Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Black Currant’

Tea Forte supplies whole loose leaf tea in these clever pyramid shaped infusers, which give room for the tea to expand as it steeps. It is a great brand for novice tea drinkers to try higher quality teas than typically offered at the supermarket and for tea snobs to drink at work without having to use a messy tea infuser at the office. Personally, Tea Forte was my first experience with loose leaf teas when I was visiting a Houston spa. When, after a wonderful massage, it was quite a treat to enjoy the bliss of my massage in a snuggly spa robe and sample the spa’s Tea Forte offerings.

According to Tea Forte’s website, blackberries and black currants flavor this tea. But this is not a tart and tangy tea as I would expect. Instead it has warm, cozy and sweet flavors without a hint of spiciness. As the tea cools slightly, mild berry flavor with subtle currant taste, becomes more noticeable. This is a smooth and not astringent tea. Although a teaspoon of sugar may be necessary to bring out the flavors, I found that milk is unnecessary to round out any harsh flavors that are usually present in a berry blend. Compared to other loose leaf berry teas I have sampled, this is one of the better options. I highly recommend this tea and for tea snobs, do not hesitate to try this one because it comes “bagged”.

You can purchase the Black Currant directly from the Tea Forte website.

I’ll start off by saying I wasn’t exactly sure how to brew this tea. The sample packaging had no steeping parameters on it, so I tried the website and didn’t find any suggestions. I decided to brew this a little on the safe side and stick to 2 minutes at 195 F and used 16oz of water to 2 teaspoons of tea leaves.

Steeping with these parameters allowed for a vibrant red-orange liquor. I stopped at 2 minutes because of the darkness of the brew. I’m enjoying the aroma of this tea. It has a deep berry scent, possibly blackberries or currants, and I can still smell the black tea in it.

I taste sweet strawberries as I sip this tea. Similar to a strawberry cream scone we have at a nearby bakery; a sweet bakery strawberry rather than a ripe fresh strawberry. There is a hint of darker berry to the undertones of this tea. Something that makes it more complex than just strawberry black tea.

I would serve this tea over brunch with pastries and other sweet treats, or maybe as an afternoon tea. I enjoyed this sample, and am going back for a second mug.

You can purchase the Silver Star directly from the Red Leaf Tea website.

First off, I am a sucker for clever packaging, and the little pyramid single-serve boxes from Tea Forte just scream “adorable.”.  I pried mine open very gingerly so I could preserve the pattern—I work with fifth graders at my church, and I’m seeing triangular game pieces in the near future. For more adult purposes, the paper pyramids would make lovely little gift basket tuck-ins.

Packaging, however, does not a tasty tea guarantee–so I checked out the contents of the little mesh pyramid bag more analytically. First sniff—grape! Second sniff—more grape! Which made me curious: is a currant like a raisin or like a blackberry? The picture I pulled up on Wikipedia looks more like a grape-ish blueberry. So what does the tea taste like?

Grape.

This, however, is not a bad thing. It’s nice and strong and round and fruity. Furthermore, it’s what I call a forgiving tea—I got sidetracked and left to steep about a minute more than recommended, and it was just right without being bitter.

Tried half of my sample straight up and half on ice. I’m thinking the on-ice half will be worth a repeat this summer when the temps start to climb.

You can purchase the Black Currant directly from the Tea Forte website.