African Solstice

1.25 tablespoons for 248 ml

Good balance of rooibos flavour and fruity sweetness. Flavour is slightly thin.

Thank you to Ellyn for letting me try this!

Pretty much as it is described…Vanilla, Berry, Rooibos. YuP!

Tasty vanilla rooibos with a hint of berry. It reminds me of the berry flavored Creamsavers hard candy. It’s very nicely done, well flavored. A nice, soothing cup to sip whilst listening to the operations folk plot Monday (apparently, we’re supposed to be getting a nice, good-size snow Sunday/Monday).

ETA: Thanks, LiberTEAS, for sending me this one to try out! I don’t love it nearly as much as I love the Flora, but it’s still delish!

I haven’t been having good luck with Tea Forte as of late (with their herbal sampler), this is one I got in the Exotic gift set that was in a way re-gifted to me. There is an odd vanilla/berry aroma that I’m smelling as this steeps. There is a beautiful amber liquid in my cup, but the true test will be in the taste…which isn’t half bad. Still that odd mix of berry and vanilla flavor that I’m not sure go together well. It was worth a try, right?

Absolutely awful. Tastes artificial and the sweetness is sickening. I think it’s the combination of berries and vanilla. The liquor is a dark reddish pink, and it tastes just like it’s color.

EDIT: I gave this another shot. My opinion remains unchanged. My mother and friend beg to differ though. They love this tea. Maybe I just don’t like berry teas.

To review this tea, I decided to once again utilize my awesome Tea Forte Cafe Cup!
Tea Forte’s website recommended steeping this for at least five minutes, so I poured just boiled water over one pyramid bag and let it steep. The teabag actually remained in the cup for six and a half minutes, but I figured this would not be an issue, as most rooibos blends rarely oversteep.
The dry leaf smells delicious! Lots of tasty smelling berry aroma.
The liquor brews a deep, dark red, very nearly the colour of some red wines. While it still smells like berries, the berry scent has changed to smelling very nearly like juice.
The taste of the steeped tea is very smooth, with a fullness that is neither thick nor watery. The finish is much stronger in berry flavour than is the taste while on the tongue, as though the dominant flavour migrates seamlessly from rooibos to berry.
The smell of this tea was far more bold than the flavour, almost making it a bit disappointing to drink. (I guess I shouldn’t let the aroma set my expectations.)
All in all, it was a very tasty tea. Wonderfully fruity, the hint of the rose petals that are part of this tea even peek out in the aftertaste.
On my personal enjoyment scale, I believe I would rate this tea a 75/100.

A nice flavored rooibos. Nice creamy vanilla, nice earthy rooibos, and a nice non-overwhelming taste of berries, yum.

I love this herbal tea, the initial perfume coming out of the holed lid of Solstice teapot by Tea Forté ALWAYS reminds me of Crème brûlée / Crema Catalana so I am already in the right mood before starting sipping it. Then this strong vanilla perfume diminishes and even the taste reveals the other ingredients. I like to have my teas plain as much as possible, but I love to add some milk or a little bit of sugar to this one.
No need to remove the leaves from the pot, the infusion doesn’t get bitter.

New to better quality teas and gave this one a try. Still trying to decipher my preferences. The vanilla aroma is overwhelming, has a chemical quality to it, and in my opinion it makes a sickening mix with the berry notes in this tea. I do appreciate that lack of bitterness with a rooibos tea even with a long steep, but this blend is just not my thing.

This is a berry-flavored rooibos with a nice flavor, though I’m having trouble placing the flavor of berry. It might be strawberry…or a blend. Unfortunately, I taste a hint of cough syrup in the cup :( I find all Tea Forte blends a little on the strong side, so maybe that’s it.

nice tea for relaxing after being super productive

Steeped 6min. 1 Tsp raw sugar. Hot.
Berry front. Vanilla finish. Very mellow, pleasant and smooth.
Non medicinal which is awesome considering that berry flavor teas usually taste medicinal to me.
I have a cup set from tea forte that holds 4 ounces instead of 6 and the explanation on the package said that there dessert teas specifically would brew in the smaller cups better to enhance the flavor. I’m strating to think that all of the teas from tea forte would brew strong pleasant cups in less water.
I’ll give that a shot with the next cup.

Another from the last few weeks . . .

It tasted like Play-Doh smells. Kind of a cloying, chemical, quasi-vanilla sweetness. Didn’t pick up on much actual vanilla, nor any berry.