Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Blackberry’

Preparing to try out this herbal blend, the first thing that I notice in the smell of the dry leaves is “Hmmm, hibiscus.” After boiling some water, I steep one pyramid infuser in a cup of water for five minutes to prepare to taste the “nectar”! The steeping brew still smells a lot like hibiscus, but the raspberry and orange peel smells are noticeable as well.

The first sip of this herbal tisane is a massively juicy explosion of flavor. Tea Forte’s website had listed the ingredients as “rosehip, hibiscus, apple pieces, blackberry leaves, raspberries, orange peels, flavoring” and there is so much going on in the taste that I believe it has all those things and more. Thankfully, since this blend is called “Raspberry Nectar,” raspberry is one of the dominant flavors. The sweetness of the apple does come out quite nicely, albeit subtly. This would be a decent desert drink, especially if one is looking for something low in caffeine. On my personal enjoyment scale, I rate it a 72/100.

You can purchase Tea Forte Raspberry Nectar directly from their website.

I have a confession.  I consider myself an herbal tea fan.  Yet, I hate chamomile.

And a lot of teas, especially ones designed to soothe and relax, like to focus on chamomile.   So I used to convince myself  (on those nights where I’ve had a horrible long day and want a nice, mellow cup of tea  to help me relax) that maybe the chamomile won’t be so bad this time.  So I brew, and I relax, and I sip.  And then I go and calmly dump the cup out and wonder why it’s still on my shelf of tea.  Blech. 

This cycle continued until I found Sleepytime Vanilla.  This is an herbal tea, designed to relax you.  And it has chamomile in it.  And I actually like it.  The blend of mint and vanilla with the chamomile mellows the flavor, and enhances the brew.  As you sip, you’re first hit by the mint and chamomile, pleasantly combined, then the vanilla shows up with a creamy aftertaste.    The flavors play off each other, and remove whatever it is that consistently makes me go BLEA.

These days, when I’ve had a horrible long day and want to relax, this tea is the one that finds its way into my cup.  I sip contentedly, and actually gain that relaxation I am so craving.

You can purchase Celestial Seasoning Sleepytime Vanilla directly from their website.

OMG, this is the best smelling tea! Sweet with a wee bit of spice. As you sip, the slight sweetness of the pear lingers on the back of your tongue. The white tea base is very pleasing to the palate, not flowery (is that even a word?) like most white teas that I have tasted in the past.

This is a great dessert tea, it adds just the right amount of flavor to enhance your sweet dessert. I highly recommend this tea!

You can purchase Tea forte white ginger pear directly from their 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.