American Tea Room

Sipdown of the most boring tea ever. Almost no flavour at all. I resorted to using it up by mixing it was spearmint, peppermint, or chamomile. Today’s cold brew was 2 tsp linden leaf + 1 tsp spearmint, and it was 90% spearmint in flavour. It was interesting to try, but I wouldn’t buy linden leaf/flower again unless it was in a blend. This would make a lovely base for a herbal because of its inert flavour and health properties.

This has very little taste, except a faint hint of hay and dried green leaf. I’ll be mixing it with peppermint or spearmint probably. I’ve heard it has a lot of great health benifits. I’m sure this is high quality linden leaf, because I’ve been extremely impressed with the other teas from ATR. I think this herb just doesn’t have very much flavour.

For reference, I brewed 8 minutes at 90 deg C.

Deliciously creamy and fruity cold brew with the presence of green rooibos, currents,and stone fruits. Nothing floral, though.

This tea renewed my love for rooibos. It has one of the best rooibos bases I have tasted in my entire life (and I’ve sipped on a LOT of rooiboses in that time). It is phenomenal! What is really odd is that I can’t taste any woody or mineral flavours from the base at all. I’ve never had a rooibos that didn’t at least have hints of that.

Strong fruity notes of pear and red current. Slightly sweet, but also refreshing (like how fruit is normally slightly acidic but not sour). I can’t tell if I’m tasting apple and maybe some other tropical fruit that I can’t place.

Very creamy, flavours of almond but not nutty.

Slightly drying to my mouth, but not unpleasant at all.

This is just terrible iced, I don’t even like it hot very much. Iced, it just tastes like musty wood, powdered rocks (minerals), and olive oil.

Something about this tastes…off? I can only describe it as mineral oil or musty on top of chemicals and citrus bergamot. I’m still going to drink it, but I don’t enjoy whatever they used for flavouring.

Additionally, this is the first decaf tea I’ve tried that has a black tea that tastes weak. I brewed 1 tsp in boiling water for 3 minutes and the liquor was clear. I’ll try adjusting the steep time a bit, but I would have liked a malty base to push the bergamot up a bit. I intended to add milk, but I believe this to be too weak for any additions.

Sipdown (211)!

GCTTB Round 6

There was only a cup of this left in the box, and I was intrigued by the name. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was meant to be a subtle nod to Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff. I mean, just reading over the tea information available here on Steepster it’s not blatantly or obviously hinted as such – but the flavour combination of smoke and blood orange seem appropriate to me for Marvel’s Red Headed Assassin so I had to try it and give it a shot with that in mind…

It’s interesting – that’s probably the most straight forward/diplomatic way to put it.

I suppose I’d say that overall I enjoyed it, but the flavours perplexed me a little bit because this is supposed to be a little like a smoked blood orange sort of thing and that didn’t really come across at all? More than anything, I’d say the flavour I picked up on the most was actually ginger? And as an overall flavour combo sort of a sweet candied ginger with fruity but not citrus-y undertones. Strawberry, maybe – but also not really.

Strange overall; but ultimately nice. I don’t know if I’d say it captures the essence of Nat though…

Just adding to the chorus of WOWs for this tea. A very cozy, delicious tea for when I’m craving western-style brewing and big mug of tea. Astonishingly evocative of bread and pastries. Added a touch of agave and almond milk. This is one I think I always need to have on hand!

Very strong citrus oil flavors. A bergamot’s bergamot! I’ve found this and other ATR teas to be a bit too strongly flavored for my personal taste. However, is a quality-made cup with a distinct, wakeful aroma that may be good with a bit of something else.

GCTTB DAY 2

Second tea is the day. I must say I didn’t smell much from the dry leaf, but the name interested me enough to give it a try. Arbitrary choice, I know, but I don’t regret it! It’s a full bodied, slightly smoky black tea with an earthy aspect. Reminds me of a very mild lapsang souchong. It’s actually quite satisfying, I found myself sighing with contentment.