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Gosh, I’ve had this one a while. Didn’t even realize I still did – so I had some! Should I keep it or share it? That’s the question.

You’d think citrus (lemongrass), coconut and spices would totally be my thing… and normally, it is. BIG TIME. Yet this tea doesn’t quite live up to the hype, although it is nicely creamy, the flavors are a bit… indistinguishable. It’s okay… just okay.

Hm. One of the teas I grabbed in Grenoble, and was told it was how this company packages their MF/DF teas. So, I grabbed it.

It’s still a weird tea – one I can’t quite put my head around. I was expecting a chai, yet it’s light, light brown, almost blonde. I get flowers (in the good French way) and cardamom, and… well… that’s it?

Time to share with someone else who might like it more.

Something about this was painfully off when I had it – so much so that I packed up the rest immediately and planned on sharing it with someone who might like it more. Can’t remember what it was, but it just wasn’t to my tastes. Maybe the rooibos, maybe the combination of flavors? Dunno, but it made me sad, because I love this company to bits.

Had some yesterday before packing up the rest to share. Really, really oversteeped this, and it was much nicer cooled than hot. Hot, it was a bit, um, flowery for my tastes, yet cooled it was sweet and floral, however pleasant and sweet. Not a huge MUST have, but it was really lovely. Leaving it as a high rating, as I likely ruined the cup with the long steep time.

I love it how people change the name of a tea to “duplicate”, so that NO ONE CAN FIND IT. And, they don’t realize that it’s actually a different tea – different ingredients, different production, everything – but because it has the same name from the same company, they assume it’s up to them to change a tea’s name to DUPLICATE. Because that’s so helpful, especially to the folks who maintain the database. Don’t you realize, it actually CHANGES the name in the database, and the URL? Sigh.

Instead, I strongly suggest to anyone who thinks there’s a duplicate (this one is NOT – it’s a Special Edition Loose Leaf that’s only available loose in a tin, it is NOT the same as the bagged tea in the brown box), is to get both URLs and email steepster. Let them know. Don’t go changing names of teas so that we have thousands of teas called Duplicate.

/rant over

Note to self: buy MF in France, or Europe in general, where it’s half the price of buying it in Canada (not including shipping). When I grabbed this box of sachets in Holt Renfrew what seems like ages ago now, it was $25-30 (maybe $40? I remember it being ridiculous, but dammit, I wanted it). Same thing in France, when I went to one of the MF stores? The equivalent of $20 CDN. Getting it loose is much, much cheaper than that.

I knew however that I had some of this still at home, so I’m doing to drink and fully enjoy it before I buy more. Because as we all know, I already have way too much tea. (still over 500.. sigh)

Anyway, onto the tea. The French are the only ones that can do flowers in tea where I love it. I wish every tea maker took their lead with this… regardless, this is a bit astringent today (likely because I just had some unsweetened sea salt chocolate), yet delicately sweet, full in the only way tea can be when it’s got (good) flowers in it, and, well, marvellous. I think in the future I want to steep this one a bit less though… finding something a bit off (which again might be the chocolate).

Definitely liked this more as it cooled (more chocolate) but the cinnamon threw me off. I haven’t had a cinnamon brownie before, and so this was a bit of an odd combination.

Yes, I know, this isn’t a new—to-me tea, I’ve had it since one of my first forays into mass quantity buys with Dexter. Thing is, I’d obviously lost it, so maybe this is a perk of having a housesitter that moves your entire tea stash: rediscovering teas you completely forgot about.

Grabbed this when I was at Pike Place Market maybe sometime last summer (?) when I ran into Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes in the elevator of my hotel room. Fun!

This seems like a straight black blend from the description, although I’ve yet to hear of a varietal called Lychee (like Ceylon or Assam). The staffer told me this was her favorite tea (I always buy a small sample that the person serving me suggests when traveling), so $0.81 and about, um, 12 cups worth and a year later, Í’m trying it.

Actually had it yesterday.. going on memory.. was surprisingly sweet on it’s own, full bodied like an English Breakfast, and quite lovely. Very different than most straight blacks I’ve had, with zero maltiness, just a sweetness that I can’t quite place.

I remember coveting this last year, but I think it’s time to share… so packing up a bit for others to enjoy. Love doing that, especially when it’s a tea I know few can get their hands on (blended in a store in Edmonton, Alberta… yes they ship, but who would know to look for that, unless they’d been to the store?)

Anyway. Getting a definitely ginger kick (booyah!) as this cooled, which I’m absolutely loving. The peach was more apparent when it was hot though, whereas the ginger was completely absent then. Hm.

Still, an overall yum, y’all.