Pistachio Ice Cream

Sipdown! I must have had the rest of this but I don’t remember.

I don’t hate it.
I don’t love it.

Samurai TTB #9

Not going to rate this one, as I MASSIVELY over-steeped it. The package didn’t include tea type and I was too lazy to look it up last night, so I just looked at the dry leaf and assumed it was an herbal blend. Unfortunately, there’s actually some black tea hiding amid all those fruit and nut pieces and the resulting brew was so bitter it was almost undrinkable. A splash of milk made it tolerable, but I definitely didn’t experience this tea at its best. Like most pistachio teas I’ve tried, it tasted more like almond than pistachio. Makes me sad, because Butiki’s Pistachio Ice Cream was one of my all-time favorite tea blends and it proved that a genuine pistachio-flavored tea is possible!

From the Samurai TTB
I had trouble putting my finger on this taste, it’s not pistachio, it’s not almond, not quite peanut. I don’t eat much sugar these days, so it took a while for peanut brittle to pop into my head. That’s the main taste here, sweet butter toffee and peanuts. Overall a nice cup, but not something I’d gravitate toward. Lucky for me I get to try it out from a TTB :)

TTB. I think I tried this one quite awhile ago, but I don’t have any tasting notes on it and honestly can’t remember anything about it. I don’t like it. It just tastes like butter with a hint of some nuttiness. The butteriness is just so assaulting I can’t really enjoy it.

This tastes very similar to almond black teas I’ve had in the past. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I might be growing tired of this sort of tea. The almond flavor is nice, if a little weak. There’s also not much tea included in the leaf, so this is a low caffeine version. The resteep tasted similar to the first. I don’t taste any hint of pistachio, only almond. Anyway, this tea is nutty and largely what you’d expect if you’re imagining an almond tea. Eventually, I decided to embrace its almondness, and now I drink it with almond milk. It’s much better this way. Now I won’t drink it without almond milk.

Past sipdown – I always think that I loved this one but I think I’m recalling the Butiki version. Unfortunately, do not recall at all what this was like.

I absolutely love this one! I don’t know how David’s Tea gets the flavor of ice cream right into the mix! I taste the strong pistachio and the creamy ice cream… I thought I would need milk in this one to get the creaminess but it’s fine just steeping it black!

Good cream flavour with a heavy mouthfeel. Pistachio note comes through nicely and mixes well with other flavours. Can’t really pick out any black tea notes.

Judging by the other reviews, I wasn’t expecting much from this tea…but it’s oddly delicious, especially given that I don’t like Pistachios. :/

This cup is creamy – which intensifies as it cools – sweet without any added sugar and has a rich, rounded mouthfeel that is intensely satisfying. There’s a nuttiness, but it doesn’t overwhelm and I’m not picking up on any astringency at all.

This is….a very good tea. I wasn’t ready for how much I like it, but this could easily become a staple in my winter rotation. The only caveat I can place is that a 10oz cup is definitely enough – I’m not feeling any real push to re-steep.

I love love love pistachio, so I thought I would love this tea. I was expecting more flavor, I found I had to steep it for at least 6 mins to get some flavor. I was also surprised by the savory note in it. With cream and some sweetener it is much better. Awesome as a latte.