Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Pyramid’

Steeped in a Tea Forte Café Cup, with the spent tea pyramid resting on a Tea Forte tea tray, all the pieces were set to provide an enjoyable tasting experience of this mango flavoured green tea. Impeccable as always, the packaging of this individual tea pyramid infuser bag was clean and sharply presented. After heating the water to the proper temperature, I proceeded to steep the tea for only two minutes before moving on to tasting it. The aroma is light, and the mango smell is lighter yet. My guess would be that the green tea base is a sencha or something akin to it.

The tea itself has light forward notes with a strong finish. The mango is present but not very prominent. Overall the tea is not very impressive in its taste. Not wanting to judge it by first try, I steeped a second cup. This time, I left the tea pyramid in the water for three minutes. The mango flavour is now a lot bolder and broader. It complements the green tea far more than during the first infusion.

Overall, I think this is not one of Tea Forte’s better blends. However, for lovers of fruit flavoured green teas, it may be worth giving this one a try. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate it a 76/100.

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

Once again utilising my Tea Forte Cafe Cup, Tea Forte Tea Tray, and Tea Forte Tea Timer iPhone application , I start out steeping this tea for a recommended average of 3 minutes. It may sound like a shameless plug, but their app is great, and the Cafe Cup (with its specially designed lid) is perfect for steeping Tea Forte pyramid infuser bags. The leaves inside the pyramid infuser look very broken up. This worries me a bit, but not being one to judge a tea from its appearance (at least not completely), I wait patiently for the steeping to finish.

The liquor has steeped to a milk-chocolate brown. Nutty smells waft up from the cup. This tea smells quite nutty. In the aroma, there even appears to be some subdued cocoa notes. Taking my first sip, it appears that three minutes was long enough to steep this tea. Perhaps even a bit too long.

The taste is much smoother than the smell would lead one to believe. Unlike many Formosa oolongs I have tried, this one slips nicely over the tongue, ending in an expressive aftertaste. Robust is a good descriptor for this tea. Oolongs are known to be warming to the body, and this one seems to be the epitome of that factoid.

My tea time was enjoyable, thanks to this tea. It was a good representation of a decent Formosa oolong. On my personal enjoyment scale, I rate it an 80/100.

You can purchase the Formosa Oolong directly from the Tea Forte website.

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.

“A perfectly balanced blend of superb Assam teas steeps a great cup, morning, noon or evening. Enjoy with milk and a touch of sugar.” This description from Tea Forte sums up what I said when I first took a sniff of the dry pyramid and then my first sip “balanced and surprisingly mild for an EB.”

Two minute infusion time yielded a dark brown brew that tasted like it needed an additive. I reached for milk and viola…perfection in a cup. I did not add sugar, but if you like sweet in your tea then add away, this tea could handle whatever you throw in your cup!

This particular blend is made with different types of Assam leaves. This may be why I do not think it is very robust. My PG Tips are much more robust than this tea. The combination of the same type of tea results in a balanced brew, one that I am enjoying very much. Mild is the word I would use to describe this tea. The second and third infusions reveal a brownish red brew in my cup. As I sip this cup, coffee comes to mind: The richness of coffee. Memories come flooding back of “milk coffee” that is what my Grandma called the coffee/milk mix that she put in my bottle when I was a baby. I have always blamed “milk coffee” for my 5’1″ height!

I love it when teas invoke a fond memory. Holding a hot cup of tea reminds me of my Mother, thoughtful as she embraced her morning cup planning out the quilt she would work on that day. I am so glad the cooler weather is upon me, I missed holding my morning cup this summer. Thank you Tea Forte for all the nice memories this morning!

You can purchase the English Breakfast directly from the Tea Forte website.

English breakfast labels are slapped on such a wide variety of teas–from blecchy generic bagged leaf clippings to good quality full-leaf Ceylons and Assams–that you never really know what to expect when you try one. Even the commonly accepted definition of English breakfast is a little vague: “full, robust, takes milk and sugar well.” Fortunately, with Tea Forte’s translation of that definition, you are getting a nice, hefty blend of Assam teas instead of generic hot leaf juice.

My sample came in Tea Forte’s trademark pyramid linen filterbag, which masked the appearance and aroma of the dry leaves a little bit. (Only as I type this do I remember reading on Steepster.com about somebody who actually cut the bag open and brewed its contents loose-leaf; duh–why didn’t I think of that?) Though the leaves were small, I noted some little gold tippy pieces–a good sign that what you’re about to drink has some quality to it.

Didn’t take long, with boiling water, for the liquid to turn a beautiful garnet red-brown. Steeped aroma was dark and red and rooty with what reminded me of sasparilla dancing around in the background. Steeped flavor was rich with a little bitter bite. The bite lingers on the tongue if you prefer your EB’s straight up; if not, a teeny bit of milk tames it without dulling the flavor.

All in all, a jolly good premium blend for a tea-ophile’s collection.

You can purchase the English Breakfast directly from the Tea Forte website.