Lychee Coconut

So, in midtown there’s a cute little shop called Eco Denizen that had a variety of Tea Forte’s offerings for .50 a bag. I nabbed one of each because I couldn’t help myself.

The dry tea smells wonderful. Like sweet, bright fruit and warm, realistic coconut. None of that weird vanilla coconut you smell in scented candles. It’s like a Bath and Body Works scent, only drinkable. Once steeped, it comes up to a darker tan color than I was expecting. The scent of the tea is mostly coconut now and very soothing. I’m surprised I’m not smelling much lychee anymore… its perfume usually hits you in the face above everything else!

After tasting it, I realized that this is something I’m going to want more of. The lychee flavor is very pleasant, but it doesn’t remind me of the real thing. It tastes more like some kind of generic “red fruit”, but I like it. You know how lychee can have a sort of strong, peppery, rose-like quality? Well, there’s none of that here. This stuff is smooth sailing, and the coconut is great. Very real. I can’t say much for the white tea base, since it’s mild and covered up by the fruit flavors. But anyway, I’m loving this tea. I’ll probably get more tomorrow.

This is really very tasty. The flavors of lychee and coconut work very well together. It is sweet and creamy. A bit more astringency than I would normally expect from a white tea, but that’s OK. Slightly dry finish, with a musky aftertaste.

Enjoyable and relaxing.

This is a new one for Tea Forte and I like the idea of the flavor offerings as well as the skin teas or should I say teas for radiant skin!? Regardless – I like the aroma of this one. I also like that it’s paired with the white tea. It does ‘brew’ darker than I thought it would but that’s ok. I can taste both the lychee and the coconut. I know these are two flavors that people either love or hate. It’s a tad bitter but ok. I’m not sure if I care for the aftertaste it leaves but overall I am happy this is a new offering over at Tea Forte. I can forgive the aftertaste as long as the rest of my experience was ok and it was.

This was a free sample provided by Tea Forte!
I brewed this according to the instructions on the bag, which, took a leap of faith to be honest, because white tea and boiling water doesn’t seem like it would be for real.
Anyway, so I’ve never tasted lychee before but it kind of looked almost like a grape but with a harder covering that could be peeled off based on the picture. So I assumed it would be juicy and grape like in flavor.
It’s kind of what I get from the tea – I mean, there’s the white tea, and a hint of coconut, and something muscatel like. There’s also an astringent aftertaste on my tongue that I’m not a fan of, but as it cools that astringency backs off a bit.
Overall I like the flavor – I don’t know that it’s something I would drink regularly, but I’m enjoying it for right now.

I want to like this one. The smell is inviting & very promising, but the flavor leaves me wondering.

I can smell the coconut, but I don’t get much of the flavor. It’s almost like an aftertaste & not really the flavor of the tea. I know it’s a white tea, but even still, it’s missing something.

I liked it better cold. But not enough to want to stock this.

I have a few extra teabags to share if anyone wants to try it.
US only to make it a quick send….thanks!

Another sampler as part of the pack for the skin-smart antioxidant amplifier tea. It contains special reserve white tea with the exotic tropical notes of sweet lychee and the intoxicating fragrance of fresh cut coconut.

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

Color: is brownish
Tasting notes or teas characteristic: sweet lychee and fresh cut coconut

This tea steeped nicely; at once one could observe the fragrances rising out of the cup and into the surrounding air, hitting the nose right away, first the coconut then the lychee as they compete for attention. I smell more the coconut and with tasting I note the coconut with a hint of the lychee, having a hint of almond. Intermingling one might say and the lasting note seems to be that of the coconut.

This is not like coconut flavored water but the milk of the coconut, and tasting like a green tea; I cannot tell the difference as yet to say this is indeed a white tea other than what is stated on the teabag.

Characteristic of this tea: soft and sweet
Aroma: milky notes
Overall taste: sweet with the lasting notes being coconut. It is a mellow, light and refreshing cup of tea.

I find that this sampler pack held more promise in taste than previous ones. Thank you Cindy for sending these samplers my way.

I got my free sample from Tea Forte and decided to try this one first. The dry leaves smell very coconutty and slightly fruity. The tea itself tastes much more like coconut than lychee. There is a slightly fruity taste in the background which, when mixed with the creamy coconut flavor, reminded me slightly of yogurt.
The actually flavor of the white tea is hay-ish. There’s an unpleasant astringency, but that may be because I brewed it too long.

Overall, it was a pleasant cup of tea after dinner. :)

Thanks to Tea Forte for sending out these samples! I was a bit sad to see that these were bags but I dumped in my bag to take to work knowing that they’d come in handy some day when it’s not quite cold enough for the office to turn on the heat but certainly not warm and cold enough for me to freeze all day. Little did I know that day would be the day I brought them.

I made this with water from my boss’ Keurig so I have no idea on the temperature of the water, probably too warm for white tea, but you make do with what you have, eh?

Like others have mentioned, it brewed up much darker than I was expecting. I got no real aroma to speak of while steeping and as I have no idea what lychee tastes like I cannot comment on whether or not I get that note from the tea. I get a hint of coconut, but not a ton.

For me this tea is just kinda meh. It’ll keep me warm for a little while here, but I certainly wouldn’t purchase it. Then again I’m a black tea fan because I like bold flavors so take this review for what you will.

_{This is my 5th and final 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 teabags with a small Tea Forté label and string attached to the bag by a staple.

Dry leaf in the bag: coconut, tropical, fun!

Brewing guidelines: in a ceramic cup with a touch of Stevia.
……………1st (and only): 170, 4’

Aroma: not anything strong or discernable.

Color of liquor: light honey color.

Flavor: It was hard to nail down the flavors, but I definitely tasted coconut in there. I have had a lychee scented/flavored tea once (and I have eaten the canned version of this fruit), and I think I tasted the lychee in it.

Value: I am grateful for the 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: This one was probably the most interesting flavor of the series. I am not certain that it had the best flavor, though. I liked the tropical flavor to it, and I liked that it was different than anything I have tasted before. On thing both my wife and I noticed (I also noticed this about the Honey Yuzu): it has a strange aftertaste, which felt like a dry sensation in my mouth, almost like a very gentle pull inward; it wasn’t strong, or unpleasant, it was simply unexpected; I don’t know if it’s due to it being a white tea, and so needing a little cooler temperature, or less steeping time, or what. Still, I did enjoy this tea.

A final note on the teabags in this series: to get the proper flavor they probably need to be steeped only once for at least 4 minutes (with the possible exception of the Lychee coconut, which may need shorter time).

Thank you again, Tea Forte, for offering these samples for tasting notes!
This should be an interesting experience…I have had pretty bad run-ins with flavored and non-flavored whites in the past. But alas! Such a tempting mix of flavors. Lychee is one of my favorite treats ever. My husband hates them so I’m glad I get all of these kinds of concoctions to myself! evil smile It has been a long day of Biological Anthropology study so I’m glad I get to relax!
I’m noting here that this is the only white tea in the collection.
The smell while steeping is almost 100% coconut. The color is much, much darker than what I expected. My first impression is….great! I don’t particularly taste the lychee. All I’m getting is coconut. Which really isn’t a bad thing; it’s just not what I was expecting. I think there is a very, very faint hint of the very distinct clear notes that lychee has. Overall, this has to be my 1st successfully brewed white tea and the taste was pretty nice!