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“This tea has a bold, toasty almond flavor. I can detect the slight butter flavor…. With sugar and milk, this makes a pleasant desert tea. The description references a cinnamon flavor which I did...” Read full tasting note
“eek! grab bag tea from the BBB and i’ll go with tastybrew on this one. Not a tea for me. The smell of the brewed tea makes me unhappy and the taste isn’t much better. there’s a “waxy” feeling to...” Read full tasting note
“I am enjoying this tea. I suspect that it is highly similar to other almond teas, but there is a sense of nut “butter” which I don’t get from my other beloved almond teas. There’s not enough...” Read full tasting note
“This tea isn’t for me. There is a flavor in it that I can’t place, but I don’t enjoy. Nope, not at all. Glad I only ordered the sample. I’ll throw it in the BBBB grab bag so others can try it, as...” Read full tasting note
Our delicious Almond Butter black tea is quickly becoming one of our most popular teas. We tested it out at Farmer’s Market and we can’t keep enough in stock. We set out to make a smooth ‘anytime’ tea. The smoothness comes from our high quality black tea. We added large almond slices, cinnamon sticks and safflower blossoms to create this instant hit. Sprinkle in some sugar to bring out more of the cinnamon and almond flavor, but no cream is needed.
Use 1 to 2 heaping teaspoons of Almond Butter for each cup of boiling mineral water and steep for 3 to 4 minutes. The best flavor is when the cup cools for about 5 minutes before enjoying.
Company description not available.
This tea has a bold, toasty almond flavor. I can detect the slight butter flavor…. With sugar and milk, this makes a pleasant desert tea. The description references a cinnamon flavor which I did not detect. Personally, this is a plus for me-sometimes, I just don’t want a spicy tea.
So far, I have tried Almond Cookie by SpecialTeas (courtesy of Spokh) , Brioche by American tea room (courtesy of Doulton) and this one. If I had to compare, the Almond Cookie was tasty but cinnamon-y. So, the Brioche and this one is a tie. But Brioche captures more of a baked good flavor…so maybe Brioche wins…
eek! grab bag tea from the BBB and i’ll go with tastybrew on this one. Not a tea for me. The smell of the brewed tea makes me unhappy and the taste isn’t much better. there’s a “waxy” feeling to this one that makes me not want to drink it at all. oh well, another tea tried! haha
I am enjoying this tea. I suspect that it is highly similar to other almond teas, but there is a sense of nut “butter” which I don’t get from my other beloved almond teas. There’s not enough of a difference to assert that this tea stands out from other almond teas, but it is, like many of them, excellent for almond lovers.
Yes, I am enjoying this tea.
I think that I will always like to have an almond tea “in stock” (along with a vanilla and a coconut tea). So far I have not tasted the one almond tea that it must be, but this one is certainly a contender.
The California Tea House gave me very speedy delivery service on my order. That counts for a lot with me. As i drink more tea, I can anticipate what to reorder and when to reorder it.
I’d think that the butter is not ‘butter’ as in dairy butter, but as in almond butter… ground almonds (like peanut butter).
Yes, that’s what I meant. I use almond butter more than peanut butter by far, which was why I selected this tea to sample. I meant the sort of creamy “buttery” taste that you’ll get with a “nut butter”.
I am glad that you liked this tea as I placed an order for this one a few days ago…
Oooh, I always keep almond butter at the house too. Sometime a peanut just won’t cut it. :)
we just bought some almond butter at costco, never had some before, if we like it perhaps i’ll need this tea
This tea isn’t for me. There is a flavor in it that I can’t place, but I don’t enjoy. Nope, not at all. Glad I only ordered the sample. I’ll throw it in the BBBB grab bag so others can try it, as it seems to get semi decent reviews. Just not from me!
Thanks to Lori for the sample!
I’m so glad that I had a chance to sample this because I can now confirm with certainty that this is SpecialTeas’ Almond Cookie! From the appearance, scent and taste it’s all the same.
So, please see my review of Almond Cookie for further tasting details. :)
It’s a delicious tea, nonetheless.
Steep Information:
Amount: 4 tsp
Water: 22 ounces filtered water
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes
Served: Hot
Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet, almonds
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, almonds
Flavor: black tea, almond, smooth
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent
Liquor: translucent dark reddish-brown
A generous sample from Doulton!
It was a nice black tea, but not amazing or WOW!
I could see getting it along with an order but not as the reason for an order.
Post-Steep Additives:
+German rock sugar – sweeter, nicer cup of tea, more flavor less black tea
+Almond milk – overpowered the tea, not recommended
Resteep: 3 minutes, just as flavorful and delicious as the first round
images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/04/california-tea-house-loose-leaf-black.html
This one is courtesy of Doulton. I woke up ran some errands today and was just so tired (I’m not sure why) anyway I thought hmmm maybe I’ll go ahead and have lunch and see if this helps. So I had my lunch which consisted of last nights leftovers homemade fettucini alfredo and a delicious salad and decided I needed a strong black dessert tea normally Florence would have fit the bill for this situation but I decided to live it up a little and go with this one instead after all it is Friday.
Once steeped the liquor is very dark and mysterious. The first sip was very strong black tea flavored and so I read the description which said add sugar well as you all probably know by now I don’t normally add sugar to my tea. Sugar added I think made this tea so much better and much more palatable (for someone with my tastebuds). Well with the addition of a teaspoon of brown rock sugar it is much sweeter I taste almonds but not the butter part. I can’t say that I’ve ever actually had almond butter so maybe I’m off on this but its a pretty good cup. I really appreciate the opportunity to taste it and it’s from California Tea House and I have never tried any of their teas before so double Thanks, Doulton!
This was alright, but the steeping parameters seemed strong both in amount and duration for my tastes and maybe I should’ve listened to my gut about easing back a bit as this has a strong bitter element, even with some milk and sugar. The thing is, the almond butter flavor is pretty strong in aroma but less so in taste; there’s a chance making the tea less strong will bring it out more though as I suspect the black tea bitterness might be overwhelming it.
That said the rich bitterness worked well with a dutch caramel wafer/stroopwafel, so there’s that. Love those things.
Although I haven’t done a side by side comparison… I think this actually is Almond Cookie from SpecialTeas… just purchased in bulk and renamed.
Note: The above comment is based upon other teas that I’ve tried from California Tea House – and I know that quite a few of the teas they offer are actually SpecialTeas creations.
Are you serious? And I bet CA tea house has a higher price /oz for teas. Though I am not certain that Almond Cookie=Almond Butter. In fact, maybe Almond Butter is similar to Brioche to be honest. When I had the Almond Cookie, it was distinctively cinnamon flavored and this Almond Butter had none…..
You must know the “inner-workings” on the tea blending business….I was wondering about that- meaning when I purchase tea how do I know if I am paying an upcharge just for the name of the company? Especially for unflavored teas- as an example, are other companies purchasing from Uptons, then calling their tea some fancy name and then selling it at a higher price….
I’m sure this is done all the time. SpecialTeas is a wholesaler too and it seems like many smaller tea companies (and even larger companies like Teavana!) source thier teas from them—at least the popular flavors like Almond Cookie, Earl Grey De La Creme and Rooibos Lemon Chiffon. For example, Almond Cookie = Brioche = Almond Butter = Almond Biscotti!
This can’t be ;)!. If this were true, I am starting to doubt my taste buds/taste memory. It really does seem like Almond Butter cannot be Almond Cookie. But then again, with these flavored blended teas, depending on how I scoop my 1 tsp.steeping time/water temp —I may capture more/less of certain flavors….AND each time a batch is blended, some discrepancies may occur.
Maybe this Almond Butter= Almond Pieces from SpecialTeas. I have a sample of Almond Pieces from Doulton. I will compare side by side….
You may be right, though! I hope so! These tea companies should at least tweak the recipes at least, to make it their own! I don’t want to just be paying higher prices for prettier packaging or advertising! Who knows, maybe California Tea House special orders the Almond Cookie with less cinnamon?
I have Almond Pieces and Almond Cookie—Almond Pieces is less sweet and not bakery-like. The flavor is more like almond extract. And Almond Pieces does not have the pretty red safflower petals like Almond Cookie, Almond Butter, Brioche et al.
Being new to the tea world I was sort of shocked to read all this, but knowing a bit of corporate America it made sense. :P Is there a Discussion topic about this where people can list what teas = other teas? I’d find that immensly helpful to keep from repurchasing the same the same teas just repackaged.
True Rabs- this needs to be a thread … I was sort of getting suspicious. I mean as an example, Samovar sells its pu-erh as Maiden’s Ectasy..did they source this tea directly in China or buy it elsewhere and charge a mark-up?
I have heard a bit about this. I think that there are some teas that sell wholesale. One example I can think of is that I think a few tea-sellers out there sell tea from the Metropolitan Tea Company. But do they change anything at all? They don’t use the Metro. Tea Label as far as I can tell. They can use their own label and name but is the tea identical? I’m very curious about this aspect of the tea business.
I am curious about this too! My local tea shop has an Almond Cookie w the safflower petals…I bet it’s wholesaled from the same source…
I can tell you that SpecialTeas does not offer many of their “bits” wholesale (that is, their nuts, etc).
I have not done a side-by-side of Almond Cookie vs. Almond Butter. But, I have done a side-by-side comparison of a couple of other teas from California Tea House vs. SpecialTeas and I can tell you that they are quite identical.
Not all of the small guys out there “resell” tea – I don’t. However, I guess that’s not completely true, because I don’t grow my own tea, and I do obtain teas from wholesalers, as well as additions such as flowers, nuts, fruits, and other bits, but, I flavor it myself and blend it myself.
Another “small guy” that absolutely does not resell their tea is 52Teas/Zoomdweebies.
Definitely CA Tea House uses SpecialTeas. When I looked closely at the SpecialTeas website, I did see some duplicates (blueberry syrup, mango, lemon drop, and pistachio gelato)..but CA Tea House prices are higher..
I have suspected this too. Boo on CA Tea House for not taking the effort to offer original blends! I liked their Earl Grey Creme, but now I know where to buy it direct for less $$.