Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Fruit Flavours’

Ah, this tea smells tasty. The aroma of the dried leaf is very fruity, if also a bit floral. There are some spicy tones as well. It would appear the mixture is composed of rooibos, rose petals, and perhaps some dried citrus, among other things.

For my first infusions, I steeped a teaspoon and a half of this for five minutes in a cup of just-boiled water. The Shanti Tea website does not give many details regarding this tea, but judging by the fact that it has rooibos, I decided on the tea measurement and steep times. The steeped cup smells of sweet fruit, with big hints of apricot and citrus of some sort. The impression of the first sip is…subdued. Quite a bit of lemon and orange flavours, but not a lot else that stands out. More sips bring out the rooibos and mixed fruit flavours. They blend quite well, and the tea makes for a pleasant evening cuppa.

On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate this tea a 68/100.

You can purchase the African Carnival directly from the Shanti Tea website.

I love oolong, and I love finery, especially in the tea world. So when the chance to try this tea came up…an oolong, mind you, that is supposed to be one of the finest available, and available only in limited quantities, I jumped at the opportunity.

The dry leaf holds light, vegetal notes that are, surprisingly, reminiscent of a few white teas that I have tried.

The steeped liquor is a brilliant gold, with excellent clarity (the benefits of utilizing a glass vessel for steeping). It also has a darker aroma, more akin to darjeeling. Ah, but the first sip was nothing like drinking darjeeling. Light and fruity (what specific fruit flavours – I cannot quite place), the liquor slipped over the tongue easily. Incredibly soft mouthfeel combined with a surprisingly bold, yet not overwhelming, aftertaste to provide a wonderfully pleasant drink.

Steeping the tea again, for a few minutes longer (five this time), led to a brew of much the same strength and character as the first. I was pleased at the resilience and quality of this tea. I most definitely enjoyed drinking this and would certainly keep this on my list of teas to keep in stock. I give it a 90/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Extra Fancy Formosa Oolong directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

Steeping these leaves in a small, ceramic teapot, I would love to say that the smell conjured up old memories of camping trips and the like…but it did not. It was, however, a delightful aroma that wafted from my teapot to my nose. I steeped the leaves for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, a happy compromise when the website suggested 2-3 minutes. Based on my initial impressions of the tea, if you use the correct amount, then 2 minutes is good for a very light tea, and 3 minutes is good if you like your black tea stronger (as I do). Canton Tea Co’s website says that they stored this tea for an extra year to enhance the smokiness and fruit flavours, and I would certainly agree that this has been successful.

The post-steeped leaves are twisted and curly, reddish brown in colour. When I take my first sip, I notice that the smokiness of the tea has a certain subtlety, and the aroma is not overwhelming, as it can be at times with Lapsang Souchong. The tea has brewed a golden brown colour. The forward taste of this tea is light and smooth, while the smokiness dwells in the aftertaste. The aftertaste also contains almost-fruity notes, following the smokiness. These then meld back into a mellow smoked black tea flavour, which is light, almost like a darjeeling.

I would give this tea an 85/100 on my personal enjoyment scale. It was truly a delectable treat.

You can purchase the Original Lapsang Souchong Black Tea | Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

I was recently contacted by Zhi Tea about sampling one of their teas as an iced tea, part of a campaign they are running this summer. Being that I never turn down any kind of tea anytime, I was of course, more than happy to participate! I had the choice of 4 teas that they chose as capable of making great iced tea, the Ginger & Lime Green Rooibos, Berry Hibiscus, Turkish Spice Mint and Tropical Green. I chose the Berry Hibiscus, as I enjoy fruit iced tea a bit more in the summer heat, more refreshing.

I tried this tea 3 ways, the first was the suggested method in the letter that arrived with the sample, brew 5 minutes, double strength (2tsp/cup) and pour over ice. Then I did the same method, except with a tsp of sugar added. Finally, I did it “Arnold Palmer” style, mixing half and half brewed tea with lemonade. The following are my personal thoughts on the results.

Method 1 – boiling water, 2tsp/cup of tisane, pour over ice, drink right away. My first impression is that I prefer my iced tea really cold, and this method does not get it really cold. It cools it down, but not cold enough for me. The taste of the tea is what I expect with any hibiscus blend, that is somewhat sour. I can taste a bit of cranberry in the background, but the rose hips and hibiscus just overwhelm any other fruitiness. I did find it somewhat refreshing, and interesting that the sourness was not a powerful pucker, not completely undrinkable, just basically what I expected. Usually sugar can pull out fruit flavours, so that is what I tried next.

Method 2 – boiling water, 2tsp/cup of tisane, pour over ice, add 1tsp sugar, stir and drink. Now, I am not really a fan of adding pure sugar, but I did not have any honey or other sweeteners at hand, so white refined sugar it is. As I mentioned, you can usually coax out fruit flavours with sugar, but in this case, I still found that the hibiscus and rose hip overwhelmed the other fruit flavours, nothing jumped out at me. I definitely did not like the addition of sugar. I preferred the first method without sugar, as it did nothing to pull out flavours or mute any sourness. (I need a better word for sourness, it sounds so negative, and it was not an unpleasant sour – maybe add suggestions for this in the comments section for this post!) On to the third method – the way to make ANY iced tea amazing!

Method 3 – boiling water, 2tsp/cup of tisane, blend with lemonade, chill and drink. Now in my experience, this method will make even the most borderline teas an amazing drink. The lemonade adds a natural sweetness, and highlights fruit flavours, as well as mixing well with any green or black tea I have ever tried it with. In this case, it was a definite improvement, tho fireworks did not go off in the sky. It did bring our more of the fruit flavours, unfortunately that included the cranberries, so a more sour-ish kind of pucker. It was still refreshing throughout, and very drinkable.

As a first experience with Zhi Tea, it left me wanting a little bit, but honestly it was not unexpected. Any fruit blend with hibiscus and rose hips together is bound to be a little sour or bitter. In retrospect, I should have chosen a different blend to try, and that is 100% my fault on that. Zhi just provided what I asked for.

I did not dislike this tea as an iced tea, it was refreshing (definitely better cold than lukewarm), so if you are going to prepare it, then leave it to cool in a fridge overnight. The sourness was not as bad as I have had before, I do like a little pucker, but I would have liked more fruit flavours to come to the fore in this tea. All in all, not too bad. If I was asked to rate it out of 10, I would give it a solid 6.5, tho it is not as bad as that seems, just not good enough to reach a 7.

My thanks to Zhi Tea for allowing me to participate in this iced tea sampling, and hopefully in the future you will see more Zhi Tea reviews on It’s All About The Leaf!

You can purchase the Berry Hibiscus directly from the Zhi Tea website.

I was really excited to try this tea, as I have a love for white teas that is unfulfilled much of the time. Tea Forte’s website says that this tea is supposed to have vanilla, coconut, and fruit flavours. To start with, I am already a bit apprehensive about the coconut, since the last Tea Forte tea that I tried with coconut ended up with the coconut taste and smell fading away quickly.

Upon opening the tea bag container, I could smell the vanilla a lot. The coconut was very prominent in the scent, though the underlying hints of fruit (mango especially) definitely came through.

The website recommends steeping 2-4 minutes, so I decided to go for a happy medium of 3 for this first steep, in a single Tea Forte Cafe Cup.

While the tea was steeping, I thought I would inspect the packaging. Inside the cardboard tea bag container, I found a lot of tea dust. The leaves in the pyramid bag had sadly looked a bit crushed and small. I also found a couple pieces of tan fuzz in the container, which was weird.

Mmm, the smell of this tea is a delicious medley of fruit and vanilla and…barely any coconut. The taste of this tea is very fruity, but not so much that it overpowers the white tea aspect. Vanilla tones float along and mingle wonderfully with the fruit, and comprise much of the aftertaste. In fact, the fruit flavour is reminiscent of a tropical trail mix of dried fruit. One can taste the coconut, but it is not prominent at all now.

Truly, it is a delicious tea. I’m not disappointed at all. The smell is sweeter than the taste. As my friend who tried this tea with me said, “You smell the flavours more than you taste the flavours.”

This tea would taste excellent iced. It is certainly something I would recommend, especially for lovers of fruity teas. On my personal enjoyment scale, I’m going to give it an 80/100. That fuzz was just really strange…

You can purchase the White Ambrosia directly from the Tea Forte website.