Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Red Tea’

I found myself in the mood for some Chinese red tea and reached for this one. The loose leaves are full and black, mixed with bits of ginger. The smell of apricot was the first to hit me when I opened this bag, then came the scent of peach, then ginger. Perfect scents to fight off the rainy night. The brew turned red as soon as the water touched it and the apricot smell intensified. Steeped for three minutes in boiling water then I set it down to let it cool while I enjoyed the scented steam.

The taste is smooth like you’d expect with a red tea, unfortunately, the smell that drew me in is just a bit too intense for my tastes. I would have loved it if this tea had more ginger to balance out the stronger fruity taste. Looking forward to brewing this one up with some added fresh ginger….

You can purchase the Ginger, Peach and Apricot Black Tea directly from the Boston Tea Company website.

Inside my sample I find small, broken leaves with a few yellow marigold petals.

The dry smell reminds me of black tea with a hint of something sweet.

Two teaspoons in boiling water with a three minute infusion produces a rich brownish red tea. The taste is smooth but could use something sweet. My Mother’s apple cake fits the bill and greatly enhances my enjoyment of this tea.

The tea itself is pretty one dimensional. I think if it had more of the apricot pieces, the tea would be better.

The package that my sample came in was a plain brown wrapper. No markings what so ever. I brew most of my black teas for three minutes, so I took a guess for this particular tea. It is not the star of the show, but paired with something mildly sweet the end result is satisfying.

You can purchase products directly from the Shanti Tea website.

My first tea from T Salon and it looks divine. It’s a blend of roses, vanilla and almond with a red tea base. The Rooibos is clearly high grade, long and slender stems, mixed in with a generous portion of vanilla and almond. I’m happy to see rose pieces in the blend because I’ve had bad experiences with floral teas that are just scented with artificial ‘flavor’.

Brewing this one in my favorite steeping mug because it has a fine enough mesh to contain the rooibos. Steeping in really hot water for 6 minutes. Love how forgiving Rooibos is if I accidently over steep it (almost wondering whether or not it’s even possible to over steep). This tea smells incredible with none of the ingrediants over powering the others, perfect balance. It tastes mostly of vanilla but you can definitely make out the almond in it. I can smell the rose just enough for it to be enjoyable without being perfumy. Planning to spend the rest of today with this tea, inhaling and sipping and enjoying this blend. Would definitely recommend this one to other rooibos lovers.

You can purchase the Silence directly from the T-Salon website.

This smells like black tea, fruit, and floral. It’s a nice Reddish-dark brown. Taste-wise it is really good… a sugary-sweet tasting flavored black. It reminds me of Rose Marzipan from Teavana without the Rose…you know that candied-sugar cube in that blend…that is what the sugar-sweet taste reminds me of.  There is a floral back-end to it but NOT an intense rose…it’s a delicate type floral…very nice!  I would rate this one VERY HIGH on my LIKE to LOVE scale ANY day of the week!  What a great Flavored Black Tea!

You can purchase the Red Sunset directly from the Red Leaf Tea website.

I began by preparing this tea (in my Tea Forte Cafe Cup), following the directions given on the Tea Forte (steep 3-5 minutes using just-boiled water).

When I first opened the cardboard package containing the pyramid-shaped tea bag, I was immediately struck by the very sweet vanilla smell. It was delectable. The website lists that this tea also contains coconut slivers, and, indeed, traces of coconut were certainly evident in the aroma.

After steeping for three minutes, I decided to remove the tea bag and test the flavour. Upon removing the lid, I noticed the colour was an unremarkable brownish-red of black tea. Then I smelled the tea. The scent of coconut had all but disappeared, and the aroma of vanilla had actually deepened and taken on more muted tones.

With the first sip, I was disappointed. The taste of the vanilla was barely there. I suspected this might have something to do with the length of steeping time, so I put the tea bag back in for another minute. (On a side note, something I really appreciate about the tea bag design is the stiff string, making it easy to move the tea bag around.)

This additional steep complete, I tried the tea again. This time, the vanilla was much more prominent, almost spicy. The liquid itself remained wonderfully smooth. The spiciness was actually a delightful treat, tingling a bit at the back of one’s throat as the tea is swallowed.

Sadly, the coconut that was originally smelled when the tea bag was first brought out is nowhere to be found. This could just be on account of the fact that my taste buds are not very familiar with the actual taste of coconut (which, in all fairness, I have only tasted on rare occasions). The vanilla, however, completely makes up for this lack of coconut, in my opinion. It is certainly one of the best vanilla loose leaf teas I have ever had (out of a total of perhaps three to five, as my vanilla tea explorations have not ranged very far).

I would not call the flavour itself rich, but it is certainly not mellow. This seems to be the sort of tea that could be drunk, cup after cup, all throughout one’s day. And, with the caffeine it contains, would be an excellent stimulant during long work hours.

To test the stamina of the tea, I decided to steep another cup, increasing the steep time by one minute (to bring it to 5 minutes total). The aroma is less intense than before, as was to be expected, but the vanilla smell is still deliciously pleasing. The taste is still quite good as well, albeit not as intense as the first cup. The spiciness is gone, but the smooth vanilla flavour remains.

Over all this was a very good tea. If I were to purchase it in large quantities, I think I would opt for buying the loose leaf in a canister, to allow me to vary the amount of tea used per steeping (and also allow me to more easily steep a large pot of it at once). On my personal enjoyment scale of 0-100, I rate Tea Forte’s Orchid Vanilla black tea a 75/100.

I just have one final question, that perhaps a fellow drinker, or even Tea Forte could answer… “Why orchid, and where is it?”

You can purchase the Orchid Vanilla directly from the Tea Forte website.