Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Sweet Taste’

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.

For this review I decided to brew this tea using a two-cup glass teapot. Canton Tea Co’s website suggests using 1 tsp of pearls per cup, which is difficult to estimate using pearls, so I believe I added about 35-40 of the small pearls to the teapot. Continuing to follow the directions, I steeped the pearls about three minutes, stopping to taste the tea after two minutes (the website had recommended 2-3 minutes).At two minutes, the taste really wasn’t very far developed, but I could already tell that this was one very sweet tea.

With the dry pearls, one could very much smell the jasmine, yet the scent was not overpowering, nor was it almost sickly-sweet, as some teas are that contain jasmine. The aroma of the brewed tea was even less bold and had an even softer nose, with only faint hints of jasmine.

Upon taking the first big sip, the tea flow smooth and thick across the tongue, and the fruity sweet taste of jasmine infiltrated my entire mouth. If a flower could be described as being delicious, this would be the epitome of such a description. The amount of jasmine is enough to lend great character to the tea, while not completely dominating it.

The website recommends steeping this for at least three separate infusions. I most certainly shall.

On my personal enjoyment scale, I rate this tea an 85/100.

You can purchase the Jasmine Pearls directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!

I was really excited to try this tea because it was my first of this type and my first tea from this company. I’ve never come across a Japanese green that I didn’t enjoy, so I was really hoping to love this also.

The leaves of this tea are quite thin and long with various shades of green from jade to emerald. The smell from the package was much like fresh cut grass, very clean and fresh.

The first time I brewed this tea, I let it steep for around 2 minutes with not-quite-boiling water. At first, it was pretty decent. It was nicely sweet with a taste of the honeydew melon promised on the package. There was a definite grassy aftertaste which wasn’t off-putting, but slightly grassier than other green teas I’ve had. Uh oh. As the tea began to cool, the sweet taste of honeydew disappeared and was replaced by a very strong, unpleasant grass stew.

Okay, I was a bit disappointed after this first tasting so I researched Gyokuro and realized that it is a quite sensitive tea when it comes to temperature. I tried the tea again, but this time I poured the water over the leaves when it just started to steam. Well before even the smallest bubbles formed. I also reduced the steeping time to slightly over one minute. Success!! I was surprised with a nicely sweet brew of a beautiful bright yellow hue. The honeydew melon had taken the lead and the slight grassiness served to balance out the flavors nicely. The flavor stays on the sweet side if you drink this while hot. I wouldn’t suggest letting this cool too much, unless of course you want to drink a cup of warm cut grass. This tea was quite good through two infusions when paying attention to the temperature of the water.

I cold-brewed the last of my sample and it really mellowed out the grassy aftertaste. The honeydew melon flavor was juicy and lovely. Truly delicious. If I ever come across this type of tea again, I will be cold-brewing it for sure.

I can see the allure of this tea as it was the most unique green tea I have had so far. However, since it is so temperamental, I can’t see myself drinking this on a regular basis. Overall, if you enjoy Japanese greens, you have to try this at least once. Just make sure to pay attention to the water temperature! (Or just cold-brew it!)

You can purchase the Japan Gyokuro directly from the TeaGschwendner website.

“Luscious, succulent raspberries highlight this ruby red hibiscus flower infusion. Pleasantly tart and extraordinarily sweet.”

Well, that about says it all! Tea Forte has become one of my favorite go-to tea companies for robust tasting teas. So far, they have not disappointed on any of the teas I have tried, and this one is no exception.

The second I put the unique (and quite neat!) pyramid shaped tea bag into the water, a bloom of red spread throughout the water, so deeply red I had to check myself for cuts! Then the scent hit me, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a raspberry tea I was about to indulge in.

Forget the ingredients list, this is purely raspberry, through and through. A tangy, mildly sweet taste of raspberries straight off the vine filled my mouth at the first sip, and lingered long after I licked every drop out of the cup! If you are not a raspberry fan, then this is not for you, as there is no doubt this is all raspberry, and nothing but the raspberry!

There is not much more to say, other than, again, Tea Forte delivers. I do have to say, that it is a little high in the price range for the bagged tea, so go loose if you are going to purchase it directly from Tea Forte. For my money, this is one I would actually consider stocking the cupboard with, as I can imagine that as an iced tea, it would be just as good as it is a hot tea, and a perfect refreshing drink for a hot summers day.

You can purchase Tea Forte Raspberry Nectar directly from their website.