I tried a blend of 2 different teas at a friend’s house recently, so I decided to stop by (gasp!) Teavana to grab myself a little of each. After a horrible, pushy interaction during which the saleswoman was rude and tried to sell me three unrelated things that I didn’t ask about, I finally got what I went for. (Even though I bought more than I needed. 2oz minimum? EACH tea?! Ugh.)
This is a combination of Caramel Almond Amaretti and Spice of Life. Ratio is about 2:1.
Method:
2tsp CAA+1tsp SL/12oz
Preboiling
First steep: 3min
Second steep: 4min
Herbal teas with fruit always confuse me. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to put them in an infuser or just eat them. There are a lot of fruit in both of these teas, and I couldn’t see any white tea in Spice of Life. Where is the tea?! No matter. Brewed, it smells—and tastes—a bit like spiced almond cookies or biscotti. There’s a peek of citrus. It certainly tastes like there are artificial flavorings present. That’s really unfortunate. However, I consider this to be more of a tea-like drink than actual tea. For a tea-like drink it’s quite alright. I have to add a considerable amount of sugar to bring out the cookie aspects of this drink; otherwise, it falls flat. It’s not as good as I remember. I’ll probably be drinking this before bed since it’s basically an herbal blend. I could try it when I’m craving dessert tea, but I admit, there are much better dessert-like teas out there.
Here’s my sort-of guilty admission. This blend tastes GREAT with Double Stuf Oreos dunked in it. I’m not joking. If you dunk an Oreo for a couple of seconds, it’s long enough for the icing to melt and the cookie to soften without completely falling apart. It melts in your mouth. I have a bit of an addiction when it comes to Oreos, and this makes it WAY WAY worse. Or better, however you look at it.
In a nutshell:
Tastes sort of like a cookie.
Artificial flavorings! Boo!!
Try it with Oreos. Actually, just always drink it with Oreos.
Not worth the money. I would have bought way, way less of it if I could have. Now I’m sitting here thinking of all of the other teas I could have bought instead…sigh.
Flavors: Almond, Citrus, Cookie, Nutty