African Solstice

This was a so-so tea in my opinion. It wasn’t bad, but it lacked any distinguishing flavor profile to set it apart from other teas. That being said, if someone would just like some “hot tea” and nothing special in particular, this is a pretty basic staple tea to serve.

Overall it has an earthy tone with slight undertones of floral and fruit in the after taste. I find this is a fairly balanced and simple tea. I am not sure yet whether this is something I would repurchase, because Tea Forte is not very cheap, but the taste is smooth and it is full bodied for what it has.

A fruity and sweet herbal blend with a deep amber liquor. Berries, too much vanilla, rooibos, a little spicy, slightly dry finish.

The smell and the taste are both far too sweet for me! I’ll keep this one for dessert ..

Strong flavours of custard and cream, sweet rooibos, berries, and vanilla. The rooibos is very pleasant, actually. It is a bit less rooibos-y than I’m used to, and it lacks the mineral quality that rooibos often has (although I don’t dislike mineral flavour). It also isn’t isn’t woody.

A nice creamy and fruity rooibos that is good served hot and cold.

Sipdown!

A decent tea. Kind of creamy and it reminds me of almonds. It has a sharp, clean taste at the end of the sip that reminds me of nuts.

This is so unique. So smooth and creamy, even without milk. Because it’s rooibos, you can and should brew it longer than 3-5 minutes. Berries and vanilla is a very good description of the taste. It smells gorgeous out of the tin, and it’s divine with a bit of raw, unfiltered honey. This is one of my preferred teas.

I am a big fan of rooibos, and not a huge fan of outside flavors in my tea. Maybe I’m an elitist. Or maybe I just have a more traditional taste. Any way, here we have a rooibos with berries added. Let’s see…

Aroma is primarily berries, but the underlying rooibos smoothness is still present. Taste is similar. It is certainly a rooibos, with that distint smooth, satisfying taste and feel. The berries are very prominant, but not quite to the point that they are overwhelming. I would personally like more rooibos taste in the balance, but this does work.

The problem with many of these boutique tea companies is that they don’t trust the taste of their tea, and feel the need to bury it with flavors that should just be a hint, a helpful addition to compliment the tea itself, not to be a primary flavor. This comes close. Any more berry covering up the rooibos, and it would be overdone.

Soko’s was handing out little bagged samples of this. I haven’t had much luck with Tea Forte, but it was free, so what can you say.

It SMELLS fruity and sweet/vanilla—both dry and brewed; the blend was quite colourful, with purply petals and little dried berries.

Not getting too much fruit in the taste. Mostly vanilla and rooibos, but it’s not bad. I think the problem I’ve had with past Tea Forte teas was too much flavouring going on at the same time (so the end result was almost sharp, or chemically?), but this is mellow while still tasty.

Getting a bit more fruit while it cools. Berry. Might just be from the rooibos, though. I see it has rosehip as well.

Sipdown #21

Ewwww, I am not a red rooibos fan. This is medicinal and gross. I’m sure if you like rooibos, this is probably just fine. But this is not my tea at all. Blech. Under 10 and down the drain it goes. :/

And with that, I’ve finished the Tea Forte sampler from my dad before it expired! He only gave it to me two years ago. ;) I got to try a lot of different teas, and I feel confident that I know what my favorite is. And the winner is…drumroll please…a tie between Black Currant and Chamomile Citron! Those were my definite favorites by far. And I have to say, all the teas held up very well considering how long they were shelved. Thumbs up for Tea Forte’s sampler pack!

I’m quite fond of this one. It’s light and sweet; the taste of the vanilla and, to a lesser extent, the berries comes through without being overwhelming. It’s just a lovely, well-balanced tea that I find especially suited to curling up with a good book on a lazy afternoon.

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.