American Tea Room

Drinking the last bit of this cold brewed! I’m super thirsty for some reason…it was French night in the dining hall and while the food was delicious, it was rather salty. So this tea was incredibly refreshing and the nutty, baked good scent shines though as much as it does when hot. I’m gonna miss you, Brioche!

Having this one again after not drinking it for a while. Still awesome. Still smells like a bakery in the morning, breakfast pastries pulled straight from the oven. I really enjoy this with a decent amount of sugar in it. So many flavors going on in my mouth, I can’t really figure out what’s going on but I don’t care! And the love the pretty red thingies mixed in with the leaves.

Got this as a sample from a tea swap! It’s really delicious and complicated. It’s exciting to drink each time I brew a cup. Reminds me of cinnamon rolls, but there are lovely almond flakes as well…sigh. I’d love a cup right now!

My first real tea in three days! (Because I accidentally poisoned myself with something and have been dealing with a super-sensitive stomach that couldn’t handle more than ginger ale and white tea.) This might not be the best return-to-tea choice but I’m sharing with the husband and he’s a big EG fan, so I felt we needed to give this one a shot.

The dry leaf smells a bit perfume-y and spicy. Perhaps like a spicy perfume? It’s rather strong. I must fight the urge to sneeze. But, as I’m learning, ATR tea post-steeping tends to be much mellower and more balanced than the smell of the dry leaf.

The liquor smells quite a bit like Romanoff – elegantly orange, but stronger. As for the taste… For being steeped for five minutes, this is remarkably smooth. It is a bit overwhelming in the Earl department, though. Earl Grey flavoring runs such a range, from spicy bergamot to perfumed bergamot. I tend to like the former – peel and pith type tastes – more, but this seems to be in the later category. It’s a bit like eating flowers at times.

The tea base, though, is quite lovely. Not the star of the show, by any means, and I kind of wish it was. It’s nice – smooth, a bit earthy, soft, with a full mouthfeel… but dressed in many layers of bergamot perfumed flowers. I think it deserves a tad more than to be tarted up like an Earl Grey floozy. A hint more screen time would be nice.

Some sips aren’t as perfumed and the tea just tastes sweet with a tiny squidge of spicy. I like those sips. And I seem to be coming into more of them as the tea cools. Or maybe my tastebuds have been coated so that they don’t recognize the perfume anymore, just the other flavors? These sips almost feel silky and that’s fun.

I’m a bit torn on this one. I think it’s well done in a way – easy to drink straight (no additives) and there’s no harshness to it. But it’s a bit too floral for my tastes and so seems to be a bit out of balance, at least in comparison to the other ATR teas I’ve had so far. If the EG were taken down a notch or the tea-base ratcheted up two notches, this could make me much happier.

That being said, the husband (who is this house’s EG fan) gave this 4/5 stars and said the bergamot was nicely balanced. So perhaps if you are like the husband and find most Earl Greys don’t deliver on the Earl or require milk and/or sugar to smooth them out, this one might be up your alley. Lots of Earl, no sugar required!

Thank you so so so much again to Will Work For Tea for this wonderful surprise!

What I really wanted to do this morning was go swimming, but of course it started raining around 7am and not this afternoon as advertised. Even if it wasn’t raining I’m not exactly in a good mood given the whole movie theatre shooting and the dumb things people have to say. (Like seriously you can cool it on worrying you’re going to see a spoiler somewhere on the internet, people.)

So oolong time it is.
On the first steep alone this tea tastes worth its price. And the first steep isn’t even the best one when it comes to milk oolongs. Woooow. Condensed milk candy, that is the only way to describe it. Creamy, buttery, just a slight touch of the green taste of the oolong. Wow. It even leaves that feeling on your tongue that cream generally leaves. Normally I HATE that feeling but with this tea, oooh yes, do like.

Second steep is butter butter butter. Smooth and creamy and buttery.

I oolong’d myself out after the third steep, which had a bit of a spice to it compared to the others. I’d keep going with these leaves but man this tea is so rich and intoxicating, I don’t want to take another 90 minute nap.

This is going on my “if you love me and want to buy me a present” list. It’ll just be this tea on the list. I have enough to steep it again using my gaiwan and I will be holding off on that for another rainy day. This stuff is ridiculous. When I get my first real job next year, I’m buying myself 2 ounces as a self congratulatory gift.

Well, me drinking this tea got madly interrupted by a huge thunderstorm. I was on my patio taking a video because it had started hailing and there was rain blowing in two directions so I freaked out and went inside. I was enjoying this tea up until then (and the power was only out for like 5 minutes so that’s cool).

It smells like those cinnamon candied nuts you find at any sort of event that requires a generic set of vendors. Except that these are the best thing ever, and it made me wish I had some.

The tea does not taste like them, though. The tea tastes like a Parisian breakfast. Buttery almond croissants, fluffy brioche, oranges, sweet cinnamon bread, I want to go back.

Fun story: one morning while we were eating our morning croissants at a bakery in the 15th arrondissement, this little sparrow came right up to our table and started chirping. My mom dropped her a little piece of croissant. She took it and flew off, and returned several times for more. She was feeding her babies! And she had no fear at all to fly right up to us and get some more. (Meanwhile here I can’t even get a sparrow to take a piece of tortilla chip from a far distance on a Chipotle patio.) This tea reminds me of all those good pastries.

Kinda surprised no one else has reviewed this tea, especially since there are a few stellar reviews on ATR’s website.

To be completely honest I bought a sample size of this (I really love sample sizes!) before I could pick out that licorice root is not my favorite additive to teas. I think licorice root to me is like rooibos for others… and yes, there’s rooibos in here too. Double whammy!

Anyway, out of the package the tisane smells chocolately and creamy like ATR’s Choco*Laté. But I’m pretty sure I’m smelling the licorice root in there too, but it’s faint. Brewed 10 oz. of water with 4 tsp. of tisane. 30ish minutes later I taste the warmed version. Hit in the face with chocolatey licorice root… Sigh

Iced, the taste is more chocolate with much less in-your-face licorice. Better. A bit of creamer, and the licorice mellows out into the background. I kind of feel silly adding sweetener because it really doesn’t need it at all, but it I do anyway and I think I like it best this way.

If I had to choose between this and Choco*Laté, I’m gonna choose the latter merely for the fact that the licorice root is kind of a downer to me. They taste rather similar anyway.

I’m finally getting around to trying this sample that I bought from my first order with ATR from earlier this year.

Brewed 10 oz. of water at the below parameters with 4 tsp of tisane. Strong, but not overly powerful. This is nice – it’s a lovely non-caffeinated version of lemoned tea. But the taste of the lemon is slightly creamy and smooth, not tart, which I like a whole lot! I can easily drink it this way without additions. I did ice half of this and is great on it’s own. A little sweetener brings out the creaminess more. Will be keeping this one on hand!

Thank you to QueenOfTarts for swapping this!

This smells like powdered hot chocolate in the bag. There’s a crazy amount of cacao husks in here, but I’m sure that just adds to the decadence.

Brewed at the below parameters and it smelled just as good. Upon inital taste sans additives, it tastes like chocolate rice. Not sure why, but it did. Like a very chocolatey rice pudding that was less creamy and sweet.

But add some sweetener and a bit of creamer…. OMG – crazy good! And it’s made even more awesomer (urban dictionary!) by the fact that it’s caffeine-free! I already have plans to stock up on this for winter because this might be all I drink outside a good strong morning cup.

Toasty and tasty! I really do love Genmaicha! It’s one of the very few teas I can drink without sweetener and dairy. (And I think I need that after finishing a sweeter chai. :) )

Note to self: I need to try this iced.

This was my breakfast tea! The vanilla complimented the Blueberry French Toast and bacon my husband made this morning – good stuff! :)

This was my breakfast tea today to go along with a blueberry scone. Yum! I do really enjoy this as a stand alone vanilla tea.

JacquelineM is on to something – I also followed her lead in cutting up a fresh vanilla bean and adding it to the stored tea = WOW! It takes the vanilla to a whole new delicious level.

I’ve also used this tea to blend with. Many times while having Mexican food I have a desire to have a sangria-type tea (sans alcohol, most of the time). ATR’s Organic Vanilla Noir mixed with Adagio’s Fruit Sangria/Fruit Medley works beautifully!

Organic Vanilla Noir is a fantastic tea that’s very versatile. It has a permanent place in my tea cupboard!

I let this moulder at the bottom of a basket and forgot it was there. Mouldering doesn’t hurt pu-erh much, does it? Still sweet and earthy and makes me wish I was in a cave in the Ozarks. (And for one random sip, it reminded me of Dr. Pepper. Eh, I’m not awake yet.)

Morning resteep. No severe reversals or personality shifts in flavor…wood, earth, cocoa, and minerals as stated in the description.

My husband loves all things “cave,” did some reckless amateur spelunking in the Ozarks back when he was younger and could fit through the crawl holes, so I read him the label that mentions the tea is cave-aged. He took one sip and said, “Yep, tastes like stalactites.”

My experience with pu-erh has been limited and mistake-ridden; today’s goof being a 3-cup pot instead of a single so I could mess with re-steeps. And working with cakes or tuochas (did I spell that right?)—I just don’t have the hang of it yet. Ah, well; live and learn.

This comes on to you with the wet barn wood scent and up-front taste that is common to pu-erhs. But now that it’s cool, the barn wood is gone, replaced by a lovely dark caramel flavor. Nice hefty texture, too.

May save the leaves anyway for re-steep experiments in the morning. Special thanks to doulton for the opportunity to broaden my tea horizons!

Second tea of the morning….

And tea 17 of 24. This is an interesting flavor combination. I did not look at what was in the blend until coming on here to write this tasting note….I was getting fruit, even though I thought apples, along with cinnamon. It looks like I was pretty close. I should have guessed something more citrusy based upon the smell of the tea. It is a light green base, and pleasant enough. I am not sure the cinnamon and green tea is a good combo, but the cinnamon is also light. I am very thankful to have had the chance to try it, QuiltGuppy!

Mug method with 185 water and 3 minute steep.

Tea of the afternoon……

And tea #10 of 24. This one was sent by QuiltGuppy for my green tea and oolong self education. Thank you so much for sending this one as it is my first Moroccan mint! I also don’t think I have had a gunpowder green on its own, so this is completely new.

I love the refreshing flavor of the mint. I am trying to drink this one as is. It kind of reminds me (in my limited scope of mint green teas…) of Candy Cane Lane but more like real tea as it has much more body and fewer flavors to distract from the green. I expected the color of the tea to be lighter, but it is a light caramel color. Maybe it is more in line with other gunpowders….I have a sample of just gunpowder green that I will have to try for comparison. All in all, a refreshing tea and a great afternoon pick me up.

15 oz. mug, just over 2 tsp tea blend, 180 water, 3 minutes.

Tea of the afternoon……

And day #3 of 24. This came from QuiltGuppy. I am trying to branch out into oolongs and greens as I am normally a die-hard black tea drinker, and she was gracious enough to send me a generous sample of this tea in a swap. Thank you, QG!

This is surprising. I get a light floral, creamy aroma. It kind of smells like butter. And the taste is also kind of creamy and buttery. The liquor has a thick taste….thicker than just water for sure. Very pleasant and refreshing. I can drink this one straight up….no additions.

15 oz mug, 185 water, 2 1/2 tsp tea, 3 minutes.

(I am holding off on a rating as I am certainly no oolong expert……)

Once upon a time not so long ago, I did not like coconut. I would not eat an Almond Joy or Mounds, still don’t prefer them. But I had some strips of coconut shaved fresh and served as dessert and really liked it. I tried Royal Wedding and loved it. I bought some real fruit frozen pops and tried the piña colada one and loved it. So I thought that with today’s heat index of 115 degrees, some iced coconut black tea would be a treat!

This is from Doulton, a phrase you will be seeing a lot in the near future! First, the aroma on opening the package was very strong and familiar. I really did think of chocolate covered coconut candy first, then after inhaling a few more times, the wonderful summer scent of tanning lotion.

I did try a bit of this hot before icing it, and I found it to be smooth and flavorful. It had no need of sweetener or milk, had nice body, and didn’t seem astringent at all. There was a nice roundness to the cup. I tried it sweetened and iced, and while it is very good and most say they prefer it that way, I thought I detected more black tea taste and some astringency when I iced it.

I will definitely be serving this to some of my friends. I am eager to see how they like it! Next time, I will pay attention to directions and use slightly cooler water and a slightly longer steep time. I didn’t check first and I used boiling water for four minutes, while ATR recommends 200 degree water for five minutes. It did have great balance to me the way I made it, though, especially the hot cup before I iced the rest.

This was a very nice treat this afternoon. Thank you, Doulton!

Love it, purchased from David’sTeas from Toronto, Canada, wonderful!!!!!!!!! Creamy, summer peachy ,light and delicate.I have been enjoying it all eve. Three resteeps and considering a fourth, hope I sleep tonight. How special to find & enjoy something so different.

Lack of flavor isn’t something I’ve experienced in American Tea Room products. Usually, I open the package, and scarcely have to inhale for the aroma of any one of their teas to gloriously fill my senses. Their teas are characteristically extremely fresh, I’ve found. However, either this tea is extremely subtle, or simpy not as fresh as the others. It didn’t smell stale, but it had little nose, little flavor. Their basic rooibos has a wonderful flavor, so it seems to me that any of their rooibos based teas would at least have something to ponder. And green teas are usually at least, well, green if nothing else. This one—almost nothing. However, I’ve had such excellent experiences with American Tea Room products, I’m not going to give this tea a rating until I’ve had a chance to order another sample that will hopefully be from another batch. and then I’ll try again.

Good morning. I have the gift of a few un-bespoke hours this morning to work on a writing project. Notting Hill, with its leather-bound personality, seemed appropriate for literary pursuits. Lapsang souchong lite, kind of.