Kiwi Lime Ginger

This was a free sample from Tea Forte and I thank them for it. When I opened the package to ready it for making I could smell the kiwi and lime, but only a hint of the ginger. As it steeped the ginger aroma became a little stronger and I was ok with it after trying a ginger rooibos from another company (the name escapes me at the moment).

I opted to have this one iced as it seemed it would be perfect that way. Sad to say that the ginger is just way to overpowering in this cup. I wish it wasn’t so, but I’m not getting any of the kiwi/lime also in this. I really wanted to see how the three would blend together. It just isn’t happening. Fingers crossed for the other samples!

First off, I like the concept of this packaging (single steeps) but the reality kind of bothers me. I try to avoid single use packaging in my day to day things, buying a tub of yogurt instead of singles, not buying a cup of tea in a disposable cup and so on. I buy my tea loose and generally in bulk, so there is minimal packaging waste. While a single steep package I could carry with me on the go is a nice idea, I feel terrible about that waste. If I were to drink these regularly (even one a day) that would really add up.

Now for the tea. The dry smell is very lime, almost medicinal or alcohol smell to go with it. Maybe a hint of ginger, but mostly just lime. I like lime in teas, so that’s cool. Lime it up! Even though this is slightly more ‘leaf’ than I would typically use, I figured I had better follow the parameters if I am going to review this accurately. I used the whole shebang and let it steep for five minutes, despite my better judgment. Even in my Perfect Tea Mug;s fine infuser, a lot of dust shook out in the beginning (I always do this before I pour, I like to get the dust out). I am not sure if it was powdered ginger or broken rooibos, but it was annoying.

I think I might be alone in this, but i am getting a margarita sort of smell from the steeped ‘tea.’ I feel like this isn’t exactly an at work early morning tea. It’s very dark brown and a little off-putting with the tequila, lime and ginger sort of smell. Aside from the alcoholic connotations, this smells like something I would feel obliged to drink if I were feeling very poorly and wanted to get better. I’m a little afraid to drink it…

Aha! First sips are not so bad. All that lovely lime smell does not pass on to the drink (sad face) and I definitely don’t get any kiwi but the ginger isn’t so potent as I was worried it might be from other reviews. The taste is not very strong and honestly I don’t know what I’m getting here. I get a hint of something smoky on the front of the sip (what is up with that??) and then I get a mildly possibly limey aftertaste. I don’t even necessarily pick out ginger, but I assume that is the ‘smokey’ taste I am getting. I’m really surprised at how mild this is. Maybe I really did shake out all the ginger when I got rid of the powder.

If this had more lime taste or any kiwi taste, I would be all over it. For now, this is mostly just a let down. Another Tea Forte tea that smells really interesting but brews up disappointing. The points I am giving this are mostly for the fact that I do get a limey aftertaste and I like that. I wouldn’t buy this for myself or others, but I would drink it. I have the sense that a drop of honey might enhance this a little and hopefully make it less blase, but I don’t have any here so I shan’t be able to try it. As the cup cools, the ginger taste is increasing, I can feel it on my tongue though I still don’t pick it out as a “Bam! Ginger!” sort of thing.

Thanks to Tea Forte for allowing me to try this…maybe kick up the kiwi and lime flavours a bit next time?

I was a little worried about brewing this single steep package in my KATI tumbler because I thought that the rooibos leaves would fall through the mesh on the strainer, but, surprisingly, it did not.

Prior to infusion, this smells like lime and kiwi fruit, with very faint notes of ginger. After infusing, the liquor has a slight medicinal scent to it … but not so much that it’s off-putting. It almost smells like eucalyptus.

But it doesn’t taste like eucalyptus. The ginger is stronger in the flavor than it is in the dry scent, and while it is quite a dominating flavor, it isn’t completely overpowering the lime and kiwi flavors. I like the way these flavors are working together. The honeybush and rooibos taste nutty and sweet, and provide a nice backdrop.

I like this one.

Tea #11 from Traveling Tea Box C

We seem to be on a roll tonight! My husband did hog the first cup of this – he loved it so much he wouldn’t share! – so this is actually a re-steep. With that in mind, this is absolutely delightful. The fruit and citrus blend wonderfully, and there’s just a perfect bite of ginger.

This tea has also come to the end of its travels, and will be making one last trip into our cupboard!

Traveling Tea Box C #15
I cold steeped this one the other day and had it yesterday! hmmm.. this is an interesting flavor, definitely mostly ginger, hints of kiwi with that tart lime taste that I love so much. It was a nice refreshing cup, not one I would go out and buy but definitely worth trying, and glad I did:)

Backlogging… I’ve been avoiding reviewing my last two Tea Forte samples. I don’t relish slamming anyone’s tea. I sincerely adore tea, and I’m a firm believer in there being a place for every tea and tisane. Enough stalling… let’s do this.

I’m not going to draw this out. I didn’t care for this one at all. The aroma of Kiwi Lime Ginger dry was promising, but at first sip I knew that I wouldn’t be finishing the cup. I don’t taste any lime in the brew and the ginger is far too strong for my taste.

I’m so very grateful for the samples that Tea Forte sent out, and it pains me that I didn’t care for this blend at all. Oh well, to each his own. I’m sure that someone out there loves this one.

So, because I am who I am and because it’s hot out, I’m going to try all of my samples from Tea Forte iced. This one came up first because of all the negative reviews it has been getting. I am eying that Blueberry Merlot, but saving it for last.

The smell of the dry leaf was overwhelming. Some have called it medicinal or alcoholic, for me, and I hate to say it, it smelled like nail polish remover to me. I just….did not like it.

Iced, it still has that smell, but the taste is much, much different, thank goodness. I’m surprised by the taste and how much I do like it.

However, the ginger does take over, and I don’t know what is supposed to be tropical, but I’m not tasting it. I taste ginger with an aftertaste of lime…

I’m not a fan, but I would definitely recommend it to someone who like ginger and lime.

Cold brewed for around 20 hours in 12 oz. water. This is the third of the five samples provided to me by Tea Forte. I loved Mojito marmalade, HATED apricot amaretto, and so I had no clue what was going to happen with this one.

The smell of this (both before and after steeping) reminds me of sour gummy worms. So, kind of fakey. But gummy worms are tart and limey smelling, which makes it kind of accurate, too. Luckily I like sour gummy worms (understatement: they were one of my favorite candies when I was younger).

The sip does treat the lime and ginger pretty equally: first I get lime, and then ginger which has a bite. But then I get the “bonus” of some kind of medicinal aftertaste. Nowhere near as terrible as with the amaretto, which was all medicinal, but just enough that it kind of ruins the drink for me.

Meh, at least I can finish this one. Two to go, and I am definitely curious as to what will happen with those.

I feel like kinda a douche bag, all my reviews of late have not been overwhelmingly positive, unfortunately this isn’t going to be the tisane to change that.

First off let me state that I hate rooibos and honey bush, or more correctly my strainer hates rooibos and honey bush. But that has absolutely nothing to do with this review I just needed to get that off my chest.

Again beautiful packing and kudos on the single steep idea, it is wonderful for samples however that very environmentally sound for anyone who would drink this stuff regularly, but since I doubt that is likely that is a moot point.

When I opened the package I was quite impressed with the scent, it was as advertised, kiwi, lime and ginger all readily apparent. As I was pondering how they did this so well I soon picked up a chemical scent, then it started to smell like cleaner, not promising. Once brewed it takes on a strong ginger scent. Yeah I’m kinda nervous now.

As I poured the water onto the dried bits it immediately started to fizz slightly, what the ..? Once brewed it is quite hazy, why the smeg is it hazy? Ok time to suck it up and take the first sip.

…

…

OK FINE if your going to just sit there and watch then I’ll do it!

Well its not as bad as I … wait yeah it is. To be honest this is not terrible stuff, just not at all what was advertised. I was expecting a clean crisp cup of kiwi-lime with subtle ginger notes. Its very heavy for some reason, and the ginger completely dominates the palette with nearly indiscernible notes of citrus. I supposed that if you really like ginger or have stomach problems and ginger makes you feel better than you may enjoy this. As for me I’m tossing the rest of this and making myself a cup of tropical rooibos.

I finished off the last of the little sample pouch and found that the tea wasn’t as strongly medicinal-tasting when it cooled off. I also noticed that it has a nice, fruity, kiwi scent, particularly the dry leaves. But still…Buckley’s. *makes a face *