American Tea Room

Much better balanced than the brioche free, this is a good example of a flavored tea that works. The tea itself its mellow and mild so the delicate flavors come through. My relatively low rating is meant only as a personal record for myself that I prefer to taste more tea, so this was a poor choice for me. But a good tea!

Cold and thundersleeting out there! It is absolutely crazy weather – school opening late due to ice IN MARCH! This calls for Christmas Tea, PINK Christmas Tea, even!

Delightful below freezing evening cuppa happiness!

made my very own pot of this tonight. added much more tea per cuppa, have been letting it sit for quite a while…this is SO so yummy! i sure wish the tin went a bit further, i’m going to run out of this if i don’t control myself. maybe just a cup at a time in the future…just one. and maybe just one more…

just served a pot of this to my family on a chill (for texas) winter’s night. universal adoration ensued! yum!

Sipdown! Finishing this was bitter-sweet because while it’s great to shrink that cupboard, I’m going to miss having this around, and it only makes me want to make another ATR. Doesn’t really solve the problem now, does it? Those nutty and raisiny notes were still fresh despite having this sample size for, what, a year? I can’t even remember when I made this order. You know a flavoured black tea is dang good when you want it plain, no milk, nothing. Just as is.

On another note, I woke up with a sore throat this morning and have been getting worse as the day goes on, developing a mild fever and general fatigue, so yay, I’m sure I’ll be sick at work tomorrow. It’ll definitely call for more tea.

Pre-breakfast tea as I’m bumming around yet again. I have a sample packet of this left from one that they threw into a previous order, so one more cup and this’ll be done. Still like it after all this time! The flavours in this batch don’t seem as prominent as previous ones. I’m wondering if it could have lost a bit of flavour despite it staying sealed, as I’ve had it for over a year now? I’m sure it’s possible, but there’s still that pastry/nutty note. The base is quite bold this time around too.

I’m having this on a rainy, early morning before heading to work with a high-calorie breakfast due to trying to finish up odds and ends. Additionally, actually getting a Saturday off (whaaa?) meant heading down to farmer’s market where I ended up grabbing some bagels, a couple Pokemon macarons that I couldn’t resist, and some chai bundt cake (seriously!). The carbs make me die a little inside especially since I haven’t been able to gym it up as often as I’d like to but who knows when would be the next time I could get stuff there!

So, why this tea? I’ll admit that I am anticipating having a bit of that chai bundt cake after my toasted jalapeño cheddar bagel, one side with the small last bit of red wine cheddar and the other with the one slice of Montreal Smoked Meat I have plus the rest of the avocado from yesterday. So the tea is meant as a breakfast dessert.

Taking a couple sips after having a bite of the red wine cheese/bagel portion is interesting. It takes more like spiced almonds than usual. Even the base tastes a little roastier with this flavour combination. Trying desperately to let this cool a little more before indulging even more because I’m not sure if I’m the only one, but consuming hot liquids usually results in one of my eyes tearing up, and it’s so annoying to have to patch up eye makeup.

In other news, since I have 3 days off this upcoming week because they’re cutting hours, this means that I should have more time to a) drink MOAR TEA, b) gym it up, and c) apply to other/better jobs. While the labour cuts may suck on the pay cheque end of things, I’d be more than happy if they’d start giving me four shifts per week for the next while, even up until holiday season.

Woke up to Metallica’s The Call of Ktulu in my head so now I’m playing that and drinking my tea, all motivated and ready to get stuff done today.

This still tastes pretty fresh considering it’s like a year old now. In the past, I was definitely overleafing but have since found that treating these like DF teas (3g per Nordic mug) it the perfect ratio. Less is more.

Who put toasted, buttered raisin bread in my cup?

Finally back home on the West Coast and this was the first tea that I grabbed this morning since I was craving it back in Alberta but left it here. Doesn’t need any additives as it’s delicious on its very own. I haven’t even gone grocery shopping yet, and was planning to do so as well as run a few other errands, so I got all ready to go. Then I put an emergency frozen pizza in the oven for lunch before heading out and it’s made me sick. So now I’m afraid to go anywhere. Ugh! Maybe I’ll wait for an hour or two and see if I should leave the apartment.

This smells and tastes raisiny to me but I love that despite not caring too much for them, especially in baked goods. It’s like a wholesome baked dessert, if you can even call a dessert that!

Sweetness, both of my BF orders came in today, plus I bought a couple Nordic mugs on sale at David’s. So, I decided to christen one of them with this tea, plus I shared a cup with my mom.

Definitely overleafed this time because I was just so darn excited to have some of this again. The first 1/3 of the cup was a little on the bitter side, especially when it was still really hot. But once it cooled down, the raisiny and pastry notes started to come out. I know it’ll be even better if I paid attention to those ratios again.

Oh wow, and this ended up being my 900th tasting note! Fancy that.

Resteeped the leaves last night and thought, “Wait a minute, this smells and tastes like something familiar.” Forever searching for the specific note that was clearly doing that to me. Eureka! It’s the almond that I somehow didn’t get in the first steep. I suspect that it was blending so effortlessly into the raisin and now with the second steep, the two have separated. But about this mysterious almond deja vu.

But of course, it’s David’s Forever Nuts. It’s all coming together now. No wonder why the Brioche Free, which I’ve yet to try, looks almost exactly like Forever Nuts. The second steep here tastes very similar to it except it’s missing the apple.

Thanks to the darling Sil for passing some of the infamous Brioche to me! I’ve been waffling on making an order for over half a year now, not really tempted by their other teas, hence thinking an order wouldn’t be worthwhile. But now I have to chance to see what all the fuss is about.

And I get it. The fuss. The dry leaf truly does smell bakery-like. Some bready notes with swirls of spice mixed in. As soon as I started to steep the tea, I picked up a waft of raisin bread, or like a very bready cinnamon bun jewelled with raisins. Actually, it reminds me of my grandma’s babka with a touch of spice.

The taste matches the smell, without a doubt. Without any additives, I can taste all of the components I listed above: the eggy bread, the raisins, the spice. This is basically what I hoped Della Terra’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookie would be like, except with more of a bready note.

I also appreciate that the liquor isn’t oily or murky from the flavouring. Is it order-worthy? Most definitely. But I’m not sure if I’d give it the title of the Best Dessert Tea, and don’t think it’s worth getting unless you can hit a sale on their site.

Speaking of which, ATR does have 20% off sale this weekend so I have the weekend to think about whether I should do it. This is the worst time to have a sale, though! I just told myself to cool it for a while until I get down to, I don’t know, like seventy or less teas again, and not sure if I’m willing to spend $70+ in order to counteract the shipping costs and make it worthwhile. Ho hum.

just having awakened from an inadvertent allergy-fueled nap, i thought i’d need a quick jolt of, um, well, anything. brewed a cup of this latest acquisition. the dry tea is quite pretty, and smells delish! the brew itself is dark and deep, and not quite as layered and full as i’d hoped from the smell of the dry leaves, however i might not have brewed quite long enough. as it is, it is quite nice, and i’ll have to revisit sometime soon.

More sample finishing in the lead-up to my drink-through-every-tea-in-my-cupboard-from-oldest-to-newest marathon (I need some snappier name for that, haha). I am thinking that will start Monday.

I like this one pretty, but I don’t think it will be a reorder for me as I just don’t really find myself super excited about it. When I drink it, it’s good, but the smell of the dry leaf (and somewhat the steeped tea) is a little smokier than I prefer. It doesn’t really translate to the flavor (I have a low tolerance for smokiness) but all the same, it diminishes my enjoyment ever so slightly. But otherwise its a nice nutty, figgy tea that successfully gives off a middle-eastern/north african vibe.

I ordered a sample of this tea because dates! figs! sesame! sounds like a good tea to me. I don’t think I found this one on Steepster beforehand, somehow, because I remember not seeing any reviews. If I had, I might not have ordered it since people talk about smokiness in it and I have no tolerance for smokiness.

The dry leaf smells INTENSE. Very sweet, definitely figs, dates, and nuts. Steeped, the tea started smelling a little smoky, and I was worried. However, this came out ok for me. I think because it’s more of an intense roast/toast than it is a charcoal smoke (which often makes me ill!). Nutty and figgy for sure. It’s less sweet seeming than I might have guessed, but it works. Similar to Toasted Fig, but still unique. I ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would!

I actually feel bad writing this review. I have nothing against American Tea Room, and they have many terrific teas. I’m actually getting overtones of vomit off this one. I do already know I don’t love licorice root, but that’s usually a problem with the aftertaste. But the other components, coconut, cocoa, rooibos, well, I usually love those on their own. They just really don’t come together well for me here. It makes me happy that others have enjoyed this one because I don’t want to think it could possibly be this bad for everyone.

Sipdown! There was only a little left after yesterday, too little to keep around. That makes sipdown no. 13 for the year 2014.

Yep, it’s a nice, light version of an Earl Grey crème and good at what it does. It deserves a place in my personal Earl Grey pantheon.

Had this again this morning using the package directions for steeping. It did make some difference, or perhaps I’ve just become accustomed to the flavor of this tea.

I think perhaps I expected a deeper flavor from this because the aroma of the dry leaf is so rich, but looking now at Dinosaura’s note, I’m seeing that I’m not alone in finding the tea base “thin,” or in my case, lighter than I’d expected. Which I suppose ought not to be a surprise given that this is described by ATR as a “lighter, creamier version” of Earl Grey. On the light front, that’s definitely accurate, and once I get past my aroma-driven prejudice I can appreciate this for a lighter version of an Earl Grey crème. Because strong bergamot isn’t to my liking in a Grey and the combination of strong bergamot and strong tea does a number on my stomach, this is friendly tea for me. The hint of crème keeps the bergamot in check, and I quite like the balance in this blend.

I’m going to put it on the shopping list mostly because there are mornings when Earl Grey sounds nice but I know I won’t be able to tolerate a full bodied one.

I just did a “sort by company” of my notes and was really surprised to see that I’ve only logged two American Tea Room teas. I really liked both of those, so I should probably apply myself to the task of tasting more of their wares! (And btw, the ATR people are psychic, apparently. As I typed that, an email with a 20% off coupon arrived in my mailbox.)

This is a very pretty tea. The violet and mallow petals make the dry leaf lovely to look at. The aroma from the sample packet is so wonderfully inviting. A very mellow blend of bergamot and vanilla, which reminds me of lemon cake icing.

After steeping, the sweetness of the aroma flattens out some. The liquor is a peachy amber.

I’m not getting as much flavor from this as I’d expected. It could have something to do with how I steeped. I used the same settings as I did for St. Petersburg (200 degrees for 4 minutes) but I noticed that the sample packet suggests 195 degrees for 5 minutes. I will try that next time. It could also have something to do with the age of the sample, though it was in a sealed packet that had never been opened and judging by the aroma in the packet it seemed to have retained its freshness and strength.

I’m not convinced I did this one justice, so I’m going to reserve my rating until I’ve had a chance to try steeping it differently. It seems too promising from the aroma for what I got out of it.

Pros: Despite the ‘cherry simple syrup’ official description, I don’t get that, but instead a pure floral flavor that I prefer to fruitiness. Cons: What’s missing is the tea flavor. I’d rather have cherry blossom scented tea than caffeinated cherry blossom infusion.

They gave it a good try, but I guess there isn’t much you can do to change or add to the flavor of hibiscus – that’s pretty much all I taste in the brewed tea. No complaints, but indistinguishable from others.

Sipped on a hot cup of this tea while watching How to Get Away with Murder. The show is great, the tea not so much. I find my love of this comes and goes and tonight it just wasn’t there. I found the base overpowering and the almond to be too strongly reminiscent of a drying nut skin as opposed to the flavorful inside of the treat.