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Ironically, It's Tea-less Sweets That Shine at Amai Tea & Bake House

Posted by Kathy Chan, June 12, 2008 at 6:00 PM

It's a concept one wants to love: tea infused into pastries of all sorts—cookies, scones, puddings, and muffins galore. A concept with great potential, if it's properly executed. But somewhere between idea and production, something is lost, and that is where Amai Tea & Bake House falls weak.

Clockwise from top left: matcha, lemongrass and ginger, white tea and strawberry, and chai and almond.

Nowhere is that better evidenced than in their tea cookies, delicate one bite sweets. They are easy on the eyes, darling little cutouts in soft colors, a baby green matcha cookie, and a deep golden lemongrass and ginger oval. But the cookies fall apart in your mouth in an unappealing manner—crumbly and dusty, and while not too sweet, they also don't carry much flavor. It is difficult to make out the tea, much less the strawberry element in the white tea and strawberry. Chai almond was the single most memorable cookie of the set, a crisp and buttery spiced chai tea infused number with finely chopped almonds.

Earl Grey and currant, and earl grey scone.

But by the time we got around to the Earl Grey and currant, it became apparent that none of these cookies were worth returning for, especially at $.75 a bite. Earl grey tea makes a reappearance in the form of scones (alongside vanilla bean and matcha flavors) but only proved to be a dense, rock solid cube exhibiting a dry crumb failing to be salvaged by speckles of sweet currents.

Flourless chocolate chestnut cake.

Oddly enough, the only desserts I truly enjoyed were those that did not involve tea in any form. The flourless chocolate chestnut cake thrives on a delicately light texture, rich on chestnuts and light on cocoa—chocolately hints stood as an appropriately mild afterthought. The soft cake was as plush as one could imagine, velvety crumbs studded with tender chestnuts.

Plain cheesecake.

Equally fantastic, for texture as much as flavor, was a square of cheesecake, perhaps the plainest item Amai has to offer. It is highly reminiscent of Japanese cheesecake, which people lust after for its cloudy light texture and delicate notes. Amai's version is on the sweeter end, though just as light, with a crumb that hovers more towards cake as opposed to cheesecake.

Mandarin dark chocolate brownie.

Before Amai opened their storefront in the fall of 2007, proprietor Kelli Bernard was well known for her champagne brownies sold through online orders. Those brownies are only offered between Thanksgiving and Valentines, but during other seasons there is a steady supply of dark chocolate brownies in addition to a "botanical" brownie flavor that changes every so often. Past visits have conjured up brownie flavors such as white peach and lychee. Currently on hand is the mandarin dark chocolate brownie, which mixes the classic chocolate batter with chopped mandarin oranges. The mandarin flavor is nearly undetectable, but the moist dark crumb at the intersection of cakey and fudgy, with a slight crisp top, is nothing short of luscious.

Chocolate-fig cookie.

Chocolate is also found in collaboration with figs in the chocolate-fig cookie. a dark creation resembling a baked truffle with the texture of crumbling crisp cookies. Quality chocolate laced with figs and flaked coconut make for the sweetest of their goods—the small size is more than enough to satiate a sweet craving.

Almond apricot tart.

There were high hopes for the golden almond apricot tart, a visually promising round with the sheen of an apricot glaze and sprinkle of sliced almonds. A few lackluster bites proved the sight wrong, breaking into a flavorless, dry and heavy pastry with but a thin layer of glaze to break the monotony. Like the cookies and scones, the lesson learned from Amai is that goods which are most physically attractive are also those which are most disappointing taste-wise.

There are more letdowns than attractions at Amai, but when something is good, it's worth stopping in for if you're in the neighborhood. Treats that pass on tea for something chocolately or nutty are substantially better—odd for a bakery whose concept rests on tea in sweets. As an added bonus, Amai houses a fair amount of seating in addition to wi-fi, a bonus not often found at many bakeries in our city.

Amai Tea & Bake House

171 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10003 (map)
212-863-9630
amainyc.com

1 Comment | Tags: Amai, bakeries, brownies, cookies, Manhattan, Union Square