Biscottea sent a package of their Blueberry and White Tea, Chai and Earl Grey shortbreads for Dan and I to sample and we were happy to conduct a teatime taste test. I brewed up a pot our own home-grown and dried mint leaves in my vintage tea pot, which was a long-ago gift from my wonderful Aunt Priscilla. I just recently noticed that it is decorated with wheat sheaves (!), ironic for our gluten-free kitchen, but I do love it still.
Dan and I tried each of the three GF shortbreads and found that each was delicious and CRISPY and full of tea flavor. I liked the Earl Grey the best. It has that lemony bergamot perfume that makes Earl Grey so distinctive. Dan grooved on the Chai Biscottea with its cinnamony spiciness. We both ranked the Blueberry version third, though it was pleasant enough with its nuggets of dried berries. The two other flavors just seemed much more flavorful and buttery.
We enlisted the tasting help of our younger and perpetually-hungry athlete daughter (Go Bulldogs!) and she just shrugged and said they were "alright". I suspect that is because youngsters favor sweeter, gooier cookies in general. Shortbread cookies just don't compare with fudgy soft brownies and chocolate chip cookies for the juvenile palate. But both snobby, sophisticated adult taste tasters gave these delightful cookies an enthusiastic thumbs up!
The Biscottea website doesn't yet indicate what local retailers are carrying their products and even the uber-retailer Amazon doesn't yet have the GF Biscotteas available for sale. One can buy Biscottea's non-GF shortbreads on Amazon in boxes of a dozen packages containing two cookies each for $19.94 plus shipping, so hopefully the GF Biscotteas would not be priced any higher. They would certainly make an elegant addition to a tea gift basket and were a sophisticated gourmet treat for the two of us on a blustery afternoon.
I applaud Biscottea for adding a gluten-free line to their existing tea and coffee flavored shortbreads, and wish them well in marketing these delicious cookies. I look forward to buying some from my favorite upstate New York retailers when they become more widely available. Thanks Biscottea!
5 comments:
Yum! I think the Earl Grey would end up being my favorite too. Quality free stuff that you actually like is so much fun to try and what could be better than tea and shortbreads!?!
They sound good - I agree with Dan, I think, the chai sounds like it would be my favourite.
Ooh! Blog booty. Lucky you. I like the idea of tea-infused shortbread.
i love earl grey tea, but it's not a greek favorite, although in recent times, greeks have become more acquainted with english-type teas.
(the silvery leaves in the berb garden come off a tree we call 'alexandriano' in greece - it's similar to an acacia, although that isnt its genus)
I stumbled across the Chai Tea Shortbread variety at TJ Maxx yesterday, & I am head over heels in love now!!! I found your blog while searching the net to find retailers! Hopefully, the official site will list some soon!! Yum, yum!!
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