Honeybush teas are not in the same league with Rooibos teas. Honeybush is sweeter and milder and IMO Better than Rooibos teas. With honeybush you do not get that woodsy after taste that is so dominant with Rooibos teas. I know what you are thinking: Why is she going about the difference between Rooibos and Honeybush teas? Because not everyone has experienced the wonderfulness of Honeybush. And because most people lump the two together as close cousins. I am here to tell you that they are distant cousins who rarely talk! This tea is my all time favorite caffeine free tea. The Honeybush is mild and pleasant to your taste buds and then you  taste the strawberries! Oh my, it is like eating strawberries ripened on the vine with a hint of an aftertaste of crust. Now, you can have your pie and drink it too!

If you like strawberries, you owe it to yourself to pay 52 Teas a visit. 52 Teas in case you don’t know is a tea tasters sensation. Frank blends up a new blend each week. These newbie teas are in liminted quantities. Some of his more popular teas make it into his permanent collection. Strawberry Honeybush Tea is one tea that is on the permanent list and for good reason…it is so darn good that you have to reorder frequently! Luckily shipping to the USA is free. 

You can purchase the Strawberry Pie Honeybush directly from the 52teas website.

Another day, another interesting oolong to try. This Taiwanese oolong is purported to be incredibly flavoured, with evolutions of flavour at every steeping. I start off by rinsing, then steeping this tea first for two minutes in boiled, but not boiling water. This first infusion smells sweet, slightly tart, and, in general, fruity. I often find that the leaves, after steeping, have a different aroma than the liquor itself. In this case, the smell of the leaves is far more buttery and creamy, in contrast to the liquor’s fruity notes. This infusion is super smooth, tastes very clean and fresh, and is reminiscent of apples.

Infusion number two, steeped for another two minutes, leaves the leaves smelling more vegetal than before. The flavour of the tea has evolved. Still fruity, there are now spicier notes of cinnamon, as well as floral tones that I had not noticed before.

Steeping this tea for a third time, letting it infuse for two and a half minutes. Still containing notes of cinnamon, the mild fruitiness is quite delectable. Four Seasons is a great name for this tea, as it evolves and changes like the seasons of the year, with every infusion. I highly recommend this tea for lovers of oolong, and I would give it a 91/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Four Seasons directly from the Tula Teas website.

Vanilla to me is a very round, soft taste and mint is sting-y and has a cool sensation. Chai is like an autumn spice. Rishi tea’s combination of these three makes for a beverage with a very minty aroma but not so minty taste. As a matter of fact, the vanilla and chai is somewhat subdued as well. No one element, vanilla, mint, or chai, stood out. It was one meshed up round, soft, confusing combination of tastes with no clear winner. I guess if I had to identify a “feature” taste, it would be the milk used as the base element. If pressed to describe the flavour profile of this tea, I would call it cinnamon milk.

Steeping instructions are to bring 1.5 cups of water and 1 cup of milk to a boil. Reduce heat. Add contents of package. Let simmer 3-5 minutes. Sweeten to taste and strain to drink. I did not add any sugar, but for those of you who like it sweet and prefer a more minty taste maybe we should do what many do with hot chocolate…that is, (add sugar to the tea) and use a candy cane as a stirring stick to add more mintyness. I know it works for hot chocolate, never tried it with tea though…maybe it’ll work! I would use the candy cane to stir rather than dissolve the whole cane in the beverage though as I find it will be too minty if fully dissolved. This may bring the perfect level of mintyness to an otherwise very lightly-minted tea. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer light to heavily minted beverages, but when everything else is so soft, you end up with a very confusing mix of tastes with no real one you can hang on to.

I think I preferred Rishi Tea’s Chocolate Chai to their Vanilla Mint Chai. Both are soft and round beverages but the former had occasional peeks of spice and other tastes (ginger, and pu-erh to be exact) to liven up your taste buds a little bit more.

You can purchase the Vanilla Mint Chai directly from the Rishi Tea website.

Sweet treat time!  Opening a Coco Truffle pyramid, can tell why it was recommended to me just by the smell.  Yum in a bag! Almost smells like a chai. It is a pure herbal blend, naturally caffeine-free, beautiful as a dessert tea.

Steeped it in boiling water for five minutes and the smell of all the spices are coming through, the cardamom scent is a bit strong though.  Tastes good but a bit weak.  Steeped it for three more minutes and the blend has balanced out.  It’s brewed a beautiful dark steep.  Truffle magic, here I come. Can taste and smell the cacao goodness now, like an exotic candy bar in a cup, this is really delicious.  This is the very best, zero calorie indulgence I’ve had in awhile.  I don’t crave sweets very often but I will be reaching for this one the next time I have a chocolate crisis!

You can purchase Tea Forte Coco Truffle Tea directly from their website, and in various high-end establishments around the world.

On the Mighty Leaf website this description is given: Bombay Chai with a melange of spicy notes conjures the steamy, aromatic delights of an Indian street market. Black tea leaves with subtle hints of Pepper, Orange, Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Clove make up our chai, the Indian word for tea. Bombay Chai is delicious when brewed fresh and blended with heated milk and sugar to taste.

Having recently given up coffee I drink Chai every day, as I find it is the only tea that has enough of a flavorful kick to get me awake and out the door in the morning.

When I tried Mighty Leaf’s Bombay Chai I found that it was pleasantly smooth and warm. However, generally Chai is distinguished by the bite of its spices, which didn’t seem particularly present here.

When I added milk I found that this overpowered the spices to the point that they were barely even noticeable. To me this tea seems to be suitable as a spiced black tea, but without knowing what it was I wouldn’t identify it as chai.

You can purchase Mighty Leaf Bombay Chai directly from their website.

I was very excited to receive a shipment of samples from Tea Forte. I have seen them in our local Chapters stores (bookstores along the lines of Barns and Nobel), and despite the high price, I was always intrigued by the different pyramid design of the tea-bags. Given the high price, I thought that for SURE it was a premium tea!

As I cracked open the box, immediately the Coco Truffle caught my eye, and I knew that would be the first review. So I dutifully opened my tasting notebook, and started observations.

First of note, is that unique pyramid design, with a stiff string and signature leaf at the top. It is unique, and different in that the tea-bag was a stiffer silk materiel, not too pliable. This allows it to stand in your cup, and you do not have to chase it around.

As with all tea-bags, I was dubious about the quality of leaf – but in this case there was no leaf to mention, as it is a herbal blend. You can pick out the fennel and licorice and cacao pieces in the tea, but I could not find hide nor hair of the cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger or cloves. I attempted to smell the tea though the tea-bag – but there was nothing of note, perhaps a vague chocolate-ish smell, but I really had to strain to find that.

Everything changed when water was added. First steep was 5 minutes with boiling water. As soon as the water touched the tea-bag, the chocolate was unleashed. Not your regular chocolate, this was a creamy, real hot-chocolate smell, like Mom used to make when I was a kid – not the powdered sugar kind! It was a rich and inviting scent that I could not wait to back up with a sip.

The taste of the tea did not disappoint. Chocolaty notes with a creamy smooth, almost silky taste. Heck, not chocolaty notes, it was pure chocolate. With the initial few sips I could not detect anything other than the cacao. but as I drank more, slight notes of fennel and licorice emerged. In this first cup, I did not detect the cardamom, other than a vague sweetness to the cup, nor did I detect any black pepper, ginger or cloves, which is a good thing as I think that would have given more of a chocolate chai taste rather than the amazing flavours that I had here.

The first cup quickly disappeared, and I decided to brew a second. This one was boiling water for about 7 minutes, to see if I could coax more licorice and fennel or a bit of spice out. The second cup did indeed have more of the fennel/licorice flavour, tho still muted and not overwhelming. The chocolate flavour all but disappeared, and still no other flavours. I would pass on the second cup, as it was more akin to a blandly flavoured water than infused tea.

This does not however, mute the fact that this is a truly excellent cup of tea. It would be amazing served as a dessert tea. The cost is very dear, at about a dollar per bag, however Tea Forte does offer it as loose tea in a canister at $15 for approx. 35 cups.

A truly gratifying experience, if this is what Tea Forte has to offer with all of their teas, then the rest of the Its All About the Leaf reviewing staff may never get a chance to even taste it themselves

You can purchase Tea Forte Coco Truffle Tea directly from their website, and in various high-end establishments around the world.