Tea tasting: Tea Forte's Coconut Chocolate Truffle

A little bit of the islands seemed like an excellent way to celebrate my last work day before vacation, so I picked up a sample of Tea Forte's Coconut Chocolate Truffle black tea.   When first brewed, the coconut aroma is strong and delightful, perfect for summer.

I drank the tea hot first, then iced the second cup.  Both were excellent.  The predominant flavors are the coconut and the tea.  The chocolate truffle comes out in the aftertaste, a mellowing influence on the sweetness of the coconut and the bite of the black tea.   The flavor balance handles being iced without any loss of quality.

What the tea doesn't do well is tepid.   I accidentally let half the hot tea brew sit too long.  It had a very detrimental effect on the flavor.  So ice it or drink it hot!

Tea Forte Orange Jasmine Green Tea

Jasmine is one of those scents/flavors that has to be handled with care in tea.  Too much jasmine and you're gagging on liquid incense.   As a result, I'm very unimpressed by this tea.

All I get out of Tea Forte's Orange Jasmine Green tea is jasmine.  Really strong and overwhelming jasmine at that.  As in, it's going to crawl into my nose, beat me up and take my lunch money jasmine.  Like fourth season of Angel Jasmine.

The orange is fairly well-hidden.  I had to brew it a second time with the same bag to get the orange notes in the aftertaste.  I liked the second brewing far better than the first. Some honey also helped beat the jasmine back into submission.

 My takeaway is that this is a tea best briefly steeped, unless you *really* like jasmine.  I don't like jasmine quite enough. Having finished the sample package, I won't be buying it again.