Amandine Rose

I traded brandy3392 some tea I wasn’t a fan of for this tea, which she wasn’t a fan of. Even so I was intrigued because I do love almonds and rose. The dry leaf on this one smells very cookie-ish with almond and cinnamon and other bakery-ish aromas, and then a rich, sweet rosey aroma comes out, but still kind of remains separate from the other scents. It is truly the scent of rose candy, like fresh turkish delight, not fresh roses.

I steeped the tea at a cooler temp because that seemed like what people were doing with this tea. I probably didn’t need to go that cool considering my previous experience with Almond Biscotti, but it still turned out fine. In the steeped tea the rose and cookie aromas meld much more and it smells great to me. It reminds me of a middle eastern market/bakery where you would get almondy-cinnamony aromas as well as the scents of rose confections.

I am actually really digging this tea, so thanks a bunch for the swap, brandy3392! It’s not quite marzipan-almondy, but it is very almond-cookie-ish. There is a decent helping of sugary rose-candy flavor; it is actually a hint sweet, which likely comes from various candied agents (almond, violet) in the mix. This actually reminds me more of what I feel like the now-defunct Rose Marzipan Delight tea by Teavana would be like, though I never did try that one. This is totally one of those teas that I kind of hate admitting that I like so much because it is from the evil empire, but what are you going to do? At least I have a nice pouch of it in my possession without ever having to have dealt with the shop!

I added a little Demerara sugar to this tea this morning, and I think I found its most absolute sweet (pun not intended!) spot of deliciousness! Somehow the sugar gives the blend the wee bit of heft it needs (there is a fine line between delicate and weak I find!) and amplifies all of the flavors. I have a nutty, spicy, floral on the end of the sip amazing cup of tea. Paired with my croissant? I feel like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3RSlUkw9U0

Ah!

I’m actually really glad I ended up picking this one up today. Had I known I’d like it so much I would’ve purchased more!
So, unfortunately this is not almond biscotti. It is almond biscotti plus rose and it has its ups and downs. First, I felt that the base is less finicky than the original one; which was easy to embitter. It also had a weird play doh undertone every once in a while that was a bit odd that I completely missed today. The rose isn’t too prominent in either cuppa I had, but again, I’ve still got the sniffles so I’ll have to see if I notice it more later. The second steep was very thin tasting. I really liked this one for the price though and I’m really glad I tried it out! There aren’t any candied violets in mine and only 1 rose so this might change the flavor a bit.

What a tough week. It crept up to me out of nowhere and pounced. I found a puddle of blood on the floor on Tuesday morning. I was really worried and figured that my dogs had somehow gotten hurt. After thorough inspection I determined that my dogs were fine, I cleaned up and went to work. The next morning I saw my oldest dog peeing blood. I freaked out and took her to the vet. After a quick ultrasound, bladder stones were confirmed. Scheduled for surgery on Thursday. Thankfully surgery went well and my Sencha is now home recovering.

After taking the puppy (my other dog) out for a walk this morning, I am determined to lounge around all day with Sencha drinking tea and making sure she is feeling OK. It has been a terrifying experience, and I am glad it is almost over.

I bought this tea on my last trip to the US. I love rose flavored things, so I figured that this I would love. It smelled pretty good, so I figured I would have to give in to buying the minimum 2oz (!!!) to taste it.

The leaves are decently sized and are decorated with almond slivers and bright orange-red safflowers. I didn’t see any of the candied violets it claims to have, but they were probably hidden in there somewhere. The scent of the dry leaves was a light almondy dough. I got a sweetness note and a hint of cinnamon but sadly no rose.

The brewed tea was a nice orange brown that smelled a lot like plain flavored macaroons (the french kind). The taste was smooth and doughy, almost like eating almond cookie dough raw (yes… I am guilty of cookie dough eating…). Sweetened a tiny bit of something floral popped up, but nothing that seemed like rose to me. The aftertaste was pleasantly sweet and not overwhelming. Unexciting but overall yummy.

I did like this cup of tea, but I didn’t find the rose I was hoping for in it. I will drink my 2oz happily, but I don’t think I will be back for more.

Now… to go figure out which tea to drink next while lying down beside my beautiful Sencha as she recovers… She is such a sweet little dog that I think something sweet will be had in her honor!

This tea came from the Here’s Hoping Travelling Teabox!

Opening the bag, WOW Smells fantastic! Like candy, caramel, sweet almond, halva, yummmm!!! Can I eat the bag?

Steeped, kind of a disappointment. I mostly taste the black tea base, which is decent. Not bitter or anything. End of sip I get a bit of sweet almond flavor that reminds me of an almond biscotti. Meh. I wanted RAGING CANDY ALMOND flavor. Teeth rotting! Yeah!

Adding honey helped perk up the tea. If I had more, I’d do a latte. Maybe since this is bottom of the bag I lost on all the goodies.

I’m keeping the bag to smell, btw. I will try to not eat it.

Thank you James for sending this blend ! I think this one is the one which made me crave for rose and marzipan.

This is a very lovely blend combining extraordinary flavours.
There is something special in this blend, the flavours are pairing well together but there is something extravagant…I cannot put a word on this…I’ll continue to try it to make a proper note and to try to find the word to express what I feel.

Thank you justjames for sending me this lovely Amandine Rose

Dry leaf smell – cinnamon cookies. There is no other way to describe this. This is cinnamon cookies or cinnamon coffee cake straight up.

Steeped, it’s a beautiful red-gold. The cinnamon has abated a bit and the almond comes out. It smells a bit like a rooibos, to be honest. I added milk and a bit of sugar, which brought out the cookie flavor of the tea. It’s very creamy and very smooth, and definitely something for dessert!

This slightly resembles a few other teas I have tried such as Almond Cookie and an Almond Biscotti flavored tea. It’s pretty good. The black tea is alright – not overly strong but not totally weak, either. The Almonds are nicely done. The “Candied” almonds and roses aren’t what I would call “Candied”, really. If they are trying to upgrade their Rose Marzipan I think they really missed the mark. I’m not saying it’s BAD – I’m just saying it’s NOT an improvement – I thought their Rose Marzipan was far more superior. I’m also confused by the addition of thickening agents, beet root, and gum arabic in this flavored tea, too.

Alright but not wonderful!

This tea looked really good to me when I saw it in one of Teavana’s emails. I love marzipan teas and the rose petals and candied violets decided it for me. The ingredients list rose petals, but I didn’t see any in my bag, and the only candied violets were in one large, kind of strange-looking, clump. The tea liquor smells amazing – all warm marzipan with a really nice sweet floral note. The flavor is lightly of almond and it’s the strong floral finish that leaves the most impression. I really can’t detect any cinnamon at all. Adding sweetener alone seems to only bring out an artificial over-the-top floral-sugary taste, but adding milk and sweetener brings out a more toned down floral flavor and also creates a little creaminess for the almond marzipan base. I will admit that I am a little let down by this tea, I was hoping for a bolder flavor instead of all of the fake floral notes. I don’t dislike this tea, but for the rather expensive price I probably won’t be purchasing any more.

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves, orange petals, pieces of almonds and purple candied violet pieces.
-Dry blend smells nutty, sweet and slightly floral. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet marzipan with a floral hint.
-Tea liquor is a medium orange brown color.
-Faint almond flavor with a strong floral finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Weak almond/marzipan flavor. Floral notes are slightly artificial.

I picked this up during Teavana’s last 75% off sale, and I hate admitting I liked it as much as I did.

Honestly, if I were rating this tea on smell alone, it’d be a pretty solid 95! It smells like sweet caramel almond cookies and a little slice of heaven.

As far as taste goes, it’s a lovely dessert or relaxation tea and still places highly for me. The almond flavor is pastry/bakery almond, not marizipan. And there’s a definite underlying sweetness from the various candied agents. (Seriously, there are huge chunks of candied violet in here). The rose flavor, that I was expecting more of, was delicate and well-placed. It added depth without stealing any attention away from the main flavors. With a tiny splash of milk and honey, this is insanely good.