Almond Green Tea

So this is pretty cool. The leaves smell strongly of marzipan (and a little mint but I think that’s because it was in the sampler tube with the spearmint green sampler) but post-brewing, that smell disappointingly goes away. Fortunately, the marzipan shows up at the front of the sip (particularly when the tea is hot), then transitions to a more straight almond flavor which melds smoothly into the nuttiness of the Chinese green.

The Chinese green base in this doesn’t seem overly fancy or spectacular, but it works so great with the flavoring. As the tea cools, the marzipan sweetness fades and it becomes more raw almond and green tea, but again, the flavors meld delightfully.

Once again Kusmi surprises me and makes me like a flavored green.

Second Steep (3:00) – The flavor is softer now, predominately green tea but there is still a noticeable flavor of almond underneath it, mostly straight almond but with occasional sweet little marzipan spikes. Toward the end of the cup there was a little not-quite-bitterness, not-quite-astringency but almost thick, dark nuttiness. If it were stronger it could edge into unpleasant but as it is, it just makes it move fully away from the desserty marzipan almond and into a more natural/straight almond flavor. Honestly, it’s really tasty.
^5.3g/10oz

Thanks to oOTeaOo for this one.

I’ve been wanting to try some Kusmi green teas and was eyeing this one. I have their Russian sampler but I’m finding some of those to be a little too strongly scented for me.

I steeped this one at around 170 F for 2 minutes. I’m not sure what they are using for the base of this Chinese green tea – perhaps something like a Mao Feng? It’s a mild vegetal and slighty herby taste. The almond is in this blend is fairly mild and a bit sweet. I was hoping for a bit more almond but at least it isn’t knocking me over with perfume. This is a nice solid choice for anytime, I might consider getting some if order with Kusmi tea.

I did also get a second steep out of it, which is always nice!

Yes, Im still here =)
Used too much internet, so my better half “grounded” me. You won’t belive how much I had to pay on our phonebill… let’s just say I’m near damn broke. Luckly, I have collected a HUUUGE amount of tea in my three year long fascination of tea. Food? Clothes? Chocolat? I can live without for some time… But life without tea? NEVER.

Started on the school again. They have a cup-with-a-lid policy. It means no fluid must enter the class without a secure lid on it. No prob for soda drinkers and healthy geeks with bottles. Huge prob for my starbuckmug without a lid. So, yesterday I invested on a HUGE travelmug by Bodum. Did I mention it was HUGE? It’s huge. And green. I am happy.

The tea menu for today is all green starting with this almond tea…

: I like it.

In the beginning, the taste was a little off. Too hot water, made the nuance disappear.
Luckly the saying “Time heals all wounds” seems to fit on hot water too. About a lection after my steeping, the tea revealed the yummy taste of almond. OR marcipan <3 potato potato. It taste good!

Note to self: Lower the heat for next cup.

I found this tea as part of a loose-tea selection on a gourmet food website that had much more reasonable shipping fees than Kusmi’s website (score!)

As I open the tin I’m struck with the mouth-watering odor of marzipan and I’m surprised when I don’t see any almond slivers mixed in with the tea. As the tea steeps, the scent of green tea slowly creeps back in. When I take a sip I can clearly taste the nuttiness of the tea base which meshes very nicely with the almond. It’s a very sweet almond flavour too, and not artifical at all, in my opinion. As I drink more of the tea it seems to build up in the mouth, becoming more prominent.

I’m in love with sweet almond and marzipan so I seems only natural that I love this tea. It’s clearly not powerful, robust breakfast fare, but I think It would be a wonderful dessert tea.

I’ve wanted to try a Kusmi tea for a while now since they have so many flavors that look just up my alley. And yet, I didn’t come back from Paris with any (there’s a Kusmi store in NYC, so I decided to save room in my luggage for other teas). But I did just get a sample of this tea, which I definitely wanted to try, from Jillian!

Brewed, this reminds me of the other almond green I’ve had, from Upton, though this one lacks cinnamon. Still, the almond manages to evoke an almost bakery-style aroma. The flavor is primarily a somewhat grassy/vegetal green tea initially, and the almond blooms into that nut-meat almond flavor. Again, not a marzipan, but nutty raw almonds. It’s a combo that works well with a Chinese green, I think, though I think my cup is a tad overdone (time, temp or leaf amount, I’m not sure which). I’m still enjoying this tea quite a bit. It’s similar enough to Upton’s almond green that I’m going to have to try that one again to refresh my memory for comparsion. Thanks again to Jillian for the generous sample!

This tea has an alarming almond aroma (alarming in a good way, almost divine). Every time I open the tin I am inspired to bake almond infused cakes and cookies. I call this tea my gateway tea… only it leads me to fiend for pastries. Parties and more tea. :)

I was surprised by this tea. Eventho I cannot pick out much of an almond type taste I know what I like and I like this tea.

I can taste a sweetness to it but not a nutty flavor. The nose almost has a florally-mint to it but not quite.

Regardless it’s tasty.

Good lord, people. I have been bound and bleeding determined to get the perfect steep out of this, to get as close as humanly possible to making the delicious scent of this tea match the actual taste of it. I kept getting cups that just weren’t cutting it.

I finally went out and bought a tea thermometer to make sure I had the temperature just right. I’ve also been fiddling with the right steeping device – my regular strainers kept letting bits of tea through that I could never quite strain out, so they kept steeping and soured the cup, but the disposable filters didn’t let the tea expand properly. So this morning I basically combined the best of the two – I tucked an open tea ball (well, an acorn-shaped strainer) into a reusable bamboo filter bag, so the tea could expand without any bits escaping. I put the tea in at 160 degrees and gave it exactly three minutes.

After all that, I’m calling this a success! I’m definitely getting the most almond flavor out of this of any prior steep. It’s still definitely more of a green tea flavor than I was hoping for, given that the scent suggests you’ll be drowning in marzipan. The almond is there, though. I think I just keep expecting that teas will be naturally sweet and then I’m put off when they’re not. Maybe I just need to admit defeat and start adding sugar already.

It pains me to admit the success of this green tea steeping method (open tea ball + reusable filter bag) because it’s such a pain in the butt, but I think it genuinely does allow for the best cup since the leaves get to expand properly but there are no bits left floating around to keep steeping. Green tea, thou art the cruelest mistress!

Just picked this up today at a little shop styling itself as a European market. The scent of this tea is definitely sweet marzipan, but the tea is not sweet. It has a hint of almond, with a basic green tea background. Very nice!

Jillian sent me a sample of this a few months ago, and it wasn’t until now that I tried it! I knew I was in for a nice treat.

Sweet almond… it reminds me of those almond cookies I used to get at a Chinese restaurant I used to go to when I was younger. I love the sweet scent of the wet leaves. It is so light and fragrant. I can’t assess the color since I made the mistake of using a dark colored cup. I noticed that this green tea had small-medium sized leaves and short stems. I could also taste the green tea distinctly, and the aftertaste was a mix of sweet almond and green tea. It is very nice. The nutty taste was enjoyable!

This was the first almond flavored green tea I’ve had. I’ve come to the conclusion that I like almond flavored green better than black tea. The combination of green tea with almond wasn’t overbearing or strong, which was nice. Good cuppa in the afternoon – yes! :)

Wow strong smell !
Nice taste, although the taste of green tea is very faint. Very good with something sweet :)

Almost missed the Almond. The tea base is kind of herb-y..Very light.

I really love the almond in this tea. I prefer to use a steep time of maximum 3 minutes, to keep a sweet flavor.

Though this is a tasty green tea, I don’t taste the almond at all.
Beautiful packaging, but unfortunately, tastes like a rather average green tea.