Tangier Apricot

From the Here’s Hoping TTB.

The nose is lovely with apricot/floral flavors. Taste is also very good, with the fruit more subdued, but the tea flavor is good as well; a good balance between the two flavors. It may just be I’m getting used to it, but the fruit seemed to fade as I sipped, and a strong astringency began to dominate in the finish. Not bitter, but my whole mouth is puckered up.

The fruit is less obvious in the second steep, but I find that I still enjoy the tea. The fruit is there, just less obvious. I’m also picking up the flowers more, and seeing less astringency in the finish. Overall, a very good tea.

Thank you, Fjellrev, for reminding me about this when I was bemoaning the no-moreness of the ATR Apricot Black. Fortunately, I had this in the little file-like storage box where I keep my samples, as yet unopened.

There’s a lot of apricot in the scent right out of the sample packet, though it’s a little different than the Apricot. A bit less focused, for lack of a better term? Like there is more to it than apricot, maybe. It has to be the saffron.

I steeped a little shorter than recommended but at the temp recommended on the packet and got a cherry-wood colored liquor (not surprising since the base is Ceylon) that is clear and quite attractive. I smell a higher pitched version of the leaves in the steeped tea.

The flavor is really nice. Certainly better than the Adagio apricot, but not as apricot-ty to my taste buds as the Apricot Black. Still, there’s a fruity rather than jammy apricot flavor that is noticeable particularly in the finish and lingers in the aftertaste. I’m trying to figure out what the saffron is doing flavor-wise, if anything. I think of it as a savory flavor though with some sweetness. I don’t really taste something I can identify as saffron, but the effect is to mellow the apricot and tea flavors and knit them together.

I will miss my Apricot Black, but this is delicious.

It’s raining here for another day in a fairly long string of rainy mornings. I’m trying to be a sport about it because we need the rain, but it helped the day get away from me. The kids are off school for the winter break and no. 1 had a friend sleep over last night. I awoke before seven to the sound of shouting and crying. The boys apparently decided wrestling would be a good idea, and as usually happens, no. 1 got hurt and took it out on no. 2. You’d think after the 800,000th time, someone would learn something? But no. (At what age does this stop? I’m almost afraid to ask). After that settled down, the sound of remote control cars whirring loudly and crashing into (I am guessing) table legs or each other. Until the BF got up to go to his doctors’ appointment and took all of them away to breakfast and the youth center and I went back to bed. I am trying to kick start my exercise program and I worked out yesterday and the day before. Today I woke up feeling like a truck had run over me, and since it’s raining I used the soreness as an excuse not to go out for day three, at least not just yet. Anyway, at some point I rolled over and fell asleep and when I woke up it was noon.

Geez.

Mmm, apricot. Real apricot. Apricot compote. The scent and flavour of the tea reminds me of baby food, oddly enough. Apparently pureed apricots and strawberries were my favourite desserts when I was a baby, and admittedly, when I got food poisoning a few years ago and stuck to soft foods for a couple weeks, I bought some to try. It was very tasty, actually! This specific apricot flavour here reminds me of that more than anything else.

The base is smooth, and as the tea cools, the apricot comes out even more. My mom absolutely loves this, being a huge fan of apricot and all. She commented that it is an undeniable apricot and nothing at all like peach, which sometimes apricot or mango tea can end up tasting like.

Backlog. This one was alright, but not nearly as sweet as I expected from the description. I might try icing or even cold-brewing this one, because it seems like it could stand up to it. The apricot flavor of this is intense, right down to the pit. I think that’s the only way I can describe it, because while the edge I taste here isn’t bitter exactly, there’s definitely something less smooth than I expected. Not bad, but I think cold-brewing might make it great instead of just good.

My weekend was far more exciting than it had any right to be.

I learned I’m still extremely allergic to Wild Cherry Pepsi. We’re talking angioedema, anaphylaxis, the whole thing. But I can drink Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi. I think I took five years off Fiance’s life in the process of accidentally rediscovering this, though.

So! This tea is my current iced tea obsession. When it’s cold steeped, it tastes just like dried apricots (which I love, but get tummy aches from). There’s a very small amount of black tea flavor, but really it’s all apricots all the time and better for it. It also tastes really good half-and-half with lemonade.

Fiance has dictated we need a large bag of this for summer (yay!)

Oh my, I haven’t reviewed in awhile ;-;

Well, here goes. moraiwe felt comfortable giving me a small sample of this since shmiracles increased her supply. So thanks (directly and indirectly) to both of you because I’m a fan. :)

I’m all ouchy and shaky and just noticed I got herbal salve all over my keyboard so I won’t say much.

Bottom line: Really nice tea. Light to medium body with delightful fruity flavors that don’t overwhelm the palate. Mainly apricot with very subtle peach.
Bad news: I may have another reason to order from American Tea Room :P

It’s kinda yucky out and I’m kinda grumpy this morning – a cup of this just hit the spot!!!