American Tea Room

Happy happy tasting tea! Pastry with cinnamon and almond, just a delight to sip!!!

This is from the Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox

THIS IS SO YUMMY. I very clearly get the light baked good flavor. Oh, Yum! I wish I had more of this to try. I am so glad I got to try this sample!

Once brewed the tea has a beautiful amber color. Wonderful.

Thank you for setting up the teabox Tea Sipper!

After my good experience trying the Milk Oolong again after many months I thought I’d try another tea that I had tasted early on in my teaventure that I hadn’t enjoyed much, but was highly reviewed. I didn’t enjoy this one much then and I’m disappointed to say I didn’t enjoy it much now either, so I guess I haven’t evolved that much. ;-)

I bought this one almost a year ago when I first started getting into tea because it was super highly reviewed over on Teaviews and someone called it like a “condensed milk” oolong. Well I had no idea what that meant and made some expecting something VERY different and was highly disappointed. After that I steered clear of oolongs.

I decided to revisit this tea now that I know a little more about tea and my expectations were much more in line.

I’m really glad I did. This tea is crazy good. I’m not going to get into my steeping play by play, but each additional one (4 in total) yielded a super buttery, creamy, almost roasty, treat. I would compare the butter flavor to that of snyder’s butter pretzels. And that’s a good thing. I could drink this all day. Especially when I’m craving a butter. The price tag is a bit stiff, but considering how much tea you get out of one or two teaspoons, it’s worth it (I tell myself….)

Anyway, yum.

I like this chai. Nothing fancy, just a good cinnamony chai. I’ve been on a straight tea kick lately but I switched it up this morning. This tea was a nice change. Definitely one of my favorite Masala Chais.

I’ve been going through a masala chai phase. Seems like some just have too much clove or not enough cardamon or ginger. I really like this one. It’s pretty light on the clove and heavy on the rest of the spices including cinnamon, but not in a overly spiced way. In fact I could almost take a little more pepper of some kind, but all in all, it’s my go to chai right now.

Well. Today’s the day. I now check the 35-40 box. Wow. That seemed so old when I was a kid, but as I still feel like a kid most of the time I’m not gonna think too hard on it :-)

I chose this tea as my first tea of the day because it has truly stood the test of time. It was one of the very first loose leaf teas I bought online and is still one of the best. Many short-lived favorites have come and gone, but this one never disappoints. So much like a breakfast pastry, it goes perfect with my breakfast sandwich. A good sweet cup to balance the salty. Yum.

I thought I’d go back to an old favorite today and see how it stands up to all the yummy new teas I’ve tried recently. I’m quite happy to say that I still love this. It’s not as complex as some of the newer ones, but still incredibly tasty. I think I might mix this and the cinnamon swirl bread sometime. I think they have really complimentary flavors, French almond pastry and cinnamon bread. Yep. That will be crazy good.

This is one of my favorite teas. Really has a pastry flavor to it. I never let my cupboard run out before ording more.

Hurting today. Stayed up last night like I was a much younger version of myself forgetting that my 15 month old likes to wake up at the crack of dawn these days. I brewed this one extra strong and drank 2 full mugs full before even contemplating food. This stuff is my go-to morning drink and I appreciate it even more on the days my body needs a little recovery. This and some B-vitamins. Almost human again.

After the Rishi GenMai with matcha yesterday that was brewed with 1 Tbsp per cup that was super strong, but also super tasty, I decided to try this one with a little extra in the basket too. Not quite 2 Tbsp, but about 4 tsp (for my 16 oz mug). I only steeped it for about a minute and I think Rishi has it right with this one. You gotta start with more tea in the basket. I don’t want to use less and steep for longer as it gets bitter super fast. From now I’m brewing this type with a minimum of 2 tsp per cup. As expected, the second steep doesn’t have the matcha flavor, but the genmai cha is still tasty. And with the extra tea in there, it’s much stronger.

Fun when you stumble upon a new and improved way of doing things!

I love this too. I love my Gen Mai Cha nutty and brothy and this just right. Love the added matcha. This teas is truly a green tea.

Even though I only drank this yesterday, I decided I needed to have it again today. I thought it would go well with Sunday breakfast, homemade waffles and omelettes. This time, I had it with both sweetener and milk (well, half & half, to be precise). It was very good and I enjoyed it. However, I think I like it better without milk, because the flavors are stronger that way. I’m kind of wishing I’d ordered a larger amount of this; I can see this becoming a new favorite.

Yunnans and Assams are two of my favorite black teas, so I was eagerly looking forward to trying this tea. I’m happy to report, I was not disappointed. This is a full-bodied, yet refined, breakfast tea. Strong and smooth, with very little astringency. Adding a pinch of sweetener enhanced the flavor instead of covering it up. This is what a classic black tea is supposed to taste like. Satisfying and flavorful. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to my next cup.

I chose this as a good intro to oolong, and it is so delicious. By itself or with a shot of coconut milk, it has a perfectly authentic coconut flavor that is a great complement to the oolong.

Open the package, stick your nose in, inhale, and you will think you’ve eaten dessert. The steeped brew is a bit more earthy than that – strongly minty with mild cacao, not at all sweet, which I love. I tried it with cream and sugar, which I specifically didn’t like; this tea doesn’t become more decadent when treated like a dessert tea… Well, not exactly. Feeling adventuresome, I steeped this tea in whole milk and added some homemade hot chocolate, and oh my word! Wow! I and all my guests enjoyed it the entire rainy night! I can’t keep enough on hand this winter! Perhaps a strange way to treat such good quality tea, but it’s a household favorite with all my teens!

I have explored a lot of Earl Grey teas, and this is not one… However, this tea tastes very similar to my favorite Earl Grey Creme by Art of Tea. Though there is no evidence it should be creamy, it has a warm, earthy flavor and a blend of floral notes that suggest the bergamot and vanilla found in earl grey creme. It is more crisp, more defined than a creme tea, and doesn’t seem to oversteep, which is convenient. Like most American Tea Room teas, I don’t prefer it with cream or sweetener; that seems to ruin the complexity of their teas. One of my favorites, I drink it many times a week. And when someone asks what kind of tea I want, and I simply don’t want to have to think about it, I always default to Anastasia.

Gone >_< Going on shopping list!