American Tea Room

Lovely. I savoured this tea as my second milk oolong. The scent was heady, milky and rich. I’m still amazed that a tea plant can produce this. First infusion was highly aromatic, and lightly flavoured of creamy milk, sweet vanilla, and a subtle floral. My son, who was tasting this with me, giggled and exclaimed “Wow.” From the 17 year old 6 foot giant, it was a great reaction.

Second infusion and the scent is still coming on strong. The liquor is richer, and the feel on my tongue is heavy, like a light syrup and not a tea.

Third infusion and the floral is coming out more, the cream is subsiding in taste (but not scent, it continues to dominate the scent profile of this tea).

Heaven. This is wonderful complex tea to be savored thoughtfully. Better than dessert!

I really love drinking tea right before bed, but cannot tolerate any caffeine at that time. So, I was absolutely THRILLED to receive a sample packet of Zzz from ATR with my latest order. Last night, I tried it out.

First, I couldn’t use the Breville One-Touch because the packet only contained 4 g. and that’s not enough for the minimum size. So, I boiled some water and used my Bodum teacup with strainer to make a cup. 5 minutes later, I still couldn’t sip it because it was so hot! However, it smelled amazingly delicious. Tantalizing, like a fresh lemony meadow. (Okay, I know most meadows aren’t lemony, but it was as I would imagine a lemony meadow to smell.) Some of the tea did fall through the strainer and was a medium green color. The tea brewed up to a golden yellow and the colors mixed together just like, you guessed it, a lemony meadow.

A little while later, I ventured a sip. Beautiful, refreshing (but in a perfectly appropriate bedtime way) and delicious. The lemon is bold, yet the undertones of mint are present. The chamomile, too, is there. It’s a charming, comforting bedtime tea that doesn’t taste blah like so many others.

I actually tried a second infusion with this, hoping that my strong first cup could be replicated. I let it steep for 7 minutes the second time around and wasn’t disappointed. Had I not been so tired, I might have tried for a third, but the tea did its job and I drifted off to a sound, relaxed sip with my empty teacup on my nightstand. This morning, I awoke to the scent of a lemony meadow in my bedroom and rushed to my computer to buy more only to find it hadn’t yet been listed yet. I have to say one thing about ATR, each time I’ve had an issue (this was only the second time, the first was a coupon code that wasn’t accepted by their system), it has been resolved literally within hours. So, I’m thrilled to see that this tea is now available on their website and it’s delicious!

I really feel something for this tea. It’s a good, robustly flavored tea.

It smells kind of nutty, like roasted nuts. I used the Breville at 195 for 3 minutes. It smells heavenly. I really love this homey, grounded scent. It’s warm and inviting and I take a sip. Aaahhh! Lovely. It’s toasty good, kind of woodsy, a hint of smoke. It’s very, very good.

Here is another ATR sample I’m tasting this morning.

It smells interesting. ATR calls it a “beguiling mélange” and I guess I could agree with that. I couldn’t pick out any individual scents, just a big mix. But, an interesting big mix.

This tea is not light. It is strong, bold, and fascinating. It’s not a perfumed taste, but a well-done mix of black tea and floral additives. The tea smells as if it has vanilla, too, but I don’t recall seeing that on the ingredients list. It is not bitter, even though it was brewed for 4 minutes.

Overall, it’s very nice. It is a sweeter tasting tea, which is nice. Very interesting tea!

Superb! This is my first tea by American Tea Room and I am thankful to Kristin for the swap! I really like this…. chocolate!!!!! chocolate!!!!!! And no caffiene such a plus. I am funny with my rooibos tisanes. I just started venturing out and buying some but this is one that I do not taste any rooibos at all. I am glad! So even if you don’t normally drink rooibos don’t let that inhibit you from trying this tea! Thanks again to Kristin!!

“This tea smells really good, you know?”

Ah, the innocent words of a not-so-innocent 5 year old who just knocked over my cup of tea.

Ruby Black is indeed a nice-smelling tea. It smells like tea. I really do like the way it smells. When I opened the package, as usual, I held it to my nose and sniffed. Very nice. It’s a nice toasty scent. The tea’s color… beautiful! Like a reddish-black. Love it! I appreciate the aesthetics of tea, the whole experience.

I followed the instructions and used the Breville at 200 degrees for two minutes.

The scent when brewed changed, but it’s still very nice. It has developed into a more vegetal scent, but still with that hint at toastiness.

Now, for the taste. It’s definitely a black tea and I’m not (in general) a black tea lover. I don’t add milk or sweetener to tea. It’s bold, but an understated, not so in-your-face bold. It’s like an underlying strength. It tastes very vegetal. So much so that I almost feel like it could be something on my plate. (That’s not a plus in my book.) Still, it’s a mysterious taste with a hint at spiciness, but not really. Just a tiny touch. It’s almost a thick taste, without the feeling of weight. There is a maltiness to it.

Overall, it’s nice. I do like it, but it hasn’t converted me to black tea. (I’ll keep trying them all, though!)

This snowy morning, I decided to try yet another one of my ATR samples, Coco Loco. Upon opening the package, I smell almost a rich, vanilla-ish scent of baking cookie dough. It’s sweet, but deep, too.

I used the Breville at 200 degrees for 5 minutes.

Wow! It smells wonderful! Like fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with coconut, but not that overly sweet smell. The taste is really unique. I can taste chocolate and a slight bit of coconut. I don’t taste pepper at all, but there is a slight spiciness to it that is pleasant and piques my interest. It has an earthy, sweetish finish to it. It’s really good. I’ve never tried pu-er before and I’m guessing that this is what is creating the grounding effect and prevents it from going over the top, even thought it’s a mixture of other tea, too. It’s lovely!

I’m really iffy on this one. First, though, it smells heavenly! It evokes memories of the Caribbean with the tropical fruits and I can imagine myself there once again.

I used the Breville 200 degrees for 5 minutes as indicated on the package.

The taste. Strong something. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is I taste, but it’s strong. Almost medicinal. I barely taste the fruitiness I can smell. I can’t taste the floral notes. It’s a strange experience and I’m feeling a bit let down. I had really hoped I’d love this tea. It was so promising in the package. If I ever try this one again, I might try it iced.

This tea is simply outstanding. I know I’ve said it before, but there’s something about it that just pulls me in. It’s a savory tea, creamy, milky, and a little buttery that just oozes comfort. It’s hands-down one of my favorites.

This tea is outstanding! Upon opening the bag, I discovered a very savory, very rich, creamy scent of buttery yum. It’s really pleasing and comforting and I was looking forward to smelling it once brewed.

I used the Breville to make it. 175 for two minutes. Yes, the scent stayed with the tea. The taste really filled my mouth. It is creamy and has bulk to it. Not thin in the least. Nutty tasting. There’s a surprising fruitiness to it that is not overwhelming, it’s just there. It’s almost a toasty finish. Very, very nice.

The much talked about milk oolong has brought intrigue and conversation to my work place. Brought in by one individual who stumbled upon it, has caused many others to scramble at the end of the season to purchase lump sum before the next season. It’s smooth, creamy, buttery aroma was equally matched by the familiar taste, that most equated to sweented condensed milk – but with soft subtle overtures. LOVE!

Third steeping: I tried it with four ounces water and two ounces hemp milk, and a teaspoon vanilla sugar as dessert. Just that little bit of sugar and milk made it so sweet and rich I had to leave half the cup for a while just to finish it. But it was too good to leave at a thrid steeping, so I poured some milk and water in with the leaves and tucked it in the fridged to try iced tomorrow. Yep, nothing like iced oolong for the sweltering 28 F snow day ahead!
As amazing as this oolong is I don’t see myself needing this one on hand all the time. Just frequently. Perhaps it’s just not the milk oolong for me or perhaps I need to brew it a little stronger for my tastes or in a way that adds some of Ti Kuan Yin greeness.
Either way Meghann deserves a pot of gold, three wishes and the keys to the city.

In need of a sketching friendly snack and in awe of the first steeping, I made garlic vanilla popcorn to match my tea. What? Garlic and vanilla pair amazingly wheither prepaired sweet or savory. Try it! Last night’s endevor is one of the best popcorn recipes ever! Quick too. I made while cooling the second infusion. Much to my surprise I couldn’t smell the tea leaves in the pot already. Closer sniff realed that I could, but it smelt identical to the popcorn. They unfurled nicely too, which I love about Ti Kuan Yins. A couple leaves were light yellow like the popcorn. Absent mindedly I wondered if they tasted like it too.
So I ate a leaf. Stopped. Then I ate a few kernals of popcorn. Ate another leaf. Ate another kernal. The difference in taste was largely in moisture.
To continue my dignified straight-from-the-teapot snacking, I poured some hemp milk in a sauce bowl and dunked popcorn in. And it tasted exactly like the tea!
Unbelievable. This tea even tastes like popcorn. Rich hemp milk and buttery vanilla roasted garilc popcorn. This is definately the tea to convert all latte addicts.

Dry aroma: Movie buttered popcorn, Ti Kuan Yin smell, (a hint of spearmint? Maybe that’s from being next to a bag of Grasshopper for day….), black pepper, butter, milk chocolate, burnt popcorn, genmaicha
The movie butter is only in the aroma. The first sip is swoon worthy splash of real sweet butter and other people are wrong here-milk. Hemp milk specifically. Ooh, I love hemp milk.
I let it cool quite a bit before drinking so it felt thin and hydrating, a lot like hemp milk that hadn’t been shaken in a while .After the first sip the butter mellows a bit to silky smooth vanilla, and tones of other planter variety orchids. This makes extremely happy as I planned on painting some orchids tomorrow. I’ll have to keep the bag by my desk for good luck, eh? ;)
Ooh, I can’t wait to try the second steep later.

Best. Oolong. Ever! Another day making sample from the generous Meghann M who saw this on my shopping list and sent it. Miles de gracias.

Quality leaf with huge pieces of fruit. Nicely balanced and I am a sucker for the fig backdrop. Unique, tasty and I just love fig tea!

This tea is among a few other assorted teas that Kristin handed to me a few weeks ago. I’ve procrastinated with trying it, because of the coarse leaf texture and hence the longer steep time.

It’s well worth the wait. The aroma is pleasant, which is similar to a very light hot chocolate. The chocolate taste is very full as soon as it hits your tongue. I guess it would be safe to say that this tea has a roundness to it. (I am reading these terms as I write this.) The finish is light, but has a shift in flavor that is quite pleasing.

tastes good with honey, on its own a little bland but still good

This is a nice and warm black tea blend. The apricot is muted by the other flavorings so that it is not overly sweet, fruity, or tart. Although saffron is identified as a flavoring, I did not detect any saffron at all. Oddly, this blend just feels comforting and luxurious (as some other Steepster-ite) noted and it is hard to pinpoint what this tastes like.