Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Tea Infuser’

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.

Tea Forte supplies whole loose leaf tea in these clever pyramid shaped infusers, which give room for the tea to expand as it steeps. It is a great brand for novice tea drinkers to try higher quality teas than typically offered at the supermarket and for tea snobs to drink at work without having to use a messy tea infuser at the office. Personally, Tea Forte was my first experience with loose leaf teas when I was visiting a Houston spa. When, after a wonderful massage, it was quite a treat to enjoy the bliss of my massage in a snuggly spa robe and sample the spa’s Tea Forte offerings.

According to Tea Forte’s website, blackberries and black currants flavor this tea. But this is not a tart and tangy tea as I would expect. Instead it has warm, cozy and sweet flavors without a hint of spiciness. As the tea cools slightly, mild berry flavor with subtle currant taste, becomes more noticeable. This is a smooth and not astringent tea. Although a teaspoon of sugar may be necessary to bring out the flavors, I found that milk is unnecessary to round out any harsh flavors that are usually present in a berry blend. Compared to other loose leaf berry teas I have sampled, this is one of the better options. I highly recommend this tea and for tea snobs, do not hesitate to try this one because it comes “bagged”.

You can purchase the Black Currant directly from the Tea Forte website.

I was surprised at the size of this infuser. It is small. When you see it online, it looks really big. Filling it to the brim gets 16 ounces in the infuser. In reality, you are only making 12-15 ounces of tea with this infuser.

Now, I have water and tea leaves in the infuser. I wait the prescribed amount of time depending on the type of tea. A word of caution here, make sure the cup you intend to use is large enough to hold 12-16 ounces of tea and that the brim of the cup is as wide as the bottom of this infuser. When the tea is ready, place the infuser over your cup and gravity does all the work. Thank you Sir Isaac Newton! When you lift the infuser off your cup, the mechanism closes. No drips.

Here are a list of pros and cons to help you decide if the IngenuiTEA is right for you:

Pros
It is clear, you can watch the agony of the leaves as they unfurl. And with it clear, you can easily get it clean.
With it being gravity fed, it is effortless to pour a cup of tea.
The IngenuiTEA is microwave and dishwasher safe. I personally would never put it in either appliance, but you could if you wanted.
This is great for using loose leaf tea to make iced tea. It fits right on top of my iced tea pitcher.

Cons:
It is plastic.
The lid does not come off, so it sits at an angle in the drain board.

I would recommend this to any tea drinker. It makes the using of loose leaves easy and fun. This is great for anyone who travels or wants to make great tasting tea at work. The IngenuiTEA is smart looking. It would certainly start a conversation about tea.

You can purchase the IngenuiTEA directly from the Adagio website.