Caramel Nougat

TeaForte and I may have slightly different interpretations of how much tea is in a “single steep” – I didn’t think to measure this before dumping it in my infuser, so I was then scraping it out to get an idea of the quantity.

Suffice to say, even with dropping the steep time to 2 min there’s still quite a bitter overtone. I’m definitely picking up the nougat and alcohol (?) notes, but it’s somewhat lacking in the caramel I’d hoped for. Very tannic, dark and rich, but just not a flavour profile I find particularly enjoyable.

Forgot to write about this one yesterday! This is Day 2 in my advent calendar week from Nicole it was actually just what i wanted yesterday after work, though admittedly it’s not one i need around all the time – there are deeper, richer teas of a similar vein that i’d pick up first…but it was a good cup!

This tea was super sweet! The flavor is accurate— it definitely tastes like caramel nougat, with a little bit of an alcohol taste. I’m not much for sweets, but I tried this one as a replacement for a much-desired dessert, and it hit the spot. I’d drink it again, but only if I was again in need of something very sweet!

I’ve wanted to try the Noir line for a while, so I’m stoked this came in my sampler box. I split the looseleaf “single steep” packet into two servings because there was way more than I needed for one pot of tea. If I had been making smaller cups, it could have been three portions.

It smells very nougaty, almond, nuts, vanilla, butterscotch,, creamy, smells very sweet. I actually don’t enjoy nougat or butterscotch, but have high hopes for this tea.

However now than I’ve sipped 600mL of it, I can declare this isn’t for me. However, the name is extremely accurate. I just find it too caramelly and too sweet.

The black base is really smooth while still being flavourful. Malt, tannins, a bit drying though. That could be because it steeped about 7 minutes. A bit of fruit/honey/sweetness in the base too.

This tea was given to me as part of a set some time ago. I mostly have been leaving these flavored teas for company who like flavored tea, but I really wanted something different today and I thought I’d try it. First thought…meh. It’s ok, but I’m not really tasting the caramel. I taste mostly hazelnut and orange. So I added some milk and sugar. Bam! There it is! The caramel still isn’t super strong, but I can actually taste it now. A dessert tea for sure!

This didn’t leave much of an impression the first time, but today it’s like a Mars bar in liquid form — yes please! Not much more to say about it. It’s just rich, creamy goodness.

Planning a trip, and trying to pick the most portable leaves for my tumbler, and had to try. It does taste like a nougat, and it does taste like caramel with a buttery hazelnut finish. Not a bad flavor combo, but like all Tea Forte Teas, the flavoring is replicated. It’s almost alcoholic. Cream and sugar does well and it is pretty nice, it’s just weird to drink on it’s own. It is sweet, smooth, and nutty, but it is so, so, so boozy. The color is gorgeous brewed, almost like a syrup, but so is the tea. It’s like someone took a piece of caramel out of a Bailey’s Irish Cream.

A little bit too much for me personally.

Smells decent, looks okay. Steeped… ermahgerd… this is dessert in a cup. I get the hazelnut and the caramel, mostly the caramel. Tea is an aftertaste here, but that’s okay for what this is supposed to be. Little bit of orange but not a lot. The caramel is a fresh, buttery caramel taste, too. Add just a little splash of cream and wow does it feel like a dessert! I would not serve this with any food course at a tea party unless it was just a plain shortbread cookie. And then you’d leave the table feeling utterly decadent. As flavored teas go, this is off the charts.

And since I consider this a fundamentally unserious tea, I pulled out the frou-frou. :)
http://tinyurl.com/o3dmhk2

I don’t know if it’s the assortment set that I got, but I don’t feel like Tea Forte is usually this bad when it’s served at a restaurant.

I took a sip of the brewed tea straight first and it was awful. I thought it tasted like sweet dirt. I then added milk per the instructions and it was tolerable, but not enjoyable. Definitely will not be buying this assortment set again!

This came from the dark tea set I got from Tea Forte. I needed something dark as I just woke up from a nap ;)

I do get a faint caramel note here but it smells a lot like hazelnut. To me it just tastes overwhelmingly artificial like a bad dessert drink. It was improved a bit with soymilk but overall it’s not that good. I am just going to give up on Tea Forte as a company…. it’s entertaining to review new teas but not when they’re all yucky.