Tea Forte

I’m convinced that whoever writes the tea forte descriptions has never tried the tea but is instead given an ingredient list.

Sweet orange spice… tastes like vienna cinnamon without the flavor boom. So there is definitely something mellowing out the cinnamon but orange isn’t an obvious flavor in the profile. Actually I thought this was an illusion to it being orange pekoe grade. Not that this tea had any orange flavor in it. So when I was confused by the game called "what is that tiny little flavor in the back over there somewhere? I’ll just look at the box… " I was super shocked to see that this is an “orange” flavored tea. When it’s cold you can taste the orange if you are looking for it in the cup. But it’s barely there.

Really I thought it was just a cinnamon maybe with a dash of some other spice (cough you know spice tea should have more than just one spice in it cough) like maybe a granule of nutmeg or clove or something. But no. It’s vienna cinnamon toned down by a molecule of orange oil.

A little bit of sugar brings out the flavor… but milk doesn’t really help it out. And milk with no sugar wasn’t very pleasant. So just a little sugar makes it nice. This is really a pleasant tea as I like cinnamon but it’s not named well and that tends to piss me off. If you like Tea Forte’s Vienna Cinnamon and you are at a party and they have this you will enjoy drinking it.

I drink my tea straight, no milk, no sugar, no honey, and this was a bit too much for me, the coconut was a tad bit over powering, if I had wanted a pinata colada I would have went to a bar.

As Im not a fan of cinnamon teas, my review should be regarded as having a predisposition, but I really didnt care that much for this one in general, just wasnt for me.

I love this tea, its sooo good, especially on a cold night after boredom has set in, and all you have to do is talk to people on facebook. The mint is an excellent combo with the citrus, the aroma is very nice.

Great flavor, great over all, if not the best bagged tea that Ive had, although I prefer Twinnings Lady Grey, as I am not really a fan of Earl Grey.

Revisited. I really wish this didn’t have the bloody hibiscus in it! Ugggg

This smells AWESOME prior to steeping…but…and I quote SUZI…

Ugh. Hibiscus. It makes tea such a bloody bright red

I’ll still try it…
the awesome aroma has changed into tarty/tangy/sweetness…not as awesome…

If one could buy citric acid in a cup…this would be it…pucker up folks! WOWZA!
Might be drinkable iced…if you had no other options…

Finished this cup in record time! Great blend of spices with rooibos, one of my favorites. Got a gift box from my mom as a gift and she also got a cute little red tea cup with an top that has a hole in it so the little tea leaf can stick out as it steeps. It’s all very cute, right down to the tea pyramid! Although I think Tea Forte is expensive, this is a really good tea and I may buy it next year since I think it’s a seasonal flavor.

I actually got this tea (along with two other types in a gift box) for my mother as part of her X-mas gift and she was kind enough to make a pot of it for my boyfriend and I.

I’m definitely tasting rooibos, which I’m not a fan of personally, but there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with it. It’s accompanied by a low-key, sweet, spiced taste. The spices aren’t super strong but they add a nice counterpoint to the woody rooibos. I’m also picking a distinct lemony tang, particularly on the end of each sip.

This is a great new take on chai tea; and while rooibos teas aren’t my perference, I’d definitely recommend this tea to someone else.

This is a berry-flavored rooibos with a nice flavor, though I’m having trouble placing the flavor of berry. It might be strawberry…or a blend. Unfortunately, I taste a hint of cough syrup in the cup :( I find all Tea Forte blends a little on the strong side, so maybe that’s it.

A nice mint tea, very refreshing and, of course, mint is good for soothing the body :)

Tried this one a while back, and I remember it fondly. I like the fact that the mango is subtle – just a bit of a fruit aftertaste and not too strong.

I’m not a huge fan of chamomile, but I received a Tea Forte gift box and tried this. It’s not bad – a good bedtime tea.

Drinking this now. Only steeped for 2 minutes and it’s quite strong, but the overall flavor isn’t bad. Will try to re-steep and see if it improves. The 2nd steep (for only 1 minute) was more palatable.

Tried this a while back and thought it sounded amazing! But… I couldn’t even finish my tiny little first teacup. It may be because I don’t drink tea with milk or sugar and prefer a natural tea flavor. This has an overpowering coconut flavor. If you don’t actually like tea, you might like this, but otherwise…

I think there must be a couple of different presentations of this tea, since one of the other tasting notes mentioned a tea bag, and I have a loose tea.

The tea smells very nice – strong coconut and vanilla scents. after steeping, the tea has a very pleasant flavour, with the same coconut and vanilla coming through fairly strongly. I do agree with one of the other comments that indicates that the other flavours were strong enough to mostly overwhelm the ‘white tea’ flavour in this. It’s still a very pleasant drink, though.

Second time trying this. The first time was months ago so any bias I had is gone.
First sip was nice and it did seem sweet and fruity and then it begins this descent into bitterness. Something about the way the flavoring agents interact make this tea work while hot… and degrade continually over time. Through the bitter buttery green tea flavor makes it through which is nice… except for the growing bitter.

The more I sip I think that the tea is astringent for a green which might be compounding the bitter problem. Did I mention it’s a little bitter?

Weird note:
Look at the infuser before you put it in the cup gauging how much the leaves are filling the infuser…. and then notice how much the leaves expand by the time it is done brewing… just wow. Greens I haven’t really ever noticed expanding like that as this reminds my of an Oolong amount of growth. NEAT!

I’m brewing a second cup for less time to see if it will be less bitter in the end with cooler water and shorter steep time…
And it remains bitter. The taste isn’t I burned my tea bitter though it is more of a citrus acid as a flavoring agent bitter. An orange that hasn’t hit ripe so it has that super acidy bitterness.

Brewed 3 min. No additives. Hot.
I’m trying out using about 8 ounces of water in the pot instead of the full 12 I usually use for tasting.
So hopefully weak tea wont be an issue.
…weak. but it’s a green.
Green tea taste to start.
mild mango sweet after taste.

Brewed 5 min. 1 Tsp raw Sugar. Hot.
The pepper in the mix I feel is misplaced. The rest of the blend is very complimentary but there is a bitter under current that takes me out of the pleasurable experience.
Chai shouldn’t have black pepper in it.

Brewed 3 min. No additives. Hot.
This is very well blended but I do not agree that it is so seemless you can not pick out the individual flavors. Which I wouldn’t consider a great compliment anyway. There is a citrus vein through the flavor of the tea that is effectively mellowed by the coconut and vanilla. The resultant effect is a smooth naturally sweet tea with a shimmer of citrus.
My only complaint is that the flavor is masking the tea. I can’t find a substantial under current of tea leaf flavor at all through the 3 flavoring agents.
But still. Mild. Not at all unpleasant but If they didn’t say this was a white tea I might have assumed a weak steeped herbal infusion.

So ‘Crimson Nectar’ was the third tea from Tea Forte that I tried, and the first that had a real noticable flavor. That’s the good news.
Now the bad.

Ugh. Hibiscus. It makes tea such a bloody bright red (actually, it’s more of a cough syrup red, not so much the red of blood, which turns rather brown as it is exposed to the air…but I digress, in a rather gross direction) and it tastes gross. Sharp. Thin. It stabs my tongue.

As you may have guessed, I don’t care for hibiscus one bit, and it is the dominant note in ‘Crimson Nectar.’ There’s also a taste of orange’s acidity, and a strange sweetness to the aftertaste. It’s like cake frosting, that aftertaste, a buttery vanilla that I don’t think occurs naturally anywhere on God’s green earth. It’s a heavy synthetic finale.

The teabag actually smells rather nice. I would totally buy a candle with this scent to burn. But ugh. What a shrill, shrieking cup this tea makes.

I have to admit that I am quite fond of the format of Tea Forte’s teabags. The cute little pyramid with the leaf poking out of the top…it just looks so cute!

After steeping for five minutes, I pulled the teabag out and set it aside. The tea is not as dark as I expected – a rich amber color – and smells heavily of cinnamon. My mouth is quite wimpy so I immediately set out to get a couple of ice cubes to add to the brew before my tasting.

It’s very light…I mean, I can barely taste anything but the cinnamon and the slight astringency of the black tea. Maybe the faintest hint of a citrus. I popped the tea bag back in and will let it steep a little longer; hopefully that’ll force some more flavor out.
As I’m waiting, I’m considering the source of this tea. My brother gave me a box of assorted Tea Forte flavors, but I wonder if it’s an old box? I’ve only tried two of the teas so far, this one and White Ambrosia, but the flavor’s been miserably weak on both blends. Maybe the teabags are just ancient and that’s the problem…

After steeping for another five minutes, the orange flavor comes out a little stronger but this is still dominated by cinnamon. I can smell cinnamon; I taste it when I drink…so I guess if you want a cinnamon tea, this is the way to go. It’s a little sweet and it makes the back of my throat tickle a little.

This is spicy and warming, but it just isn’t as…exciting as I hoped it might be.
Man, that teabag is cool looking, though.

The description of this tea sounded wonderful. From the package:
“A fine white tea seamlessly melded with vanilla and slices of coconut.”

Unfortunately, the execution is pretty weak. The little pyramid teabag is cute, but I’m not convinced it helps the tea steep any better than a regular tea bag. The brew itself has no flavor, and I can’t even smell the white tea, let alone taste it. It’s like drinking slightly dirty water – doesn’t taste pure, but it doesn’t have any discernable flavor. There’s a heavy aftertaste of coconut and cheap vanilla.

I guess if you’re aiming for a ‘seamless’ integration of flavor elements, this achieves the goal because no individual note can be detected in the tea. But man! The aftertaste feels very heavy and sticky in my mouth. It’s almost gross.

nice tea for relaxing after being super productive