A brew for 4.5 minutes, utilizing just-boiled water, results in a semi-greenish-yellow hued liquor – a very golden copper. The aroma in the cup is slight; the flavor is quite gentle, but tasty. The spices almost override the flavor from the teas, but not in a negative way. They also complement them, the green tea making a subtle appearance on the palate. The orange peel has a surprising amount of citrus flavor coming through, and it marries well with the green tea. However, a word of warning: a hotter temperature in the steep also tends to extract some of the bitterness from the abundant green leaves, and a decent amount of astringency follows up.

For anyone who might consider a typical Masala Chai to be too intense, this is for you. For those who like big, bold spice flavors from your Chai, you may not get enough out of this tea.

The dried blend consists of mid-grade leaves of black tea – thin, wispy and brittle segments of broken leaves – sourced from Sri Lanka and China, with bits of orange rind and safflower, plus natural orange oil. The aroma is tannic and pungent, with a sour but definitively citrusy vibe.

A 3 minute brew with just-boiled water seems to yield a satisfactory cup. The aroma has a toned down, but still very evident, citrus nose. The black tea flavor is dominant here, and while some of the orange taste comes through in the cup, a lingering basic black tea finish takes control here. I was hoping for something with much more “wow factor”, and the blunt lack of the blood orange flavor here is disappointing. This could be forgiven, were the tea leaves themselves something more memorable as well, but alas, I found the flavor to be merely average. The flavor gets slightly better, sweeter, and more intense as the cup cools, but I still found it to be unfortunately underwhelming. Perhaps it is better on ice, but I can’t attest to that since I didn’t try it as such.

This is a decent tea, but overall pretty forgettable and nothing I would go out of my way for. There seem to be several other blood orange teas on the market that excel at flavor over this blend.

My dry sample of this contains a number of orange peel pieces and small flowers. It smells more floral than citrusy to me and has a rather robust bergamot aroma that I associate with Earl Grey blends. I prepared this using water brought just short of boiling and infused for close to 4 min. Unfortunately, I found the cup to be a little lackluster as I had feared. The black tea base is fairly mild and really neither contributes to the enjoyment of the blend nor necessarily detracts from it. The Earl Grey flavor is average at best and a bit perfumey as suspected. This barely gives that tingle in my mouth that I associate with drinking a blend that has bergamot in it. My guess is that the bergamot used is not a high quality one. Further, I found this to be more floral than citrusy, which was somewhat disappointing to me.

Many times when I put off reviewing a blend for a stretch, I am pleasantly surprised as to how good it is. Unfortunately, that is not the case with this one. I found this to be a very average version of an Earl Grey. I really did not care for the perfumey aspect of this tea. The larger problem with this is that it is forgettable and not one that would send me out to Boston Tea Company’s website with credit card in hand.

The company know as Local Coffee + Tea is Florida-based (Gulf Coast) and they are committed to promoting local products and services, protecting local environments and celebrating local treasures.

Selby Select is the perfect winter/holiday season drink and is comprised Rooibos, orange peel and dried yogurt pieces. In every step of the brewing process the ingredients smell (and taste) like a Creamsicle. The liquor is an orange-brown color and places the orange flavor far back in the throat.

I steeped one heaping teaspoon of tea in eight ounces of water for five minutes. I tried this drink plain, with honey, with whipping cream and honey and with soymilk and honey. My 8.5 score represents my favorite way – whipping cream and honey.

I’ve never used heavy cream in tea before. Perhaps, subconsciously, I am trying to recreate an experience as a child and build the most Creamsicle-like drink possible. Now what might that tell you?

The Tea Palace is London-based company that has pretty wide range of offerings. I had the pleasure of trying their Sencha Aloe Vera previously and was pretty impressed with it. I have tried a number of these immune boost type herbal blends from different companies and with mixed results. They are all relatively similar except that some include eucalyptus instead of Echinacea. The thing that seems to distinguish one from another (other than price) is the mix of ingredients and quality of ingredients. This particular offering is ‘Commended’ by the Soil Association 2008 Organic Food Awards. I don’t know what or who the competition was, but it suggests that this might be one of the better immune boost blends.

It is cold and flu season right now so I have been saving this for a time when I am feeling a little under the weather. I woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning and am really hoping that I am not coming down with something. Anyway, I scooped this liberally and prepared it with water brought to a full boil and infused for about 4.5 min. I also added a bit of honey, which is good for sore throats btw. While I know that there are orange peels in here, it tastes fairly lemony to me. The ingredients taste fairly fresh and of a better quality than what I’ve experienced with some blends. This offers a nice punch of ginger so if you don’t care for ginger, then you will definitely want to stay away from this one. It is a plus when these blends have ginseng in them as it always seems to give me a little burst of energy.

One thing to note is that about a half hour after drinking this, I did feel somewhat better—probably due to the ginseng. However, the next morning I woke up feeling much better! Coincidence? Maybe. I would also say that I think this is one of the better versions of an immune boost herbal that I’ve come across. Overall, it tastes pretty darned good. Thumbs up!

This is the last of the samples that I was fortunate to get the opportunity to try from Tea Forte. While the results were somewhat mixed, they were overall pretty good and several of their blends received high scores from me I particularly enjoyed their Coco Truffle, Raspberry Nectar and Ginger Pear blends. In the event that this is first review of Tea Forte’s products that you are reading, Tea Forte is known for these pyramid shaped silken infusers that are quite clever and unique. If the cute little infusers don’t do it for you, they also offer many of their blends in loose form as well.

I think the reason that this is the last sample from Tea Forte to be reviewed is because chamomile is such a strong flavor that I kind of have to be in the mood for it—especially when it is the dominating ingredient. My cute pyramid infuser does indicate that is the case as it is loaded with chamomile and just a few orange peels. The aroma coming from the dry infuser is primarily of chamomile but there is a touch of citrus as well. I infused my pyramid for 5 min in water that was cut just short of boiling. The prepared cup is actually is better than I was expecting. While chamomile does dominate the flavor profile, it tastes is of a nice mild smooth chamomile. The orange makes its appearance on the finish and you can taste it most as the liquid leaves your mouth. There is just enough orange in this to give this interest and make it something more special than a straight chamomile blend. You have to REALLY concentrate to taste the vanilla in this blend, It is hiding in the background giving this just a touch of creaminess. If this were to be tweaked, then I would want a touch more vanilla.

All in all, this is very nicely done night time blend. While chamomile dominated tisanes tend to be a bit boring to me, this one is really quite good. In fact, it is one of the better chamomile dominated tisanes that I have tried. The ingredients taste pretty fresh and of a decent quality. I would have like this to have offered up a bit more vanilla in the flavor profile, but it is worth consideration regardless.

So I must have been asleep at the wheel that day that I requested this sample because I really don’t care for blends that are heavy on the hibiscus. Zhena lists the ingredients in this as Organic, Fair Trade Green Tea, Organic Hibiscus, Organic Apple Pieces, Organic Rosehip, Organic Orange Peel, Organic Licorice Root, Organic Compliant Peach Flavor, Organic Compliant Sparkling Wine Flavor, Organic Lemon Peel and Organic Freeze Dried Raspberries. These days, it is really rare for me to request blends that list hibiscus as the first or second ingredient. It is just too tart for me—at least as a hot drink. Even as a cold drink with a healthy dose of sugar, the hibiscus can’t be too loud or I won’t like it.

I prepared this using boiling water and infused the tea sachet for 4-5 min. I also added a healthy dose of rock cane sugar to the brew to try to cut the tartness a bit. This cup brewed up very dark red—beautiful really. As a hot drink, this cup was totally undrinkable to me. It just tasted intensely like hibiscus/rosehips and was very tart. I really could taste nothing else in the flavor profile. Since I already know that I tend to enjoy most of the fruit tisanes (though this is a green tea blend) much better iced, I decided to ice this. As a cold beverage, this is at least drinkable. There are, in fact, fruity notes of peach and raspberry. However, even iced this remains very, very tart—and that is with a rather healthy dose of sugar. Zhena markets this is as a Tropical Green Tea, which I personally find to be a bit misleading as there is not a drop of green tea to be tasted in this cup. I also could taste nothing of anything that would qualify as a hint of champagne.

I probably should apologize to Zhena for requesting this sample as I don’t think that my reviewing this particular tea is doing it any justice. I don’t care much for it hot or cold because of the total hibiscus domination. It you like fruity hibiscus flavored blends, then you will probably love this. This one might be a good choice for those that like hibiscus, but maybe not green tea as the flavor of the green tea is completely masked. Unfortunately, I personally didn’t care much for it. If you like hibiscus, then I would take my review with a grain of salt.