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.

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.

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.

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.

Company: Golden Moon

Type: Black, loose

Cost: $12.99 for a 4oz tin

Tea Notes:

• Water used was boiling.
• Steep time of 3 minutes.  Any longer and I found it too strong for my tastes.
• Dry leaves are a mix of golden tips and dark brown leaves.
• Aroma of dry leaves is a very strong lemon fragrance.
• Taste is a good blend of black tea and bergamont/citrus flavors as well as some lavender coming through.  Smooth with just a hint of astringency in the back of the mouth.

Thoughts:
A little while ago I wrote a post about a shocking personal tea discovery and this is the tea I was referring to.  I had not tried another Earl Grey since I decided that I detested them, but being adventurous I decided to give this one a shot.  Golden Moon describes this as an Eary Grey that emits “a calming aroma and smooth taste” and I have to say that is a nice description for this tea.  They added lavender into the mix of a traditional Earl Grey and that could possibly be why I enjoy this tea.  It adds a gentle touch of elegance and helps to cut down the bergamont which isn’t as overbearing as it is in other Earl Greys (which is greatly appreciated by myself).  It is the extremely powerful quality of bergamont that has turned me off Earl Greys but I am really excited to have found one I like.  And I like it a lot.  I drank it non-stop for a week before I decided I needed to show my other teas some love.

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.

Company: DAVIDsTEA

Type: Black, Green, loose

Cost: $6.50 for 50g

Tea Notes:

• Dry leaves are a brownish black along with green leaves mixed in.  There are also apple and almond bits throughout.
• I prepared this using boiling water, 1 tsp of leaves for every cup of water, and a steep time of 4 minutes.
• The aroma of the tea is absolutely amazing!  It reminds me of a fresh apple cobbler.
• Color of the liquor is a medium orange brown.
• Flavor is delicious with hints of apple along with a cinnamon graham cracker crust.  Black and green tea mixes well with neither one of them being bitter.

Thoughts:

I really quite enjoyed this tea that is part of the DAVIDsTEA fall collection which includes some incredible sounding flavored teas.  It was a very nice treat that was sweet, comforting, and satisfying.  A great tea to drink this time of year as the weather starts to get cooler.  Imagine yourself wrapped up in a huge blanket with a cup of tea in hand and this is the tea you would want in your cup.  I think that it is very tasty and sweet on its own, but adding just a pinch of sugar adds to the sweetness for those of us whose sweet tooth can never be satisfied.

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.

Company: California Tea House

Type: Black, loose

Cost: $9.00 for 4oz

Whoa.  I knew before I got this tea that it is extremely unique, but I still wasn’t quite prepared for what I experienced.  Lapsang Souchong has the nickname ‘Campfire Tea’ and trust me, that name is well earned.  Upon opening my package of tea I was surrounded by the strong smell of campfires.  And I mean it was STRONG.  I could almost imagine myself in the woods as a little girl camping with my dad and brother.  I’m very fond of those memories, so it was nice to reminisce.

Despite the fact that I was lost happily in thought and memories, I was really, completely overwhelmed at the strong aroma of this tea and became nervous to try a cup.  Using a cup of boiling water and 1 teaspoon of tea leaves, I steeped this for a short 3 minutes.  The aroma of the steeped tea was still smokey, but not as strong as the dry leaves.  I steadied myself for my first sip and hesitantly tilted the cup back to let the liquor slink into my mouth.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t completely turned off but I am still timid about drinking this.  It felt like a campfire had invaded my entire being and all my senses.  I can’t say that I would drink this all the time, but I can see how some people love this.  It would be a very nice tea for the dead of winter sitting next to a real fire.  If I could find one that was a little less smokey but still had a Lapsang Souchong quaility, I think I would be happier.

The product(s) included in this post were purchased by myself or sent as a free sample along with a purchase.

Company: Golden Moon Tea

Type: Black, loose

Cost: $17.99 for 3oz tin

Tea Notes:

• Dry leaves are small, thin, dark brown with some golden colors.
• This was prepared using boiling water and a 4 minute steep time.
• Aroma was floral with a hint of a note that reminded me of bergamont.
• Color of steeped tea was a medium golden brown.
• Flavor was smooth, ever so slightly astringent with a floral bite that almost seemed to have a tiny perfume quality.  There was also some sweetness on the back of the tongue.

Thoughts:
I have been enjoying this tea with breakfast the last few mornings.  It seems to go really well with food because the flavor is strong enough to compliment food without getting lost and doesn’t clash.  However, I think this would be a lovely tea to drink at any time of the day and I found drinking it without food around is just as enjoyable.  The astringent bite to the tea is slight and even though I typically prefer teas that have no astringency, I am starting to realize that it isn’t so bad after-all.  To me it seems that this tea could possibly have a tendency to go a little bitter if steeped for too long so watch your steep times.

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.

Company: Tavalon

Type: Black, loose

Cost: $10 for 5.2oz

Tea Notes:

• Dry leaves are small, short, and thin.
• I prepared this tea by using boiling water, 1 teaspoon of leaves and a steep time of 4 minutes.
• The aroma is fruity and sweet. Smells a little like the fruit roll-up type snacks from the health food store.
• Color of the liquor is a reddish brown.
• Flavor is a distinct Ceylon taste with an undertone of sweetness. Quite astringent and the mouthfeel is drying in the back of the mouth and
  throat.

Thoughts:
I know there are some people who don’t care for Ceylon teas, but I quite enjoy them.  They are a simple, basic black tea to me and there is nothing wrong with that in my opinion.  Now that doesn’t meant that I think Ceylon teas aren’t unique because they do of course have their own special aromas and flavors.  This Ceylon isn’t bad but I find it too astringent for my tastes.  It would be a good tea to add a little bit of milk and sugar to, but I normally don’t do that.  I have a feeling though that there would be people out there who could appreciate and enjoy the astringent nature of this Ceylon.

The product(s) included in this post were purchased by myself or sent as a free sample along with a purchase.

Company: Mighty Leaf

Type: Black

Cost: $9.95 for 15 tea pouches

I continue to be impressed with Mighty Leaf’s products.  Their silken tea pouches are really wonderful.  They provide enough room for the tea to expand and you can plainly see that the tea is not dust.  I decided to try their Orange Dulce flavored black tea despite the fact that I have not always had good experiences with bergamont  flavor in teas due to the horrid Earl Grey teas I have tried.  When I first got a sniff of the aroma coming from the dry leaves I think my heart skipped a beat.  Orange Dulce is made up of Ceylon and China black teas and flavored with bergamont, orange, vanilla, and jasmine blossoms which all make the tea highly fragrant.

I steeped this using boiling water and let it sit for 4 minutes waiting impatiently to take my first sip.  I was pleased to discover that this flavored black tea is quite amazing.  If you don’t like flavored black teas, then stay away from this one.  It is full bodied and flavorful to the max.  The orange and vanilla are strong and mingle together in harmony.  I did not pick out the jasmine blossoms but I am sure it added to the fragrant nature of this tea.

For a flavored black tea, this is about as good as they come.  Couple that with the great silk pouch it comes in and you have a great tasting and convenient tea.  This has not gone bitter on me, has a tea taste, and the flavors are a perfect mixture.  I haven’t found a lot of teas that I truly dislike, but neither do I have a lot of teas that knock me over with love.  This one is darn near the top of that extreme and a tea that I am truly loving which is impressive for a flavored tea.

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.