Almond Indulgence (Formerly Almond Cookie)

When your day goes to hell it’s nice to have a comforting cup of tea :D

Nightmares and work stress woke me up this morning. Blergh.
This tea remains sweet, mellow, and just a delight to sip on in a morning where I need to simutaniously calm down and wake up.
Its always hard to go back to work after a holiday. Sigh. Well, it must be done.

There have been a lot of Butiki Tea’s reviewed today.
Is there a Butiki full moon or something? Hey Stacy, what are you cooking up now?

I have to confess that tonight I watched the (awkward moment)
Finale of “So You Think You Can Dance!” Can I see a show of hands? Who else has watched the entire 9TH season with me? Fess up!

Right before the Finale began, I made a whole pot of Almond Indulgence and settled down with my tray of tea, a mug, cream and sweetening. I WAS READY!

I told Stacy that this tea reminds me of Apple Pie. I don’t know why since it’s an Almond tea but I think of Apple Pie when I taste it. In fact, this tea only needs a nudge of spice and it would make a great Chai. (Thinking about it and scheming I filed that thought under: Future Experiments with Tea.)

My favorite way to drink Almond Indulgence has been with cream and sweetened. I love it this way. I’d like it steeped in milk too. (Note to self…“Try milk steeping.”)

Feet up and mug in hand, I watched the results of the last show of the series. What creative choreography and gifted young dancers. They’ve inspired me. The Arts have always inspired me.

Does it matter that I can’t dance like those young, strong dancers.
No!
I dance with them in another way. I soar in my spirit with every lift, bending and spinning or rising up light as a leaf on the wind, my feet hardly touching the ground.

I fly!

The abandon that I still remember from earlier days, my younger years… playing a classical piece on the piano or putting my fingers on a canvas, creating thick, emotional strokes in the oil paint.

You never forget abandon. And you enjoy observing the joy of it in others your whole life.

What talent!

Thank you to Will Work For Tea for this sample!

First, I taste the black base which is a smooth black with good almond flavour. Then the cinnamon at the end of the sip. It is a little bit astrigent but not overwhelmingly.

I brewed this according to Butiki’s website at boiling for 4 minutes. Now that I am writing this note, I noticed the steepster description says to steep for 2 minutes. Maybe that is why it is a bit astringent. And by my previous Butiki experience with tea, they are not usually astingent. So……next time I will only brew for 2 minutes.

I would rate it at maybe 84 right now but I will not rate it for now because I will try again later on and review.

I got a weird craving today for a peanut butter tea. Wouldn’t that be delicious? Well, the closest thing I can find in my cupboard is this nutty, smooth, almond tea. Yum yum! This is one of my favorites, and it’s definitely hitting the spot today. Somehow the second steep was even better than the first!

I really want to make an almond cake with this tea. Our wedding cake was two layers of almond cake and one layer of white cake with raspberry ganache. The only bite of almond cake I got was when we cut the cake and my new husband fed it to me. I’ve been craving almond cake ever since ‘cause I seriously missed out. I told the caterers to pack up any leftover cake but somehow it ended up at the in-laws’ house and they apparently ate it all already. *sigh.

Hmm, looks like I’m running low though. I’m going to need more of this one soon! How else will I make delicious almond cake and have some tea left over to drink with it? ;)

EDIT: I did end up buying more of this and making an almond tea cake with it. It was super delicious! It came out kind of like pound cake and was heavily almond flavored. The buttercream icing cut the heaviness of the cake nicely. Yum! To see some photos, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/96132028@N08/sets/72157633585210978/

I think Stacy told me she reblended this one. My previous notes were based on the Cookie version. The review below is based on the new Indulgence. (I wish she still offered them both!)

Indulgence…first impressions…

I’ve never tried an Almond flavored black quite like this and for that I am VERY greatful!

The almond slivers are generous. The vanilla is wonderful! The cinnamon is in the background but play a nice role! This has a neat floral hint to it too! And it’s fairly creamy as well! I REALLY like this.

It is drastically different from the cookie version

Sipdown! 825.

I think I liked this tea better this time than the first time I drank it. I really do think that 2-minute infusions are the way to go with flavoured black teas. Anyhow, I gulped this one down too quickly so I can’t entirely remember how it tasted, except that it was nutty and a bit sweet, completely smooth, and quite tasty! It looks like I may not have resteeped it last time, so hopefully I will manage to tonight, and see how it holds up.

Just a while ago, I was flipping through a library book and came across a bunch of cereal flakes embedded near the spine. Looks like someone was studying the Markedness Differential Hypothesis for breakfast. Appetizing on all levels.

I’ll admit that I had this tea black last week but didn’t write a review since I didn’t know what to think of it. But now that I added soy milk and a bit of sugar, it’s a lot better.

Before I go onto the flavour, let me mention how beautiful the dry leaf is. I absolutely love the addition of amaranth petals in here. The smell of the dry leaf reminds me of the almond biscotti my family used to buy at Costco. Not sure if they even make it anymore but it was super almondy, as is the scent of the dry leaf.

The milk and sugar really let the almond flavour pop. I can imagine that adding a dribble of almond extract to a cup of smooth black tea with milk will produce similar results.

sipdown!
Made with dairy milk, and it was not nearly as amazing as with the almond. Still def getting the cookie note though. Oh well, c’est la vie!

A good Almond Tea is very hard to find. Most are either sick with artificial flavors or have a terrible after taste! Or both! This one is perfect! Now I must say – I had a sample of the almond cookie before and I think of the two if I had to choose just one I would go for the cookie version BUT I love this too. I know that Stacy has been blending and re-blending this mix for a while now – some people prefer one – some the other – I suggest that these become two totally separate blends! :) I know Stacy Im asking a lot lol but really they are both excellent and both different enough for people to have favorites! :)
This one here though is really very nice. Smooth, no bitter or astringent tastes, the cinnamon is very light and as TeaEqualsBliss said sits in the background and does so quite nicely. Mine is the almond indulgence version and still has this cinnamon quality. I must stress it is a very light cinnamon, not a hot one. The almond could not be any better – really perfect almond flavor – NO nasty after taste. I am quite certain this would be yummy with milk and or sugar but it is not necessary at all.
Thank you Stacy! Glad I ordered this one!