Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Deg’

I just love the silken pyramids-so fancy! The smell is of spices: cinnamon and cloves.

A 3 min brew time yields red tones emitting from the pyramid. It looks like a sunset in my cup. Two dunks and now the color is dark reddish brown. The smell is comforting, the smell of spices being dumped into the mixer bowl..a childhood memory brought back by this tea! This tea is light in comparison to the way it smelled dry. The cinnamon and clove are the only one showing up to this dance. The orange tones are sitting this one out. It is a good warming tea. Good enough to purchase again, probably not, but I am looking forward to consuming the rest of these cute little pyramids.

You can purchase the Sweet Orange Spice directly from the Tea Forte website.

This tea from Shanti Tea is aptly named “Red Chocolate” as it is made of Rooibos (Red Bush) and cocoa shells. Rooibos is a herbal tea that grows naturally in the wild in South Africa. It is naturally caffeine-free which makes it a perfect beverage for the evening as well as for kids and expectant moms.

Right when you open the bag, your senses are treated with an aroma that is similar to red wine, on account of the mix of aromas coming off the rooibos and the chocolate. It smells almost like the liquor inside the cherry-filled chocolates.

When it is steeped the liquor is a lovely, bright, coppery orange infusion. The scent becomes very chocolaty, and at times if I smell it for an extended period of time, it can even become kind of heady. The taste, however, is not as it smells. It does not taste like liquor, so don’t worry you won’t get tipsy from drinking this!:) Rooibos is very forgiving; it’s hard to steep this incorrectly. As a matter of fact you can steep it for as long as you want. Extended steeping will make the infusion darker but it will not get bitter. I recommend steeping 1 heaping teaspoon per 8oz for 4-6 minutes with boiling water. It doesn’t taste like many flavoured teas where any one element of the tea stands out and overpowers the other tastes. The chocolate and rooibos blend well into a singular taste where you don’t know where one begins and the other ends. It is quite natural in this way. For anyone looking for unique, lasting aromas and subtle, natural tastes, I would recommend this tea.

You can purchase the Red Chocolate directly from the Shanti Tea website.

There’s a smell that you get from cold lemonade on a hot day. It’s the smell of sweet refreshement, a tang of sour and a scoop of sweet. It’s a smell of people outside at a country fair, sweating in unison, but happy to be there because of the gorgeous day, the riot of color and activity around them and the ice cold glass in their hand.

This tea – has that smell. The leaf for this herbal tea smells more lemony than lemons – it smells like the distilled essence of lemonade. And not just lemonade – but outdoor, perfect refreshement on a special occasion lemonade.

The flavor isn’t the same, it’s not lemonade, but it’s really good in its own right. It’s more lemon grass than lemonade, and has a warmer, mellower taste that the crisp, lemonade tang. It’s lemony, smooth and naturally sweet.

Hot, this tea is soothing and relaxing. Iced, this would be a summertime refresher. This is an amazing tea. Lemon-lovers, TRY THIS TEA.

You can purchase the Lemonade directly from the Shanti Tea website.

This is the first of three samples I received that I am trying from Tea Forte.

I love Tea Forte’s packaging for their bagged teas. They are in a nylon/mesh bag, with a bendable leaf that sprouts out of the top of the bag (which allows you to hook it over your cup while steeping).

The leaves look to be a good size within the teabag, and they have room to unfurl once the water hits them. I steeped this cup in 170F water for two and a half minutes. The wet leaves have a hint of sweetness to them, but I’m not getting much else in the aroma.

Green Tango steeps up a bright marigold with a greenish tinge. Getting the slightest sweetness to the taste with a bit of hay on the aftertaste. This is a very subtle tea. The cup finished quickly, but nothing memorable in drinking this.

Tea Forte describes this as having a “hint of the tropics with every satisfying sip” and states that it is a lightly steamed green tea with fragrant mangoes. I do feel a little tropical after drinking this cup, the sweetness and bright liquor make it feel very tropical.

I’m not sure if I’d purchase this tea, but I certainly wouldn’t refuse a cup from a friend.

You can purchase Tea Forte Green Tango directly from their website.

Today I decided that I could not resist the call of the Tea Forte Sweet Orange Spice. Tea Forte sent us 2 of their pyramid grande – Sweet Orange Spice, and Hazelnut Truffle. I have had the Hazelnut Truffle before (yummy!) but the Sweet Orange Spice was, well, intriguing.

As usual, the Tea Forte Packaging does not disappoint. There are 6 of their signature Tea Pyramid infusers packed into one large pyramid, with the good old leaf poking out of the top I love their consistency and brand recognition.

The minute I opened up the packaging, I could smell the tea. It took me all of a millisecond to make the association between this and Cinnamon Hearts. For those of you that know what I am talking about (that traditional Valentines treat) you KNOW what I mean, for those of you that don’t – go to the bulk barn (or similar bulk store) find them, and inhale. NOW you know what I am talking about!

The tea brewed up to a nice rich dark liquor. The cinnamon scent was muted a bit, but still there. I got the hint of cloves as well. The real shock came when I tasted it. It hit me like a sack of potatoes – SWEET! Not just the “tasters” sweet, a true sugary sweet. I had to check the packaging, and check my cup to make sure there was no sugar actually added! I never, and we are talking hundreds of teas here, never tasted a tea with this kind of natural sugary sweetness! Because I am a sugar FANTASTIC, for me, it is perfect.

As I run through the ingredient list – Black Tea – check, there but muted. Definitely not the star. Orange Peels – check – background “zest”. Cloves – check, enhancing the overall experience. Cinnamon – BLAM! This is the start of this tea for sure, and I think that the combination of the orange and cinnamon is the source of the sweetness.

As I continue to sip, the sweet all appears to be upfront, but the spice lingers. Top of the mouth, back of the tongue kinda spice, not unpleasant, but very enjoyable. I know that this is marketed as a Christmas tea, but to me it screams Cinnamon Heart, Valentines day tea!

Bottom line – get it, drink it, enjoy it. There is a lot going on with this tea, between the sweet start and spicy finish, but all that does not matter, as it is just a plain old enjoyable tea. Now excuse me while I go and hide the rest of the teabags so I can keep them all to myself!

You can purchase the Sweet Orange Spice directly from the Tea Forte website.