In which tea tries to kill me

I'm allergic to capsaicin, the chemical that is the active ingredient in chili peppers and other hot peppers.  Fortunately it's not a "one taste and OMG bring me my Epi-Pen and get me to the ER" allergy, but it's bad enough.   In self defense, I've become very adept at detecting peppers and chilis in food by scent and initial taste, without actually consuming any of it.

This evening I made some herbal tea out of the David's Teas sampler that I got for Christmas/birthday.  The tea was called "Sugar Plum Forest" -- sounds like it should be a sweet, fruity tea, right?   The description of the tea on the package says: "And this tartly fruity, lightly spiced blend is the perfect winter companion. Just one sip and you’ll have visions of sugar plums dancing in your head. Not to mention apple, hibiscus, ginger and warm winter spices."   So I'm expecting pumpkin pie-type spices with a significant helping of cloves and cinnamon.

When brewed, the tea smelled a little spicy, like the cloves I was expecting, but there was something slightly off about the aroma.  One mouthful later, I'm spitting the tea into the kitchen sink because I taste *chili pepper* in the tea.

Looking at the ingredients list on the sampler insert, I see: Apple, hibiscus, rooibos, ginger, licorice root, raisins, cinnamon, rose hip peel, plum, cardamom, star anise, bruised pepper, cloves, chili pieces, artificial flavouring.   [emphasis added]

WTF.   All the WTF.   Who puts chili pepper pieces into tea?

Someone who is trying to kill me, that's who.

From now on I am checking all of the ingredients in David's Teas because they cannot be trusted.  Harumph.

Tea tasting: Tea Forte's White Cinnamon Sage

Cinnamon can either be sharp and zingy, like a red hot candy, or soft, mellow and comforting, like cinnamon toast.   Tea Forte's White Cinnamon Sage is of the soft, mellow variety.   The cinnamon flavor is used with a light hand, the sage serves to smooth out the flavor.  There's no sharpness at all, not even in the aftertaste.  It's like a warm hug on a rainy day.

Tea tasting: Tea Forte's Honey Yuzu Green Tea

I picked up a sampler of Tea Forte green teas that included Honey Yuzu green tea.  Yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit.  In addition to yuzu flavor, the tea also incorporates grapefruit and orange flavors.

It's a complex and fascinating tea.  It starts with the slight sweetness of honey and then finishes with a distinct citrus flavor, all of it overlaid with a smokey quality.  It's refreshing and palette-cleansing.  However, it's definitely not a tea for everyone.  That smokey quality is going to turn off a number of people, and there's a certain grapefruit-like bitterness in the aftertaste.  But I rather like it, at least in small doses.

I'm going to try it with some buckwheat honey as sweetener to see what flavor notes that brings out.

In which Alys tries to love rooibos and fails

Rooibos is a "a broom-like member of the legume family of plants" according to Wikipedia.  Its leaves are used to make what is called "red tea."   I have tried and tried and tried to like red tea, but I'm ready to call my efforts a complete failure.

To my taste buds, there is something almost chemical and artificial about the flavor.  Red tea doesn't have the sharpness of proper black or green tea, and attempts to add fruits and other flavorings don't complement it as well as straight up herbal teas.  It tastes to me the way dyes smell.

My latest good faith effort to learn to enjoy rooibos was trying Tea Forte's Swiss Apple.  About the nicest thing I can say about it is that I did not rinse my mouth out after drinking it.  It's supposed to taste of apple, cinnamon and chocolate.  I don't taste any of those things.  All I taste is the rooibos and I just can't like that taste.   On the other hand, the tea smells amazing, so maybe someone who likes rooibos will find it appealing.