziplock. Win!
Getting a bit more taste as I reach the bottom. Think that’s where all the flavour settled. More rooibos, maybe more… cardamom? Just a touch. Still pretty damn watery.
Preparation
More leaf, longer steeping time.
What I’m getting is watery liquorice and nothing else. I don’t know if I got an old tin and that’s why I’m not getting much of the base, but the liquorice gives it a coughsyrupy mouth-feel almost. I didn’t think it’d be this prominent in the blend—I figured it was there as a touch of sweetness and to better round out the ‘cherry’ taste. Don’t know if it’s just me, so I won’t rate this.
Heck, with 50 grams I’d probably consider trading it off so other people could see what they think of it.
I tend to avoid Tea Forte like the plague. It’s everywhere, but every runin I’ve had with them has been poor; during the Christmas season I’ve picked up their sample packs and hated every one (I don’t even know if I even bothered to review them!); I don’t know, it was something about the base maybe, or how they chose to flavour them.
I picked up Orchid Vanilla a little while back because it was on sale half off, didn’t have horrible reviews on Steepster, and really, who could fuck up Vanilla. That one turned out pretty pleasant, so when I saw this in the window I decided ‘why not’.
Plus they redesigned the package—it’s part of Tea Forte’s “Noir” collection, with pan-roasted black teas (back of the tin says assam).
I’ll start by saying this doesn’t taste like an assam. But if it’s ‘pan-roasted’ (???), that might be it, but I’m getting no roasted flavours either. There’s a soft hint of vanilla maybe, and it smells faintly of strawberry and cough-syrup cherry… Might be getting a bit of fake cherry taste as well, or maybe that’s the liquorice.
For that matter, there’s a warning at the end of the ingredients about how the tea should be avoided by people with high blood pressure due to the use of organic liquorice root. What? I thought in this day and age, the glycyrrhizic acid in liquorice that /causes/ hypertension, was usually artificially removed from from most liquorice products (for this very reason), or replaced with artificial flavouring/fennel or anise. So was Tea Forte just a little slow on the origin of their root, or did they actually source un-deglycyrrhizinated liquorice, and the FDA didn’t frown on them?
At any rate, I might try more leaf next time/longer steep, because this fell utterly flat for me. I think I’m getting something like astringency and bitterness, plus liquorice. Almost three whole ounces. Lovely. Learned my lesson, I guess. Still, I’ll come back to this one.
Preparation
Thought I posted a review for this, since I drank it first out of my samples, but I guess I forgot. So here’s my second time around.
Dry, it smells like drop fruit, as well as something like malt chocolate; can’t say 100%, just notes that remind me of an assam varietal.
First steep (after a rinse): 15 seconds. Dry spices. Like bark, maybe cinnamon. Actually more spices than I remember the first time around I drank this (I remember there being a lot more ‘fruit’); still, there’s a deep honeyness that makes me think of drop fruits—the darker fruits like plums, rather than bright, like peaches.
Second steep: 15 seconds. Spices and sweetness; the syrupy fruityness is coming through more. It’s reminding me less of an assam, which usually has more malt than spice in my experience. This isn’t astringent. In fact, it’s very smooth thus far. Spiced sugar plum almost? Maybe?
Third steep: More spice again. Sweet—the description suggests baked bread, but it’s less yeasty, and not toasty.
Fourth steep: 20 seconds. Wow, feels a bit thicker, like chocolate. Spice and honey. Actually, very cinnamon-and-honey. Reminds me of honeycarrots with cinnamon, growing up.
Started playing TF2 around this point, and wasn’t paying as much attention. It’s actually a very nice, naturally sweet tea.
Edit: Fourth or fifth steep? Starting to get a more ‘baked bread’ taste out of it.
Preparation
The smell is similar to the Li Shan, but not quite as syrupy strong. Notes of assam in teh smell, but there’s no real malt in the taste. Thick and mouth-coating, honey, barley. Definitely smooth. I can get where the ‘peach’ and ‘raisin’ flavours in the description come from, though I wouldn’t tag it that personally. Light fruit flavours, again comparing this to the Li Shan sample I got, which has a darker drop fruit taste (peach vs. plum, I guess). Honey when I breathe out, but floral in the forefront with each sip.
The honey reminds me of ceylon teas, but there’s no oak or astringency to round it out. The assam smell of the leaf didn’t carry over, which leaves me wondering if it’s an assam varietal used or not. The leaves are long (but not quite THAT long).
Preparation
The dry leaf has a very strong, deep smell. Brewed, it has the maltyness of an assam but without the bitterness or astringency. Pretty much what I expect in a china black. There’s a bit of cocoa in there as well. Sort’ve my everyday favourite, except not at /this/ price.
Preparation
The leaf has a darker fruitier smell than other green oolongs, though brewed it returns to the green and floral, slightly toasty scent (though I think I detect something like apple in there).
I brewed a western two minutes in a teacup, getting a honey yellow liquid; it’s smooth, and I’m mainly getting cream and apple. Not as buttery as some oolongs, although it’s still got that similar mouth-feel to it. Toastier notes when I breathe out, with a touch of honey. It’s really nice to just roll around on your tongue, and I can see myself definitely buying more of this to enjoy.
All three samples came very nicely packaged in labeled vacuum-sealed bags. Long ago I invested in a box of tiny clamps from the office supplies aisle to keep track of my tea samples (I’ve only got the three now, but when I went on a sample-buying spree through Teavivre…).
Since I didn’t rinse it beforehand, the leaves opened up a lot more during the second steep (also 2 minutes). Sticking my nose in there for that sweet appley smell. Taste is definitely stronger; I’d almost have kept the second steep to 1:30, maybe (but it’s not bitter); the apple’s gone completely. Toasty butter, maybe a bit of cream, definite floral notes.
Third steep was definitely a little sharp, very floral.
