Raspberry Nectar

Thank you so much to AmazonV for this loose-leaf sample. I concur with her review/tasting note except that I think I liked it better. The raspberry tasted a bit more true to me and the color of the brew is a luscious ruby red.

I also agree that this will be better iced. As a hot herbal tea, it really is not bad. Once again I am reminded of how much rooibos can interfere with flavors. No rooibos here, thankfully. This will be a contender for purchase.

LiberTEAS sent me this to try…I think because I love hibiscus, and that’s the first ingredient. I’m beginning to think that a love of hibiscus is unusual around here…especially when brewed at 10 minutes!

I don’t really taste the hibiscus here at all. It’s a true, honest-to-goodness raspberry taste that I get. Like I just took a whole handful of ripe red raspberries (with about 4 not-so-ripe tart ones) and shoved them in my mouth and their juice exploded. They definitely got the flavor right with this one.

LiberTEAS, you have definitely figured out my tea tastes. Thank you so much!!

My cup is empty. :-(

Loose Leaf not teabag

Steep Information:
Amount: 6 tsp
Water: 750ml filtered 212°
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL (herbal, strong)
Steep Time: 5 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Raspberry, but the fake flavor kind not fresh berries
Steeped Tea Smell: fake raspberry flavor (exactly like the torani syrup)
Flavor: RASPBERRY, and tart
Body: Full
Aftertaste: tart
Liquor: Opaque dark purple-red

Raspberries, check. Tart is the hibiscus, and probably the color too, the citric acid and orange are also tart. Not getting what the rest of the stuff is doing.

This reminds me of raspberry zinger, I think mixing this with a bit of lipton, or maybe some Rooibos Tropica.

Hopefully it’s better iced, because right now it’s nice, but not anything I’ll buy again (too many fun herbals out there!).

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/tea-forte-loose-leaf-herbal-tea.html

Smells like hibiscus. Which is… KIND of a rasberryish smell?

First few sips, I’m getting a surprisingly un-hibiscusy sour taste. Don’t know what it is.

I can’t, for the life of me, understand why hibiscus is at the TOP of the ingredients list in all these kinds of blends. It’s too powerful, put more of the actual intended flavours in. As it cooled I only got hibiscus.

I ALMOST think I taste raspberry, but I’m not sure. It was mentioned to try this iced, and I guess I probably should. Still, it’s a very pretty shade of red.

The tea’s cooled, and I’m starting to pick up a bit more raspberry.

The perky pyramid is back…and this time it has yielded much better results. It’s not too shabby for an herbal tea. One look at the ingredients and you will know what this tastes like. Yes, hibiscus is the 1st on the list. It’s really not too bad. The raspberry is present but in general this tastes very sour and very berry.
The color is outstanding. It’s kind of a cranberry, blood red. I love it. I steeped this in my clear glass cup and it was so cool to watch. Well, cool in a crime scene kind of way. A drizzle of red slowly seeped out of the mesh bag. It floated around and then fell to the bottom like a drop of blood. Slowly, the water turned light pink, then a tinge darker…then bloody.
Mmm, Mmm good.

Preparing to try out this herbal blend, the first thing that I notice in the smell of the dry leaves is “Hmmm, hibiscus.” After boiling some water, I steep one pyramid infuser in a cup of water for five minutes to prepare to taste the “nectar”! The steeping brew still smells a lot like hibiscus, but the raspberry and orange peel smells are noticeable as well.

The first sip of this herbal tisane is a massively juicy explosion of flavor. Tea Forte’s website had listed the ingredients as “rosehip, hibiscus, apple pieces, blackberry leaves, raspberries, orange peels, flavoring” and there is so much going on in the taste that I believe it has all those things and more. Thankfully, since this blend is called “Raspberry Nectar,” raspberry is one of the dominant flavors. The sweetness of the apple does come out quite nicely, albeit subtly. This would be a decent desert drink, especially if one is looking for something low in caffeine. On my personal enjoyment scale, I rate it a 72/100.

Berry tea! I have several Raspberry Nectar tea infusers which came in the Dolce Vita Ribbon Box. I have been avoiding them for a whole year because I anticipate that the tea will be deep red in colour and taste very tart – cos there’s hibiscus on the list of ingredients! Today I finally give it a try and I have been proved to be right! :( I guess the rather extreme tartness is due to hibiscus + extra citric acid (god knows why they added citric acid?). I am so not going to buy any tea with hibiscus again…

Loved the zing in this tea from the beautiful combination of raspberry, citrus, and hibiscus. The rich colour made me want to dive right in. I could just wrap myself in the scent. A lovely cup if you love a bit of zip.

I got this one from a coworker. I found it to be a bit tart. Maybe I let it steep a bit longer than I should have, but the colour that came from this one was amazing!
I love the little tea bags it comes in too. It makes it look more like a loose-leaf but just in a bag. The little leaf steam to hook over your teacup edge is also a lovely feature.

Before steeping smells like a light Apple-Raspberry-Honey Blend. While Steeping it morphs into a typical raspberry herbal tea scent with a few undertones that are barely noticeable. Color is a Purplish-Pinkish Color. The longer you steep the more Orange Peel Scent you can smell and it pairs nicely with the Apple and Berries. I was a little afraid of this as the coloring and scent progressed as I am not usually into fruity herbals. It’s probably one of the better fruity herbals I have tried so far. I don’t think I would buy it in large quantities but I am glad I sampled it. I bet it would be better iced. A notch above average.

I love this tea. It’s fruity and sour, and the raspberry taste is totally spot on.

I finished off my large stockpile ( received as a gift) of this tea by making a HUGE iced tea pitcher. It is still not my FAVORITE tea but iced it is good, sweet, a little tart and perfect for a hot day.

Brewed 3 min. 1 Tspn Sugar. Hot.
Absolutely delicious. The hibiscus accents the raspberry but does not over power it. This was an awesome first experience with Tea Forte!