Roasted Almond Cookie

Since I’ve posted some less than stellar reviews of some other utopia teas, I need to post a positive one when given the opportunity. And this is the opportunity. My name is Amy, and I’m addicted to this tea.

It’s a strange tea. It’s cinnamonny, almond, roasty, a slight citrus sweetness, and a somewhat burnt flavor in there too. The black tea base is a nice balance to all the flavors. I honestly find myself craving this tea. And then once I have it, it’s all i can drink for the rest of the day. Nothing else sounds good. I just want more. When I pull it out to have a cup, I’ve already decided that there will be no other teas that day.

I’ve read comparisons of this to Brioche. It’s nothing like Brioche. Brioche is delicious in a “how could you not love this?” way. While I enjoy this tea, I can see how some people don’t. But I also drink it way more than I drink brioche. Not because I like it more, but I honestly crave it. There’s something dark and bit dirty about it. The only comparable tea would be Butiki’s almond indulgence on steroids.

Of all my flavored teas (which has recently been reduced in a massive way), I drink this way more than anything else.

Tea #37 from Another Traveling Tea Box

This looks almost exactly like (ATR’s) Brioche! Not quite the same taste (or concept, really).

There’s definitely a roasty cookie element, and strong almond flavor. There’s some astringency to the base, and very mild bitterness until it cools. I find myself preferring Georgia Tea Co. Almond Cookie and California Tea House’s Almond Butter.

I’d take Brioche before any of them, though.

Tea #1 from Another TTB
Wowzah! This one scared me at first. It was slightly bitter but as it cools it is a completely different tea. I made it into. Latte after! The cookieness comes through as it sits! The almond is just right! Sign me up! This was a perfect cup after my dinner to put me to sleep. It’s odd. Lately highly caffeinated tea have put me out! Odd. Maybe caffeine has no affect on me anymore… Hmm! Anyways, this tea…. I NEED more! I MUST HAVE MORE!

Tea #6 from Another Traveling Tea Box

This one I was trying purely on the name since I didn’t get much of any sort of smell from the bag that I’d associate with the named tea. Mostly I was getting scents from other teas from the box, so I hope this didn’t get contaminated.

Brewed this had a cinnamon-y smell with a vaguely cookie/bakey kinda hint tossed in there? It was kinda hard to tell scent wise even though I practically inhaled the tea through my nose. (please note I don’t recommend doing this. Lol!)

Taste wise I get cinnamon and something kinda almond/nutty but it doesn’t really taste like much else sadly. I kinda get a decent black tea under everything else. But for me it was pretty unremarkable and blah. Maybe trying with 2 tsp or 2 1/2tsp might give it more ‘oomph’, but I’ll leave that for someone else to try.

I does smells like almond cookie, so I had high hopes for this. However the almond flavour isn’t so strong.
The black base is fine, just not what I was hoping for.

Tea #7 from Another TTB

Funny, I was just about to compare this to Brioche when I read Tasty Brew’s note below. The thing is, TastyBrew, Im not a big almond/nut tea connoisseur so its easy, in my case, to lump all the teas of that type together;)

But, I was going to say, as far as nutty teas go, this is one of the better ones I’ve had. This is why I was going to compare it to Brioche, or at least say that those who like that one would surely like this one too. However, while I recognize the quality of both of these teas, they aren’t for me.

This one smells amazing though. I would say it smells better than Brioche. But the flavor is like a plain nutty unsweetened pastry. Im leaving this unrated because I would definitely recommend this tea to others, but Im not drinking it again myself.

ok, wow… i was not expecting to need to dump this one out, but it was extremely bitter. The kind of bitter that no amount of sugar or additional water is going to cure.

I really think there is a packaging mistake here. My package states 1 tablespoon for 4-5 minutes and the website states 1 teaspoon for 3-5 minutes. I went with 1 tablespoon for 4 minutes @ 210 degrees.

I should have followed my gut when I saw the 1 tablespoon and reduced it, but no, i forged on ahead and followed the instructions on the package. Keep this in mind if you’ve got this one and I’ll post a real tasting note once I hear back from Utopia. I sent them an email to see what the directions are suppose to be.

Update:
Utopia responded quickly to help me out with my problem, there was indeed a mistake on my package. I see many orders in my future, I love it when companies have such awesome customer service, Jason emailed me at 8:20pm (well after normal business hours).

When you first open the package it smells overwhelmingly like almond extract, which for me isn’t a bad thing, I use almond extract in most of my baking because I really love it. This does taste like almond cookies and it amazes me that you can blend a tea to taste so closely to the Chinese almond cookies I love. This was exactly what I needed yesterday to help curb my sweet tooth, it really hit the spot.

Hot this was a little bitter, but that dissipated once the tea cooled. This is a tea you’ll want to keep an eye on because if you over steep it it will get really bitter fast. If you find yourself with a bitter cup of this tea just add a little water, toss it in the fridge to cool, add a hint of sugar and it mellows right out. I wasn’t paying attention to my timer last night and let one of my cups go for nearly 8 minutes. Whoops! I ended up drinking my over steeped cup with breakfast and it turned out just fine with the adjustments.

I really liked this one cold with a hint of sugar I think that the sugar made the flavors pop just a little bit more. This is another one that won’t be an every day drinker, but will go great with Chinese food or for an after dinner treat. I’ve been trying to cut back on sugar so dessert teas are a great way for me to get a little something sweet without all the sugar of an actual dessert.

Now I can’t wait to try some more teas from Utopia. Good thing they sent me samples with my order because I’m officially cut off from ordering any more tea this month.

It’s a very subtle cookie. The almond is also subtle but in a good way. Think I will try this one again with some amaretto honey and see what happens.