Tea of the morning. :) Prepared black, with a little less sugar than normal. This tea didn’t smell like it needs much sweetening.
The loose leaf is VERY marzipan! I’m not a fan of the texture of marzipan, but I love the smell, so I didn’t mind. I also smell the almond, and a little of the flower petals. My husband was very intrigued by the candied violets, which are present only sparingly in HUGE chunks. I made sure to get one of those in the infuser. :) After steeping, the black tea smell comes through to bind all those scents together. The marzipan is definitely present still, while the almond seems to have faded a little bit. Wonder if this foretells anything for the taste.
In the first few sips, YES, there’s marzipan in there all right. The candied violets are there in the flavor as well. However, I’m not getting a very almond-y taste. Despite the fact that marzipan is MADE from almond paste, it never tastes very much like almonds to me, so I guess I was hoping that this tea would have more almond flavor—after all, there are almond pieces galore, along with the marzipan. I do like that the floral notes come through; after all, the name of the tea is Amandine ROSE.
The overall effect is a very creamy, sweet brew, with a somewhat astringent aftertaste. I was hoping that this would be an adequate replacement for my ever-dwindling supply of Almond Biscotti, which Teavana has discontinued, but it doesn’t look like it holds the same appeal for me. I won’t be having this one with shortbread or scones anytime soon. I will, however, drink it when I’m looking for something sweet but not fruity or caramel-y.
