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Having conquered the Fauchon samples sent to me by Dinosara, I am now moving on to the two Dammann Freres teas that she also sent samples of. Isn’t she so generous?! :D The dry leaf is mostly just black tea with a few scant pieces of flower petal mixed in, I assume for aesthetic effect. Yum, dry scent is mouthwatering! It smells just like almond paste or marzipan, which is exactly what I was hoping for. I did a 3 minute brew at 200 degrees.

The brewed aroma is still marzipan, though it’s a bit less full than it was in the dry leaves. Hmm… The base tea is quite nice, mellow but flavorful in a somewhat woody kind of way? I don’t taste a lot of flavoring in the beginning, but as I near the end of the sip, I can definitely taste the marzipan. I can imagine that adding some sugar would amplify the sweet almond taste, and adding milk would make it lovely and creamy. However, I did neither, as I’m trying to get out of the habit of adding sugar to my flavored teas. :P

I don’t think this has quite enough flavor to be my perfect almond tea, but it’s the best contender I’ve tried so far.

Aw, this is my last Fauchon sample from Dinosara… Sad day! I put off trying this tea yesterday because dry, it smells insanely floral. The leaf itself is mostly small black tea leaves with quite a few rose petals mixed in. Dry scent is powerful rose with a sweetness that reminds me of powdered sugar or candy. I brewed for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

I wasn’t very excited to try this one, but the aroma started to get me there. It’s mostly vanilla, surprisingly! There is also some floral there and a bit of citrus. Unfortunately for me, that strong vanilla aroma doesn’t really carry over to the taste side. The beginning of the sip is mostly citrus with a bit of vanilla in there, while the middle and end are dominated by the rose flavor (blegh). Aww, I was so excited too… :(

I wanted a nice straight black tea after trying so many Fauchon offerings in the past two days, and this was the jinjunmei from Han Xiang that I hadn’t tried yet. The leaves are thin and twisty, and mostly dark with some golden strands. I must say, the name doesn’t seem accurate at all – this smells nothing like any kind of flower. Dry, I smell smoked meat and beef jerky. I’m not sure it could be further away from orchid, lol! I brewed a generous teaspoon for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

The brewed aroma is also quite smoky and savory. Sipping this tea, I am absolutely reminded of smoked beef jerky. Obviously the salt element isn’t there, but there is an obvious smoked note here and a savory quality that makes me think of smoked meats. There is also some malt and a touch of richness reminiscent of molasses. Overall, this is quite delicious, but the name is definitely misleading! And there’s no way I’m mistaken about which tea this is since it’s one that comes in a colored presealed packet… Odd!

I only have two Fauchon teas from Dinosara left to try, and this one smelled much less floral than the other choice, so I decided to have it. There are many flower petals mixed in with the small black tea leaves, which is somewhat discouraging, but luckily it smells more like some kind of citrus candy. I’m finding that all of these Fauchon teas have that odd candylike smell that I can’t quite put my finger on, maybe powdered sugar or something? I guess it must be a side effect of their flavorings.

Brewed, the tea still has that same candy smell, and it’s mildly citrus. I can definitely taste orange, although it seems a bit peppier than a normal orange. After reading the description for it, I can say it’s probably the blood orange that adds that extra intensity. The apricot is there too, but it’s quite mild and is overshadowed a bit by the citrus. Overall, still a nice enough orange black tea with (hooray) no floral! :)

Another sample from Dinosara. The dry leaf looks like sencha – long, flat-steamed leaves. The dry scent is raspberry candy with a hint of citrus yumminess. I did a 3 minute steep at 175 degrees.

The brewed tea itself smells quite vegetal but sweet from the vanilla. Yum, I really like this one. The main flavor I get is a lovely combination of the grapefruit and raspberry, fresh and fruity with a little bit of tartness. The vanilla comes in more toward the end of the sip, and that’s when I can taste the lovely vegetal green tea base the most. I can see this being delightful with a bit of sugar, but I’m trying not to add sugar to any of my teas lately. It would also make a lovely iced tea, I’m sure! :)

I’m having a lot of fun trying all of these Fauchon teas that the generous * Dinosara* sent samples of, even if I haven’t really liked them so far! This one looks like black tea leaves with flower petals mixed in. The dry scent is fantastic! It’s definitely some kind of strawberry-esque flavor – taking a look at the description reveals that this one is red fruits flavored. Yum!

Oh, yum yum. I’m so happy to have finally found a hit from these samples! The red fruit flavor in this tea is spot on, mostly strawberry in my opinion. It’s definitely candylike, in fact it reminds me of strawberry Bubble Tape gum, in the best way possible! I let most of mine get stone cold, and it was still super tasty, leading me to believe that this would make an awesome iced tea as well. I’ll make sure to pounce on the next Fauchon sale so I can get a tin of this one. Happiness indeed!

This sample was given to me by Dinosara. I didn’t look this one up prior to trying it, I figured I’d just get on with it and be surprised. :D The dry leaf is mostly small black tea leaves with what looks like dried crushed mint mixed in along with a few flower petals. My nose tell me that it is indeed mint in there. I did a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

Well, this basically tastes like mint tea to me… I don’t really get much of the black base, but there is a touch of raspberry flavor. Looking it up, the concept definitely doesn’t fit this one. I mean, who has ever heard of a mint birthday cake…? And I don’t get any sugary or cakey notes here, just the (somewhat mild) mint with some raspberry mixed in. Not bad, not great, just ho hum. And not a cake! :P

Another Fauchon sample from the lovely Dinosara. It’s so exciting to get to try all of these teas! I’ll be at least somewhat prepared for the next time Fauchon shows up somewhere :D This tea looks somewhat similar to La Naissance – it’s black tea leaves with rose petals and what looks like pieces of pink peppercorns? It smells similar too, candylike and very floral. :(

Yep, this tea is more rose than anything else, which leaves me extremely disappointed… There’s some raspberry flavor in there, but I don’t taste anything resembling macaron or pastry in general. This tea is making me very sad. Fauchon seems to be far too heavy-handed with their florals, rose isn’t even mentioned in the name of this blend and yet it’s the most powerful flavor…

This is one of the Fauchon teas that I’ve been most curious about, and Dinosara was generous enough to send me a sample (along with several others) in our swap. Thanks dear! The dry leaf is mostly small black tea leaves with a few rosebuds and flower petals mixed in. I didn’t really see any almonds included. Dry scent is sweet and very candylike with a strong rose aroma and the smallest hint of marzipan. I did a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

I actually made this one twice (using up the whole sample). The first time it mostly just tasted floral to me, which was a disappointment, especially when I read other notes that mentioned an almond cake flavor. So I told myself I would wait to draw conclusions until I tried it the second time. Well, the second time I seem to have overleafed a bit because it came out with just a small bit of bitterness. I’m getting a strong floral presence in this cup as well, but I am also getting more of a almond cakelike flavor, especially in the second half of the sip. Not bad, but I’m still pretty disappointed by this one. I was hoping for more almond and less floral. :P

Sipdown! (107)

I find that I enjoy this one much more with a 1-minute steep instead of a 2-minute one. That odd metallic taste is nowhere to be found and it’s lovely and grainy and hay-like. Yummy! :)