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I bought a pack of 5 teabags of this and I’m not sure where I’m at on the sipdown progress. Things have a tendency to disappear in my cupboard.

This has a very rich caramel scent to it when dry. It looks like CTC. Once steeped it’s very strong. The caramel flavor comes out, but there is a bitter tang from the tea that is a little distracting, but passes quickly. It would likely be delightful with cream and sugar. It’s a good cup, but not one I’d restock. If I remember, I’ll do a shorter steeping with the next bag.

Trying to decide which tea to start the new year with. Digging in my cupboard uncovered this tea, which I bought a few days short of a year ago. I was on my way to Portugal this day last year where I stumbled on the Casa Pereira shop in Lisbon. We took the trip to see if we would fall in love with Portugal and want to move there like several people we know have done, but the timing and mood wasn’t right to be wooed by a new country. I did enjoy my time there and wish we had stayed longer. Maybe we will go back and visit friends some day.

This tea has chunks of dried strawberries and lots of rosebuds in the mix. The taste is light, a little dusty as it cools. The strawberry flavor comes through although I’m not familiar enough with the taste of champagne to know it other than bitter, dry and sour, which I don’t get in this tea. I’m feeling so-so about this tea and would like to try it cold steeped at some point.

On my third day of migraines in a row. Had to abort my weekend plans and come home early when I ran out of meds and am trying to restart my morning with tea after the meds have kicked in.

On my second steeping of this. It has a nice mix of flavors that I’m enjoying. The puerh is nice and earthy and dominates the flavors. The toffee is just present enough to make it’s self known. I am noticing some irritation developing on my lips an I don’t recall that happening the last time I drank it. Almost like the insides of my lips are slightly swelling and raw. I’ve had this reaction to other things before and I’ll have to pay attention to if it happens again on my next cup. Just when you think you have your body figured out it decides to do something new and change how it reacts to things!

Grabbed my travel tea pouch to take with me on a weekend away and pulled this from it. It smells faintly of gingerbread cookies. The kind made with molasses, giving it a deep rich taste. This tea tastes like gingerbread too. The citrus really isn’t standing out for me over the ginger and it doesn’t look like ginger is a prominent ingredient. The cup was a little astringent and sharp when I first started sipping, but it mellowed out as I sipped further. I’m enjoying this cup while trying to ignore the two day migraine that won’t leave me alone and back off.

Does it count as a sipdown when I only had two bags of this to begin with? It smells amazing and rich in the bag. Once steeped the scent and flavor are much lighter. I get a little depth and richness from the sesame, but not as much as I’d hope for. I’d love for the flavors to be more bold. I feel like adding sugar had helped. I think I get more of the bread (what is bao bun bread called?) flavor popping out. The sesame is a little more pronounced, but still not as strong as I’d like. There is something translating to chocolate in the finish. I still get hints of alkaline in the sip and I’m not sure what that is about, but it’s at the front of the sip, not the finish like last time. I’m at a place this weekend that has well water, so I used bottled water for this cup. I do love the idea of this tea, but I’d like to have it with more umph. More umph, please!

Yup, this is amaretto. It’s well balanced, but on the lighter side. There is a slight sweetness to it. I don’t know that I really get the spice part of it, but maybe it melds so much with the amaretto that it doesn’t stand out. I like this better as it cools, but I’m not crazy about it which surprises me because I do love almond flavoring in my tea. Maybe my feelings will change with time.

Have I not tried this tea yet? I ordered it a while ago. Funny how some things quickly sneak into the back of your cupboard only to reappear and surprise you later. This one is quite a surprise! I think I knew it had hibiscus in it and one of my favorite B&B blends has hib (Hound on the Hunt) used in moderation, but this one features it prominently. First sip hit me in the face with hib (SUPRIIIIIIIIIIISE!!!) and it’s a little hard to taste my way around it. For me hibiscus has a tart aklaline metallic taste and that is all I’m getting in this cup. I wonder if my dislike of hibiscus is similar to people who have the cilantro aversion. If I keep sipping I can sort of numb out my hib receptors and taste a hint of rose and fruit behind it. This is shaping up to be a not for me tea although I would like to try it cold steeped before I totally give up on it.

This has such a nice milky oolong scent in the bag! Once steeped, the peppermint is present, but not overwhelming. I get some of the cocoa notes adding depth. The added flavors don’t knock out or overwhelm the flavors of the oolong. I can still pick out the milky flavor of the tea and the buttery notes behind it. Enjoying this cup, but not feeling the need to keep it stocked permanently.

I love this tea! I got another tin when I was in Japan earlier this year. They have a bunch of Fauchon locations in Japan! The tea wasn’t as delicious fresh as I recalled my first tin being. I think it’s one of those teas that improve with age as the flavors meld and mellow. I didn’t have this on Xmas eve, but I was sipping it Xmas day while watching the spawn open gifts. I’m resteeping this morning with a little fresh leaf added to my steeper. It seems to be a similar flavor profile as their Melange, but with ways more depth to it that makes it a much more interesting and enjoyable cup. There is orange, there is the depth of the raisins (which I wouldn’t have thought would be interesting in a cup) and it all blends together into an almost caramel orange like taste. It really reminds me of Panettone, which may have been what the blenders were going for in an Xmas tea. This is one that I doubt I’ll ever get tired of and will want kept in stock in my cupboard.

Advent Day 24

I’m a little surprised they didn’t put their Christmas Eve tea in this advent, especially for today. Whoever put this advent together was sleepwalking through the job. Not only did they not include their Xmas tea, but there were at least SEVEN repeats. That is seven missed opportunities to expose your audience to the range of your teas. I’m not sure if Fauchon has put out a tea only advent before, so maybe this was a test run? I’m still thrilled to have tried it, but there is disappointment mixed in there too. It’s a hard tea brand to get in the states and I do enjoy their teas so it’s exciting to have the opportunity to try sample sizes of their servings, but it’s deflating to have duplicates, especially when they are ones you weren’t thrilled with on the first cup. If they do another tea advent in the future and put more effort into the selection and variety of the teas then I’d buy it again.

Onto the tea in my cup! I have had a couple of brands of French tea called Melange and they all seem to be a vanilla orange peel combo. Melange translates to “blend”, but it seems like there is a specific blend in mind when it comes to tea. I like this one more than the others I’ve tried. The orange peel has a slightly aged flavor, meaning more mellow than the brightness of fresh peel. Vanilla mixes subtly to round out the flavors. It’s a nice cup. Not one that I’d stock because they have other blends that are similar, but more complex, but I’d happily drink another cup if it was offered.