Almond Black

Steep Information:
Amount: ~ 3-4 tsp, entire sample
Water: 22 ounces filtered boiling water
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet black tea
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea and almonds
Flavor: slightly astringent, slightly bitter, black tea, almond
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: almonds, astringent
Liquor: opaque dark brown

I won these teas in a contest that was run by Dan on Steepster that was great fun, and got me tea prizes! Dan will be running the contest monthly, so keep an eye out!

I brought this one home for MilitiaJim to try since he loves almond black tea.

Post-Steep Additives:
AmazonV: German rock sugar, more almond less bitter still astringent, however when i went to add a splash of half and half it had gone bad and i had to toss my cup
MilitiaJim: salt, more almond less bitter still astringent, splash of milk, no longer astringent but still bitter

I would recommend steeping the leaves for less time.

MilitiaJim find the almond to be more of an after-taste than as part of the sip, I agree.

Needs more almond.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/06/georgia-tea-company-review.html

This tea was a definite risk since it only had one review that wasn’t good, but I’m always on the lookout for a good almond tea so I ordered a sample anyway. I was briefly hopefull after the Snowflake tea that this one would be like that except without the coconut, that is to say very almondy, but those hopes were dashed the minute I opened the pouch. The tea is definitely made up of little CTC nuggets, and didn’t smell ike too much of anything, certainly not almonds. The steeped tea smells like kind of plain, teabag black tea that has been sweetened. No almond aroma here. And that’s what it tastes like… very slightly sweetened black tea that is somewhat bitter, astringent and wholly not the flavor of plain black that I like. There might be the tiniest hint of almond but that’s reaching.

Honestly I’m not going to finish this cup. It’s not wholly undrinkable, but it certainly doesn’t deliver on the flavor it promises, and I don’t enjoy the flavors that are there at all. Bleh.