TeaGschwendner

Backlogging from wednesday, and it’s a sipdown! I rarely have this one pure, and I didn’t this time, either – there wasn’t enough left, so I added some of the Black Oothu.
Maybe I’ll have it on its own at some point in the not-too-far future – even though I rarely do that, I like my Assam/Kenia too much to not stock up on this, anyway.

I have had this tea before, as recently as yesterday. I’d intended to write a note about it then, but I got distracted and let the tea get cold. So I decided to give it another go this morning.

In the tin, the dry leaves smell nutty and a bit liqueur-like, with really big almond slices interspersed among the leaves. The smell is the same, but deeper, after steeping. The tea is clear, and a dark amber color.

Just as I find the variations in vanilla teas interesting (is it beany? is it creamy? is it a little of both?) I find the variations in almond teas also quite interesting. This is not a cookie or pastry flavored tea, it’s definitely a liqueur flavored tea. While I haven’t had Amaretto in a while, the aroma of the almond in this tea has a syrupy quality to it that reminds me of the drink. And while it’s not heavily alcoholic, I couldn’t find “liqueur” in the Steepster flavors and scents options, so I settled for alcohol. I don’t mean by this that this tastes of alcohol, just that it reminds me of the liqueur.

So it’s not a substitute for Brioche, which I was kind of hoping. More reminiscent of the Mariage Freres Almond than the Teavana Almond Biscotti, SpecialTeas Almond Cookie, or Brioche, which were all variations of the same idea and all, sadly, no longer available. I am pretty sure I liked the Mariage Freres better. So I’m bumping that one up a tad.

Someone make a substitute for Brioche please!

I got this last year when I visited the store in Chicago-other than visiting DavidsTea this was my favorite tea store I got to go to! Workers were so kind and helpful-they actually have me some tea for free!
I love the caramel flavor in this tea-what I don’t like so much is just the black tea base. I’m just not a big black tea fan-I’d rather stick with rooibos caramel teas than black caramel teas. If you know me you know I’m really picky with black teas-I just would rather have a caramel tea that overpowers the base tea. I guess that’s why I’m not such a fan. I really need to compare it to the salted caramel black Tea I got there as well. But yeah,over all this is one of the better caramel teas I’ve tried! If you aren’t super picky with black teas like me you’d probably love this tea!
Also I want to rate this tea as an 80 but since I’m on my iPhone it won’t let me be specific xD but to be clear-it’s better than a 79 xD and yes that one number makes all the difference to me rating it haha

Backlogging again. This is TeaGschwendner’s replacement for the Yen Bai, so pretty similar to that one.

I’ve had this one for a long time, and I know I’ve tasted it before. It appears I haven’t written a note about it before now, though.

The name makes me think of Steepster’s Anna, who I enjoyed following while she was hanging out here. Anna, if you’re listening — come back and say hi!

There’s not a very distinctive smell of the dry leaf, though as mentioned, this tea is old. Perhaps it had more aroma when it was younger. Now it smells earthy and oddly peppery, without any real berry or cream to it.

After steeping, the aroma turns more toasty/rich with berry high notes and a sort of creaminess around the edges. It’s a dark reddish amber and clear.

The flavor takes this even a step further with the berry, though not with the cream. More raspberry, and about the same amount of creaminess. It’s just a hint, really, not a definite, heavy vanilla of the creamy or beany variety. It has something of an odd, papery flavor to it that is noticeable at the beginning of the sip, but thankfully dissipates.

It’s enjoyable (except for the hint of paper, which I’m willing to discount) and was probably even better when it was young. But I prefer the French red berry blends. Mariage Freres and Kusmi do wondrous things with berry flavors, as did the late great American Tea Room (which, though not French, was still wondrous).

I can, however, already tell that this will make an excellent cold tea. So part of my rating is anticipatory.