Apricot Amaretto

Backlogging… Apricot Amaretto is my last blend from Tea Forte’s Herbal Retreat sampler packet to review. I’ve said it before, but I’m a huge foodie and I applaud Tea Forte for going the cocktail route with their tea blends. I really dig the concept.

Unfortunately, I didn’t much dig Apricot Amaretto. I like amaretto in general. In fact, my drink of choice in college was an amaretto sour served in a red plastic cup. Classy! I also really enjoy all things apricot, so theoretically this tea should be the perfect fit for me. Nope. The almond flavor tastes off to me, and that “off” flavor quashes any lovey apricot flavor that may be lurking in the blend. Its just not the right tea for me.

I wouldn’t buy this tea, but I am looking forward to trying some of Tea Forte’s other blends that sound pretty fantastic. I’ve seen some very highly rated dessert blends from this company that really intrigue me. We shall meet again under better circumstances Tea Forte!

Not bad, not bad at all. The dry tea smells like almond liqueur (ie. amaretto) with a touch of fruityness, though the fruityness seemed to disppeared when the water got added.

It was a bit heavy on the red rooibos when I firsh tried it, but after it had a chance to cool a bit the honeybush took over quite nicely. The almond flavour is very much there, though thankfully, unlike some, Tea Forte’s blend doesn’t taste like someone dumped a whole bottle of almond extract in it. I do wish there was more emphasis on the apricot flavour though, because I’m not really tasting it. I get the sweetness of the honeybush but nothing I can really liken to any sort of fruit. Still I think overall this tea is more ‘hit’ than ‘miss’.

I’m really enjoying this one…both hot and cold…I think the new Herbal Retreat offerings are more up my alley than most of their others! At least the offerings without Hibiscus that is. This is WYSIWYG…Apricot and Amaretto sums it up nicely! I’m appreciating the Honeybush/Rooibos blends very much – thanks Tea Forte!

Darn. Don’t taste sweet, apricot, or amaretto. What I taste it metallic, on the sides of my tongue. I’m pretty sure I followed the preparation recommendations. Now I’m wondering whether that’s the “off” almond flavor I’m getting.

It smells fruity. Going to wait and let it cool down a bit more. Maybe I’ll be able to raise my rating.

A little later: Nope. Mostly tastes like hot water now. At least the metallic taste is gone. Dumped in another bag and left it. Will update again shortly.

A little later still. Nope. I can taste the almond a bit — it doesn’t taste sweet like amaretto. I can’t taste anything else.

The box is very well constructed and nicely decorated.

Lots of dust, weird smell. I’ve gotta say, I’m feeling uneasy about this. I had been drinking these in the order of what I expected to like (least to most). Maybe I was wrong. Dry, I get an odd smell, almost alcoholic or possibly even like hand sanitizer. I can smell something definitely amaretto-esque, but not in any sort of pleasant way. I forget how much I hate amaretto…There is no discernible apricot smell, it is all booze. I’m worried.

The rooibos/honeybush are very fine, almost pulverized, though this might have been a fault of their travels to get to me. It’s definitely some of the finest (read: dusty and falling through my filter) I’ve had. Steeped, it smells a little less boozy, but I must say that they have accurately captured the amaretto scent. Still no apricot though.

First sips are fairly accurate to the smell. There is a tinge of medicinal/alochol based flavour at the end of the sip that I’m not too wild about, but otherwise the taste is fairly unassuming. As I said before, they’ve captured the amaretto flavour well, but there is still no apricot to be found anywhere. Since I quite like apricots and don’t like amaretto, I was hoping it would be the reverse.

I’m going to rate this at 70 for amaretto accuracy, but still factor in my concerns about the aftertaste and lack of apricot. I’m quite pleased to have the flavour profile as strong as the smell, that’s rare in Tea Forte teas I have tried in the past. Once again, I can drink this but I wouldn’t buy it. I would consider gifting it though…

This is my fourth sample from the herbal retreat collection, and so far, it’s my favorite. (I still have the blueberry one left to try) A good balance of flavor between the rooibos and honeybush. A pleasant apricot flavor with a hint of almond. Sweet and tasty.

I was a bit apprehensive about this one because I was afraid it would be TOO mixed drink like – but it is actually pretty good. The apricot tastes fresh and juicy with the amaretto adding an interesting, sweet note. Pretty good!

Scent from a distance is very cough-syrupy, but when you get your nose down into the dry leaves the amaretto scent is a delicious single scent.

The steeped scent has amaretto sweetness and a bitter tone of perhaps apricot pit and alcohol mixed. It smells like a mixed drink.

There isn’t a lot of taste on the tongue itself. You get a smooth or buttery consistency on the inside of the lips and the middle of the tongue. There is a flash of the bitter+amarretto flavor/scent in the nose as you swallow. The tisane feels full in the mouth.

Im not familiar with honeybush and not huge on tisanes, but must say that if you are into either this is worth trying. This does give the feel of the name in its taste.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 single steeps packet
Water: 12 ounces hot spigot water
Tool: kati loose tea system
Steep Time: a little over 5 minutes (http://steep.it/)
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: nutty, apricot
Steeped Tea Smell: amaretto, fruity, rooibos
Flavor: rooibos, fruity
Body: full
Aftertaste: sweet
Liquor: translucent orange-brown

I love amaretto, so this tea is right up my alley! A sweet afternoon treat.

Rating: 3/4 leaves

Pictures: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2011/04/tea-forte-loose-leaf-rooibos-tisane.html

I finally got around to my last tea forte sample!
You know what, I’m glad I saved this one for last. While I didn’t get a lot of apricot taste, it did have a sort of fleshy texture. That sounds not right, but when I say flesh I do mean apricot flesh haha.

The amaretto flavour and smell was overwhelming and quite sweet, and although this isn’t my favorite tea in the world and I probably won’t purchase it, I think it was one of my faves from the line.

When I first opened the package, the aroma seemed really boozy to me – though I love amaretto, I usually like it mixed in with things, so I was apprehensive about trying this tea. Edited to add: In all fairness, I haven’t been drinking the last nine months, so it smelling especially boozy to me may be because of that.

After brewing, aroma was still pretty boozy, but luckily, upon tasting the “amaretto” flavour wasn’t overpowering. I would have liked a bit more of an apricot flavour, but overall this is an enjoyable tea.

On a whim, I ended up trying it over ice and I have to say, I enjoy it MUCH more iced. It wasn’t really up my alley hot and I also think this tea would probably be lovely sweetened if you like your iced tea that way (though I’d probably stick with sugar, not honey). I think I’ll probably end up buying this tea again to have it iced, but I doubt it will be in my usual rotation. Thanks for the sample Tea Forte!

This was just not my cup of tea. But I’ve also never really been a fan of amaretto. I just can’t get over how much this reminds me of cherry Halls cough drops, I tried, but with every sip it just tastes to me like liquid cherry Halls cough drops. I swear I can even taste the menthol. And I’ve always had a strong disliking of those, too. I love the scent and taste of almonds, apricots and peaches. But this was the first tea I’ve ever tried that I just couldn’t drink. :/
I’m going to refrain from giving a numerical rating because I’m not saying the quality of the tea is bad, it just does not agree with me!

The delicious apricot zingy scent of this in the bag made me bump it to the top of my list of teas to try. It’s so good, with its almondy and fruity flavor mingling together harmoniously, and giving me the wherewithall to actually get my work done this evening (are not you jealous of my grad student life? admit it!) This is YET ANOTHER Tea Forte blend that is not only more than the sum of its parts, but going on my ‘buy a whole bunch of’ list. Love you, Tea Forte!

This tea looks like creme brûlée from DavidsTea. I love the rooibos and the bright petals. The tea is sweet with that distinct amaretto flavor and a nice bit of peach and apricot (I can’t tell the difference between the two), but the fruit portion is quite juicy! This is a great combination. The tea is very rich and actually makes me wonder if I had eaten a very large dessert. Yum! I am not sure if this will be a purchase for me only because I find it slightly similar to the creme brûlée (richness-wise) and I like that one a bit more. I am so glad to have tried this, though. This is a great treat! Thank you so much, Ottawa Tea!

So I forgot I had most of the tea left over from my Tea Forte’s Herbal Retreat sampler.
I absolutely love the idea of herbal blends reinterpreted as celebrated alcoholic mixes it’s a new idea.Let’s sex up some more tea!!
Smells like Apricot mostly which is nice.
It’s an okay taste doesn’t blow my mind as much as I wanted it to.
Not bad but not particularly excellent either.

NEWS AT 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So BEST news ever found out ONE one second ago..the mall about a block from my house is getting it’s very own DAVIDsTEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I’m going to apply since it’s like I work at a DT already with all my stock..wish me luck!!!!

Maybe it’s a sign that the future will start looking up I sure hope so!

I haven’t had many herbal blends that included honeybush and/or rooibos, so was not sure what to expect. I was actually rather pleased, and think this was the favorite I have of the samples I received from Tea Forte. It made a really nice light brew with aroma and taste of both apricot and amaretto. A hint of flowery character, probably from the marigold flowers. Not too sweet, and a nice accompaniment to a piece of buttery shortbread.

This is the second of five samples provided to me by Tea Forte. The first one I tried was the mojito marmalade, which I loved. This one, in contrast, evoked almost the exact opposite response in me.

The smell of the dry leaf alone made me nervous. It was SO vile and medicinal – more accurately, it was reminiscent of Robitussin. It gave me a headache and the memory of the smell lingered unpleasantly for a while after I set the leaves in water to cold brew. I didn’t find any apricot in the scent at all.

After steeping some of the apricot smell was more evident, and the medicinal odor had faded a lot, but that first sip…

Let’s just say I didn’t get past it, because it tasted like it’s original smell and I can’t drink Robitussin. :(

Oh, well. I have three more samples to try – I hope they’re more like the mojito marmalade than this one.

Burried my nose in this one before starting. Really sweet smelling. I mean REALLY. Ever drink flavor syrup straight? I did once. It’s like that.

Now for the drinking part. Yum! I used a bit too much water so it’s a little weak, but It’s nice! Doing a nice job getting the “Cosmo-not” off of my palate. Doesn’t need sugar folks. It’s plenty sweet by itself!

This one just doesn’t stand out for me. I’ve been sipping at it all night and it just…I don’t know. Ten seconds after a sip, I can’t tell you what it tastes like.

I taste a bit of juicy peach, but overall, it just tastes like tea to me…which is neat, seeing as how there’s no tea in it >.>.

I received a sample of this tea along with four other herbals that I will be reviewing this week. Since I had five of them, I decided to begin with the Apricot Amaretto. My first impression was that I really loved the smell. The aroma is sweet, and I could immediately pick out the apricot, peach and almond notes. The fruit dominated the dry leaves and I was pretty interested in how it would taste. I used my perfect tea maker to infuse it. I generally brew herbals around 208ish and the instructions on the back said to let it steep for 5 minutes. I loved out dark it got when it brewed, but the fruit smell began to fade as it steeped and the almondy flavors became much stronger.

I let it cool to about 140 degrees and took my first sip. The almondy amaretto was very strong, so much so that it really overwhelmed and took over the apricot and peach notes that I’d smelled when I first opened the packet. I drank the cup with no sweetener, because I try not to sweeten a cup of a new tea when I first tried it. However, while it wasn’t a terrible tea, I was really hoping for that fruit that the title promised, leaving me a bit disappointed. Its tasty enough and would be interesting to try iced or sweetened, but I only had enough for the one cup. By the time I’d finished my first, I wasn’t interested in trying to re-steep it and see. I might pick up a small amount on my next tea order and try it again, but at the moment, I’m not that impressed.

Still, a lovely almond flavor so if that is what you are hoping for, you’ll be satisfied.