78 Tasting Notes

93
drank Paris Ginza by Mariage Frères
78 tasting notes

I love this tea! I agree with Sil that it’s everything I had hoped Marco Polo would be. The combination of strawberries and caramel is perfection. I get a little raspberries too which is nice. To me, it’s like drinking a delicious berry dessert right out of a French pastry shop. It’s layered and balanced, and just lovely. It tastes as good as it smells, which I love too. I keep coming back to this one over and over.

Flavors: Caramel, Fruity, Raspberry, Strawberry

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 4 min, 30 sec
ashmanra

Added to my wishlist!

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81
drank My Panettone by Dammann Frères
78 tasting notes

I hesitate to even leave a tasting note for this one because I don’t think I am adding much to the conversation. I have to agree with everyone else, this tea is spot on :) It tastes just like you hope it would taste: buttery and very light. It’s lovely and it makes me think of Christmas.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 4 min, 30 sec

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82

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 14
This one is like drinking a spiced fruit punch jolly rancher. The hibiscus is definitely there, and I wish it was just a smidge softer, but the fruit punch flavors and spices balance it out pretty well. I do love the cardamon in this fruit tea.

Flavors: Candy, Cardamom, Fruit Punch, Spices

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79
drank Blanc Myrtille by Dammann Frères
78 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 13
Totally over-steeped this one yesterday. The blueberry was there and I wanted to love it but there was a vegetal taste that didn’t work for me. Hoping my husband or daughter will give me a sip of theirs so I can try it one more time :p

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84

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 15
This chestnut tea sounded so good on paper that I ordered it along with my Advent calendar so I’ve been drinking it for a few weeks now. I love chestnuts but at first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It’s a great tea, I just wasn’t sure if it was my type of great tea. But I keep coming back to drink it so obviously this is working for me.

This tea has such a strong personality. It’s unique. It’s very rich and layered with so many flavors that it keeps it interesting. The chestnut is not the freshly roasted chestnut kind you get on the street in winter, it’s more like candied chestnut. And surprisingly, I like the maple syrup here.

The marriage between the chestnut the chocolate the pastry and maple syrup definitely makes you feel like you’re eating a rich dessert like a Mont Blanc, Angelina’s teahouse famous dessert. It’s thick and rich and sweet. It makes me think of chestnut buttercream and chestnut meringue in a sweet buttery crust. OK clearly I’m hungry! It’s delicious, but it’s strong.

I need to remember to not sweeten it too much. It’s a perfectly Wintery tea and it matches its name nicely. I can’t say that I pick up too much on the green apple or clementine, but it might be what keeps it from being too sweet or too rich.

Flavors: Chestnut, Chocolate, Maple Syrup, Pastries

Evol Ving Ness

I quite enjoyed your perspective on this blend.

Did you add milk or cream? I notice that you did not mention star anise, which I found to be quite present though not sure if it will be permanently so. Do you find that the flavours change a bit depending on the cup or do they stay quite consistent?

EmmaM

The star anise stayed very quiet for me. I hardly tasted it, but now you’re making me want to go back and have another cup. I don’t add cream or milk but I do sweeten my teas which is probably why they often remind me of a dessert I previously had lol.

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76

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 12
I am back in the land of the living, and feeling much better! I took this tea with me on my morning walk, and I’m so glad I did. I don’t think I would have appreciated it yesterday when I was so under the weather.

Although to be fair, I almost passed on it when I opened the packet. So much cinnamon. But brewed, the apple came out and the cinnamon & spices calmed down. Not sure that I got much almond in my cup. This tea was perfect for a cold December morning. Spiced apple tea or spiced apple cider is the best description I can come up with. I wasn’t sure at first but halfway through the walk, I decided it wasn’t bad at all! All in all, I liked it much better than in my previous tries. Still not a tea I would yearn for but it was a nice change of pace from my usual favorites. This would be a great tea for apple tea and cinnamon tea lovers.

Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon, Fruity, Spices

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76
drank Tisane de Noël by Dammann Frères
78 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 11
I got my booster yesterday so I’m under the weather today. Hardly a fair state to judge a tea, but on a happier note, I think I’m almost caught up with my calendar. I have to start off by saying the dry sachet is soooo pretty with its red bay. And I got a nose full of a mix of spices, and chocolate. Mostly I got cardamon, cloves, and nutmeg, but it was hard for me to pick them out.

I don’t know if it’s because I oversteeped it but in my cup, I got more peppercorns and chocolate followed by licorice. What a strange combination! But all in all, I liked it much better than last year’s try.

Evol Ving Ness

Hope today is the worst of it and you are back to yourself after a good rest.

ashmanra

Ashman is getting his tomorrow. He had no reaction to his two Pfizer shots but is opting for the Moderna booster. I am hoping it goes easily for him.

I hope you feel better quickly!

derk

Had a Moderna booster Friday evening (great timing for final exams!) and hit a wall Saturday afternoon — body aches, low-grade fever, swollen armpit lymph nodes, feet hurt, exhaustion, chest congestion. 12 hours of sleep and a few cups of yerba santa/rosehips/yarrow/linden had me feeling normal. Hope you overcome the booster side effects quickly!

Evol Ving Ness

Oooof, derk. That’s a LOT. Hope the exams went well, regardless.

Here, the powers that be are recommending a six month spread after the last shot for better efficacy, so I’ve got a ways to go yet. moderna is likely on my horizon too. I appreciate the heads up.

EmmaM

Thank you so much, everyone. I had a strong reaction after my second Pfizer shot, so I was wondering how my body would like this Moderna booster. I had it on Friday afternoon and I might as well have been your twin @derk. My body’s response was identical. Thank goodness it was only half the regular dose, lol. Saturday was miserable. But crazily enough I woke up this morning feeling like myself again. (I do not look forward to shots #4, 5, 6, etc :p)

So sorry about the exams. I hope they still went well. That’s rough timing!

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83

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 10
Another orange ginger tea, but in a rooibos this time. And for someone who does not like rooibos at all, it’s funny how I look forward to having a cup each year! To me, the rooibos is an afterthought in this one or maybe it’s such a harmonious combination with the spiced orange, that I am able to ignore it. The sweet orange is the main player but I find it softer than in Flocons d’Epices thankfully. And even the spices are softer. It’s smooth, silky, and well-rounded. I really enjoy this tea.

Courtney

I do find red rooibos goes nicely with orange.

Crowkettle

Yep, good chemistry here. I say that begrudgingly as a fellow “not a rooibos person.” :)

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79

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 8
So Christmasy! The sweet orange takes center stage for me, but it’s quickly followed by a delicious blend of holiday-ish spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Much more sweet orange than I remember in DF’s My Gingerbread. Think Christmas orange.

I’m so glad DF includes it in their advent calendar every year. When else would you drink it? I like it a lot and it’s fun to come back to it. It’s lovely. In fact, if I loved spiced orange teas, I would absolutely love this tea. As it is, it’s a wonderful tea that I would only reach for in December.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg, Orange, Spices

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 30 sec

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90
drank Miss Dammann by Dammann Frères
78 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 7
Where have I been these past 3 years??? Why have I been so slow to come to my senses? This tea has been my husband and daughter’s absolute favorite tea for several years now and I left it to them. They raved about it and converted my sister-in-law and one of our “bonus kids” (we have two extra children we picked up over the years and love as our own). And still, I ignored it. I completely forgot that I loved it last year. I kept thinking of it as “their tea” and my husband even stashed it in his tea drawer. I kept thinking it was mostly a ginger tea.

What was I thinking? This morning Miss Dammann was perfection. The combination of passion fruit, lemon, and ginger was beautiful and delicious. Dammann hit it out of the park on this one and clearly, I had missed the memo on this one until now.

The passion fruit is what won me over and the ginger only made it better. Even in the winter, it was a happy, “sunny” tea. The acidity of the lemon was a perfect complement to the fruitiness of the passion fruit and made it feel fresh.

I’m late to the party on this tea but I’m glad I gave it another chance. Now I get what the fuss is all about :) In fact, I’m trying to brew it a second time because one cup was not enough!

Flavors: Fruity, Ginger, Lemon, Lemon Zest, Lime, Passion Fruit, Sweet

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 30 sec
ashmanra

Now I feel like I need to place a big Dammann order…

EmmaM

You can’t beat their shipping prices! 15 euros for as many teas as you want… I’m already plotting a spring order :p

Crowkettle

Yay!

DF has definitely won me over with the price/tea quality & quantity.

ashmanra

Good to know!

ashmanra

I need to revisit Coquelicot Gourmand and a few others that I have not had in a while.

gmathis

I can’t pronounce Coquelicot, but I know I liked the little sample you shared a while back!

EmmaM

I adore Coquelicot Gourmand! So good!

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Profile

Bio

I started drinking tea in 2018 when a friend introduced me to flavored black teas. Since then, I have developed a bit of a tea addiction. I never want to be without the teas I love, but I’m perpetually compelled to try new ones…

I started with French tea companies like Mariage Freres, Dammann Freres, Kusmi, Nina’s, and TheOdor, because I’m French and it makes me feel closer to home, but I would love to find tea companies I love as much on this side of the Atlantic.

I’m partial to dessert teas and in terms of flavors, I adore almond, pistachio, biscuit, nutty types, as well as caramel, cream, cake, vanilla, toffee, chocolate, and cookies. For me, it’s all about drinking my dessert!!! I also like fruity teas like peach, melon, mango, raspberry, strawberry, figs, and even grapefruit flavored teas. I am discovering more floral teas and testing the waters there, but I don’t care for earl greys or chai. I have not expanded into unflavored teas yet, but maybe one day.

For full disclosure I like my tea with a little sugar/sweetener.

Tea ratings: (I’m not a tough customer and I don’t have a very sophisticated palate.)

96-100: Pure deliciousness and all-time favourite teas.

90-95: Love love love. Delicious teas I reach for all the time.

80-89: Good to great teas I’d drink any day of the week.

75-79: Good teas that I would be happy to drink from time to time.

70-74: Teas that are just ok for me. They’re not bad teas, but not my preference.

60-69: Maybe good for someone else but definitely not my thing.

50-59: Drinkable

1-49: Just no.

Location

North Carolina, USA

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