The Good: Intriguing aroma, Slight raspberry flavor, Does not taste bad. . .
The Bad: Does not taste especially like chocolate, Caffeine free
The Basics: A surprisingly flavorful and sweet almond tea, Almond Sunset proves Celestial Seasonings can do dessert teas right!
I recall being in middle school in the classroom of my brilliant - truly brilliant and an inspired educator! - teacher Mr. DeFusto and we read a Dahl story about a guy who had tea with an old lady who poisoned him so she could stuff him to replace her son who was lost in the war. It's hard not to love Dahl, huh? Well, the memory of the tea tasting like bitter almonds left an impression with me that never quite went away. As a result, I have probably been a little more hesitant when it comes to drinking teas that have an almond flavor to them. Still, when I came across Celestial Seasonings's Almond Sunset Dessert Tea, I decided to give it a shot.
Almond Sunset is a dessert tea from Celestial Seasonings and I have had mixed luck with those. Too often, it seems that the tea does not taste like the flavor it claims to be - most notably the chocolate ones - but Almond Sunset lives up to its flavor . . . and I haven't been poisoned while drinking it yet! These are two wonderful things as far as I am concerned.
Basics
Almond Sunset is a 100% Natural Dessert Tea from Celestial Seasonings. This carob-based tea is 100% natural, but is made from ingredients that do not naturally have any caffeine. Marketed to taste just like almond, Almond Sunset gets the flavor right without any bitterness that might otherwise make the experience unpleasant.
Almond Sunset comes in Celestial Seasonings's standard stringless tea bags, which are paired together with easy to separate perforations that allow one to separate the tea bags. When I make pots of tea, I tend to use two bags and leave them connected. A box of Almond Sunset comes with ten pairs (20 individual) of tea bags.
Ease Of Preparation
Almond Sunset is like your standard black tea as far as the preparation goes. A single tea bag will make the standard 8 oz. coffee mug worth of tea. The tea bag could be reused and make a second cup of Almond Sunset with no significant change loss in flavor. The second cup, naturally, does not come out as strong as the first, but provided the first steeping was not more than the recommended upper recommended steeping time of six minutes, a second use can come out with about 5/8 strength. I tend to make my tea using a 32 oz. steeping tea pot and that works well for both a first and second steeping.
To prepare Almond Sunset tea, bring a pot of water to a boil and pour it over the tea bags. This tea takes four to six minutes to steep and when the water is actually boiling, it comes out strong at the four minute point without needing any additional time. After six minutes, though, the flavor does not concentrate any more so there is no benefit to letting it steep longer than that.
Taste
Almond Sunset is a flavor that completely lives up to the claims of tasting like the flavor it claims to be. Starting with the aroma, this tea has a great bouquet, filling up the space it is brewed in with the woody scent of almonds and the sweeter scent of cinnamon. It prepares the consumer for a taste that is robust and hearty.
The surprise about Almond Sunset is that it is not a particularly dry tasting tea. One might expect that with the dominant flavors of almonds and cinnamon, for indeed it is not just the scents of these flavors that defines Almond Sunset, the tea would be quite dry. Instead, Almond Sunset reminds the person drinking it that almonds are a fruit. As a result, this is a rich tea that has a sweetness and a body to it that has a taste that is remarkably soft. Yes, the best way to describe Almond Sunset tea is as the texture "soft." You know how an almond has a little bit of flexibility to it and when one bites into it, there is a little bit of give to it before it snaps? That taste, that texture is how Almond Sunset tastes sip after sip.
With a teaspoon of sugar, the almond flavor is sweetened and any sense of an almond's slightly bitter aftertaste is gone completely. The tea becomes like caramelized almonds; sweet overriding the nutty taste.
Cold, without sugar or milk, the Almond Sunset has a flat taste that is dominated more by the carob and chicory than the almonds. In other words, it tastes like a far more generic and less flavorful tea.
Nutrition
This tea has more ingredients than most of Celestial Seasonings's teas and people who simply must know all of the ingredients before purchasing something are encouraged to check out the manufacturer's website. The top three ingredients, though, are roasted carob, roasted barley and roasted chicory, which makes it such a surprise that it carries the almond flavor so well. Given that almond is actually only a flavoring in this tea, it is astonishing - pleasantly so! - that the tea carries the flavor. It is somewhat amazing considering sometimes Celestial Seasonings has the actual ingredient in the tea and it doesn't taste like what it is supposed to. This time, the opposite! There is nothing unpronouncable in this tea and it is 100% natural. It is noted that this tea has gluten, for those for whom that is a dietary concern.
In terms of nutrition, like most teas, Almond Sunset is not something you want to try to live on. An 8 oz. mug of this tea provides nothing of nutritional value to the drinker; there are no calories (save what one adds from sugar or milk), no fat, caffeine, sodium, nor protein.
Storage/Clean-up
Almond Sunset tea is very easy to clean up after - the tea bags may be disposed in the garbage, or composted if you have a good garden and/or compost pile. The tea itself is a fairly light tea, but it will stain most light fabrics. Consult your fabric guide if you spill any on your light clothes. Outside that, mugs and steeping pots clean out easily from this tea.
Overall
Almond Sunset is one of the best dessert teas from Celestial Seasonings and that is saying something when one considers I am not inclined toward almond flavored . . .well, anything. In fact, the only other almond flavored dessert I enjoy is marzipan and now that I consider that, I wish I had some to go with this tea!
For other teas by Celestial Seasonings, please check out my reviews of:
Saphara Gen Mai Cha
Saphara Blackcurrant Hibiscus
Fast Lane
8/10
For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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