Name: Forté Breakfast
Brand: Tea Forté
Type: Black tea, Indian
Form: Paper tea bag
Price: $4.99 for a box of 16 teabags at Vitamin Shoppe, Amazon offers the same price. (September, 2012)
Review: Lord save me from uninteresting tea.
A few weeks ago I ran a review of Paisley Tea Co.’s Organic English Breakfast. Despite the fact that it was made from CTC leaves and packaged in paper tea bags, I found it to be a remarkably tasty brew, one that I’d strongly recommend to anyone who likes classic, English-style black teas and who appreciates the convenience of tea bags.
Encouraged by this discovery, I thought I’d give other paper-bagged teas a try. While I am not sure that this plan was a mistake, I have thus far found myself severely underwhelmed.
Forté Breakfast is billed as a single-estate Assam, which is a very fine thing, but I can’t perceive anything in it that is particularly distinctive or that induces sensory pleasure: It does have the maltiness that I expect from Assam, and is not overly astringent. Less pleasing is the lingering bitterness at the finish. While I am not opposed to bitter notes, I like them to be backed up by a bit of substance, which this tea doesn’t have.
In desperation, I tried it with a bit of sticky, sweet food and found that it didn’t even clear my palate well. So much for functionality.
Tea Forté Breakfast is not a horrible tea, it is just uninteresting. Mind you, I like the pretty box that it is in and the fact that it is organic. I also liked the sturdily and individually wrapped teabags. What I don’t care for is the tea itself.
Give it a pass.
Disclosures: I did not receive a free sample of this tea. There are affiliate links in this post.
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