Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Peppermint’

Rooibos is something I’m mixed on. I’ve had some blends I think are absolutely amazing. And I’ve had some blends which really, to me, just taste like dirt. But this one I had to try because it’s chai. I love the spicy yummy flavor.

So, it was with some trepidation and some anticipation that I tried this blend. I followed the directions on the packet, and brewed up the chai. It smells amazing, absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, I’m not finding the flavor keeps up with the aroma. I find that the actual tea in spiced chai tea adds a low, base note that balances out the higher sharper note of the spices. This blend to me has all the high notes but lacks that balance that makes other chai teas so pleasurable.

I think if I were looking for a chai option with less caffeine, I’d prefer to have a decaf regular type of chai than this rooibos blend. This one, it just isn’t for me. However, based on my rooibos preferences, you may want to give it a spin yourself rather than just taking my word for it.

You can purchase the West Cape Chai directly from the Rishi Tea website.

Dry smell is nice and minty.

A 4 minute brew time yields a light straw colored brew.

My first sip leaves me screaming, “where is the mint?”

This is blasphemy. The Moroccan mint police need to called! Someone stole the mint out of this blend!

The dry smell was to die for, the brewed up tea was a total failure.

I was greatly disappointed with this sample.

You can purchase the Moroccan Mint directly from the SpecialTea Brew website.

As I peered into the sample bag, I was struck at the beauty of this blend. It needs to be stored in a glass container just to admire the tapestry of colors. Think miniature potpourri.

The smell of the dry leaves reminds me of spearmint gum.

7 minute brew with boiling water

Burgundy colored brew

The first sip is sweet and minty. I really enjoyed this cup of tea. Sweet, but not too sweet. The mint is nicely balanced with the other flavors.

You can purchase the PITTA BALANCE directly from the Shanti Tea website.

Inspection of dried leaf shows tiny bits of ginseng, berries, rosehips, peppermint, and dandelion. Steeping instructions are to steep the tea for 5 minutes in 8oz. of boiling water. Dried leaf smells of ginseng and steeped infusion was a dark brownish-yellow colour with more of a dandelion aroma.

There is a bit of a tang when you first put it in your mouth. I think on account of the berries, rosehips, and peppermint. Then comes the ginseng and dandelion giving a bit of a lemongrass taste, with the mintyness always in the background, and finally a lingering sweetness. I’m not too fond of the sweet and cool feeling left on my tongue after I sip it. I did not like the fruity sweetness aftertaste coupled with the ginseng and out of place peppermint. The peppermint and dandelion seems to interrupt and the ginseng does not go too well with the sweetness.

Just too much going on here. I could not finish my cup. It does have the detox factor going for it. A detox tea can increase your health, energy, and sense of well-being. It does this by removing toxins and contaminants from your body. But then again, I’d probably choose a different detox to drink. Last week’s Hampstead Ginger Green Detox, although not great, is better than this one. I prefer the grassy mellower flavour to this sweet mash-up of numerous strongly flavoured tea components.

You can purchase the White Ginseng Detox directly from the Rishi Tea website.

Not being much of a mint fan, in whatever form, be it candy, ice cream, or chocolates, Tea Forte has a tough job at hand to try to convince me that mint – yes, in the form of a tea is good. Well, I like citrus fruits so at least they have that going for them. Anyway, on with the review…

Dry leaf looks like the grade of a fannings, green and some brown, packaged in that familiar pyramid shaped teabag known to be Tea Forte. I cut open the 2 teabags I received (total about 3 grams) and steeped it in about 400 ml of hot water. I was pre-occupied at the time and by the time I returned to the water, it had cooled to 80C. Herbal teas should be steeped at 100C for 2-3 minutes. I knew I was going to get a sub-par tasting tea. There was a faint minty aroma, no hint of citrus. The taste was minty, not overly piercing mintyness but a softer mint. I did not detect any citrus taste. After the initial mintyness, there was a taste as if you were licking the back of an envelope – that sort of gluey-paper taste. Mind you, I think this was because of the low temperature at which I steeped the tea.

I tried a second infusion at boiling point and the tea tasted much better. There was no more of the gluey-paper taste and the mintyness was more light and tangy rather than stale if that makes any sense. I noticed that as the tea cools, the minty taste dissipates and you can taste hints of citrus. I prefer it cold rather than hot. As a hot beverage, I found that the citrus and mint did not complement each other very well. I don’t know, maybe because when I drink citrus I expect something sweet like citrus juices, because when I tasted this the sort of “lack of sweetness” coupled with the mintyness made the taste buds yearn for something that wasn’t there. It was missing an ingredient, maybe honey or cocoa shells or maybe even lavender. But then again, that could just complicate things…let’s leave that to the tea blenders shall we.

You can purchase the Citrus Mint directly from the Tea Forte website.