Tea Tasting: Tea Forte's Orchid Vanilla

 There are shades of vanilla flavoring -- sometimes it's floral, sometimes it's warm and honey-toned like sugar cookies.  Tea Forte's Orchid Vanilla tends towards the floral, but it's not so flowery that it becomes unpleasant.  It put me in mind of the orchid gardens in Hawaii.  The black tea underneath the vanilla is good and rich, supplying a satisfying base for the vanilla.   It's not my favorite vanilla tea, but it's very very good and warms my soul as we slide towards the cold time of year.   I recommend it as a worthy A- tea.

Tea & Absinthe's Elixir of Wisdom (Ravenclaw)

 The Elixir of Wisdom (Ravenclaw) from Tea & Absinthe is a black Ceylon tea with mallow petals, jasmine petals, lychee pieces.  It doesn't have a particularly strong aroma or flavor apart from the tea.  The jasmine presents itself as a slight aftertaste.  For me, that's all to the good because I don't like a heavy hand with jasmine.  If there's lychee in here, I don't taste it at all or get any sweetness out of it.  Overall, the tea is pleasant but unremarkable.  A solid B tea.

I've finished the sample that was sent to me and, while it was a nice enough morning drink on the first cool day of September, I'm unlikely to order it again.

Guest Review: The Making of a Minty Franken-Tea

Today's guest review is from my friend Lilie:

I like iced teas when it's warm out, and I love a good minty iced tea. In the summer that cool flavor really helps. A few years back I discovered Inko's Hint-O-Mint unsweetened, which hit that perfect spot. White tea, with just a cool hint of mint. I could chug that forever when it's hot out. 

The shelves at my local grocery have been bare of this summer treat this year (*pout pout*). I was getting pretty desperate. And desperate people often do weird things to tea.

Couple of weeks ago I stumbled across Yogi Peppermint tea. Yogi? Well - turns out the company does 'medicinal' teas - no-caffeine herbal stuff. Tasted warm, it does soothe the tummy. But I knew it was NOT going to hit that iced-tea spot I was looking for. 

So what to do? My tea-shelf had the answer. A canister of The Republic of Tea plain Green Tea. Not white tea, a little stronger, but it would do. Cackling. I set the kettle to boil and put 8 of the peppermint bags in a jug with 6 of the green tea bags. Boiled water and 10 minutes later I strained out the soggy bags and put the concoction in the fridge to cool. 

And it worked! Franken-tea works! Just enough of the mint, just enough of the cool, and a minor hint of tea-tang underneath. Hubby thought it was a touch too tea-bitter for him, but I said just put a drop or two of honey in and you'd have what you want. Turns out, I was right. Nyah! 

So, I have my minty iced tea. Until Inko's gets its act together, muhahaha! 

Tea and Absinthe's Starry Night

Another Tea & Absinthe sample from a friend - this time it's Starry Night, a blend of black teas with almond and coconut.  I approve of this tea, with just a few caveats.

First of all, believe the steeping time on this one.  You want to steep it for 5 minutes to get the proper flavor.  Otherwise the coconut and almond flavors don't come out strongly enough to distinguish it from any other good quality black. 

Second of all, if you're going to use it for iced tea, either think again or double the amount of tea and triple the steep time.  It doesn't hold up to icing otherwise.

Honestly, I think this one is best used for hot tea anyway.  Fortunately, the weather here turned gray and cool and rainy enough that hot tea seemed like a good idea today and I was finally able to get this tea at its best.   The almond and coconut flavors aren't strong.  They build up and enhance the tones of the black tea.  This quality comes out best when the tea is hot.  (People who don't like coconut still won't like this tea, though). 

This is a solid B+ tea, definitely will buy some when I finish working through the many generous tea samples people have sent me.

Tea and Absinthe's TARDIS 10 tea

A lovely friend sent me a number of samples, including today's TARDIS 10 black tea from Tea and Absinthe, a geeky tea company.  "TARDIS 10" is, of course, a reference to Doctor Who and specifically to the 10th Doctor, played by David Tennant.

TARDIS 10 is a blend of black tea flavored with coconut and banana.  I was dubious about banana in tea, but you know what?  It really really works.  It shouldn't work.  But it does, it really does.  I drank it iced because it's dreadfully hot out in NJ right now, and I think it's probably best iced instead of hot.   The coconut is the strongest flavor element, followed by the tea flavors, with the banana lurking in the background waving insouciantly.   It's like a black tea daiquiri and I mean that in the best way possible.

I'd be careful with over-steeping this one.  Two to 2.5 minutes was enough, even for icing.  More than that and the tea notes are likely to get a little bitter.

I imagine this tea would work really well sweetened.  I'm going to try it tomorrow with the amber sugar so that I get the brown sugar/molasses notes.  I also imagine that this iced tea would work astoundingly well with rum, but someone else will have to try that experiment.

Addendum:  Yep, amber sugar works amazingly well, and I don't even like sweet tea most of the time.  I imagine Sugar in the Raw would get the same flavor.

Tiesta Tea's Passion Berry Jolt

A new tea company to me, another fruity black tea to try for making iced tea.  Tiesta Tea's Passion Berry Jolt is a black tea base with maté added for the "jolt" plus pieces of raspberry, pineapple and passion fruit.   It's darn okay.   It does, however, pack sufficient punch that a pot (3.5 glasses of iced tea) gets me through a 12-hour work day.  So that's a thing.

This tea needs a right proper steep to get enough flavor to hold up to icing.  Unless it's steeped for 4-5 minutes, it's largely flavorless.

The flavor is good enough.  It's generically fruity, without distinct tones of any particular fruit.  If I squint, I can get the pineapple and/or passion fruit.  This tea isn't bad, it's simply missing something that would make it really excellent. I won't go out of my way to buy it again.

Ahmad Tea's Mango Magic Black

In the summer, I like fruity black teas to use for making iced tea.  I'm very very pleased with Ahmad Tea's Mango Magic black tea for this purpose.   The underlying black tea is good quality.  It doesn't go bitter when I get interrupted by work and end up over-steeping it.  The Ahmad Teas website says it's a Kenyan black.  I've heard a lot of good things about Kenyan teas and need to try more of them.

The mango flavor is wielded with a medium hand.  It's not too sweet but it is strong enough to come out in the aroma of the brew even after it's iced.  Flavorwise, it definitely stands up to icing.  I can taste both the tea flavors and the mango flavors distinctly.  It's a summery and delightful drink, particularly welcome on gray, muggy rainy days like today. 

I haven't tried the tea hot yet.  It might be a little overly fruity side for drinking as hot tea.

Guest Review: Adagio's Honeybush Blueberry Pancake Tea

A great guest review from my good friend Karen V.

I happened to see this highlighted on Adagio's website the last time I was restocking my collection of Alys' teas (my namesake chai remains the only thing with dried coconut in it that I actually like). In a momentary departure from rationality, I bought 3oz. This... is a lot of tea. But, I really like blueberry pancakes, and for some reason it sounded really appealing at the time, even though I am not a fan of maple syrup-flavoring (real syrup is fine, but any other form factor is not).

"Staying in? Pajamas on? We have just the tea for you! Juicy blueberries and the yummy taste of maple syrup blended with our naturally sweet Honeybush tea make for a delicious anytime breakfast treat. Settle in and binge watch - Honeybush Blueberry Pancake tea has you covered! (Herbal Tea | No caffeine)"

It arrived, and I looked at the size of the bag and thought, "I really hope I like this..." Then I opened the bag, and... what is that smell? It's sort of like burnt maple syrup, not in a caramelized way, but in a charred-to-a-crisp sorta way. This is not promising. It does not smell any better on subsequent sniffs.

But! I will try anything once, and it was unlikely to cause me lasting harm. Besides, we all know that some teas smell and taste very differently. So, I waited until I just kind of wanted a cup of tea, not when I *needed* one, because if it was awful I didn't want to hesitate to dump it down the sink.

I wish I could provide an entertaining description of a spit-take, but the tea is actually quite drinkable. It tastes absolutely nothing like a blueberry pancake, with or without syrup. It doesn't really taste like rooibos, either. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but despite a good foundation in advanced math, I still can't tell you what that whole taste is. I can't pick out any descriptive words, other than "satisfying." It's drinkable, and moreover it is voluntarily drinkable. I've drunk several cups by now, and I like it. I just don't have any idea what I'm tasting. It's rather the same whether milk is added or not. I haven't tried sweetener -- it hasn't seemed to need it, and I'm a little worried it might highlight some syrupy notes. 

So, a solid 7/10. I'll drink the whole bag, and I might even consider getting it again. Usually I go for chai-flavorings in my rooibos, and this one has a totally different flavor profile. 

Nautilus Tea Company's Cherry Bomb Green

Nautilus Tea Company is a new company to me, so I was very excited to try to sample of their tea that I'd been gifted.  I really quite enjoyed it and I'll be looking into more of their products.

Cherry Bomb is a green tea with cherry (duh) and rose petals.  It's a wonderfully indulgent cuppa.  The scent of the blend is like dried cherries (no surprise, that's a major ingredient) and, when brewed, the tea echoes that aroma.  It's cherry flavor without being sweet.  It reminds me of the rick black cherries that I find in farm stands around here (NJ) in mid-June.  Under the cherries is a nice quality green tea that doesn't get too bitter, as some of the cheaper quality greens do.

Although there are rose petals in the tisane, I don't get any rose or floral notes in the tea.   If you're someone who likes sweetener in your tea, I imagine this would handle sugar or honey nicely. 

Coming off a couple of gray and rainy days here, this was a wonderful, summery treat.

Harney & Sons Royal Palace Tea

Having finished off some boxes/tins of existing tea, I was able to crack open my tin of Harney & Sons' Royal Palace Tea today.  It's a solidly good, but not amazing, blend of black tea with lemon and grapefruit notes.  (No bergamot, which is good because I'm still recovering from my last unfortunate run-in with bergamot earlier this week.)

The lemon flavor isn't too heavy and the grapefruit tone makes a nice change from the usual citrus teas.  Even when I accidentally over-steeped (15 minutes!)  a cup, the tea didn't become bitter and the citrus flavors didn't become overly sweet or cloying.  That's a sign of good quality blending.  This tea will appeal to people who like the "Lady Grey" blends.  It doesn't blow my doors off, but it's a fine quality tea worth drinking.

Teadrops' Rose Earl Grey

A wonderful friend[1] send me some packages from teadrops.com   The site describes its product thusly:

Tea Drops are organic, pressed teas that dissolve in hot water. Think a bath bomb, but it's tea and 20% less waste than a tea bag. Tea Drops are made with actual tea leaves, spices, and lightly sweetened with organic cane sugar.

I am . . . dubious about the concept.  I am concerned that I'm looking at slightly dressed up powdered iced tea mix circa 1977.  But hey, it could work.

Today, I tried the Rose Earl Grey and, unfortunately, I must report total and utter tea fail.  It can best be described as drinking hot potpourri, or what I imagine it would feel like if an entire aisle of Bath & Body Works invaded my mouth.  The bergamot is too far heavy, the rose is too chemically, and the sweetening is overpowering.   "Lightly sweetened" my ass.   Plus, this tea brew is grainy.  I've consumed a fair number of tea leaves in my tea-drinking life, but grainy tea?  It's not supposed to be grainy.

I now have half a cup of this dreck on my desk and I'm wondering what to do with it.

Hmmm. I wonder how it would taste if I cut this hot mess 50/50 with unsweetened strong back tea.

A few minutes later:  mixing the teadrop brew 50/50 with very strong black tea (Twinings Darjeeling) makes the whole thing drinkable.  It dials down both the sweetness and the overwhelming bergamot.  The rose tones are still too artificial for me.  However, it's drinkable enough that if there are any more these drops in the box, I know how to make them acceptable caffeine delivery devices.

If you like sweet tea, this "teadrop" is going to work so much better for you than it did for me.  Fundamentally, I want my tea to taste primarily like tea.  This didn't.

June 1, 2020:  A mix of the teadrop plus 2 plain black tea bags plus 1300 ml of water makes a very acceptable iced tea blend.



[1]  The awfulness of this tea is in no way a reflection on the wonderfulness of the person who sent it to me.  She's great.

Harney & Sons' Boston blend

The Boston blend is one of Harney & Sons' newer teas.  I'm pleased to report that it's excellent.

This is a caffeinated black tea with flavors of cranberry, almond and vanilla.  When brewed, the aroma is vanilla and almond and tea.  But the flavor puts all of these individual elements together into a very interesting, tasteful whole.  It's got a bare hint of smokiness and a taste that somehow manages to read in my mouth as "wood-paneled library with antique leather couches."  If Harvard or Trinity Church had a taste, it would be this.[1]

OK, so what does this really mean?  It means that, if I swish the tea around my mouth a bit, I can find the distinct notes of cranberry and vanilla.  The almond is in there somewhere but it seems to be bolstering up the other flavors rather than raising its own flag.  It's definitely not a sweet or fruity tea.

I really like it quite a lot and I'll be buying more when my sample runs out.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go listen to The Cars[2] for a while.




[1] As a Harvard Law grad, I highly recommend *against* licking anything at Harvard to see how it tastes.  Up to and including professors.  I was only in Trinity Church twice during all my time in Boston -- I can't say if they're more open to being licked.

[2]  Yes, they're from Boston. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cars)  And I like them way more than Aerosmith.

Tea Forte treats its customers right

As my readers know, I was none too fond of Tea Forte's Black Cherry tea and I posted my negative review to their website.

Yesterday I was e-mailed by Hizkia Larranaga, a "Customer Experience" person at Tea Forte, with the following message:

We are so sorry to hear you did not enjoy our Black Cherry blend. We will be more than happy to send you a Loose Tea Canister of a different blend that you would like to try, or if you prefer we can refund the amount for the item.

I wrote back saying that a refund or replacement was not necessary because I'd only gotten 3 single serving pouches of the Black Cherry in a sampler pack through Amazon.  I assured them that every other tea I've gotten through Tea Forte (including everything else in that sampler pack) has been excellent, so I am not about to stop buying their product.  (Plus, I drink weird teas that I don't necessarily like all the time because of this blog.)

Today, Tea Forte gave me a $10 credit on my account anyway.

So, to Tea Forte and Hizkia Larranaga I say a heartfelt "thank you."  Your customer service has always been great to me and this exchange reinforces my positive impression.

Tea Forte's Mountain Oolong

Tea Forte's Mountain Oolong tea is a nice, light and fruity oolong, very fitting for spring.  The aroma of the leaves before brewing is quite pleasant - a little orange, a little peach, a little tea -- and makes for a nice surprise out of the tin/bag.  The tea also does not disappoint.  It's bright and just a little fruity, without losing the underlying taste of tea.  The peach and orange elements play together well.   It reminds me a little of the "Lady Grey" type teas, where they dial back the bergamot from the standard Earl Grey blends, but the fruit elements aren't as strong as even that.  I wouldn't want to add anything to this.  It's balanced just right and sweetening it would kill it.

If you like Adagio's Peach Ooolong, you'll probably like this, although it's not as strongly peach as the Adagio one.

Guest Review: Republic of Tea Downton Abbey Estate blend

A guest review from Erika M.!  Many thanks to her for this!

With the release of the movie in 2019 came a new round of Downton Abbey teas from Republic of Tea, now famous among Downton fans for their character based blends.  (Note from Alys -  I love their English Rose blend and reviewed it here: https://alysteaparty.blogspot.com/2014/03/tea-tasting-republic-of-teas-downton.html)

Downtown Abbey Estate Blend features the Dowager Countess taking tea on the lawn on the label and names itself for the great estate itself. 

My usual method for drinking Earl Grey is with a little sugar and milk. This holds up beautifully to that treatment. The tea brews nicely from its signature round stringless teabag. It is light for an Earl Grey, and lighter on the bergamot than some in favor of a strong warm vanilla, but the bergamot is there, don’t worry. 

My first exposure to Earl Grey (that I liked) was in Ireland- drinking a cuppa very quickly as we got ready to leave each day on an outing. It was wonderful, and this tea brought me directly back across the pond. 

I would absolutely recommend this blend to all lovers of Earl Grey! I was afraid it was only available during the days of the traveling exhibit, but I am thrilled to find it is available on their website. 

For Alys's opinion of the same tea (albeit from 2016) see https://alysteaparty.blogspot.com/2016/03/tea-tasting-republic-of-teas-downton.html

Harney & Sons' Bangkok Tea

Harney & Sons' Bangkok tea was previously sold under the name "Green Tea with Coconut, Ginger & Vanilla."  I'm not sure why they went with the less descriptive name except to save ink.  As it used to say on the tin, it's green tea with flavors of coconut, ginger and vanilla.  Coconut is the most prominent flavor and aroma, so if you are anti-coconut, this tea is not for you.

I happen to be pro-coconut, so this tea works for me on multiple levels.  The vanilla and the coconut work nicely together, without taking on an artificial "creamy" mouth feel (I'm looking at you, David's Teas).  The ginger is very much in the background.   Apparently there's lemongrass in here somewhere, but I didn't taste it.

I like this tea a great deal.  It's tasty and warm and pairs great with Chinese or Thai food (no surprise, since that's the cuisine that inspired the tea).

Republic of Tea Cinnamon Plum

Today I'm drinking Republic of Tea's Cinnamon Plum black tea, which bills itself as a combo of black tea, cinnamon, natural plum flavor, sloeberries and elderberries.  The aroma isn't incredibly strong.  The flavor isn't particularly strong either.  The cinnamon is soft, warm, and cozy, not the blow-your-doors-off of, say, Harney & Sons' Cinnamon Spice.  The plum note is very very faint, just a quality of sweetness that offsets the natural flavor of the tea.   In short, this is a black tea for people who like tea that tastes primarily like tea.   I myself would like a stronger sweet fruit note.

It's not bad, it's just not that interesting.  Likely will not buy again.

Guest Review: O-Organics Sparkling Green Tea

From my friend Lilli Haicken:

Usually I am a roasted bean person, but there are times I want tea, and its generally something unusual I go for.

I was browsing in the local ACME store aisles, and came across something that looked interesting - an O-Organics Sparkling Green Tea. Sparkling? As in fizzy? I picked up the fairly heavy glass bottle, noting that the liquid inside bubbled as I did. It was a shade of soft green-gold, with lots of bubbles. The bottle's label had a stamp that said 'Product of Italy' as well. I decided to give it a try.

It sat in my refrigerator for a few weeks. Like I said earlier, I'm a roasted bean person mostly. Then I caught the flu that got through this year's flu shot. Argh. Between bouts of coughing, I reached for tea. Hot to start, to soothe the sore throat, but once that calmed down enough, I wanted something else. And the bottle of fizzy tea leaped out at me when I opened the fridge.

It pours nicely, like a fizzy drink should. Lots of small bubbles and soft hissing as the bubbles churn. On first whiff it smelled gently citrusy. When I looked further at the label, the ingredients listed include organic lemon juice. A first sip was startling. It tasted a lot like a lighter, more green ginger ale. The notes of green tea are there, very gentle. The fizz makes it feel quite nice going down a still slightly sore throat. Over all, it's a delightful surprise. Fizzy, bright and lightly sweet (yes, the label lists cane sugar as one of the ingredients, something I only discovered after drinking it).

I suspect it would go quite nicely with a warm pastrami sandwich.

Tea Forte's Vanilla Pear White Tea

Vanilla and pears are two of my favorite things, so I was excited to try Tea Forte's Vanilla Pear White Tea.  Fortunately, it lived up to my expectations.  Like most white teas, it requires careful preparation.  Over-steeping or using water that is too hot will ruin the fairly delicate flavor.

I don't get too much in the way of vanilla scent or flavor.  Pear, apple and ginger are the dominant flavors.  The brew has that warm, golden quality that I associate with the combination of pear and ginger.   I like this tea a great deal but I really wanted that missing vanilla piece.

I should see if I can get some vanilla honey.  mmmm  vanilla honey.

Harney & Sons' Valentine's Day Tea

I happened to be in Barnes & Noble for something else this week and saw tins of Harney & Sons' Valentine's Day tea on sale.  It bills itself as a chocolate tea with rosebuds.  Chocolate-flavored teas can be very hit or miss, but at the sale price, what the heck, why not.

I'm pleased to report that this tea works quite well.  It has the scent and flavor of dark chocolate, which seems to fit better with black tea than attempts at milk chocolate flavor.  The smell was incredibly strong when I opened the tin -- like snorting a whole Godiva box -- but the actual tea was pleasantly balanced.  I notice the rose elements in the aroma, but not in the flavor itself.   Even when I wildly over-steeped yesterday's morning cuppa because I got distracted, neither the chocolate nor the black tea elements turned bitter on me.   If you like tea that tastes like tea, you could certainly get away without adding sweetener.   Adding milk or cream and sugar will probably result in something close to rose-tinged hot chocolate.

Satisfying all around, even for someone who isn't crazy for chocolate.

Tea Forte's Darjeeling Quince

For Christmas, I received Tea Forte's Darjeeling Quince black tea as part of a sampler pack.  I'm quite fond of black teas with fruity notes, so this tea seemed the best one to review for the blog's restart.

This tea combines citrus, quince and hibiscus with a lighter black tea.  Quince is a fruit in the same family as apples and pears.  It usually isn't eaten raw but instead tends to be cooked and used in jams and jellies.   The aroma of the tea is primarily a citrus black, with a little hint of something that is probably the quince (because it definitely isn't hibiscus).  The taste continues the emphasis on citrus, with the quince playing second fiddle and the hibiscus thankfully coming in a distant third.  I wish the tea itself were a little stronger player, but that is likely a personal taste issue as I tend to love darker teas.

This is a solid B+ tea, tasty but not overly complicated.  It's also likely to be a good starter tea for someone looking to venture beyond basic blacks, as it's not too heavily scented or flowery.

We're back!

After almost a year's hiatus, Alys's Tea Party is back!  I'll be trying to post more regular reviews, recipes and other tea-related stuff going forward.