Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘African Solstice’

To review this tea, I decided to once again utilize my awesome Tea Forte Cafe Cup!

Tea Forte’s website recommended steeping this for at least five minutes, so I poured just boiled water over one pyramid bag and let it steep. The teabag actually remained in the cup for six and a half minutes, but I figured this would not be an issue, as most rooibos blends rarely oversteep.

The dry leaf smells delicious! Lots of tasty smelling berry aroma.

The liquor brews a deep, dark red, very nearly the colour of some red wines. While it still smells like berries, the berry scent has changed to smelling very nearly like juice.

The taste of the steeped tea is very smooth, with a fullness that is neither thick nor watery. The finish is much stronger in berry flavour than is the taste while on the tongue, as though the dominant flavour migrates seamlessly from rooibos to berry.

The smell of this tea was far more bold than the flavour, almost making it a bit disappointing to drink. (I guess I shouldn’t let the aroma set my expectations.)

All in all, it was a very tasty tea. Wonderfully fruity, the hint of the rose petals that are part of this tea even peek out in the aftertaste.

On my personal enjoyment scale, I believe I would rate this tea a 75/100.

You can purchase the African Solstice directly from the Tea Forte website.

Tonight, I need to relax so I’ve chosen two decaf teas from Tea Forte. 

Pulling out my specially made Tea Forte cup with it’s perfect little hole in the lid, getting set to try their African Solstice.  Love rooibos in the evening and this blend smells delicious.  I’ve failed with some other Tea Forte pyramid teas in the past because it just never seemed that there was enough room for the leaves to steep properly, this one I hope is going to be different.  I can’t see the rooibos clearing enough (through the pyramid) to tell what grade it is but I’m hoping the needles are long enough to not sneak through the mesh.  The dry tea smells only of rooibos, can’t smell any of the other ingredients.

Steeped it per their instructions, and now I am starting to smell the berries and the flowers in the pyramid sneaking through the hole in the teacup lid.  Taking the lid off and now I’m getting hit with a smell of vanilla and berries.  Brews up a nice dark red with a negligible amount of dust.  Tastes good but the flowers are a bit overpowering, still a soothing rooibos with a berry twist.  Well suited to the shape of the pyramid, dancing rooibos is such a sight.

You can purchase the African Solstice directly from the Tea Forte website.