Tea Forte Advent Calendar: Day 14 - Apricot Amaretto

 


This is another blend that it took me several days to work up to trying.


I am not often a fan of either apricot or amaretto flavors in my tea.


Amaretto flavor tends to hit my palate as almonds that have started to turn towards spoiling.  Apricot, on the other hand, tends to make anything it's paired with turn sickly sweet ..... I was not filled with hope.


The color was a pale orange-y yellow.  My first sip... all I got was the fruity apricot hit to the front of my palate.  The second sip was almost like sucking on a warm jordan almond.  I took several more sips trying to get the flavor to settle instead of bouncing between the two extremes without the flavor actually being at all extreme.  I couldn't pick it apart, but I know I didn't enjoy it.  

In desperation, I dipped in the little shortbread heart.  My next sip tasted 100% like liquid marzipan.  It was delightful!  I fully enjoyed the liquid marzipan tinsane ..... but then I finished the cookie and still had 1/3 of a cup left.

Without the cookie, the tea had started to cool slightly and the aroma had changed.  When I tipped the cup to take a sip, the bouquet hit my nose and it was like sticking my nose into a bottle of antiseptic.  The herbal itself had no flavor itself beyond supporting the antiseptic bouquet.


Final thoughts:  An interesting tasting experiment - but in the end, ew. No.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fortnum & Mason Tea Advent Calendar - Day 2 Jade Oolong

Image
 Day Two of the advent calendar and what did we get? Jade Oolong!  As good as the assam blend was yesterday, I was excited to taste the quality of today's oolong.  I had high hopes. So, I made myself a cup according to the directions -trusting them on the temperature and the timing. All in all, it's not a BAD quality oolong, but I've had better and it didn't compare at all to yesterday's cuppa.  I think the thing that cut into my enjoyment of the oolong was that this one had a sort of grassy flavor on the end note which persisted a bit into the after taste.  Because of the grassy end note it took me longer to get through the cup - so by the time I was ending the cup it had cooled.  I have to say, I'd really enjoy this as an iced oolong with a bit of added sweetness.
Read more

Tea Review: Vanilla Almond Spiced Chai by Trader Joe's

Image
 This was in the refrigerated section of Trader Joe's, and well, I love me a good chai.  Loving a good chai means that I am eternally on the hunt for good chai blends, which means I pretty much have to try nearly every chai that I come across because you never know when it is that you're going to find THE chai blend that is perfect for YOUR palate.  As such, I picked this up for a taste test. Now, the large print advertises this as a chai - but if you keep reading the bottle, the smaller print bills this as a protein smoothie, and honestly that's far more accurate.  "Protein smoothie with chai tea, almond, coconut cream, and an exotic spice blend" is how the entire label reads.  Texture wise, this is DEFINITLY a protein smoothie.  It's thick in that nearly melted milk shake sort of way, and it has a coarseness to the texture that utterly betrays the presence of the chopped up almonds.  There is also the not quite dissolved powder sensation that you get with an
Read more

Tea Forte Advent Caledar: Day 15 - African Solstice

Image
  Oh joy - a rooibos. Ok, so sometimes rooibos can be tasty.... sometimes - but more often than not I lump it in with honeybush as a sad weak tea substitute that only makes me crave a real cup of tea.  There are some exceptions - I have a lovely rooibos blend in my regular stock called Party in the Jungle which is a delightful cup, and my friend Brian used to stock an absolutely FABULOUS rooibos chai with spicy chili in it that I could not get enough of - but those are the exceptions and not the norm when it comes to rooibos for me.  This name - African Solstice - tells me NOTHING.  Time to look at the write up. Ok... now I'm full concerned.  Rose is such a strong flavor in tea for me.  Rose without a black tea to balance it... I would be tempted to skip this blend entirely except my roomate's girlfriend is down for the weekend and she likes florals.  So, I know if I don't like this, I can pass it on to her and she'll enjoy the hell out of it. The color was mild - about
Read more