American Tea Room

Another sample from miss Stephanie. I love figs, so I’m always interested in fig teas. I’m really hoping the coconut in here doesn’t ruin this one, I try to avoid teas with actual coconut in them because it ages so poorly. I can already smell the soapiness through the plastic baggie. :( This is a fairly chunky tea, there are large chunks of fruit along with the coconut shreds and some crushed spices.

The steeped cup smells mostly of soapy coconut. I can definitely taste the soapy flavor in the taste as well, aww… Otherwise this tastes quite mellow for a puerh base, and it’s mildly sweet and spicy. Withholding rating. :(

Sip down! Part of me was tempted to save the last of it to symbolically drink it in one of my Fairmont Empress teacups but typical hoarding moi still has them, and the accompanying teapot, tucked away in their boxes deep in the back of the cupboard.

This is essentially a nice EGC with a touch of rose. Not sure if I’d buy more since I’d still rather have a cup of good ole ECG from Zen, but I wouldn’t mind having another cup any way.

I figured since it was Christmas morning, I should treat myself to one of my ATR samples. My mom chose this one since she’s excited to spend Christmas here rather than on the Prairies. Tearing open the packet and wow! It’s strong, and I mean strongly, scented with bergamot and vanilla. The dried roses are pretty hues of pink and purple. Even more appropriate considering how green and lush, and snowless, it looks during this time of the year.

Flavour-wise, the bergamot is the most prominent note, followed by the vanilla. The rose is fleeting but makes its presence known for the most part. My main complaint, however, is the bold base which borders on bitter. Perhaps I need to use even less leaf and steep it for a shorter amount of time? Next time I’ll also try it with some half and half to see what’ll happen.

This is better as a cold brew, in my opinion. Still no true passion fruit note, but the fruity peachy notes are crisper. Got a bit bitter, so I’m sure this is especially the kind of iced tea people would prefer having with a bit of sugar, but I will never take that route with iced tea haha.

This glass Contigo of cold brew also means a sip down! Wow, btw, ATR is quite generous with their samples. At first $4 sounds like quite a bit for a sample but I actually managed to make three Nordic mugs and a two-cup amount of cold brew with it. Not too shabby.

And PS: Yay! After nearly two months of waiting, several emails, a phone call, and a Facebook conversation, Bare Minerals has finally sent out my parcel, with the correct information, and has thus successfully landed on my proverbial doorstep. :D

Time to tear open a sample packet. Passion fruit is a favourite fruit of mine. So tart and bursting with flavour. For me, the more sour the fruit, the better. This is my first passion fruit tea, and by the looks of it, I’m definitely going to have to continue my search for a good one.

The scent of the dry leaf is very subtle, and the very little fruity flavour that I do get does not resemble passion fruit at all. It’s more like peaches, with maybe a tiny hint of dates. Actually, it’s my mom who first picked up on the date-like smell, and once she mentioned it, I started to see where she was coming from. But that said, no passion fruit.

You know how I’m certain? Because I’m sitting next to a freaking sliced-open passion fruit right now. Not that I need to refresh my memory or anything but since I happened to find them on sale, I figured this would be the perfect time to compare the nuances of the tea with the actual fruit.

Sipping on the tea first, the base is quite robust. For the first five minutes or so, without any additives, it basically just tastes like a plain black tea, as the strong base overrides the delicate fruity notes. I went ahead and added some light cream to mine wondering if it would tone down the base and bring out the fruity notes. Nope, big mistake. Now it basically tastes like Tim Hortons. Hmm. But just now, I had a sip of my mom’s, who left hers as is, and sure enough, as the additive-free tea cooled down, the fruity flavours come out more. Again, I detect mostly peach more than passion fruit.

I’ll drink the rest of the sample black, and let it cool down slightly. I’m sure it wouldn’t be bad iced, but regardless, I’m definitely going to have to continue my hunt to find that perfect passion fruit tea. A teaspoon of pure passion fruit goodness reassures me that this needs to be done.

Backlog. This one was alright, but not nearly as sweet as I expected from the description. I might try icing or even cold-brewing this one, because it seems like it could stand up to it. The apricot flavor of this is intense, right down to the pit. I think that’s the only way I can describe it, because while the edge I taste here isn’t bitter exactly, there’s definitely something less smooth than I expected. Not bad, but I think cold-brewing might make it great instead of just good.

Backlog. This smelled wonderful but was ultimately a bit much for me. The lavender is intensely herbal and the sencha base is really vegetal, leaving me with a tea that was pretty grassy. I was expecting more floral flavor from the lavender to balance the sencha, but this one was just too strong all around for me. I gave the rest to mom—she loves it.

Oh! This actually tastes like pastry! Not just some unidentified bready thing like I was expecting. There is a good amount of almond and baking spice flavor, making this great for morning drinking or a dessert cup. I saw that this tea company also has a caffeine-free herbal version of this…but I can’t imagine at all how that could come even close to the flavor of this. I believe this was a sample from NayLynn. Thanks so much for letting me try it!!

Got a sample of this from Stephanie-a rather generous sample at that! :D I hear that this tea is very Similar to Lupicia’s Cookie, so I’ve been curious about this one.
I think the closest this tea comes to Cookie is the dry leaf aroma. But while it’s steeping, the smell is mainly cinnamon.
The taste isn’t too much different. A lot of cinnamon, and a lot of butter. It’s like a really buttery, cinnamon cookie.
Not as strong as Cookie, or really as good in my opinion. But it’s not bad, I’ll definitely be able to finish the sample! Just wouldn’t purchase. Thank you so much for the generous sample, Stephanie! :D

i want to write a proper review.
i really do.
it’s been so long.
and i just received a new tea order in the mail today and everything.
but
instead here are my newest nails.
http://handfic.tumblr.com/post/102616254093
and my comic book collection says ‘hi’

Getting close to the bottom of this tin and am falling for it all over again! Guess I’ll have to hunt down an alternate now that ATR is gone. The first two steeps of this today were lovely. I’m on a third now and the baked cinnamon is more pronounced. The end of the sip seems a little weaker and hollow, but that is to be expected when steeping the crap out of a flavored tea. The finish is still pretty nice too. It’s a damn good tea!

Warm toasty cinnamon and baked almond! This really does remind me of the almond flavored biscotti that my sister just made and sent to us for the holidays. I need to devise a scheme to justify a purchase. How much tea do I have to drink or pass onto someone else before a purchase doesn’t seem ridiculous?

Oh, and btw, I hate this clunky keyboard! It took so long to type this with all the corrections I had to make. Damn you substandard keyboard!!!

HHTTB

I’m smelling apple cinnamon pie, but there are no apples in this! It is tasting a bit like Teavana’s long gone Almond Biscotti that I dearly loved! It might have a little more cinnamon (which is fine by me) and has that almond cookie flavor to it too. I think I’m going to fall hard for this one. Thank you traveling tea boxes! I never would have thought to seek this one out otherwise!

Pass the Stash TTB #2

This is delightful! The smell is incredible and the flavor is fantastic. I suppose it’s supposed to be nutty. I have no idea what this smells like to me, but I love it. It’s just so… different and delicious. I like. Very like. Wow. I keep this. :)

Not sure what I can add to this, since it’s been so heavily reviewed, but here goes! I couldn’t wait to try this, so I ended up steeping some almost right after I opened the package.

Dry leaf scent was sweet, like sugar, and I picked up on cream right away. The tea liquor has those two scents plus butter. First few sips were just the brew, nothing added. Mostly creamy and buttery taste with a very subtle cinnamon note. Next I added milk, which amped up the cream flavor and transformed it into more of a baked good taste. It wasn’t until I added a tiny amount of coconut sugar that the tea fully lived up to it’s namesake. And, yes, it does have flavor reminiscent of a fresh baked pastry. I didn’t get much almond flavor, though I could see the almonds in the blend, I mean, they are right there, but the taste didn’t come through for me. And the strangest thing was that there was no black tea flavor. A tea that doesn’t taste like tea? Interesting.

For Marzipan: how does this compare with Lupicia’s Cookie? Well, they are completely different. Brioche has mostly cream and butter with a hint of cinnamon, and is much more subtle. Cookie is much more aromatic, and has a stronger flavor of sweetness and milkiness .

So, bottom line is I really like this tea, it’s subtle but well-balanced and certainly a great dessert black. I’ll definitely be friends with Brioche, but my heart belongs to Cookie.

UPDATE: brewed some with breakfast this morning, and steeped it longer than the amount recommended. And there it was: almond! The tea is so mild I think it can handle a steep as long as 6 minutes, so I’ll be doing an extended steep time from now on. More flavor that way and I didn’t get any acid or bitterness, either.

This is unlike anything I’ve tried before. There’s a lot of nuttiness and the sesame is surprisingly dark (maybe roasted?) and reminds me almost of coffee beans. The fruit is subtle but adds a richness to the whole thing—I wouldn’t call this fruity or sweet at all, but it’s still noticeable. A very interesting cup! I’m glad I opened this sample first of the ones I have left.

I could not finish my cup, It has everything I thought I loved in it but I’m beginning to beleive I don’t like vanilla tea anymore and this reminds me alot of ATR vanilla tea with a little bit of bergamot and some flowers. I hope it is just a phase and I will like it again when the weather changes because my mom has a 24 hour layover in London and I have requested a vanilla tea that I loved from Harrods. I think its just me since most reviewers seem to like it. If I figure out how I like it I will be sure to update.

I put off trying this sample quite sometime for a variety of reasons, at least one of which was an abbreviated ingredient list. I love American Tea Room to an almost shameful degree, but their lack of specificity as to what constitutes, say, “maple,” always leaves me a little skittish. However, this blend in particular is organic, and in an effort to start depleting my overfilled cupboards, I decided to give Canada a shot.

I was surprised (and a little uneasy) at how dark a green the resultant liquor turned. Honestly, I was expecting a mouthful of artificial sweetness that made my stomach clench up. But after the first sip, I was forced to admit that I had wronged this delightful little tea. There is a nuttiness present in the brew that evens out the maple notes, and I believe it’s further mellowed by the base. The maple itself isn’t the overpowering stuff that you drown your morning waffles in, but a more subtle, nuanced flavor.

After I drained it down, I peered dubiously into the bottom of my mug, wondering if maybe my low expectations had skewed my opinion. Not so, apparently, as the second steep was just as tasty, if a little less vibrantly green. While I probably wouldn’t purchase this tea in bulk, I certainly wouldn’t shun it if it happened to show up on my doorstep again.

I finally have a few days off from work. And do you know what I’m going to do? Drink obscene amounts of tea! I’ve missed my tea :( Anyways, I’ve been saving the last of this sample for when I can just enjoy it. I love this tea! It’s sooo good. It reminds me of those cinnamon almonds you get at sporting events or any kind of event, actually. It’s full of cinnamon, almond, and custard flavors. Mmmm :)

Sipdown! (137)

I had a perfectly lovely Saturday. We went to a creperie for lunch, and it was quite delicious – I got the ratatouille crepe, yums! They also have tasty pommes frites and a variety of creative dipping sauces (I got the curry mayo). Oh, and I got a Moroccan mint tea that was actually quite good! Then we lazed about on the couch for a few hours, which happens to be my favorite weekend activity. I’ve spent the last couple of hours browsing yixing pots on AliExpress for no reason whatsoever (and adding about a million to my wishlist). I think I would like to get a basic yixing soon, to use for black teas. I wouldn’t mind having one for just Yunnans, actually… :P

Anyway, this tea. It’s perfectly nice and I like the almond flavor, and I find it to be very snuggly and comforting with sugar and soy milk added. It’s not a fantastic tea in my opinion, but I can see it being a good desserty standby. Thanks again to Stephanie for sending me a sample! :)

Miss Stephanie was nice enough to send me a sample of this tea. It’s a fairly famous one around here, and I’ve been curious about it for quite some time. I generally love almond and brioche is delicious, of course! So even though I’m not loving flavored teas as much these days, I was still excited to try this. There are some slices of almond mixed in with the tea, along with those tiny red flower petals that seem to be in every flavored black tea lately. Dry, it smells quite lovely and sweet with a definite almond influence.

Honestly, I wasn’t terribly impressed with this when I tried it straight. Sugar helped a bit. But milk (in my case, vanilla soy) is certainly the secret ingredient here, it makes this taste infinitely more pastry-like and buttery. I can definitely taste the almond, but it’s not a marzipan taste, just nutty and buttery almonds. There’s a little dash of cinnamon, and it really adds a lovely dimension to the tea. I’m almost reminded of French toast, but made with brioche of course! I think next time I’ll brew this a little bit stronger so it’ll stand up to the milk better.

Right now I don’t think I would order this, mostly because I don’t tend to reach for flavored teas as much. Also, I haven’t tried anything else from American Tea Room, and I can’t imagine making an order for just one tea unless it was the best tea ever…

Sipdown (126/133)!

Made the last of this one from VariaTEA in my timolino. Honestly, I can probably sum up the whole thing by just saying that it wasn’t nearly as good as the cold brew but I suppose I’ll break it down a little more.

Pretty much it was just a straight up, simple, no frills coconut/pineapple similar to the cold brew but with the difference of the coconut being somewhat significantly more flavourful than the pineapple. Additionally, I kept getting cocoa notes from the black base, and I thought they weren’t meshing well with the rest of the tea. That’s probably the biggest reason it wasn’t as good as the cold brew: no cocoa in the cold version.

Side Question: Anyone played the Stanley Parable? I watched a few LPs of it last night and it looks super interesting. Debating making Tre get it on his Steam Account so I can play…

And I’m onto tasting notes from today!

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample of this one! I know you sent it to me a while back, but I’m just getting to it now. Oops.

I cold brewed it because Pineapple/Coconut black cold brew? Hell yeah! And really, it’s good but very straight forward. Like literally, it’s exactly what’s promised: Black tea, coconut, and pineapple. The coconut is really up front, and the pineapple is more noticeable in the end of this sip but they’re both there.

There’s enough leaf left for a hot brew, so I guess I’ll do that with the rest of it and see if anything else becomes more apparent. As is, it’s good but average. I do love me some Pineapple and Coconut though, so I definitely, definitely appreciate the thoughtful sample!

I was so excited when I received this as a sample with one of my ATR orders in the spring because I love coconut. I saved it just knowing I would love it iced in the summer. I was wrong; it is full of coconut taste but it’s so oily and kind of weird.