Tea Forté Friday – Bombay Chai
Name: Bombay Chai
Company: Tea Forté
Type: Black, Chai
Cost: $24 for 20 pyramid infusers, $15 for 35 serving canister
Tea Notes:
- Steeped in boiling water for 4 minutes.
- Aroma is a typical chai but not overly strong.
- Taste was incredibly strong by itself but mellowed out with soy milk and agave added (see below).
Thoughts:
I do not make chai often. It seems like more hassle than it is worth to me to steep the tea, add milk and sugar and make sure all the proportions are right. I would much rather just make a cup of tea and drink it without adding anything to it. However, since this week I wrote about spicy teas I figured it was a good time to try Tea Forté’s Bombay Chai. At first, I thought this tea was not going to be strong what-so-ever. I had to stick the infuser right up to my nose to smell anything and ended up with a nose-full of cinnamon. I recommend you avoid doing that. After steeping the tea I took my first couple of sips without anything added to it just in case this was a chai that didn’t need anything additional. It is not. This tea demands something in it to round it off. It has a very, very strong chai taste that is not very pleasing. So out came vanilla soy milk and agave nectar to join the chai in my cup. I rarely use regular milk for reasons I’m sure you don’t want to read about, so I substitute with soy milk. Once I added the two ingredients mentioned only moments ago the chai came alive. It was sweet and tasty though still a little heavy on the clove taste in my opinion. Not bad at all and was quite happy to have an enjoyable cup! While not the best chai I have had, this is definitely drinkable and has an overall nice chai quality.
The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.
Tags: Black Tea, Chai, tea, Tea Forté Friday, Tea ReviewHarney and Sons – Hot Cinnamon Spice
Name: Hot Cinnamon Spice
Company: Harney and Sons
Type: Flavored Black, loose
Cost: $6.50 for 4oz tin
Tea Notes:
- Dry leaves are covered with cinnamon powder and omit a strong but heavenly aroma of sweet cinnamon.
- This was steeped in boiling water for 3 minutes.
- Taste is sweet and the cinnamon is obvious. The black tea neither sits in the background or overpowers.
Thoughts:
This week I am featuring some spicy teas that are wonderful for the colder months but would be nice any time of the year as well!
I love cinnamon. Honestly, the more cinnamon something has, the better it is to me. I can eat atomic fireballs one right after another and never tire of the tingle they give my mouth. When I picked up a little sample of this tea from Harney and Sons and gave it a sniffy sniff, I knew it was going to be love at first sip. Hot Cinnamon Spice has a base of black tea with cinnamon, orange, and cloves mixed it. This is quite a bold flavored tea that is sweet and spicy at the same time. I don’t find this tea as strong as an atomic fireball but it has the same type of flavor minus the fire. The Harney and Sons website says that this tea “sets off miniature fireworks on the tongue” and I totally agree.
This flavored black tea is right up there on my list of favorites. The small amount of my sample is going to quickly be replaced with a much larger quanity because I love it that much. I think it will also make a wonderful iced treat for the summer months. Of course some people may think cinnamon isn’t something you want to have in the summer, but as a cinnamon fiend I don’t think there is ever a wrong time to drink or enjoy cinnamon treats. If you, like myself, enjoy the incredible power of cinnamon then you will be pleased with this tea.
The product(s) included in this post were purchased by myself or sent as a free sample along with a purchase.
Tags: Black Tea, Flavored Tea, tea, Tea ReviewNew Mexico Tea Company – Sandia Spice
Name: Sandia Spice
Company: New Mexico Tea Company
Type: Flavored Black, loose
Cost: $9.60 for 4oz
Tea Notes:
- Dry tea is a beautiful mix of tea, orange peels, cinnamon and rose petals with a subtle spicy aroma.
- Steeped in boiling water for 4 minutes.
- Aroma of steeped tea is similar to dry aroma but with a hint of fruit and flowers.
- Taste includes cinnamon with an interesting mix of rose and citrus.
Tea Thoughts:
This week I am featuring some spicy teas that are wonderful for the colder months but would be nice any time of the year as well!
Before I talk about the tea I want to clarify what I mean when I say ’spicy’. Coming from New Mexico I normally view the term spicy as meaning hot. I eat a lot of hot foods, which includes the wonderful and amazing green chile, but when I’m talking about spicy tea I am referring to the spicy qualities of a chai. That said, Sandia Spice is not a chai but can still be put in the spicy tea category because of the cinnamon. However, this is unlike any cinnamon tea I have had. There are apple pieces, orange peel, almonds, and rose petals in addition to the cinnamon bits. All of those ingredients mesh together with the black tea to produce a truly unique taste.
I found myself spending a lot of time with this tea trying to figure it out. After a whole pot of it this weekend I finally had to decide to just drink and enjoy it rather than pick it apart or analyze it. The cinnamon is obvious in the taste but there is an orange taste as well as a rose taste that peek out every so often underneath the black tea and cinnamon. It seemed like every sip tasted different and special. I happen to love teas that have a cinnamon punch to them, but this one is softer than other cinnamon teas and has such unique qualities that I can’t imagine anyone being turned off or afraid of the cinnamon in it. If overly spicy teas aren’t your thing, you might give this one a try.
The product(s) included in this post were purchased by myself or sent as a free sample along with a purchase.
Tags: Black Tea, Flavored Tea, tea, Tea ReviewTea Thoughts – Seeking Tea
I have always been on the lookout for local tea shops and know of a precious few, but I kept feeling there had to be more. Every so often I would turn to the internet to search for tea shops that I didn’t know about only to have my search turn up nothing new. However, this week I learned that one cannot always trust searching the internet for information. My mom talked to a tea drinker she works with and discovered not 1 but 2 new-to-me tea shops! And get this, one of them is literally right down the street from me! I could probably walk there if I really felt the urge to do so. I knew I was going to have to visit them so my Saturday morning started with meeting my parents for a lovely New Mexican breakfast and then I was off for tea shopping. I am thrilled to now add two more local shops to my list and came home with quite a few new teas to try as well as a few trusty favorites. Most of the teas in my collection are ordered online but there is nothing like going in person to smell and taste teas before purchasing. While I will continue my online shopping, it is nice to know and support local tea shops. So I challenge you to do some investigating by talking to other tea lovers in your area and find some tea shop gems of your own.
Tags: tea, Tea ThoughtsTea Forté Friday – English Breakfast
Name: English Breakfast
Company: Tea Forté
Type: Black
Cost: $24 for 20 infusers or $15 for canister (35 servings)
Tea Notes:
- Tried twice using boiling water with steep times of 3 minutes and then 1 minute.
- Aroma of liquor is typical English Breakfast with a hint of green bean. Color was dark brown with red undertones.
- Taste was very astringent and bitter.
Thoughts:
Tea Forté’s English Breakfast jumped out at me this week so I decided to give it a shot. The 1st time I prepared the pyramid infuser, I steeped it for 3 minutes which is the time I typically start with black teas. What I got was a cup full of bitter, incredibly strong, smack my senses silly black tea. I couldn’t even finish my cup because of the overwhelming bitterness. It also had a very drying, astringent mouthfeel.
I always like to give teas a second chance by changing the way I steep them and have often found that a tea steeped a different way becomes something I really enjoy. Knowing that, I prepared this again the next day with a 1 minute steep time to see if it helped. I found that the tea was not as strong but it was still very astringent and an odd metallic bitterness was now present. So instead of the bitterness being overwhelming it was now metallic. This tea is just plain not for me. Perhaps there are people out there who like strong teas with characteristics as this one has, but I am not one of those people. While black teas are quickly becoming more and more a part of my tea collection I still find some of them a little too strong. However, I am not going to let my experience with this English Breakfast prevent me from continuing my adventures with them.
The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.
Tags: Black Tea, tea, Tea ReviewCopco’s Total Tea – Snap Open Tea Infuser
Name: Snap Open Tea Infuser
Company: Copco
Cost: $9.99
Thoughts:
I have a couple of infusers lying around that I do occasionally use when I want a quick cup of tea. Infusers themselves aren’t bad but I much prefer to use something where the tea leaves have lots of room to move and dance. That said, infusers do have a place in my tea routine, especially at work. When I received this Snap Open Tea Infuser from Copco’s Total Tea line of tea products I immediately added it to my work tea area so I could put it to the test.
This infuser has two wings that pop open when you press the buttons on the side. These wings then allow the infuser to sit on the top of the cup with the basket suspended down into the water. I will go ahead and state right now that I wish the infuser was a little bit longer and wider to allow the leaves more room to move and more contact with the water. However, it still works as well as any infuser can.
When it is time to remove the infuser, the wings can be snapped back down so that they now cover the infuser preventing drips. This is a very nice idea but I have noticed that it doesn’t totally prevent tea from getting on the table so it is important to make sure you let the tea drip out in the cup as much as possible. The holes in the infuser aren’t overly large but they still allow small bits and dust to escape. If tea dust bothers you then I suggest you not drink the last couple of sips because with this infuser it is inevitable to get a little bit of a collection at the bottom of the cup.
Clean up is fairly easy and the tea leaves glide out smoothly with an occasional leaf getting stuck in one of the holes. I think all infusers have a certain amount of annoying cleanup involved but that just comes with the territory of using one. Again, for some of us there is a time and place to use infusers and so for an easy, modern, and fun looking infuser this one does the trick.
The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.
Tags: review, tea, TeawareCopco’s Total Tea – Stainless Tea Thermal
Name: Stainless Tea Thermal
Company: Copco
Cost: $14.99
Thoughts:
I am always on the look out for ways to enjoy tea outside of my home so I was really excited to receive this travel thermos from Copco. They have come out with a line of teaware called Total Tea that is “a collection of solution-based products that address the specific needs of tea drinkers through superior functionality and forward design”. Upon opening the package I was really intrigued by this tea thermal. It is quite modern and innovative which might or might not appeal to some people. As for myself, I was drawn to it. The first thing I did was take it apart and found that it had 4 main components: the base where the liquid is held, the lid, the infuser basket, and the lid for the infuser basket.
There are many on the go tea products out there that include an infusing basket but this one is really unique. It features a mechanism that enables you to stop infusing the tea leaves. I will try to explain this as best as I can, but basically the basket goes into the lid of the thermos and has three options of where to turn it. ‘In/Out’ is the choice you want when you are taking the basket in or out of the thermos. The ‘Steep’ option allows the tea leaves to be exposed to the water through the little holes in the infuser. ‘Stop’ turns the basket so the holes and leaves are no longer in contact with the water.
For the most part I find this thermos easy to use, though the nob on the lid is a little hard to turn and grab a hold of especially if you have long nails. My major complaint is the size of the infuser basket. It is tiny! Take a look at the 1st picture above to see how small it is compared to the thermos itself! Since the thermos is 16oz you need to use a good amount of tea leaves and I really feel there is not enough room in the infuser to do the leaves justice. I found myself wishing it was at least longer because it doesn’t seem to go very far down into the water.
I think the idea of this thermos is nice and the design is on the right track. I have used it several times and even had success resteeping leaves by refilling the thermos with water and turning the infuser back to ’steep’. The only other thing that bothers me is I haven’t quite figured out how or even if there is a way to pour water over the leaves which is just my personal preference. To me it seems the only thing one can do is pour water in the thermos and then insert the infuser basket.
Overall, I think Copco has an interesting product that with a little tweaking could really become a nice staple for those of use that like to take our tea on the go. I enjoyed using it and will continue to do so because I love tea thermos’ and I especially like that I can stop my leaves from steeping without having to take the infuser out and then trying to figure out what in the world to do with it.
The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.
Tags: review, tea, TeawareTea Forté Friday – Chamomile Tisane
Name: Chamomile Tisane
Company: Tea Forté
Type: Herbal
Cost: available in the Tea Chest
Tea Notes:
- Steeped for 5 minutes in boiling water.
- Has whole pieces of chamomile and little bit of orange peel inside the pyramid infuser.
- Taste is sweet and obviously chamomile, but a little on the light side.
Thoughts:
I really love to drink chamomile in the evenings when I am winding down and no longer want caffeine. As much as I love it, I don’t drink it often because chamomile is in the same plant family as ragweed and I happen to have allergic reactions to ragweed. However, every now and then I treat myself to a cup. This particular chamomile has orange peel and a little bit of vanilla added to it which sounds like it would be a really wonderful tasting drink. I am sad to say that all I could taste was the chamomile and none of the orange peel or vanilla flavors came out. To top it off, the chamomile was quite light and not as strong as I normally prefer. I did enjoy my cup and I think this particular chamomile would make a nice, easy infusion since clean up is a breeze and all the chamomile pieces are contained inside the pyramid infuser. However, I don’t think I would keep this stocked up in my tea cupboard as there are other chamomile’s that I prefer.
The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.
Tags: Herbal, tea, Tea Forté Friday, Tea ReviewSteepster Love
One thing that makes me really sad is that I don’t have a lot of people in my life that share my love of tea so when I found Steepster last year I couldn’t wait to see it develop into a great online community of tea lovers. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you must! There are a lot of very cool features including a way to keep a log of every tea you drink and how you prepared it. But Steepster is much more than that. It is a community where tea lovers can talk about tea and how we incorporate it into our lives. A place where we can have virtual tea parties, keep a shopping list, discuss all things tea, and just be our tea geek selves! Some other great bloggers have written articles on why you should join Steepster, so don’t just take my word for it. Go see what they have to say too!
5 Reasons Why You Should Join Steepster – Lainie Petersen
Steep Your Tea in Some Social Media With Steepster – Michel Wolfe
Do You Steepster? – Madam Potts
Tags: Steepster, teaTea Forté Friday – Coco Truffle
Name: Coco Truffle
Company: Tea Forté
Type: Herbal
Cost: $24 for 20 infusers or $15 for canister
Tea Notes:
- Steeped in boiling water for 5 minutes.
- Aroma reminds me of a spicy hot chocolate.
- Color of the liquor is a nice creamy medium brown.
- Flavor of the infusion is an obvious chocolate taste with spice and sweet notes supporting it.
Thoughts:
I used to hate chocolate. Can you believe that? Thank goodness my tastes have changed and I, like so many people, adore chocolate. So it came as no surprise to me that I chose this infusion from the tea chest as my first review for Tea Forté Friday. The ingredients in this are cacao, cinnamon, fennel, licorice root, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and black pepper which might appear to be a very bold infusion but I assure you it isn’t overpowering or scary. As I was steeping this, I was shocked at the way it smelled exactly like hot chocolate. I have had other tea/infusions that had chocolate in them but sorely lacked any chocolate resemblance so drinking this and actually tasting chocolate brought me great enjoyment. I love the way the chocolate is obvious in taste but there is also something more too it. The spicy taste I mentioned in the tea notes is more of a gentle nudge of cinnamon, cloves, and licorice that comes from underneath, making them present but not overpowering. This infusion is definitely a treat and one that I would be more than willing to indulge in often.
The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.
Tags: Herbal, tea, Tea Forté Friday, Tea Review
