Almost Tea

Oh whoa! What the?! I’m getting sour notes hitting me on the start of the sip! I’m not sure how I didn’t log this one before when I got it in the mail. I have never had super stuffed french toast before, so I don’t have a comparison to base what I’m tasting on. The picture on the wrapper makes it looks like it is filled with cream cheese. Maybe that is what the sour taste is supposed to be emulating? It’s almost like hibiscus without the bite, but with similar mouth sensation. I get a little cinnamon and butter behind the sour and in the finish, but the sour is dominating and distracting. I’d love to have seen the sour toned down and a bready cinnamon maple combo amped up. Looking up recipes for stuffed French toast reveals that it is cream cheese filled, but this tea tastes more like it’s sour cream filled, which would be delicious if you had enough maple syrup to balance it. The more frequently I sip, the less I notice the sour. This is a weird tea! I don’t hate it, it has me intrigued, but I’m puzzled too.

I’m noticing a lot of the entries for Almost teas have the pictures broken on Steepster. I wonder what that is about.

Sipdown (2307)!

Yesterday was my first day back at work and it was really busy what with all the catch up I had to do. So, I mostly stayed glued to my desk for the day and I honestly took it really easy on the tea that I made myself. I did, however, remember to check and see what was up with this one. Turns out I was totally wrong with what I’d thought while on vacation and there actually still was one more of the sachets in my little teabag cube at my desk. So, I finished it off and now it’s actually a proper sipdown.

Definitely still all almond and no croissant. I do love the almond flavour a lot though! It’s like Alpine Punch, but more stripped down without the addition of stuff like cinnamon, rose, or coconut. Sweet and nutty and pretty enjoyable. Still, I wish they delivered a little more on the croissant part of the blend.

…also, it looks like maybe Almost is shutting down?? They sent out an email about a week ago saying they were merging with their parent company and wouldn’t be doing the monthly boxes/selling on their own site anymore and have put pretty much all of their teas aggressively on sale.

That’s a little surprising and disappointing to me – I thought their subscription box concept was so fun and the box flavours are always really fun and innovative IMO! I guess they just weren’t drawing in the amount of people they wanted or, like me, they had a lot of drop off in subscribers – whether than be for the shipping issues several people (like myself) experienced or for the sometimes tendency to be repetitive in their flavour choices. I did feel like, in the last few months, they’d really done a lot to be less repetitive though.

Less than a year, folks. Less than a year…

I thought this was a sipdown because, if I remember correctly, I only had a single sachet of this before I packed it to come with me on vacation – but it doesn’t look like I have a prior tasting note for it, and since these boxes come with two that either means I forgot to log a tasting note at some point or I missed seeing the other teabag in my box at work…

I guess I won’t know until Monday when I’m back at work and can check.

Anyway, it was a pretty good cup of tea. I had it with dinner a few nights ago, and it was strong and sweet enough to hold up to the spicy Indian food I was noshing on. Definitely a very sweet and almost Amaretto-like almond note, which I personally love but I do think can be a bit polarizing. Marzipan-ish too. I don’t get croissant at all, but I think that’s because I just expect croissants to be a little more light and airy and a whole lot more buttery. Some type of almond pastry though, sure. I can see that.

Sipdown (2664)!

This was a fine cup of tea, though not one that will be missed as I’ve definitely had much better maple and french toast blends. I found the top notes almost a little bit apple-y and fruit heavy, but the rest was a very rich and round feeling on the palate maple flavour. Not true or authentic maple, but more like the maple flavoured syrup you’d get from the grocery store for super cheap. There is something just a bit nostalgic about that to me, though of course like most Canadians I much prefer the real stuff.

Had this one last night and it was fine but I definitely thought it was a little bit disappointing for the namesake. It tasted like cinnamon and white chocolate which makes sense since that’s what’s in the ingredient list. However, cinnamon and white chocolate are not exactly synonymous with French Toast so, while it was nice tasting, it just didn’t really meet my expectations for the blend. Where was the custard-y brioche type notes? The maple syrup?

Idk – I have one more bag of this at home that could change my mind, but I’m gonna guess that in the grand scheme of things this ends up being pretty forgettable.

Sipdown (2626)!

This was next up, and I think it was the biggest flop. I’ve had this blend before so I already knew that it really doesn’t at all deliver on the flavours of an egg custard tart but unfortunately I think both of my friend’s expectations were very, very high which led to a big disappointment.

Basically, this tastes like a slightly sweeter chamomile with perhaps a HINT of cream at the finish. One of my friends also found it to be very, very fruity. We all agreed that if it was positioned more specifically as just a very nice chamomile blend we’d probably all be impressed but that with a name like it has the tea just doesn’t come close to achieving what it’s aiming to.

Geek Steep S3E11 – Studio Ghibli: Kiki’s Delivery Service

This is the tea I drank while watching the movie!

Every few episodes of the podcast, we hit a fandom where the content is so rich that you’re just absolutely spoiled for options and directions you can go with pairing and that’s how I felt here. I had nearly a dozen more witchy themed teas in my shortlist of options, but ultimately I went with this one because one of the few things in the movie (I’d actually watched part of this movie years ago) that stood out in my memory was the bakery!

This tea is a chamomile base which, bluntly, I don’t love. Chamomile and I just don’t really get along all that well. However, there’s also a really nice vanilla custard/burnt sugar type note to this blend that captures the egg custard tart inspiration really well. It seemed like a great nod to the bakery in the movie, but the fact it’s a traditional Asian baked good just also felt like the perfect nod to the studio itself and all of the different Asian references/themes that are always folded into each Ghibli story.

Plus, as we say in the episode, this is very much a lighthearted and whimsical movie that really screams “curl up with a giant blanket late at night for cozy feels” and that’s pretty on point with chamomile.

I definitely felt like I knocked this pairing out of the park, even if I didn’t love the tea itself.

Sipdown (2627)!

Yesterday I spent the morning and afternoon over at a friend’s house playing board games, but in between playing we did a bit of a tea tasting with all the different tea blends from Almost’s “Treats of Taiwan” themed box. I’ve been holding onto the last tea bag of all the blends in this box because I knew that my friend and her partner would be really interested in trying them out.

I think this was the overall crowd favourite, and my personal second favourite. It was also the first one we ended up doing, unfortunately for both friends it was a bit all downhill from this one – but more on that with the other tasting notes! We all agreed that the smell of the steeped tea was dead on and deliciously brown sugar, and were pretty sufficiently pleased with the richness and accuracy of the taste and how smooth the green tea was. For a blend that only had green tea and flavouring, it was quite impressive. Personally, I’d have loved something to give the mouthfeel more richness but I think it was very solid overall!

Definitely not the best Almost blend I’ve tried, especially from this mini collection, but I did find myself pleasantly surprised given how skeptical I was.

There’s just an overall light alcohol/boozy quality to the cup from the flavour, but it’s not terribly intense. Certainly not as bad as I’ve found many of the Almost blends have been. It does taste like brown sugar, but just slightly thin – both in taste and body. To be fair, though, when I saw this was a green tea base I knew the body would be lighter and I think this is an impressively rich blend given that it’s pretty much just green tea and flavouring. Plus, I’ve had steamed brown sugar cake and it’s actually not as rich as you might except it to be. More like a sweet bread than, like, something drenched in a brown sugar syrup or with some kind of streusel topping. I did like that it almost had a coating sensation on the palate because that felt very akin to, say, the brown sugar syrup used in a bubble tea…

I guess we’ll see if the second cup pushes me further into the “yay” or “nay” camp as right now I feel pretty smack dab in the middle.

Sipdown (2622)!

Not my least favourite of the bunch but definitely low on the list. I’ve not had an Aiyu Citrus Jelly to be able to directly compare, so I can really only judge off what I’m actually tasting and that happens to be mostly lemongrass. A lot of lemongrass. It’s also quite sweet. Though I don’t have a strong dislike of lemongrass or anything like that, I do think it is an ingredient that can be poorly used and whether the scale of quality is VERY wide. Something about the use here just really turns me off. It gets a little citronella candle-like in vibes…

Had this in the evening after our second Vancouver Day! Definitely a simple blend, but I liked the semi-sweet lemon notes and the fresh, natural taste of the zesty lemongrass. I’ve not really had the “citrus jelly” that the tea is inspired by to compare, but I thought there was a sort of lemon candy meets limoncello type of quality to this blend that was nice albeit simple.

Sipdown (2660)!

Definitely a little bit of a shou pu’erh kind of funk to this, which is usually the case of the pu’erh not being aired out properly after wet piling. It makes the first few sips come off with that dreaded fishy quality, but it’s also not nearly as aggressive as other pu’erh blends I’ve tasted in the past. After a couple good sips I got pretty used to it.

The chocolate and orange were nice! More chocolate than orange, but I like the brightness that the citrus provided to offset some of that richness. For a few moments I could have sworn I was tasting like a ricotta type flavouring which was a little weird, but not unwelcome. Gave me cannoli vibes in a pretty positive way. It’s a shame that Almost doesn’t exist anymore – I think cannoli (and Italian desserts in general) would have been such a great theme for them.

I continued my tradition of on flight tea by steeping this one up on the plane during my trip to Vancouver. I normally brew these teabags in about 10-12 oz of water, but what I was served on the plane could have only been about 8 oz max. So, stronger than usual. Still, I didn’t feel like it created a less desirable cup by being overly potent. It had a slight film to the surface from, surely, melted chocolate but the deep dark chocolate and zesty orange notes were pleasant and a nice delight after being several hours into my flight. I didn’t get “scone” from this at all but as a chocolate orange it was solid IMO!

Sipdown (2623)!

This is my personal favourite of the Taiwan themed box. Y’all already know that I’m on a big mango and “mango flavoured things” kick this summer, so perhaps that influenced my opinion a little bit here.

The mango was very sweet, thick and syrupy – like a mango puree! It’s complimented with creamy notes of coconut, and overall is just very rich yet bright, tropical and cheerful. I do think it does give off “mango shaved ice” but it could also be interpreted as something more like a Mango Colada. It’s definitely thick and rich enough to give colada vibes. Probably the sweetest out of all the Taiwan inspired teas (including the brown sugar one), but dang if it doesn’t taste great!

I found myself really pleasantly surprised by this one! The mango note was very fresh and ripe with a beautifully soft, creamy finish and almost a hint of coconut? Definitely super refreshing, and given that Almost seems to have this weird penchant for over flavouring their fruit blends (to the point where they taste a bit alcoholic) I thought it was a refreshing change of pace that I wasn’t experiencing this quality. Almost a mango lassi vibe, in fact! Though maybe not quite that thick or creamy.

Sipdown (2624)!

This is definitely the tea in the bunch that is the hardest to put into words. For me, at least. I think the premise is so promising and I’ve literally never seen another tea like it. I also feel like I have very high personal expectations when it comes to black sesame flavoured anything…

The taste was alright. Definitely nutty leaning with hints of black sesame and creamy peanut butter. Also, however, with just a bit of a burnt tasting edge. Like, burnt in the way toast might be. Not as an off note of the black tea itself. We all agreed that we could very much see what Almost was going for with the blend, and that it wasn’t not a Black Sesame Bao but that overall the flavour probably needed to be stronger, sweeter, and maybe creamier too.

Generally speaking I feel like Almost usually was quite generous with the weights in their sachets, but this one I feel probably could have been a little higher. It’s also one of the few Almost blends that I really, really wish had been offered in loose leaf tea either instead of or in addition to sachets. The potential of a Black Sesame Bao latte is just so high…

In my personal opinion this is the coolest flavour that Almost has released yet!

For those who don’t know I’ve wanted to make a black sesame tea blend for years now, but just because I want something to exist doesn’t mean I get to make it – so thank you Almost for making one of my dream flavours a reality. It’s also the only “black sesame” flavoured tea I’ve ever seen that actually has black sesame in it, so that’s very cool as well.

Obviously there was a lot of pressure on this tea to live up to years of my own self imposed hype. So, does it? I feel like it’s close, but ultimately I thought this was a very weak and watery tasting infusion. The rich and nutty notes of black sesame and creamy peanut butter (from the added “drops”) were there, but just not impactful enough. It needs to be at least twice as strong in my opinion.

Something I didn’t anticipate, though, was the colour it would steep! I was drinking this in a very pale grey mug, but it really appeared like it had genuinely steeped black which was so cool to look at! When I make the last bag of this I’m going to try and remember to steep it in glass so I can see the unadulterated liquor colour.

I have never had a hawthorn berry before. This is the first time I’ve even heard of them. This tea could taste like a totally different fruit and I wouldn’t know the difference, so I have to take them on their word about this flavor. It almost seemed cranberry like for a second, but it doesn’t have the puckering tartness and has a sweeter way about it. There is a very airy perfume like taste in the sip. It’s bright and enjoyable on green rooibos. It’s interesting, but I’m not super taken by the flavors. Little bit of rooibos dry mouth after each sip. Overall it’s a fun quick experience of a new flavor for me.

Sipdown (2625)!

This blend is pretty squarely in the middle in terms of rankings, I think. All three of us present are big fans of the candied hawthorn sticks, so expectations were fairly high. Like last time I tried this, my opinion was that it’s a very pleasant and approachable flavour but that it definitely tastes very generically of red fruit rather than specifically hawthorn. Everyone else agreed, though we did enjoy the tea overall for it’s smooth and not-too-sweet red berry notes.

This month’s Almost theme, which is all Taiwanese treats, is probably my favourite one yet in terms of concept – we’ll see where they land with flavour, though…

I’ve only had Candied Hawthorn Berries once – at my friend Helen’s house. She’s Chinese and Hawthorn in general is one of her favourite childhood snacks; Hawthorn jams, cakes, pastries and – yes – the candied berries on a stick too. I actually thought they were really good! Sweet, for sure, but no more than a candy apple and the crack of the glossy candy shell was so satisfying. And much like a candy apple, Hawthorn has this interesting taste that rides the balance between sweet and tart quite well though it’s definitely a more dense and bordering a jammy kind of flavour despite any tartness.

So does this tea approximate the real thing well? Kinddaaaa. I guess it’s about as accurate as I thought it would be, to be fair. So expectations were met but also weren’t the highest in the first place? It definitely tastes very fruity with a distinct red fruit note that has some brightness to it. Relatively sweet, but not enough to be upsetting. Mostly I think the brightness is actually the more crisp and lively apple that’s in the blend than the hawthorn or any of the flavourings used. It’s a smidge boozy tasting from the quantity of flavouring used (I could see it swirling in my cup as the sachet steeped) and just how fresh it is. I can see it as Candied Hawthorn, but it’s a bit of a stretch and I think also generic enough that it could probably just as easily be described as a great number of other profiles – maybe even Candy Apple among them.

Buttery blackberry pancakes you say? I don’t get the butter or pancake part. What I do get is a chocolate berry flavor that is less than exciting. I don’t think this is even quite blackberry. It reminds me more of raspberry chocolate teas. There may be a hint of syrup long into the finish. The tea it’s self was more finely ground than any other tea I’ve seen, almost a powder in the bag. It’s not horrible, but it’s far from interesting.

I’ve had several great green strawberry teas that were bright and full of flavor. Kusmi and Lupicia both come to mind. This was not one of them. I kept searching for the fruit and just got the ghost of it instead. I do get a little bit of cream, but it isn’t interesting without the strawberry there. The instructions do say to steep this in almost boiling water, which I just can’t bring myself to do to a green, so maybe it is user error. I did steep it for 3 minutes like the instructions say. Still, hard pass on this one for me.

It’s Saturday morning! A fitting time to drink this tea! I had written in my first note that I thought this would be a fun tea to have cold steeped. I regret to report that I was wrong. It has a sour note on the sip and a dusty flat taste in the finish. I can kind of pick out what is trying to be fruit, but there is nothing else happening. I tried adding milk and that obliterates anything I might have noticed. I liked this tea and would have loved to enjoy a second cup. I guess this was a bad roll of the tea preparing dice.

This smells really fruity when I open the bag. Like artificial fruit, just like breakfast cereal. I expected it to be sickly sweet, but it’s actually a fairly nice fruity flavor. It has an underlying citrus flavor that brightens each sip. I can’t pick out any of the other flavors individually because they all merge into a fruit loops flavor. This looses a little magic as it cools, so drinking it hot is best IMO, but I do wonder how this would be cold steeped. This tea is fun and I kinda like it!