Brioche Organic Tea

Well, me drinking this tea got madly interrupted by a huge thunderstorm. I was on my patio taking a video because it had started hailing and there was rain blowing in two directions so I freaked out and went inside. I was enjoying this tea up until then (and the power was only out for like 5 minutes so that’s cool).

It smells like those cinnamon candied nuts you find at any sort of event that requires a generic set of vendors. Except that these are the best thing ever, and it made me wish I had some.

The tea does not taste like them, though. The tea tastes like a Parisian breakfast. Buttery almond croissants, fluffy brioche, oranges, sweet cinnamon bread, I want to go back.

Fun story: one morning while we were eating our morning croissants at a bakery in the 15th arrondissement, this little sparrow came right up to our table and started chirping. My mom dropped her a little piece of croissant. She took it and flew off, and returned several times for more. She was feeding her babies! And she had no fear at all to fly right up to us and get some more. (Meanwhile here I can’t even get a sparrow to take a piece of tortilla chip from a far distance on a Chipotle patio.) This tea reminds me of all those good pastries.

Got this as a sample from a tea swap! It’s really delicious and complicated. It’s exciting to drink each time I brew a cup. Reminds me of cinnamon rolls, but there are lovely almond flakes as well…sigh. I’d love a cup right now!

Tried some of this on the weekend thanks to Sil! The flavour (and aroma) made me think of freshly baked, doughy cinnamon buns… it was pretty good. It also reminded me of S&V’s Almond Sugar Cookie, although perhaps a touch better? I’ll have to have a bit more of the S&V version soon while I still remember how Brioche tasted.

Anyhow, while it was good and I would happily drink it again, I don’t feel the need to purchase it – which is great, because it was on my shopping list on here based on all the rave reviews! Thanks for sharing a bit with me, Sil :)

I decided to place an order with the American Tea Room late Sunday night; on Friday they’ve delivered. I have quite a few of their teas now. I went for “Brioche” first. Their descriptive copy is not an exaggeration. The aroma as I opened the bag was magnificent. It was like entering a “snobby” (i.e. good) bakery and zoning in on the almond croissants.

The brewed tea is very bakey-cakey and the flavors of almond, cinnamon, and vanilla dance about in a nice solid black suspension. I think that it probably has a medium amount of caffeine—perhaps not the strongest brew for first thing in the morning, but great for the rest of the day.

As I near the end of the cup, I long for more already. I feel as if I’ve actually consumed a nice chunk of almond croissant. So far I’m loving the American Tea Room with their wide variety of teas and their speedy delivery service.

In my reviews, you must always keep in mind that I’ve got a sweet tooth and a love of novelty. I love almonds, vanilla, and cinnamon flavors a lot. Indeed, my second son was cursed with the nickname of “Almond Stick” because his older brother called slivered almonds “almond sticks”. It seemed clever at the time.

It is delightful to get great carbohydrate satisfaction without reaching for an actual pastry.

Sipdown! I decided that an insanely early Sunday morning (thanks, cat) deserved such a tasty tea. I only had about 1-1/2tsp left, so I tried to balance that with the water in my mug and I think I hit the spot. Not too intense, nor too watery.

It’s just as sweet as I remembered, with a slightly maple syrup component which has inspired me to make up pancakes this morning.

Amazing . I was so afraid that this tea is just a hype. It captures all the challah bread with orange bits and almonds. It’s as sweet as bread should be, rich in vanilla and marzipan, and cinnamon. I finished the cup wanting more but it’s enough for tonight. Easy 100

A resteep! I was thoroughly under the impression that blacks don’t resteep, ever. But then I browsed through some tasting notes on this and saw others had done it successfully, so I guess I’ll be trying resteeps with my favorite blacks.

If possible this smells even more like a cinnamon bun this time around! How is this possible?! It’s even more bready and has the smell of that cinnamon glaze that makes a cinnamon bun so good.

It brews up a little lighter than the first time, but it still seems to have held up. The taste reflects the smell: more bready, strong cinnamon, but definitely not a weak steep at all.

ETA: Cooling doesn’t seem to affect the taste much at all, which means it’s delicious both ways. Good to know!

This is from the traveling tea box. I still have a lot of samples from the box I need to try. If they’re all as tasty as this one I’ll be set for a while!

This tea was a delight. It immediately reminded me of this amazing baked French toast a friend of mine makes. Delicious! There were so many flavors mingling together – bread, cinnamon, almond, and butter. Then there was a sweetness that reminded me of melted powdered sugar on top of a warm beignet. So. Very. Good.

TastyBrew sent me a super cute little sample of this one with our swap, included as a surprise for me. Thank you so much!

It tastes very bread-y, in a way that reminds me of Fat Tire beer. There is also a lovely blend of cinnamon and nuts. It definitely feels like I’m eating a delicious pastry, it’s so bizarre that it’s actually tea and I’m really not eating anything unhealthy.

I have enough to try this one again, but I am definitely going to resteep these leaves and see what it’s like the second time around.

4/5 and while not absolutely perfect, the truth is that yes, as long as I still have room at all for flavored dessert teas in my life this’ll have a place among them

So I say all that about getting more mature and needing less hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-hammer sweet flavoring in tea, then I decide after dinner I really want a cup of this, my needs-to-be-sipped-down green tea stash be damned. Ha. Ah well. Must be all the talk of Haagen Dasz and dessert in general I went into with friends on FB. Anyway, it’s worth it—this is just what I wanted. The smell is fantastic, not just sweet but truly buttery and sweet-yeasty, indeed like stepping behind the case in a toasty, glorious patisserie. Like most dessert-y ATRs the flavor doesn’t quite live up to the aroma (what could though really…egads) but it’s still very enjoyable. This one doesn’t hold up too great to milk but it can take a pinch of sugar. Yum. I love that you can almost smell the sweet sticky filling inside bakery rolls here too, all those warm spices and gooey coated toasted nuts. Yum!