I feel like I’ve see a lot of macaroon-themed teas popping up this spring so it felt like time to try a tea I was saving in my collection, Coconut Almond Macaroon from the NecessiTeas.
It’s a little known fact that I like coconut in my baked goods and sweets. Almond Joy bars or Coconut Cluster Girl Scout cookies are the way to go! And don’t even get me started on Hostess Sno-Balls…
The dry leaf of this blend smelled strongly of almond, almost like amaretto liqueur or almond extract. Almond was definitely the dominant tone, but there was some coconut cream hiding beneath the marzipan fragrance. This tea has a green tea base, so I kept the water temperatures a little lower and let it steep. I could hardly keep my nose out of the mug while I waited. The brew smelled so delicious, sweet and nutty, with much more coconut coming forward as time went on.
This tea is true to its name: coconut macaroon. There’s the smooth, almond-cookie, sweet chocolate, and plenty of buttery coconut. Using green tea beneath all these flavors was a great choice by The Necessiteas. The coconut is toasted and warm, and almost makes the green tea taste like a roasted hojicha. The green tea also makes this blend light enough that the coconut and chocolate don’t need to compete for prominence, and it allows the cookie flavors to really shine. After a long day, this was the perfect dessert tea to brew up as a treat!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description:
The perfect blend for Macaroon lovers. The aroma of slightly toasted almonds will greet you at first sip followed by the creamy, sweetness of coconut. This is our guilt-free version of the bake sale classic.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Almond Matcha from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green/Matcha
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
The well recognized and much loved taste of sweet almonds can be heightened and made vibrantly unique by adding the exotic Matcha blend. Almond Matcha makes a slightly sweet treat that can be perfect for those looking for a combination of the nutty flavor combined with an interesting twist of oriental Matcha. Almond Matcha is perfect for many desserts, cakes and any other snack because of its naturally sweet taste that blends well with most snacks. This makes it a very popular treat for young kids anytime of the day or night.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The final flavour from Red Leaf Tea’s sampler! Like the penultimate flavour (Cotton Candy), this is one I’ve tried before – however it’s been over a year since I first had it. Just like Cotton Candy matcha, I also prepared this one in cold milk but for the purposes of this tasting I’ll be doing it in cold cashew milk to stay consistent with the rest of the teas in the sampler.
Here are some snippets from my Steepster review to see if my old observations are in line with the observations from this tasting:
“…really strong … very rich and marzipan like“, “I found that there was a faint chemical edge to the aftertaste“, and “almost too much almond concentrated into … one cup“.
Remarkably, I made almost the same observations this time as well. Even before opening up the sample packet and measuring out the matcha I was sure I could faintly smell the almond aroma – and once that packet was cracked I couldn’t smell anything but. This matcha is very strongly flavoured; I didn’t taste any vegetal or grassy notes from the matcha itself and for, I think, the first time since starting this sampler the flavour of the matcha completely eclipsed the taste of the cashew milk.
The one part where my observation from last time differs is that I didn’t think it tasted chemical or artificial at all; just really, really strong. Of course, like often comes with concentrated almond flavour, I did think this was quite sweet with definite marzipan notes – but apart from that I think this is just a very true, accurate and BOLD flavour. Fans of almond will love it, and people who dislike almond to start will cringe because of the intensity.
Personally, if I didn’t already own a large quantity of Pistachio matcha I’d probably add this to my list of flavors to buy in my next order – but you really only need to own so many nutty matchas at a time.
Final rankings of the five flavors of matcha from the sampler:
1. Almond
2. Butterscotch
3. Coffee
4. Cranberry
5. Cotton Candy
Marzipan Sunset from Design A Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos (Red)
Where to Buy: Design A Tea
Tea Description:
What’s better than an after dinner treat while watching the sun set? Maybe a almond cookie or two or three or four… But all that sugar is sure to keep you wide awake. We took naturally caffeine free Rooibos tea, mixed in a few ALMOND pieces and added NATURAL VANILLA and MARZIPAN (tastes a little like eggnog) flavorings to come up with Marzipan Sunset. A nice substitute to the German known Marzipan cookie… your pants will thank you!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t care much for rooibos, well green rooibos I like quite well, however the traditional red rooibos, well I am just burnt out on it, and find that its difficult to get past that rooibos base flavor. So often I find anything that a tea company tries to blend with a red rooibos base just falls short for me, rarely am I impressed.
Marzipan Sunset from Design A Tea however has been one of my stead fast favorite night time and dessert teas for a long time now. It has been awhile since I have indulged in this blend but I was craving something yummy and thought maybe it was time I put an old favorite to the test.
Marzipan Sunset is filled with wonderful almond flavor that really does taste like true almond, you will find almond pieces in this blend as well, not just flavoring. Whatever flavoring they use is really quite good. You also get a lovely vanilla flavoring as well which makes the blend quite creamy. Its sweet but not too sweet. Some people even add a little extra sugar to this tea when I have introduced them to it. I prefer it without added sugar. I have added cream to this tea on occasion and it is dreamy!
I doubt I will ever fall back in love with red rooibos but Design A Tea did manage to make a solid blend here for late night sipping that does not have that intense rooibos flavor I cringe at. I don’t feel so much even that Design A Tea covered the rooibos flavor up as much as they managed to find quality flavors, and the right flavors at that to work with the rooibos instead of against it.
Brian at Design A Tea is a really nice guy too, excellent customer service and always happy to make your specific blend for you! You can have a lot of fun being your own mix master on his site!
As for this blend, its one of their Signature Blends and I always have kept it in my tea cabinet, after tonights sipping session I am assured it is one I want to continue to keep in my stash.
Almond Fondant from Kally Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Kally Tea
Tisane Description:
Healthy nutrient packed Rooibos combined with almonds, mallow flowers and natural flavors create this cup reminiscent of fondant (or also known as Marzipan). Are we sitting in a South African Café? As you sip this flavor balanced Rooibos almond treat, it will seem as though you are. What a joy to drink either hot or iced. This Rooibos is a great accompaniment to any dessert delicacy.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Once again, Kally Tea delivers what it promises with its alluring tea names. The name of the tea is Almond Fondant, and this tastes a lot like almond fondant (or marzipan!)
This tisane has a rooibos base, and while rooibos is not usually my favorite herb, in this case, I find that the natural flavors of the rooibos actually work to the benefit of the tisane. The natural nutty flavor of the rooibos accents the almond notes very nicely, giving the cup a very delicious, nutty flavor.
There is some sweetness to this cup as well, and I’m very pleased with the balance of sweet and earthy tones. There is also a light creaminess to this, and I don’t know if that comes from the almond flavor or if there is a vanilla flavoring in this as well. But, I find that this creaminess takes the other flavors to the next level, giving it that fondant-like flavor.
This is a very tasty dessert tisane, and I like that it’s naturally caffeine-free, making it an excellent late-night treat that you can indulge in with no guilt, because there’s zero calories!
Cherry Marzipan from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green & Rooibos
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Product Description:
Special reserve green tea with the tart-sweet lushness of acerola cherries and the depth of nutty toasted almond.
SKIN SMART ECO TEABAGS CONTAIN: organic green tea, Fair Trade Certified™ organic green tea, organic rooibos, natural cherry flavor, organic raspberry leaves, natural almond flavor, natural flavoring (berry), organic acerola cherry extract, (organic acerola, organic maltodextrin)
Taster’s Review:
This smells incredible. The aroma of cherry and almond is teasing my olfactory nerves, tantalizing me to take a sip. Well, of course, I’m going to give in. I’m never one to resist such temptation!
Very tasty, indeed. The cherry is lightly tart, which is particularly noticeable at in the aftertaste. There is also a fresh, fruity sweetness to the cherry flavor, and it melds beautifully with the toasty, sweet nutty flavor of the almond.
But what I think makes me happiest about this tea is that I can taste the tea. It tastes fresh. It has a crisp vegetative taste to it, and no bitterness. The rooibos is not a strong flavor to this cup, but it seems to accent the nutty flavor of the almond and the sweetness of the overall cup. The addition of the berry flavor and raspberry leaves help round out the flavor, enhancing the tart notes and solidifying the fruit flavor.
This is the first of the teas that I’ve tried from the new Skin-Smart line from Tea Forté, and I have to say that I like what I’m tasting. If judging by taste alone, I would say that this tea represents the way I want my skin to look: fresh and vibrant!