Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Tea Cup’

The dry leaves seemed to be more powder than leaves. The smell reminded me of cut grass.

I poured the contents of the package into my infuser basket, boiled my water and poured 8 ounces of water in my cup/infuser. I waited 5 minutes.

After brewing the smell of the leaves is sweeter. Licorice comes to mind.

In my sample the leaves were more like powder and even with my best fine mesh infuser, the particles found their way into my tea cup.

This tea is not totally undrinkable, but it was a close call on that point for me. With all the particles floating around in my cup and than the taste of valerian root, I did not enjoy this blend at all.

You can purchase the Serene Dream directly from the Rishi Tea website.

This is the first of three samples I received that I am trying from Tea Forte.

I love Tea Forte’s packaging for their bagged teas. They are in a nylon/mesh bag, with a bendable leaf that sprouts out of the top of the bag (which allows you to hook it over your cup while steeping).

The leaves look to be a good size within the teabag, and they have room to unfurl once the water hits them. I steeped this cup in 170F water for two and a half minutes. The wet leaves have a hint of sweetness to them, but I’m not getting much else in the aroma.

Green Tango steeps up a bright marigold with a greenish tinge. Getting the slightest sweetness to the taste with a bit of hay on the aftertaste. This is a very subtle tea. The cup finished quickly, but nothing memorable in drinking this.

Tea Forte describes this as having a “hint of the tropics with every satisfying sip” and states that it is a lightly steamed green tea with fragrant mangoes. I do feel a little tropical after drinking this cup, the sweetness and bright liquor make it feel very tropical.

I’m not sure if I’d purchase this tea, but I certainly wouldn’t refuse a cup from a friend.

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

Organic herbal blend, caffeine free.

5 Minute infusion reveals a medium brown brew.

The package is really neat, a silk pyramid filled with cacao, cinnamon, fennel, licorice root, cardamom, ginger, cloves, black pepper. After the 5 minutes, the silk pyramid is full except for just a teeny bit of space at the tippy top of the pyramid. What I really like about Tea Forte is the attention to detail, the pyramid is like a work of art with a cute little green leaf that wraps delicately over the rim of my favorite tea cup.

Smell after brew time is of cinnamon and chocolate (like a really nice expensive chocolate).

First sip revealed a hot cocoa taste with melted chocolate inside. This tea would make a great dessert tea and an even better before bed kind of drink.

Rich and yummy, a dieters dream come true… all the taste of chocolate with zero calories!

This is definitely going on my shopping list, good job Tea Forte.

You can purchase Tea Forte Coco Truffle Tea directly from their website, and in various high-end establishments around the world.

The sample of Sunrise in Tibet from TSalon came in a two-part clear plastic package. The lower compartment sealed in 25 grams of loose tea from the upper compartment that contained 2-10 gram servings of loose tea in organic fold-type tea bags that were also sealed to prevent the leaves from falling about. I liked the clear plastic because you can see the quality of the loose un-bagged tea. There were strands of orange-coloured safflower petals and chunks of mandarin orange peel among chopped black tea leaves and stems.

I checked the TSalon web site but found errors in the listing for this tea. The tea description promised notes of vanilla, cocoa, mandarin orange and thistle with an aroma like freshly baked cookies. Gamesters will know that Thistle Tea is used as a quest reward to immediately restore energy. As it turns up as an ingredient in Sunrise in Tibet Tea from TSalon, this may surely be a sign to drink this tea after your game quest.

I weighed the sample and the tea bags and then slipped the loose tea into another tea bag to enjoy at a later time. As I prefer my tea strong, I used the 10 gram tea bag in 400 ml boiled water at 212 F. for a 4 minute steep. As a standard measure for most flavoured black teas, use 2.5 grams in 200 ml of 100 degrees Celsius water for 3-4 minutes. I used a glass tea pot as I wanted to see the colour of the tea, and also I wanted to keep the tea warm during the full steep to ensure the flavours would be extracted. When making a flavoured black tea that requires a longer steep, use a teapot that holds the warmth well and use a tea cozy. If using glassware, set your tea pot over a trivet and candle warmer. Do not use a tea cosy near a open flame due to the risk of fire.

What does the sunrise look like? In a white tea cup, the brilliant golden-red tones of the liquor beam out at you, inviting you to sip in the good morning vibes. See photo. This is a bright cup of tea that gives off tantalizing scents of spice and vanilla. The chocolate tones were a bit lost. The taste is naturally sweet but there was a bitterness, surely not from the steeped tea? No, that would be mandarin orange and thistle bringing a tartness to this smooth in-the-mouth blend. Your taste buds will be stimulated and your taste-sight-feel-smell-senses become alert. This tea would cut through peanut butter and jam or even a bagel and cheese. There is a lingering astringency, a dryness in the mouth that would go well with the fats serves in a breakfast such as butter, cheese, home fries or bacon.

Dare I try a drop of milk in this morning brew? Yes, the bitterness rounded out and after adding sugar, I sensed a balance of sweet and bitterness. I wanted to have a Peach Danish pastry to compliment this tea.

Is there anything Tibetan to this? Probably not, but it is romantic and congers up visions of orange-red morning skylight over rugged mountains. You’d need a brisk tea to get you started in the morning there too. The thistle will certainly help get your energy going. This tea is very pleasant overall and is well suited as a compliment to a breakfast meal or with a sweet rather than as a stand-alone tea.

You can purchase the Sunrise in Tibet directly from the T-Salon website.

The dry leaves are black, small and wiry.
The smell of the dry leaves…smoke.
This is my first experience with a smoky tea. The smell from the bag reminds me of cigars.

This smoky smell is now very faint, almost pleasant. The wet leaves have unfurled quite a bit, you can see larger leaves that look brown-green in color and smaller leaf segments that are one tone brown. Looking at the wet leaves reminds me of a melted brown crayon. The texture begs you to touch the leaves, they are soft and velvety.

The brew is a reddish liquid that looks like velvet in my glass tea cup. Smooth taste with no bitterness, but that smoke is still there in the background waving his hand at my taste buds. If you like smoke in teas, then this could your tea. As for me, I am still on the hunt for that one perfect “gotta have it” tea for my cupboard.

You can purchase the Victorian Afternoon directly from the Mark T. Wendell website.