Almond Biscotti

I was packaging some of this up for keychange when I decided to give it a try once I had it out. I did not notice when I bought it that it was a green tea and not a black as I had expected. I was a little nervous (especially after the chemical mixture of Kusmi’s Almond Green tea) but this one is actually quite nice. It is buttery from the green base, creamy and sweet from the coconut, and has just the right amount of almond nuttiness. It is actually quite good so yay for surprise deliciousness!

Ho Ly Shit!
holyshit what evil and disastrously brilliant person made this?!?
it’s so delicious it’s gonna kill me.
i can’t even. just can’t.

I’m having this as my breakfast tea this morning. I actually fainted at work yesterday in the middle of presenting something. It was mortifying. Now I’m dreading the fallout and don’t really want to go in. But since I have no choice about that, I decided to fortify myself with one of my favorite teas. I accidentally steeped it at 180 instead of 165, but it still came out wonderful. Dead on flavor. Not too sweet or artificial tasting. Soothing and invigorating at the same time. All around a great cuppa.

This is the end of my sample from BrewTEAlly Sweet (thanks!), but it’s not a sipdown because I picked up two ounces during the Black Friday sale.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, Della Terra Teas sent me this tea!

I really liked this one a lot. At first, I was kind of wondering what coconut had to do with almond biscotti. But, it really works with this tea well. And I can really taste the biscotti-esque taste here. It’s quite a lovely tea.

A balance of sweetness from the creamy coconut and the almond, as well as a hint of savory from the green tea.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/12/20/seventh-day-christmas-della-terra-teas-sent-tea/

Oh my god, you guys, this is amazing. Without anything inside it! Holy crapola, why did I only buy 1 oz? Oh yah, I know, I’ve been hit and miss with green teas. Oooooh, this is so going on the permanent fixture in the cupboard because I have not come across many teas, especially flavoured teas, I can enjoy it without additives and so I need more. I think so far there are exactly three teas in my cupboard that I don’t add anything to when I drink. Three out of almost 100. (No, my virtual cupboard is not a reflection of the actual one, no 1-2 cup samples ever get added to the cupboard).

I was curious and, at the same time, afraid of this tea. I steeped at 160 which I thought was on the low end, I usually do 165 to 170 but went with the steeping instructions from here. I also forgot to set the timer but washed two pots while it steeped which could not have taken longer than 2 minutes.

The almond flavour in here is amazing. Forget biscotti, it’s like some sort of ice cream. There’s a bit of oily film across the top but can be easily dismissed. As it cools it is even more flavourful. The aftertaste lingers for quite a bit as well which gives it additional bonus points from my end. The dry leaf is full of nut crumbs. The leaf itself is not as green as I’ve seen in other green teas but I’m far from a connoisseur so I’m not going to give it much thought, it’ll just remain an observation.

I’m going to make a giant pot of this seeing how I, aided by my lovely ball and chain, already drank the 16 oz I made for our first try.

Sipdown! (98)

Attempting to sip down a whole bunch of teas before packages come sooo yes VERY EXCITING.
Roommates are going to kill me when they see me come home with packages hahha but it’s all good!
This tea is nice. Very almond-y and coconutty, which is decent. Not a fan of coconut but I’m learning to love the flavour of it in teas :)

Ok… so I got my Della Terra order yesterday and they sent me a sample of Honey & Spice that I fully thought I would try first.. because I opened the bag and it smelled so nice. For some reason I just felt like water last night, so I missed my evening tea.

When I got up this morning I decided to grab something out of the bag w/caffeine in it… the Honey & Spice will have to wait. It was a choice between this and Peppermint Bark. I’ve not had an almond tea before so this was the choice.

Dry leaf it smells sweet and almond. I’m not usually much of a green tea person, but flavored ones I’m finding work for me sometimes.

The first few sips I wasn’t sure about. I just knew I’ve had something very much like it in flavor before. I’m not sure I can pick out the coconut in this blend. I can taste the green tea base, but it comes through pretty mild which is nice for me.

I let it cool awhile and smelled and tasted it again… then had an “Aha” moment… I know what this reminds me of!… Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride. I think the almond flavoring in both is what makes me make the connection. CS Sugar Cookie has a hint of orange and is much more dense of a tea than this. I don’t like to compare loose leaf w/bagged store brands, but that’s what came to mind when I placed the flavor.

Now I love, love, love almond extract in my mom’s cherry pie recipe, and I love it as a fragrance in soaps, but I find it to come through very differently in tea, the sweet fragrance is there, but just different. I’m not sure yet if I like it. I will have to give it a few more tries like I did with Winter Nog (which is now a fav).

This Christmas I found CS Sugar Cookie to be too dense, rich, and sweet smelling, and the orange just added 1 element too much for me I think.

This one is much lighter in mouth feel and exchange citrus for coconut.. which I think I can faintly taste at the end of each sip if I look for it.

Another one from my recent della terra orders. Hmmmmm…. I tried ro take this one to work with me. Steeped too long. I’ll have to try again. It smelled amazing and I got hints of almonds. Will try this one again.

This was a big hit at my tea with friends today. I made it in my new clear teapot, and the color was so beautiful!!! I wish I had taken a picture. Everyone really enjoyed it, and it went great with the little almond cookies my friend brought from her local Italian bakery.

We also enjoyed caramel oolong by DTT, and dolce vita by RiverTea, with our tea sandwiches and scones. I made the favorite Jamaican banana scones. I wanted to try a new recipe from my Tea Time magazines, but my friend specifically requested those. We also enjoyed the usual cucumber cream cheese sandwiches, and a new favorite: goat cheese, onion, and artichoke sandwiches. It was a great way to spend a Sunday!! :)

On the seventh day of Christmas, Della Terra gave to me…Almond Biscotti!

Dry, this smells really, really delicious. Like marzipan, with a biscuitty undertone. Or a freshly opened box of biscotti, more to the point. I usually do get a tin of Italian biscotti for Christmas, so it’s quite an evocative scent for me. Looking forward to this one!

I was worried at first, because the liquor was quite dark green/yellow, even after just a couple of minutes. It actually tastes delicious, though. The almond flavour comes through first, and does have a biscuit like taste about it, too. It’s hard to describe accurately, but it does taste like an almond biscotti! The green tea base is fairly unobtrusive, but matches the almond flavour well. The flavouring is so strong it’s quite hard to taste the green tea at all, actually, which is a bit of a shame. Still, I’d rather have good flavour than a lot of bitter green tea. I have a feeling this one might actually have been okay, though. Still, great stuff this is.