Sweet Orange Spice

I really dislike this tea. I have tried it every which way hot, cold, different steeping parameters. It is oddly sweet and metallic. I do not like giving a tea this low of a score.

If you want to drink atomic fireballs after they lose their hot then maybe this is the tea for you.

And I LOVE TEA FORTE. The teas, company, the packaging, the fact that they are based in my state. But, ugh.

Now these are some cute teabags! That little leaf at the end of the string? Too cute for words! And the mesh that the teabag is made of stays perky even after steeping. I’m not sure why that is important, but it made me smile.

The tea wasn’t that great, unfortunately. Uber-cinnamon-y and that’s about it. I never tasted the “Sweet Orange” or any of the spices. Just cinnamon. Red Hots or Fireball candy type of cinnamon. Too strong and on the verge of spicy.

But man, those teabags are cute.

I have to admit that I am quite fond of the format of Tea Forte’s teabags. The cute little pyramid with the leaf poking out of the top…it just looks so cute!

After steeping for five minutes, I pulled the teabag out and set it aside. The tea is not as dark as I expected – a rich amber color – and smells heavily of cinnamon. My mouth is quite wimpy so I immediately set out to get a couple of ice cubes to add to the brew before my tasting.

It’s very light…I mean, I can barely taste anything but the cinnamon and the slight astringency of the black tea. Maybe the faintest hint of a citrus. I popped the tea bag back in and will let it steep a little longer; hopefully that’ll force some more flavor out.
As I’m waiting, I’m considering the source of this tea. My brother gave me a box of assorted Tea Forte flavors, but I wonder if it’s an old box? I’ve only tried two of the teas so far, this one and White Ambrosia, but the flavor’s been miserably weak on both blends. Maybe the teabags are just ancient and that’s the problem…

After steeping for another five minutes, the orange flavor comes out a little stronger but this is still dominated by cinnamon. I can smell cinnamon; I taste it when I drink…so I guess if you want a cinnamon tea, this is the way to go. It’s a little sweet and it makes the back of my throat tickle a little.

This is spicy and warming, but it just isn’t as…exciting as I hoped it might be.
Man, that teabag is cool looking, though.

This smells like orange and spice and it is very nice! As for the taste…it’s more spice than orange…or should I say…at the beginning of the sip it’s spicy and the end of the sip is sweet orange. I like the ending of the sip better. I also like this tea cooled down and/or iced better…seems to make it more sweet. The more I sip this as it gets colder I like it more, yes, indeed!

I was just starting to consider which tea with which I’d like to start my day, when the doorbell rang… it was UPS delivering my package from Tea Forté! This is part of the winter collection from Tea Forte.

After reading the tasting notes on here about this tea, I’m a bit taken back, because I really am enjoying this.

It is really quite tasty. The flavor is sweet yet it has just enough heat from the spice to it to keep it from being too sweet. The black tea base is mild enough to not overpower the delicious orange, cinnamon and clove flavors, but it is still smooth and provides a nice backdrop to the flavors.

I don’t believe I’ve ever had mandarin orange tea before, much less a mandarin orange and spice tea.

The aroma is exactly what it says on the tin: sweet orange and spice. Very festive, and appropriately so, as it is mandarin oranges mixed with cinnamon.

I used one and a half teaspoons of leaves, which should give a significantly spicy brew. The color is a brilliant red, with a very cinnamon scent.

But, the flavor. Oh, the flavor. There is a nice slight biting of spice, followed by the warming sensation of sweet mandarins. It is close to a light Chai, with the cinnamon and cloves.

It surprises how sweet this tea is, with not too much a kick. Just enough spice to work with the very sweet oranges. In fact, I am a little suspicious on how this tea is so extremely sweet.

This is a wonderfully sweet surprise, and probably my favorite tea from this batch of Tea Forte tins I have recently bought.

I agree that the name of this tea is misleading. There is hardly any orange flavour in the liquor and it is not exactly sweet! But if you like spices, especially cinnamon, you will probably love this tea. In fact I think Tea Forte’s spiced teas are generally spicier than teas of other brands. The tea smells strongly of cinnamon, but the taste of cloves is more present in the liquor. The end of the sip can be a bit bitter. I only detect sweetness in the last few sips of my cup, but still, it has more to do with cinnamon than orange…

This is fairly enjoyable. Was given a sample and accidentally steeped it for 20 minutes and it STILL came out tasty. Impressive! Very light cinnamon flavors, just a slightly sweet tinge to the over tea. I would drink this again.

If you like cinnamon, you may like this. If you want a mild black tea that can be drank without any additives, you may like this. The orange is not present in this tasting session, the cinnamon and clove are all I taste, that is ok with me, I like both of these flavors in tea. Overall, I like this tea. It reminds me of simpler times.

I’m convinced that whoever writes the tea forte descriptions has never tried the tea but is instead given an ingredient list.

Sweet orange spice… tastes like vienna cinnamon without the flavor boom. So there is definitely something mellowing out the cinnamon but orange isn’t an obvious flavor in the profile. Actually I thought this was an illusion to it being orange pekoe grade. Not that this tea had any orange flavor in it. So when I was confused by the game called "what is that tiny little flavor in the back over there somewhere? I’ll just look at the box… " I was super shocked to see that this is an “orange” flavored tea. When it’s cold you can taste the orange if you are looking for it in the cup. But it’s barely there.

Really I thought it was just a cinnamon maybe with a dash of some other spice (cough you know spice tea should have more than just one spice in it cough) like maybe a granule of nutmeg or clove or something. But no. It’s vienna cinnamon toned down by a molecule of orange oil.

A little bit of sugar brings out the flavor… but milk doesn’t really help it out. And milk with no sugar wasn’t very pleasant. So just a little sugar makes it nice. This is really a pleasant tea as I like cinnamon but it’s not named well and that tends to piss me off. If you like Tea Forte’s Vienna Cinnamon and you are at a party and they have this you will enjoy drinking it.

Nice! To me, this tea smells spicier that it tastes (which is a good thing.)
I agree 100% that the orange is missing almost completely.
I would love a little of the citrus flavor to come through to taste like a truly wonderful tasting holiday-like tea.
Steeping too long makes the spices way too intense, I tried steeping for a shorter amount of time in a smaller mug and the taste was much better.

Nice balance between a sweet cinnamon spice and a robust black tea. Can’t taste any orange though.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag
Additives: none
Water: 6 ounces boiling filtered water
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Smell: Clove – Orange, reminds me of christmas
Flavor: orange, tea, spice
Body: full
Aftertaste: woody spice
Liquor: light reddish brown

Too much spice, not enough tea. I know it says cinnamon but I tasted clove and couldn’t find the cinnamon.

Post-Steep Additives: Added sugar – also added honey (two separate brews) the sweetness in both cases brought out more of the orange, smoothed the flavor and gave a nice sweetness.

Resteep:
Weak spiced water, no tea flavor.
Not recommended

The name for this tea isn’t exactly fitting. As some other users have pointed out, this tea is heavy on the spice notes and not so much on the “sweet orange.” The orange notes are there but it is very subtle. That being said, I still enjoyed this tea and I feel like it will be a very nice tea for the upcoming fall season. In my opinion, its worth a try.