American Tea Room

Sipdown no. 46 of 2017 (no. 327 total). A sample.

This is going on the wish list. I’d rather have the straight apricot black tea if it was still available, but since it isn’t any longer, this will more than do.

Thank you, Fjellrev, for reminding me about this when I was bemoaning the no-moreness of the ATR Apricot Black. Fortunately, I had this in the little file-like storage box where I keep my samples, as yet unopened.

There’s a lot of apricot in the scent right out of the sample packet, though it’s a little different than the Apricot. A bit less focused, for lack of a better term? Like there is more to it than apricot, maybe. It has to be the saffron.

I steeped a little shorter than recommended but at the temp recommended on the packet and got a cherry-wood colored liquor (not surprising since the base is Ceylon) that is clear and quite attractive. I smell a higher pitched version of the leaves in the steeped tea.

The flavor is really nice. Certainly better than the Adagio apricot, but not as apricot-ty to my taste buds as the Apricot Black. Still, there’s a fruity rather than jammy apricot flavor that is noticeable particularly in the finish and lingers in the aftertaste. I’m trying to figure out what the saffron is doing flavor-wise, if anything. I think of it as a savory flavor though with some sweetness. I don’t really taste something I can identify as saffron, but the effect is to mellow the apricot and tea flavors and knit them together.

I will miss my Apricot Black, but this is delicious.

It’s raining here for another day in a fairly long string of rainy mornings. I’m trying to be a sport about it because we need the rain, but it helped the day get away from me. The kids are off school for the winter break and no. 1 had a friend sleep over last night. I awoke before seven to the sound of shouting and crying. The boys apparently decided wrestling would be a good idea, and as usually happens, no. 1 got hurt and took it out on no. 2. You’d think after the 800,000th time, someone would learn something? But no. (At what age does this stop? I’m almost afraid to ask). After that settled down, the sound of remote control cars whirring loudly and crashing into (I am guessing) table legs or each other. Until the BF got up to go to his doctors’ appointment and took all of them away to breakfast and the youth center and I went back to bed. I am trying to kick start my exercise program and I worked out yesterday and the day before. Today I woke up feeling like a truck had run over me, and since it’s raining I used the soreness as an excuse not to go out for day three, at least not just yet. Anyway, at some point I rolled over and fell asleep and when I woke up it was noon.

Geez.

Today I cleaned out my tea drawer! I decided I just had to get it better organized. In the first half of November I attended a bridal shower/tea party. I used up quite a bit of tea for that, plus gave some away to those who really liked a tea. So I didn’t know what I still had. I found several little sample sized pouches with only a Tablespoon left. My goal for the year is to sip those down. One of those was this tea. When the tea from David’s advent calendar for today was Jumpy Money, I decided to finish this one off instead. Nothing wrong with Jumpy Monkey, but I’m drinking tea right before bed, so I decided to skip that one for now.

This tea is about a year old, but it still tastes good. Mild and faintly minty. A very nice evening cup!

I received a lovely little sample of this tea with my order from ATR. I gather it’s their Choco Latte tea with peppermint added, for a Holiday Edition. I’m not a big fan of rooibos, but this is quite nice. It brews up a beautiful clear amber color. Without a sense of smell the peppermint is very subtle, but it’s there. I don’t get the “woody” taste with this as I often do with other rooibos, and that’s a huge plus for me. I won’t rush out to buy more of this, but it’s nice and I’d be glad to drink it again.

This was my first time with Brioche. I had about 2 cups. I have to say, it really deserves the esteem it has. I found it so tasty and spot on almond brioche flavoured. I think I may have to seek this out to keep in my cupboard as soon as I sip down some of my older teas. Really enjoyable. Wow.

Thank you for the sample, ATR! I enjoy this more than I thought I would. I could barely taste the spices in there, perhaps because the sample size didn’t contain as much. Maybe a touch of cinnamon but it’s not like your typical fruity spicy tisanes you see floating around, you know, with hibiscus. This doesn’t contain any hibiscus, which also sets it apart from them. I would have liked to have tasted more of the pomegranate, as I get mostly apple and cranberries. I wouldn’t buy any but it was nice to try this out.

I felt so proud sipping this down at work. My new place of work actually has a kettle unlike Sephora! There is a proper break room which makes tea-enjoying more doable and enjoyable. I bought a Perfect Mug on sale after Christmas just for work since I’m too ridiculous not wanting to give up one of my mugs from home. I know it probably doesn’t sound like a big deal to most, but it felt pretty damn good being able to sit down, relax, and sip on this tea at work. Like whaaaat? Such a good feeling.

Would I get more? I would if I needed to make an ATR order more worthwhile. Excellent lychee flavour.

The last time I ordered, I tried their Lychee Rose and quite liked it, but thought to try this one next before committing to any full sizes.

Both are great, but I like this one slightly more just because I can taste the lychee more so. Although, I must add, this has a floral, rose-like feel as well, like a drop of rosewater was added to my cup.

That said, this is a lot like Lychee Rose except with a better balance between the fruit and floral notes. Such a beautiful fresh aroma and taste here. Now that I’ve tried both, I can safely say that I will be ordering at least 50g of this one next time I order.

A.T.R. sent me this sample in my recent order. It smells amazing, like cranberry orange muffins straight out of the oven. The flavor is comparatively weak though. I used a heaping teaspoon, but may have needed more, as this is a really chunky tea, and steeped up it doesn’t look like all that much, nor is it anywhere near as pink as it appears in the online picture.

There wasn’t all that much in the sample pouch though, so next time I guess I’ll just dump in all I have left.

Tried finishing the rest of the sample just now (keyword: tried) but ended up having to dump the majority of the cup down the drain. Even though I knew milk/cream would have helped cover up the soapy coconut, I don’t want any dairy right now so I was cornered into pouring it out. Ugh. I liked the cacao twang in the background, at least.

I almost didn’t order this because of the reviews but thought a sample couldn’t hurt in the end. Yeeeeeah. Tearing the bag open, soap flakes were screaming at me. The last time I bought a coconut, it was ridiculously soapy in flavour, and as a result, I haven’t bought another one since. Now I’m revisiting that experience.

The rooibos base is a little stronger but this is where the sweet licorice root plays a great part in aiding to cover that, along with the soapiness, up a bit. I don’t taste any vanilla, but the cacao husks are at least slightly noticeable too.

This would have been a lot better if a) this contained better coconut and b) there were more cacao husks. I’d mix the rest of my sample with Tisano cacao however that’s all packed up in a box and 100 km away so no can do.

Today at work was almost but not quite as bad as I expected. I worked three of the four Research Assists, including the one where the pharmacy was insisting the patient was not in the hospital. I finally obtained proof of the patient’s admission and sent a copy to the Contact Center for them to tell the pharmacy to shut it. That sounds rude, and I guess it is, but really, I can’t wave a magic wand and issue payment when it isn’t allowed. The pharmacy will need to submit the claim to the correct carrier to receive payment.

Anyway, I have a sample of this tea. It sounded so good. I brewed it exactly per the instructions, but it was bitter. Maybe I over leafed, or 5 minutes was too long. Generally I steep black teas for 3 minutes or so. I rarely add anything to my tea, but I added a couple of the rock sugar from Teavana to it and it was better that way. When I re-steeped I let it go only 3 minutes and it was much less bitter.

I really love it when a tea company allows online orders of samples. Some don’t, and if they are a new-to-me company I probably won’t order from them. But when I can order four or five samples I am far more likely to find a tea I love and of which I will order 50 or 100 grams. This tea won’t be a re-order, but I’m really glad I got to try it. I’ll finish the sample with a little sugar additive, and less steeping time. I may update my rating then.

Sipdown no. 70 of 2017 (no. 351 total). A sample.

Another from the open and hoard approach of yesteryear. It’s bittersweet to sip these down. On the one hand, more room, less dust. On the other hand, it’s really yum and I’ll miss it.

Going on the wish list. I wrote a rather comprehensive note about it when I tried it for the first time. Nothing to add there, except this is cementing my belief that if I had to pick one black tea to take to a desert island, it would be a Yunnan.

Only 10 more notes until I hit 1000. Wow.

I’m a little surprised that there wasn’t an entry for this already. I have several samples of ATR Yunnans, and since I’ve been enjoying Yunnans recently I decided to try one of them.

My sample is just called Golden Yunnan. It doesn’t have the word organic in it, but I’m pretty sure this is the same as what’s currently on the ATR site.

The leaves in my packet looked pretty much exactly like the picture on the site, mostly medium-dark green with some golden tips punctuating the green. The dry tea has a surprisingly complex aroma. A little earth, a little tobacco, a little pepper.

Steeped, its a clear, dark reddish brown and has a really mouthwatering sweet aroma that makes me think of molasses or a really dark honey, but also of baking bread.

The flavor is amazingly smooth and soothing, and it immediately calmed my tummy which had reacted to too much black tea this morning before this one. It has a natural sweetness, but isn’t overly sweet. There’s a bit of a fresh bakery bread taste, and if I look for the tobacco note I can find it. There’s that malty quality I find in Yunnans as well, and the characteristic dash of pepper in the finish.

Just a really pleasant tea all around. I’m looking forward to trying my other Yunnan samples from ATR.

My mom helped me sip this one down. In her words: “This is what tea should taste like.” And she also thinks that it’s classy. It indeed has a refined flavour. Still not sure if I would get more. Maybe if I feel like making an order more worthwhile.

Floral tea lovers ought to try this one.

Perhaps now isn’t a good time to judge a new tea, especially in regards to its scent, because my nose is all burnt out from smelling/testing over a dozen fragrances since the afternoon. I ran around and got some great deals on already cheaper fragrances (almost embarrassed to even admit which ones I did buy) at Winners and Shoppers. Still no good teas at Winners. Sigh.

With that said, this smells like candied flowers, especially rose. And the rose carries through in the flavour, as well. It’s like Turkish Delight melted into a slightly astringent Chinese tea. There’s a creamy aspect to it, as well. I could see this making a great bubble tea.

Would I buy more? No, when it comes to mixed floral teas, I prefer Dammann’s KG Amore, but I’ll happily finish up my sample.

Sad to be polishing this off :( I was so dense that I didn’t realize American Tea Room’s warehouse clearance sale was a going out of business sale until it was too late, so this really is the last of it! R.I.P, Brioche. You will be missed.

Couldn’t hold out any longer — I opened the new bag of Brioche. There’s such a nice subtlety to this tea. It’s flavored, but the flavoring doesn’t stand out distinctly from the tea, they are melded together in fresh baked goodness :)

American Tea Company sent me a coupon and I jumped at the chance to stock up on this. It’s even better than I remembered :)

I really didn’t want to see the last of this, so I’ve found myself rationing this out as far as it will go. But since ATR offered free shipping this weekend, I scored a new bag! So now I feel alright about finishing this one. It looks like this is the second to last cup. Still so good :)

This tea is going down fast! Already seeing the bottom of the bag :( Such a wonderful breakfast tea.

I tend to think of this as morning tea (because of the name I guess) but it’s excellent any time of the day :)

Had this again, and if it was just a bit less pricey, I can easily see it becoming my go-to morning cup. It’s hearty enough for breakfast tea, but not at all astringent or biting, and the bread notes make it pair perfectly with breakfast food.