Violin in C Sharp

 LAST DAY OF THE CALENDAR!!! *Ehem* excuse me.  After not finishing my 2022 calendar due to health and taking about 7 months to finish THIS calendar as well, I'm feeling more than a bit of accomplishment here at the end of things. When I opened my final little door and discovered the name of this tea I was OH SO HOPEFUL that I was going to get something for Christmas Eve that tasted a bit like hot apple cider - but tea. The write up began to confuse me.  "Orchard-ripe fruit and berries infused with warm baking spices."  I say confused because... berries?  I was not expecting berries.  Still, I cued up Muppet Christmas Carol and brewed my cup.  No tea, just an infusion, which was a fine way to wind down at the end of my day. When I sipped my first sip, the berry flavor hit me first - and it was delightful.  I think it was a mix of cranberries and maybe blueberries?  Regardless, the berries gave the infusion a tartness that balanced out the swe...

 Oh dear. Chamomile. *sigh* There is a skit from YouTube comedian team Foil Arms & Hog called Tea Addiction in which one of the characters perfectly describes what chamomile tea tastes like to me.  He says that chamomile is just "water that's gone off!" and I wholeheartedly agree.  It tastes and feels like dusty water with no additional flavor to me.  I'd rather drink a cup of plain hot water. That having been said, when I read the description and it said "Egyptian chamomile by herbs and flowers" I was EVER SO HOPEFUL that "Egyptian chamomile" might taste different than the regular chamomile that I'm used to.  Or perhaps the herbs and flowers would give the tinsane an additional flavor so that it didn't feel both wet and dusty in my mouth. I was sorely disappointed. This went down the drain.  It was just regular old chamomile with a fancy description.

 I apologize to my fellow grammar nerds for putting the tea flavour in all caps.  I had to compromise between copy/pasting the name from the Tea Forte website in all caps or neglecting to add the accents since I don't have the keyboard knowhow to type that stuff in on my own.  I know how to do it on my phone, but not on my desktop.  I'll learn one day, but today is not that day. Right then, PEACH BRÛLÉE (God that's annoying, I will do my best to avoid naming the tea as much as possible in the body of this review to avoid all those jarring caps).   "A refreshing juicy-sweet tea, lush with marigold flowers and mango" .... ho boy.  I've already told my regular readers how I feel about peach as a flavoring - I don't like it.  Adding more fruit doesn't tend to help as my palate finds peach to be an OVERWHELMING flavor.  This was no exception, no matter how much I wanted it to be.  Even having some shortbread with it to try and make it ta...

  When I first opened the little door and saw the title of this tea I said out loud to my kitchen "what the hell is White Ambrosia?"   As much as I love Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Russian Caravan and other like-named blends, new blends that have names that tell me NOTHING about what to expect from the flavour have a tendency to annoy me - especially in the morning before I've had my first cup of tea!  I acknowledge that this is a silly first world problem with more than a touch of hypocrisy and no basis of logic. So then, after reading the description on the bottom of the box.... "The flavors of rich vanilla and coconut complement delicate white tea leaves" I was... perplexed?  Slightly worried?  I'm not sure how best to describe the emotion - but it wasn't excited or overly hopeful for the blend.   White tea is such a delicate flavor that I was worried that the vanilla might overpower the tea altogether if the tea blender put too much in.  As for...

 I opened this at night and was sooo excited at the mere name of the tea that I saved it to drink as the start of my day the next day. I love orange in my tea, I love chai spices like clove and cinnamon too - especially in a good black tea.  I had high expectations for this blend.  So after reading the write up on the bottom of the box, I was even more excited. It was a nice dark black tea base with a lovely orange peel on the mid note and a zesty citrus hint on the end note.  The cinnamon added a familiar warm spice that I often get in holiday blends.  I've had lots of tea with that mix of profiles, and greatly enjoyed them.  The addition of the clove in this blend did some interesting things.  The warmth of the cinnamon was heightened and moved across the middle of the tongue instead of staying at the edges.  The tannins of the black tea were heightened in mouth feel but not in flavor - which is to say that I got the drying sensation on my tongu...

 I will take a moment to acknowledge that this review is a good 1/2 year late.  I have been emptying my camera of old photos to make room for the pictures I'm bound to take on my trip to Europe next week.  In doing so, I came across the photos I took to complete my 2023 tea advent reviews.  Thankfully, I had taken copious tasting notes on the teas, so even though the review is late, it gets to remain an accurate picture of my thoughts on the tea. So then, where were we? Oh yes - day 17! I have to admit, when I opened the little tree and found Green Mango Peach.... I was NOT excited.  Mango is not my favorite flavour, and Peach is even lower on my preference list.  In point of fact, for my palate, peach ruins tea as badly as chocolate.  Needless to say, I had VERY low expectations for this blend. The write up did however inspire more hope!  "The sweetness of ripe fruit, sharpened by peppermint and ginger" sounded delicious!  I was hopeful that...

 It's been a few days, but I finally had a morning where I had time to enjoy a cup of tea.  Only 7 days behind on getting to this one - oh well! White Ginger Pear.... actually sounds intriguing. Pear usually hits my palate with a nice level of natural sweetness, and I live how ginger spices up a tea, but I'm worried about the white tea.  Of all the varietals, I'm least familiar with white tea.  Mum says it's her favorite, but I've yet to drink a white tea blend that grabs me enough to want to explore it more.  All the white tea blends I've tried in the past have all hit my palate with an odd sweetness that almost reminds me of the aftertastes I get from splenda or stevia - but on the mid note instead of the aftertaste.  So, we'll see if the ginger spice manages to cut through the sweetness from both the white tea and the pear. Color wise, I don't know what I was expecting - as I've said, my experience with white tea is limited.  The lighter liquor wa...

  FINALLY!  A break from all those herbals! And to top it off - a chai!  My favorite!  Of course... a good chai is FABULOUS, but a bad chai is.... beyond heartbreaking. Ok... warming spices... the write up sounds promising... Ohhh... good dark color.... and I can smell the spices in the aroma.... this bodes well! First sip is mainly the taste of the black tea with a bit of cardamom and ginger on the end note.  The ginger, as usual, builds with each sip and made its way to the mid note on the second sip.  The cardamom stayed on the end note but the star anise and pepper showed up to the party in the end note as well.  Sip three had the ginger on the top note, the cardamom, star anise, and cinnamon dominating the mid note with the pepper and clove starting in the mid note and carrying into the end note.  The aftertaste was mostly on the back of the tongue and was weak tannin, pepper and ginger with clove hints traveling up the back of the throat to ...

Boy did I drag my feet in trying this blend Belgian Mint - the name sounds just fine, and I like mint Oh.... oh dear - dark chocolate?  The worst of all chocolates in my world.  I opened the tea bag box and it smelled like a Thin Mint cookie.  I realize for some people that this would be a GOOD thing.... but I happen to HATE Thin Mint cookies with a violent passion. I brewed it and for a mint based tinsane, it got pretty dark.... which made me worry that the dark chocolate flavor was going to be pretty strong. I got through the first sip - it wasn't pleasant.  It was like mint coated in semi-sweet chocolate chips.  The 2nd sip was worse as the chocolate got stronger.  The third sip made me physically gag from the combination of the heavy chocolate mint scent and the dark chocolate flavor swirling heavy in the mint water. I handed the mug to Jodie who finished happily while I took the salted caramel shortbread as solace to cleanse my palate and sooth my upse...

  Oh joy - a rooibos. Ok, so sometimes rooibos can be tasty.... sometimes - but more often than not I lump it in with honeybush as a sad weak tea substitute that only makes me crave a real cup of tea.  There are some exceptions - I have a lovely rooibos blend in my regular stock called Party in the Jungle which is a delightful cup, and my friend Brian used to stock an absolutely FABULOUS rooibos chai with spicy chili in it that I could not get enough of - but those are the exceptions and not the norm when it comes to rooibos for me.  This name - African Solstice - tells me NOTHING.  Time to look at the write up. Ok... now I'm full concerned.  Rose is such a strong flavor in tea for me.  Rose without a black tea to balance it... I would be tempted to skip this blend entirely except my roomate's girlfriend is down for the weekend and she likes florals.  So, I know if I don't like this, I can pass it on to her and she'll enjoy the hell out of it. The colo...

  This is another blend that it took me several days to work up to trying. I am not often a fan of either apricot or amaretto flavors in my tea. Amaretto flavor tends to hit my palate as almonds that have started to turn towards spoiling.  Apricot, on the other hand, tends to make anything it's paired with turn sickly sweet ..... I was not filled with hope. The color was a pale orange-y yellow.  My first sip... all I got was the fruity apricot hit to the front of my palate.  The second sip was almost like sucking on a warm jordan almond.  I took several more sips trying to get the flavor to settle instead of bouncing between the two extremes without the flavor actually being at all extreme.  I couldn't pick it apart, but I know I didn't enjoy it.   In desperation, I dipped in the little shortbread heart.  My next sip tasted 100% like liquid marzipan.  It was delightful!  I fully enjoyed the liquid marzipan tinsane ..... but then I f...

 I was predisposed not to like this herbal blend.  In all honesty, it took me days to work up the interest and willingness to try it. Blueberry Merlot just did not sound appetizing to me. The write up didn't make it sound much better than the name - mainly because sweet and sage are not buzzwords I enjoy in my tea. I didn't get a photo of the brewed cup, but the color was a deep rich burgundy that really did look like the color of a merlot wine.  That was the first thing that intrigued me and gave me hope.  I do tend to enjoy a darker tinsane more than a lighter brew. The first few sips were super heavy on the blueberry and not at all unpleasant.  In fact, I very much enjoyed it.  It was slightly sweet, but not as sweet as blueberry juice.  Whatever they had added for the merlot bit, gave an extra tang to the sweet of the blueberry that I very much enjoyed. When I added the shortbread round, suddenly my tea tasted like a lovely cup of mulled wine!!...

I admit, I did not expect much from this herbal.  I've had multiple Ginger and Lemongrass tinsanes in the past, and they never fail to underwhelm me. Most blends of a similar name, the lemongrass tends to mute the ginger to the point where there's no spice, and hardly any flavor except for that signature lemongrass aftertaste.  Because of that, this write up that mentions citrus notes, spearmint and licorice both confused and intrigued me.  I mean, it's called Ginger Lemongrass, but nowhere in the write up do they mention either ginger or lemongrass.  What the hell? The color was about what I expected - it looked like someone had relieved themselves in my cup.  Mmmm... so appetizing - not. So - let's go through the flavors in the name and write up to see what I could actually taste: Ginger - barely Lemongrass - only on the end note / aftertaste Citrus - nope Spearmint - not at all Licorice - nope So.... I've gotten more ginger flavor from when I dropped some pic...

  I was ecstatic when I opened the little door for the 11th.  YES!  I love Black Currant tea!  Now, not all Black Currant blends are created equal of course... .... and I must admit at this time that it wasn't the write up on the bottom of the box that gave me the confidence to know with 100% certainty that I was going to enjoy this cup. The confidence and surety came from this: Yup, that's an ENTIRE box of this blend - and it's only about half full.  I've already enjoyed the first half of the box.  In point of fact, my enjoyment of this Black Currant blend was the driving impetuous behind choosing Tea Forte as my calendar this year.  I figured if they could make a successful Black Currant blend as much as I like this one, than 24 days of their tea would be an enjoyable journey. Because I'm so familiar with this tasty blend, I didn't bother to taste it straight off the steep.  I know from experience that I enjoy this blend with a touch of cream....

  Oh I was so happy to open the calendar to be greeted by this blend. Earl Grey is one of my favorite tea blends.  When done right, the Assam + the bergamot makes for a heavenly cup. Of course, when the balance is off, it can also be one of the most disappointing cups of tea to deal with.  However, all of the Assam blends in this calendar so far have been most enjoyable, so my hopes were high. I forgot to take a picture of the brewed cup, but the color was dark, yet not dark enough to be mistaken for coffee.  The color made me think the brew would be suitably strong, yet still having an overall mildness.  The fragrance was lovely, but not overly heavy on the bergamot.  There was no oily residue on the top of the cup either, which let me know that they hadn't overly oiled the leaves to get the bergamot blend.  I appreciate this. The first few sips were.... nice.  But it tasted - closed.  To be honest, most good Earl Greys do this to my palate ...