I’m really feeling that I should have set up a taste comparison with this and Marco Polo side by side, identical cups, me all scientific and sh*t. Actually, I could do something of the sort, as cteresa sent generous enough samples that there’s still plenty left, though I totally shared with Cara! Anyway, this was lovely – the caramelly vanilla was strong enough but not overwhelming, the fruits were good and the base was strong enough to balance the flavours, but not at all bitter or too astringent. I’m now feeling a challenge to get beyond “the fruits”, to distinguish as cteresa managed. :) Thanks for this one, cteresa!
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I’ve been drinking tea pretty much all my life, allowing for the fact that there probably was no tea in my baby-bottles. I gave it up twice, once when a then-boyfriend sneered at me for being addicted (okay, I was, but I was also stubborn enough to bear a week of the blinding headaches and overwhelming exhaustion that followed cold-turkey withdrawal), and once on my first pregnancy. Neither experience gave me any reason to believe a life without tea is a good life.
Having spent most of my younger days in Ireland, where tea is everywhere, and mostly it’s decent, I whined my way across the States in the 80s and first half of the 90s. Now back in Dublin, and the tea situation is a bit mixed, but there’s the internet to provide what nearby shops don’t!
I started drinking green and white teas as well as my staple black a good few years ago now, but have recently decided I need to LEARN something more about tea than the little I know.
My likes:
- strong black tea blends; some flavoured blacks, such as Earl Grey and a small (but growing) number of other fruit and flower-flavoured ones; and chai. (For some daft reason, I feel like a tea fraud drinking sweet chai at home, though I’ll happily drink it out.)
- Chinese greens (may update this when I’ve learned enough to be more specific); some flavoured greens, especially if they’re made by the fabulous Yumchaa; Genmaicha; getting to like Sencha, as long as it’s not too bitter.
- White tea, pretty much as long as it’s good quality, I like it. Some flavoured ones are nice, though it’s easy to overpower the more delicate taste of white.
- Rooibos, which I know, I know, isn’t properly ‘tea’. (As above for Yumchaa flavoured rooibos – some of my favourites.)
Dislikes:
- Any black tea made by someone who doesn’t know you need BOILING WATER. (See above about the Whining Years.)
- Hibiscus in fruit-flavoured teas. Looks so pretty! Tastes so awful!
I’m working on trying to like Hojicha, which isn’t going too well yet. Jane Pettigrew describes it as “biscuity”, but unless she’s eaten a lot of cigarette-flavoured biscuits in her time, I don’t get it.
- Aniseed in spiced teas. (Just discovered this one for the dislike list today, in an otherwise-tasty chai. Don’t like the tongue-numbing effect.)
Indecisive, despite being opinionated – okay, very opinionated – so may just add notes rather than rating.
Location
Dublin, Ireland
you should compare this one and St Petersbourg from Kusmi teas.
I give you the verdict (at least mine) : Paul & Virginie is better