It’s the fifth and final tea tonight from Tea Forte’s Herbal Retreat sampler. This is the only one without an alcoholic beverage related title. The others were amaretto, merlot, mojito, and cosmo. This is just kiwi lime ginger. Seems a little out of place. I do like all three title ingredients though. Hopefully they play nice together. I smell sweet kiwi first out of the packet. Semi-spicy ginger and a tart lemon/lime scent are present as well. Interesting combo. The longer it sits while I’m waiting for water to boil, the more the ginger comes out. Really gets in my sinuses. It’s a good thing though. I like ginger. I’m thinking this will turn out well.
Oh god. It smells so good. Which is probably a bad sign for the tea because usually teas that smell this good don’t taste this good. It smells more prominently of ginger and citrus. There’s something sweet in the aroma but I don’t know if it’s honeybush or kiwi. Oh it smells good – comforting, I suppose. Seems a bit like a cold remedy tea, with the medicinal ginger and lemon (or lime as well in this case). Oh please be good or I will be so disappoint.
Shit. I have to buy this one.
The ginger burns on my tongue and warms all the way into my belly. Awesome. I love ginger and it’s great that it has a strong, sharp presence here and hasn’t been dulled down. Mmm…………. It’s like the stallion of ginger tea whereas many other ginger-ish teas are merely unimpressive ponies. I want the magnificent beast and this delivers. I’ve actually downed my cup before I could finish this part of the review. That is how much I like this tea. The tangy lemon/lime combo works well with the ginger. They compliment the spicy goodness but don’t get in the way, like orange does. In orange/ginger teas I find that the orange tends to play an equal part in the flavor, where the sweetness of the orange tones down the spiciness of the ginger. Here it’s an all out ginger assault on my mouth and I love it. Not that I don’t also love orange/ginger like Samovar’s, but there’s a time for soft, sweet, and juicy, and there’s a time for… well, this tea. The description on the packet mentioned something about the tropics. I don’t know that I ever tasted anything tropical in the cup. Kiwi never really made a showing. And I don’t care. This was a great show about best actor Ginger with best supporting actors Lemon and Lime, as well as a subtle sweetness from honeybush and presumably kiwi. Or maybe kiwi was just the errand boy.
I am so glad this turned out awesomely. Originally I was a bit miffed that it was so late and I had one herbal left to review. I figured kiwi lime ginger would be a bit of a mismatched, unimpressive disappointment. Now I want to stay up and steep it to death.
Edit: In subsequent infusions the ginger fades a bit and the lemon/lime flavors become more prominent. Still delicious but just not quite as bright a flavor.
Edit 2: I turned the pc off so I would stop writing about the tea. However, after about steep 4 the kiwi started to come through, around when the ginger was almost gone.
What: Kiwi Lime Ginger by Tea Forte
Type: Herbal
Cost: $8.95 for 20 servings
Cost per Cup: $0.45/cup
Resteeps: 3 (although the ginger didn’t burn nearly as much on the second go – still a tasty second infusion)
Tea Score: 95 – I love you.
Cupboard Score: 90 – This is starting at 90, only because I partially suspect that my particular single steep packet could be a ginger filled anomaly. If the whole 20 serving canister proves to be this delicious then it will have a permanent spot in my cabinet.
