Cucumber Mint

I plucked this from the traveling tea box. Originally i had passed over it, but went back to it. So glad i did.
The dry notes smell lightly, but so deliciously of cucumber and mint. It’s so fresh smelling. As it steels you still get the cucumber and mint, but also smells sligtly of… Ummmm….. marijuana :\
I accidentally let my water boil oops, then over steeped it… This is why I need a breville.

My first sip was really sweet. But that tamed over the next couple of sips. It delicious and fresh. Cucumber like and minty. Very nice. Definitely lovin this one.

It is slightly bitter and a little dry in the mouth, but I’m sure thats a result of my crappy brewing.

The bag smells gorgeous as soon as I open the packet. Again, I am reminded of Bath and Body Works, but in a good way. It smells so clean, fruity, and lightly minty. I’m also getting hints of lime. I wonder why the art on the packaging doesn’t show any blueberries, though. They’re a pretty ingredient! Wouldn’t that be something enticing to show off?

The liquor brews up to a yellowy tan and smells more strongly of spearmint than the dry tea did previously. The flavor is similar. Mint is the first thing I taste, followed by sweet cucumber and blueberries. Again, the green tea aspect is very muted and just barely there. It’s a little hint of sencha in the aftertaste. (But I’m a little weird about green tea, so this is fine with me.) I’m really enjoying this stuff. It’s something I can see myself drinking year-round. Again, I am impressed by Tea Forte. Eco Denizen will be seeing me again soon to get their little variety pack, I’m sure.

I also want to note that I’m getting a pleasant feeling in my sinuses from this tea. I think it might be the soothing effects of the mint? Either way, I’ll have to remember this tea next time I get sick.

I got this one from Azzrian!

I was a bit worried about this one. I don’t typically like cucumber or melon flavored teas, they just never seem right, somehow sour, like overripe fruit. I opened the bag and didn’t get much of a scent. Brewed up I can smell the cucumber and the mint, the mint is light.

The taste is a little odd, I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I can taste the cucumber, but it’s more of the cooling sensation that you crave in hot summer months than actual taste. It’s not gross or sour or anything bad, it’s just not what I was expecting. The mint is there, but it is, like the smell, light. I think the mint is spearmint, it doesn’t have that bite or herb-y taste to it that peppermint does. This is much sweeter, it might be part of the hint of blueberry sweetness I get in the tail end of the sip.

I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it. It’s good, but it’s different. It’s very true to cucumber flavor too, this is what surprises me most. It re-steeps well, I’m on number three. I think I may have to cold-brew a small mug of what’s left of the sample.

Thank you Azzrian for sharing this with me!

The awesome Azzrian sent me a sample of this when she saw it was on my shopping list (which is more like a “tasting list”). I love cucumber and I love mint, but this has mixed reviews so I wanted to try it out first. Now I have the chance!

This definitely sounds like a tea that’s best iced, so I cold brewed some last night. I’ve been experimenting with smaller cold brews recently, since I usually do huge pitchers but that requires a lot of tea. So I just made a big glass of this: 1 teaspoon loose-leaf, filtered water and a little simple syrup (since I like my iced teas sweet) and let it sit for 12 hours. I was worried it would be weak since it wasn’t a great tea to water ratio, but it came out fine! Crisp, refreshing, with strong mint notes and a hint of cucumber. I’d like more “POW” cucumber flavor, but that seems to be pretty hard to capture in tea-form. I have enough of my sample left for another cup, so I think I’ll just add some cucumber slices!

There’s also some subtle blueberry, which is nice but also weird since this isn’t “Cucumber Mint Blueberry” tea. It does add some nice sweetness, but it’s as prominent as the cucumber which throws me a bit. I don’t think it’s really a stand-out blend, but I do like all the flavors so I might consider buying this just for cooling down over the summer.

I have this in the loose tea form. Nice canisters by the way. A very good tea. Not strong, but noticeable flavors. As natural of a cucumber as one can get since a cucumber flavor can not be extracted naturally.
Slight blueberry in aftertaste is nice.
Mint is most predominant but not too over powering.
I will enjoy this during the summer months.
NOTE ADDED:
So I guess my info is way outdated! I did some research after reading that they do claim to use natural cucumber flavors. This is why I should do a refresher course in my aromatherapy training! They now CAN in fact do a cucumber extract! I am reading up more on this as back when I did my training this could not be done. Strange. UNLESS “back then” I was misinformed.

Wow. I am actually lucky to say that I seem to find all the GREAT mint teas, even though I am NOT a big fan of mint. But all the mint teas I have tried are wonderful!

Smell: Minty-cucumbery. And the cucumber is calming and not icky.

Taste: A smooth, mellow mint, kind of in mouthfeel (that cold feeling, you know?) but also mid-swallow and after taste. The first taste/hint is the cucumber, but again, it’s just this subtle taste and it isn’t, well, “vetegable-y.” Not a word, but best thing I had for the moment. So yes, I am very pleasantly surprised on this one. I really do like it. :-)

I drank this last night to relax. This is the second teabag I have had of this. I LOVE IT. I LOVE all cucumber teas I have tried For some reason – even though I drank it hot – this tea is very soothing. I liked it so much I went to order it online at the tea forte website. However, shipping is only free at $50.00 and I only wanted this one item. ALAS, I had a brainstorm! I looked on Amazon and they also had the loose leaf. With Amazon Prime I got it shipped to my house for free! YAY!

Has anyone else ordered tea from Amazon? I have purchased other tea forte items (kati cup) from amazon in order to utilize the prime shipping. Looking quickly I noticed some Art of Tea items as well as Teavana and Adagio on Amazon.

Back to this tea – To me this is calm in a cup.

Azzrian sent this to me a while ago, and I’m just now getting to it. I’m not really getting any mint flavor to it, which makes me think it’s no good. Or maybe I’m just expecting the mint flavor to be overpowering, and it’s not. Who knows. It’s just tasting like generic green tea. It’s definitely not bad, but I wouldn’t have guessed one of the flavors would have been mint.

Anyway, I’ll leave a rating off tonight. I’m feeling very “blah” and I’ve been sneezing up a storm. At first I thought it was allergies but maybe it’s a cold. It’s hard to tell this time of year :(

This is really nice. The cucumber is well-defined, the mint is more of an accent flavor. I don’t taste much blueberry until the end of the sip and it is especially noticeable in the aftertaste. But during the sip… not so much. The green tea is light.

Overall, I really like how crisp and fresh this tastes.

My first of Tea Forte’s Skin-Smart sampler. It’s… weak. I steeped it for three minutes but it might have needed more. The flavors just wasn’t as big as I’d have liked. I got the cucumber and mint flavors. The blueberry was minor and more towards the end. It reminded me a bit of cucumber aloe creams. I drank this hot, but it seems like it would be better cool or iced. Cucumber and mint are naturally cool flavors so maybe an ice cube would have helped.

On another note… Tea bags? It’s a beauty-themed product and they use generic tea bags? Even a pyramid bag seems more in line with a beauty enhancing tea. Generic tea bags aren’t pretty.

Full review: http://www.tea-tank.com/?p=282

My mother bought this, as I had convinced her to because she was very interested in how it would be, both in flavor and with all the advertised health benefits of antioxidants.

She doesn’t take to caffeine very well. Fortunately, this tea comes in a tin as whole leaves. So, I told her that you can simply wash the tea leaves before your actual brew, so there is less caffeine when you actually steep your cup of tea.

The thing is, I didn’t want her to waste a cup of tea, so I took the caffeine filled cup and steeped her a less caffeine brew.

The leaves are odd, and fun, with a very subtle fresh scent overpowered by the fruit and cucumber. The blueberries are very prominent.

Steeping gives a nice clean lime color, with a light fresh mint aroma, and subtle cucumbers and blueberries. So far, extremely satisfying.

The flavor is very fresh, very minty green with a hint of fruit. It is quite invigorating, as the mint and cucumber combined give it a very whole and healthy flavor in a light and cool breeze.

The cucumbers make this tea. Extremely fresh and extremely satisfying.

This was ok. Granted I had a headache to beat the band yesterday afternoon. So nothing was tasting right. I will say it did help my headache a little, but not enough for me to keep drinking it. I probably should have tried this one iced instead of hot. I might be willing to order this one to give it a better go.

This smells and tastes so very refreshing and cool-cucumber and breeze-E mint! I’m a fan!!!!

I guess I haven’t had enough cucumber mints to compare so I don’t see why this tea has a low rating. I thought the mint was superb and the tea was amazingly refreshing.

Backlogging! I had this tea last night after I finally got up the nerve to try a tea with cucumber in it. Well, I’m glad that I gave it a chance because this tea was very refreshing. The cucumber seemed to provide a clean backdrop for the mint which worked very well together. Out of all the Tea Forte blends I’ve tried, this is the only one that I would consider purchasing. I think this tea would be remarkable iced so maybe I’ll put it on my list for next spring.

This tea is part of the sampler pack for the skin-smart antioxidant amplifier tea. It contains special reserve green tea with invigorating cool notes of cucumber fruit and fresh mint, with taste of sweet, succulent blueberries.

Steeping instructions:
Bring freshly drawn, cold water to a full boil
Place filter bag in cup
Slowly pour water over filter bag and allow steeping for 3-5 minutes

Color: is golden dew
Tasting notes or teas characteristic: fresh sprig of mint with fruity tones of cucumber and blueberries.

I am enjoying the mellowness found in the flavoring notes of cucumber and blueberries prevailing while the fresh mint adds a coolness to the cup and to one’s palette. It is not so much that I can taste the blueberries but rather I can smell them in the aroma; floating just above the cucumber…there is a sweetness/sugary smell with hints of the cucumber.

This is a tea I would someday buy.

If you don’t like the taste, use it as a sachet… it smells gorgeous! I’ve always wanted to try a cucumber tea and this was my first and last stop. Perfect for icing, super fragrant, very well blended tea.

I’m not usually a fan of green or flavored tea but since this was a free sample, what do I have to lose? It’s not actually bad. The green tea part isn’t icky & overwhelming. The mint is a little strong and I don’t really get any cucumber. I’m actually going to finish this cup, which is saying a lot.

_{This is the 1st review in a series of six Skin Smart Beauty Tea Samples}

Experience buying from Tea Forté: Good. Website is very colorful and easy to navigate. Sent free samples after responding to an invitation on Steepster. Package came in reasonable amount of time. Other than sending my address, no e-mail or phone contact.

Age of leaf: Unknown. Steeped within weeks of receiving.

Packaging: Colorful: each tea came attached to a colorful paper backing labeled as a Skin Smart” sampler. Each tea bag comes in standard tea bag packaging—with a picture of the flavors that the tea replicates prominently displayed on it. The tea bags themselves look like standard paper bags with a small Tea Forté label and string attached to the bag by a staple.

Dry leaf: teabag smells minty, and when I first took it out of the packaging I got a faint whiff of some kind of chemical smell, like glue.

Brewing guidelines: in a ceramic cup with a touch of Stevia.
……..1st: 170, 2’
……..2nd: 185, 5’

Aroma: same minty smell as with the dry teabag, still with a little off aroma.

Color of liquor: Light copper color.

Flavor: minty, but overall bland tasting.

Value: Free sample (thank you Cindy at Tea Forté!), but their price on their website is more than I would be willing to pay if I purchased it.

Overall: _{Although I occasionally use teabags, I much prefer loose leaf; I invite you to keep this in mind for each of these reviews.} I was not at all impressed with this teabag. I have had many a teabag that was tasty (using similar parameters as I have above), but this was not one of them. Surprisingly, the second steeping had a little more flavor. It may be that these teabags need a higher temperature and a longer steep time than standard loose leaf green tea to get any appreciable flavor out of them.

Got this super marked down at Indigo, and boy am I glad! A sweet minty hit with a great spicy, herbal note from the Basil. The cucumber is only but a whisper, however there is a mellowness to this tea. The sweet/tart of the blueberry is a great added touch! Overall a refreshing tea that I cannot wait to try iced!

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