Vanilla Almond

Why is waking up so hard? My bed is an oasis of softness and warmth, and its very hard to remove myself from its embrace.
Tea is often the only motivator to get out of bed.
I’ve noticed that I reach for this faster than just about everything on a Thursday morning, my fastest and earliest day of the week. Probably because its bagged, so brewes up with minimal supervision, and sips very nicely.

Woah, the reviews on this one are all over the place! I like to browse other reviews before I write any notes on a tea, though I always like to start with a general score in mind first. I don’t want to be affected by other reviews, but at the same time it’s nice to get a general sense of what others think! But this, goodness, I have no idea! It has plenty of 90+ scores but then quite a few lower than 30. Divisive!

I think many people aren’t fans of RoT’s small teabags and steep(ish) prices, but they were my intro into loose leaf and I’ve stuck by them. I have a tiny mug of tea before bed every night and their bags are the perfect size for a small cuppa! This is a blend I’ve been meaning to try and I got a sample from Marcel Duchamp. Thanks!

There isn’t a whole lot of depth here. It’s strongly almond and the vanilla makes it taste like marzipan! The base is strong but kind of one-note. You know, it tastes like black tea! Generic but tasty. Maybe this isn’t the most complex blend and I probably haven’t made it sound that appetizing but I really enjoyed it. For a before-bed, no-fuss tea this is great! I LOVE marzipan and while this isn’t advertized as a marzipan blend it really tastes just like it.

YAY OMG TEA.

It is the weekend and my Finum Brewing Basket came in the mail so there will be TEA at the workplace mmmhmmm. So excited about this development it’s freaky. Tea! Workplace! Yay! Because I’ve seriously missed my tea like a crazy person.

Anyway, I wanted to calm down with some tea from someone other than me. My Rishi order came in, so I’m really excited to try it. However, I really want to be alert and at full tasting capacity to dig into that stuff, so I figured I’d dive into some of this Auggy-sent tea.

I have to say, I’m not a huge fan. The leaves smell very prettily and strongly of almond and vanilla. They’re the normal black size, perhaps a bit more broken, but the little bits of almond in there really spruce up the look of things.

Anyway, the infusion is a very vivid red-orange color, and the smell coming off of it is very, very similar to Almond Cookie! I took this to be an awesomely awesome sign, because Almond Cookie is the bee’s knees. So yeah, very cinnamon-almond-pastry-like. Awesome smell.

The taste however… okay, bizarrely enough, on the first few sips, I didn’t taste anything at all. No tea taste, the tiniest hint of almond. Just… a void. But then the flavor kicked in, and it kicked in hard. The black tea base here is very rough and borderline bitter. There’s a bit of astringency, but the problem is really the bitterness. It just doesn’t pair well with the delicacy of flavors like vanilla and almonds.

I’m not really tasting vanilla all that much, and when I do, it’s more like those fake-tasting vanilla hard candies than actual vanilla bean or vanilla extract. The almond is almost chemical-like. It tastes like someone dumped rubbing alcohol in my tea. It’s got that really rough, almond extract taste that tastes awesome in baked goods, but it absolutely horrible to drink.

There’s a bit of pleasing sweetness at the end, which is probably the saving grace of the entire thing. But it’s really not enough to make up for the rest of it. Overwhelmingly robust and bitter black, accented by very mediocre flavoring.

Kind of re-discovered this while unpacking the rest of my tea collection over the weekend, and brought it to leave at work so I could finish the rest of it off. I went through a phase of loving this blend, and it seems I’ve outgrown it or fallen out of love with it because it just doesn’t hold the same charm now! It’s okay, but honestly not much better than mediocre. Very smooth and almond-y but otherwise not very notable. I tend to brew it for a while to make it as strong as possible.

This was pretty good. Another one that I oversteeped, it looked like black coffee by the time I remembered it. It had a good flavor and I drank it down quick. The oversteeping prevented a good second cup though. Next time, I’ll keep a closer eye on it. My bad, tea.

I’m finishing the last of this sample today. It is alright, nothing amazing about it though. If I ever buy another almond tea it would Teavana’s Almond Biscotti over this any day.

I had high hopes for this tea after I smelled it – I thought it might compete with Teavana’s Rose Marzipan for a place in my heart. Well, it doesn’t quite make it but it’s close. I feel like it needs just a little extra something to make it really wow me. It’s sweet and I love the almond with the vanilla peeking out at the end but maybe a touch of maple or something would add that oomph I want it to have. Also, it tastes a little thin but I’m not sure how to change that. I made it strong enough that I can feel the affects of the caffeine so I’m not sure how to make the taste bolder without causing someone at work to beat me with a hole-punch due to hyperactivity.

I like the aroma a lot. The almond mixes interestingly well with the sweet vanilla smell…but at the end I can’t help but feel disappointed. There’s a little flavor from each of the elements in there; a little black tea, a little vanilla, a little almond – but nothing powerful enough to make a compelling mouthful. It just comes off as a little on the bland side. Maybe more tea, 2 bags instead of one? Maybe a longer steep time? I’m not sure, I’ll have to keep working with this one.

As as dessert tea, it’s not sweet enough for me… as a normal brew that could I drink everyday normally.. it’s great.. the aroma of this tea is absolutely amazing… I love sipping this tea.. not really tasting it.. I try to think that it’s one of my everyday cups.. it’s just black tea that I could drink again.. I cant taste any almonds though… but it’s alright to drink,,

Reviewing this again because my dislike runs higher the more I drink it.

I really only drink it when I’m lazy and can’t be bothered measuring out loose tea. It’s the only bagged variety in my drawer at work. But I find myself literally gagging by the time I reach the cup’s end. The smell is nice & vanilla-y, and I still have that small bit of hope when opening the canister. But actual drinkability? Getting worse for me.