408 Tasting Notes
Well this one was in my shopping list but I am happy my mother gave me some to taste because now I know I don’t have to buy it.
It is not a bad tea but it is just not enough fantastic to me to decide buying it.
Almonds are there (but the sweet ones, not very strong on taste, exactly the same as the ones used in Charlotte au chocolat- so weak), weak cinnamon too on a just correct black tea base.
The ingredients seem to be all on the same level, no one to take an advantage on the other – sometimes this is a strength and we can say the tea is so well balanced- here is it just not the case.
It is just a nice cup…I am becoming terrible with tea…it’s no more enough for me, I want more and expect more especially from Dammann Frères.
Really not very impressed by their Christmas teas for the moment; but I only tasted 2 so I am keeping hope !
EDIT
Tried another time, same opinion …
Preparation
I received this sample thanks to lovely cteresa
The dry leaf scent is fantastic as 99% of the MF blends. On the picture, it reminded me a lot Prince Igor but now I can see it “in real” it is different, dryer than Prince Igor.
The fragrance of the liquor is very special, very green, toasted green tea. This is to me the leading note, almost smoky and then, behind, almond.
Drinking it, to me the dominant flavour is exotic fruits and almond but a different almond from the one used for Pleine Lune, a dryer one less creamy.
It’s clearly not a spicy tea despite the presence of cinnamon (very discrete).
Balthazar has definitively its own personality as cteresa said.
To me it has nothing common with Pleine Lune except almond.It may not be its cousin…
Balthazar has the MF signature for sure. The exotic fruits are what I’ll remember from this blend, but non sweet exotic fruits.
A very nice tea (mix of green and black teas)
Preparation
I really want to get some Pleine Lune badly.
Azzrian, do check it, it´s special. And give it a few tries – with me it was not totally love at first sip, but it took a few teapots to get how I really love it (with honey and milk).
Ysaurella, I find your opinion so interesting! so glad it got there safe and sound (and fast!)
Mandalay is a cousin of Esprit de Noël blend. A cousin by cinnamon & cardamom filiation
The scent is strongly spicy, not floral at all.
The dry leaves are so beautiful, a large amount of petals of sunflower is mixed with some red spices.
Steeped four minutes only to ensure not having a too spicy cup, the tea was perfectly balanced between the spicy notes and the rose note.
If you want to taste this tea, you should be spice lover otherwise you can be very disappointed. Rose flavour is really sweetening the liquor and is really present but the main notes remain spices, cinnamon & cardamom on the top.
I won’t have Esprit de Noël (sometimes called Noël) and Mandalay in my cupboard at the same time.
I have to think about that but I really appreciated the rose flavour in this blend so not sure I’ll won’t change my dear Noël by this blend sometimes.
Preparation
Interesting that they’re so similar! I’m very tempted, Noel is one of my very favourites.
Oh dear, this sounds awesome. I was tempted by Noel, but I smelled it and I must admit to a bias – I am portuguese, I do not like citrus rinds in things namely orange peel. For me citrus rinds are the stuff you throw away (lemon zest for some reason is acceptable, but of orange and clementines and such no), so I tend to prefer my citrus more abstract. Mandalay is sounding wonderful.
I bought a little bit of Chandernagor the other day though have not had it yet, am sort of reserving. It smells divine, but cloves are its main ingredient and proud to be it. Cinnamon and cardamom are there, but the starring role is all cloves.
the vanilla is present too but very very behind, just as a basis.
One of the tea I absolutely wanted to taste- I bought a full bag today.
The dry leaves scent is amazing, opulent & floral more than fruity, very promising.
The liquor is less amazing than the dry leaves scent but the notes are very well balanced between floral and fruity ones.
It’s so well balanced that it is complicated to get the ingredients identified clearly.
Even if I know there are vanilla, red & black berries, citrus and cornflowers and mallows, none is overpowering.
Warm, it becomes even better than very hot.
I’ll need to taste it more to see if the experience is different. To be continued so !
Preparation
This is my third David’s Teasane, oops meant David’s tea.
As I had difficulty to taste the tea base with this brand, I decided to sacrifice the whole generous sample kindly given by Darby for only one cup (4 ts)
I mentioned there was still few tea leaves in this blend so decided to cure this by having an heavy blend.
So, verdict…hummmm ! …can mean yummy , mmmmmmm or meah but really meah. Here you already guessed it’s hummm like meeeaaaaahhhhhh.
To me it’s definitively not a tea, I cannot taste the tea base. I am just drinking a warm tisane.
I get the nuts very distinctly + something which probably can be strawberry
This is sweet ,a nice tisane but the problem is this rating is supposed to be for a tea.
This is probably a fantastic iced beverage
Preparation
This was not good hot, but putting the “leaves” in water overnight made a much better drink. Not good enough to ever want it again, though.
I had issues with this one too; I thought it was just me. I even tried it iced and it was a no-go. I giggled at your “tisane” comment – it’s true! Or at least it feels that way!
Wow, we got the same opinion from this tea!
This is a tea I get thanks to Nicole. Thanks really for that.
Paris…my town…I mean Paris is really my town, the one I love overall on earth.
The other one which touchs (almost) so much my heart is Lisbon.
I decided to have this tea especially today because of its name, I’ll explain you why : I’ll have to leave my apartment in one year, the owner needs it.
Regarding the rates of the apartment in this city, I won’t be able to find another one with the same rooms number.
So I am already nostalgic with my town as I really don’t want to leave it : I feel already out of Paris even if I am still here.My bakery, my supermarket, my daughter’s school seem already distant now, as no more mines…
So let’s back to the tea : it’s a real tea :) I mean I feel the tea + the flavours and this is very nice.
After reading some reviews and especially cteresa’s one, I didn’t steep it too much, 3 minutes only.
I had none bitterness,none astringency.
This is a nice tea where I picked out bergamot (leading note for me) and vanilla and just a hint of caramel.
Not sure I would have chosen these flavours to represent Paris, but why not ?
Preparation
That’s really sad. :( I feel the same way about Scandinavia. The second I confirmed the date when I had to move back to Canada, it felt like I was already moving away even though I still had nearly two more months there. It’s crushing when you have to move away from a place you love so much.
That’s sad about you having to move. I hope you settle in quickly wherever you end up. Glad you liked the tea. :)
I am so sorry about having to move! Good luck, hope you can find a new nice home.
And did not know that about you and Lisbon, it is my city! I love it and know exactly what you mean about having to move. Here are very complicated times, and a lot of things are disappearing or just neglected and it is very sad. Saudade for things that still exist.
Never seen any tea named Lisbon. I would buy in an instant and then likely sneer. I was joking with friends about a café having breakfast menus named after several cities, the Lisbon breakfast would be 1 bica (strong expresso) and 1 pastel de nata and would have to cost less than 2 euros. Would they put cofee in any tea named after Lisbon? LOL. It would have to have cinnamon I guess, and lemon as well. Or a lemonbalm tisane. Closest thing to a Lisbon tea I have ever seen would be Harney´s Queen Catherine blend, she was a portuguese infanta and spent many years as regent of Portugal, a very nice neighbourhood is named after her palace.
I feel very sad for you Ysaurella…I understand that apartments in Paris must be very coveted and expensive, but maybe the perfect one will come along and you won’t have to move? I am very hopeful for you…
Uprooting is hard! May all go well so you can thrive wherever you are replanted.
I love the lemony-caramelly flavor combination, although I wouldn’t have dreamed it up on my own in a hundred years.
thank you all for your support :) I am spending a lot of time on real estate agency website and hope to find quickly something correct in the suburb.
@ cteresa : I visited Lisbon a long time ago and only once. spent 4 days during a December month and I really loved the city, its atmosphere and I understand the Saudade “feeling”
Never saw any Lisbon tea but for sure I would put some lemon in it and probably apricot as well (acidity + sweetness)
I miss Mosteiro dos Jerónimos,barrio alto, praça do comercio & Castillo san Jorge !
Best wishes, Ysaurella! Hope you find something that makes you happy. =)
I love reading your reviews. Not only are the tasting notes themselves wonderful, but you always inspire our Steepster family to post such great comments in response to you and they are equally lovely to read. =)
Lisbon can be lovely in December indeed. And if you get the chance, come back in late May, when the jacarandás are in bloom.
Oh a tea for Lisbon, that is a fun idea to think of. Apricot is not really something too usual here – but maybe loquats, nêsperas. The fruit and the totally different smell, which is the blossom, oh so sweet. The loquat trees are in blossom right now, sometimes you pass somewhere and you have this heavenly strong sweet scent from some tree in some backyard. The nickname for Lisbon natives is the little lettuces, but I can not really see lettuce in tea!
And I just another tea which reminds me so much of this Harney´s Paris, and realize I got FOUR teas which are all this redfruits-caramel-vanilla thing and feel the need to compare them. With photos and all!
no lettuce in my tea please ;)
St Petersbourg is caramel+ redfruits…which other do you have ?
I have figured out what a Lisbon tea would have to have – cinnamon and quince (it is the season, and so much better than apples and foreigners seem to not appreciate those as much as we do) and maybe a touch of Port maybe. We shall avoid the lettuce I think.
And I got 4 fruits-caramel teas – Paris, St Petersbourg (Well done!), Paul and Virginie (new arrival! my first Dammann) and (I think) Marco Polo (not that they say anything about what is on it!). Each is relatively famous or popular within its brand and I just checking the four and sniffing and it is fascinating. St Petersbourg and Paris have bergamot though not too noticeably when brewed. Marco and Paris smell chocolatey in the leaf. I think Marco has to have some Assam on it, though again they do not say what it is on it. Paul et Virginie has the clearest stronger fruit notes, I can smell the cherry and raspberry very clearly. Checking the tea themselves, and they are all similar, black teas with no fillers, P&V and Marco have the fattest longest leaves, and my sample of Paris is of such thin broken, almost fannings leaves (explains the bitterness). But it might have to do with packaging, my sample of Paris is a little bag which does not offer much protection, tea might have gotten broken in transit and that cause them to be so small and would explain the bitterness. Dunno. But really these 4 teas are really all somewhat different takes on the same idea. If I was creating a tea line I can see what would be a popular flavouring!
Frenchs adore quince (notre gelée de coing…Bonne Maman…so famous)I struggled with port… as I was pretty you didn’t want to incorporate the Lisbon’s port in a tea I had to verify the dictionary : ah ! Porto ! :) of course !
that’s so true similar composition teas may be so different.
This is my second David’s tea and I had it thanks to Darby.
The dry leaves have a scent of rum… or am I crazy ?
I see very few tea in this tea…many marshmallows and chocolate chips but really few tea leaves …I am suspicious and a little worried.
I steeped it 5 mn and the scent of the liquor is really spicy (cinnamon is the leader)
I don’t get the marshmallow taste, just sugar.
Had the impress to drink a hot water with cinnamon and sugar – weird
As mentioned this is only my second DT and I have the same problem : I don’t really taste the tea base. I get the flavours (not all) but not the tea base.
Really odd,I’ll continue with testing DT, I’m sure I didn’t taste the 2 main teas of their collection.
Awaiting to taste their masterpiece …which is ? to your opinion ?
Preparation
Their special ones don’t seem to have alot of tea. I even tried to get more tea in the sample too. I think these would be even better with more tea added for depth.
You noticed the same thing I did! :D That’s the company that turns their ‘tea’ into candy… some of us ‘grownups’ are looking for TEA in our tea :)
Well I’ll continue with DT as you kindly sent me a lot of DT samples Darby.I’m pretty sure I’ll find one with a more pronounced tea base.
Fleurdelily, I have the habit of the European teas (French and English brands) and the tea base is maybe stronger than in North American brands ? I’ll taste H&S teas soon and I’ll have a better idea on this. I’ll always remember the day I had a coffee in NYC…for a French or an Italian, a NYC coffee is just …incredibly not a coffee, our coffees are so much stronger it just seems to be a totally different beverage.
Wonder so if North American tastes in terms of tea are the same. Maybe the majority prefers mild blends ?
I think one of their stars is Read My Lips, but again, it’s mostly mint and not too many actual tea leaves. I personally love it, though.
To me, this one is mostly allspice.
I personally don’t like DT all that much. I much prefer many of the other places I’ve found through steepster. I like read my lips. But that’s about teh only tea I’ve really enjoyed from DT and even that one is just kinda of ok.
I tried Read My Lips and it was nice, but I do not think the base is too strong. Must brew more of it. And I got Oh Canada (which i recommend just because MAPLE SYRUP rooibos. I mean it´s genius) had a definitely wimpish rooibos base – it was green rooibos and honeybush, can not really judge those, but the flavouring concept was so brilliant I wish it had a stronger body somehow.
I think there is an american style of tea certainly. They have more teas recreating certain desert dishes than Europeans usually are ( I got a german tea called wiener apfelstrudel though). But they take it further: carrot cake tea, or caramel cheesecake tea or pumpkin pie tea. Also I think american tea sellers make it clearer, more of a point when a tea is low on caffeine or without caffeine.
I can taste the tea just fine in H&S blends…you have to try for yourself, we all have different taste buds. Personally I enjoy DavidsTea’s tisanes rather than ones with tea, but you usually need a lot of the tea to get a decent flavor. Then of course it is a heavy blend, so it becomes expensive for each cup.
I only smelled this one and it did not smell like marshmallow one bit.
Harney has beautiful little tins, but their blends are too much flavoring. More than once I’ve bought a tin I liked and just threw the tea away.
@ momo yes absolutely agree and as I saw so few tea leaves, I put at least 3 spoons of blend …and it was still so weak :(
@ fleurdelily you erased your previous message but no worries with me, as typically French I do adore freedom of expression and strong opinions :)
The only teas I have liked from DT enough to buy more of them are Glitter & Gold and Santa’s Secret. They tend to be too sweet and often too murky for my tastes. I have had some H&S teas that are very light but I’ve also had some that are pretty bold, in my opinion. I’m anxious to see what you think of them, Ysaurella!
HA! What Nicole said about DT! same here.
come to think of it, I’ll say it again. Americans have a wicked sweet tooth and don’t take tea seriously. That’s why we have little boutique tea blenders that are very good, but the main large tea companies make inane lame over-flavoured crap. There. That is my opinion. No one needs to like it, but I am here to say “told you so” when you eventually realize I’m right! ROFLAMO (trying hard to say that with an authorative air and a straigt face) :p
Unfortunately, what you are noticing so far is true…It’s a tendency that is occurring more and more in the last year or so with DT I would say, I find most of their new blends unappealing for that reason, more and more «stuff» including artificials, less and less tea…
Nothing new in this mercantile world… too often the bigger you get, the poorer the quality gets… I liked DT better when they were at a smaler scale…
So except for a few new blends, I much prefer some of the older blends where artificial flavouring were almost never being used. I remember praising them for that reaon alone… Things have changed unfortunately… I still try some of their new teas, but instead of buying 50gr online right off the bat, I now buy small samples in store…
Ysaurella, quand nous ferons notre swap, je vais m’assurer d’inclure des mélanges qui sont moins artficiels et qui ont fait le succès de DT :-)
I stay away from anything with any flavoring (natural or artificial) added. Some people love stuff like that, and yes, we all taste different things, which I find to be really neat. I have also noticed that the larger the company gets – the lower the quality and the more the flavoring. I went through 30 samples from a tea company that mainly deals with distributers and every one was fake tasting and horrible. It’s sad, and it’s not just tea companies either, happens in all industries :/
My business promise is to never incorporate flavorings into anything and retain the same hand-blending styles and quality no matter how large I get. Make sure to never buy from me if that changes. :)
Ohhhh I just love tea! :D What a fantastic world of tea lovers here on Steepster! :)
@whisperingPTC: I like your company’s philosophy! I will definitely check you out :-)
And you are so right about Steepster’s fantastic world of tea lovers!
I drank this tea in the morning but this is more an afternoon tea.
To me the dry leaf scent is something like panettone’s aroma.
Probably due to the citrus present in the blend and in the recipe of Panettone.
The tea base is correct (mix of Ceylon and China blends)
Dammann’s promises were for a Lemon meringue pie & toffee.
Normally, with a Christmas tea, we expect an explosion of flavours.
Alas, it is not the case here.
The main flavours perceptible to me are lemon and toffee (more caramel than a real toffee).
I am a little bit disappointed with this Noël à Venise.
To be honest this is a good tea but a soon as drank, it’s immediatly forgotten… it’s not remaining any flavour in mouth. It’s a fleeting tea.
Disappointing for a DF tea and disappointing for a Christmas tea with such a Name and promise.
I won’t buy it again.
Preparation
I have been eyeing the Dammann Freres website (free shipping to western europe for orders above 40€! that is wonderful) and this was precisely one of the teas I was considering, thank you for your opinion, I do need some help bringing the order down to an amount not too shameful!
Cteresa, I found a french website where you can order by 50gr the DF and they ship to Portugal (there are costs but you can order more teas to taste) here is the link if you read in French : http://www.cafes-couleurs-thes.com/thes-aromatises/
Ah, thank you Ysaurella, it is very nice of you to check! I checked and I was oh so happy, they had Framboise and Macaron-Cassis-Violette which the main DF site does not have. But almost everything seems out of stock. Oh well, I am going to keep stalking the main DF site and try to refine my final order to a sensible ammount. I guess Charlotte au Chocolat is worth it? Oh, the fun it is to try to make this sort of list.
hum weird because I looked the website for at least 15 teas and all were on stock. When they write : il y a du stock pour cette combinaison it means the tea is on stock (macaron cassis violette is on stock for example). Charlotte au chocolat is nice yes :)
Oh, maybe it is just temporary. I for example am checking Macaron-Cassis-Violette (which I WANT!) and “Stock épuisé”. Framboise, Caramel-Toffee, Coquelicot Gourmand, les Marquises, Paul et Virginie, Prieuré, Riads,pomme d´amour. all out. Nuit à Versailles is the only one I clicked which was on stock (good thing). But I am going to keep checking, this could be such an awesome resource, sooner or later they will have something on stock!
And working on refining that shopping list – just checked your reviews, Pomme d´amour, jardin bleu and/or Paul et Virginie will be on the list certainly!
and oh nevermind, I put 200 grams of what they had on stock on my shopping basket and checked their shipping costs to Portugal, figuring it would be the same more or less as if it was 4*50 grams. 16.15€! No! But thank you so much for letting me know, I always want to know of places where I can buy tea which send to me.
the DF website is a brand new one…they changed everything ! in the past we can buy macaron cassis violette on line…
I am quite enthusiastic about their new website, even if they do not have everything and only sell 100 grams, if the free shipping turns out to be true! Charlotte au Chocolat is crazily expensive, 14 euros for 100 grams, maybe I will skip it. I really got to go to Paris (and London!) to shop for tea live :) One of these days maybe!
hum seems weird because in shop I paid too much for Charlotte au chocolat, normally (old website, it was 8 €/100 gr) and it is the correct price on many tea websites. Definitively strange and clearly this tea doesn’t deserve to be paid so much !
I got this tea thanks to LaFleurBleue, merci beaucoup :)
(by the way if anyone can help me by telling me how to manage to put some writing in bold here on Steepster I would be more than grateful – I really don’t see where to do this)
So merci beaucoup because it is really a very nice tea, very delicate, refined.
To me, basil is the main flavor but not overpowering, it’s just on the top of the other flavors : rose and peony. It’s like the cherry on the top of the cake, it sublimates the whole tea.
This is a mild tea, may be perfect for an evening.
This is my first Gryphon tea and I really appreciated it. However I liked the tea bag quality which is really high and all the information provided on the wrapping sachet (character, aroma,origin, tea pairing suggestions)
The flowers and basil seemed to be of highest quality.
Great tea.
Preparation
I am not sure how others do it, but for me I simply put my words between asterisks and it shows up bold, such as bold
Sounds like an interesting tea!
ha! see it showed up bold just now! just simply add 2 asterisks in front and behind the word or sentence you want to make bold:)
thanks very much Hesper June
Yay I was so happy when someone taught me how to do that! :)
Almost read that as Nympho of the Nile, then thought, Who’d want a tea that’s been around?
Luckily I gave it a second glance.
lol, Geoffrey!
Ysaurella, thanks for this review. I’ve never had a tea with basil in it. Sounds interesting, I’ve added this to my (very long) shopping list. Plus I really like its name!
In addition to placing an asterisk on either side of text to make it bold, you can put an underscore on either side to italicise it, or put a dash/hyphen on either side to strike it through.
thank you all for your comments :)
If you look in the FAQ post at the discussion boards, there is a guide as well to the different sorts of formatting you can do. This is the link http://steepster.com/discuss/2768-steepster-faq, but you have to scroll down pretty far to get to the formatting section.
Aïda …is a tea opera dedicated to the glorious citrus !
I am not able to identify each type of citrus present in this blend but they are a lot : for sure bergamot,lemon (candied probably) and bitter orange.
It’s like an orchestra where each flavor is playing its musical score with respect and harmony with its citrus collegues.
Without being exceptional, the black tea base is nice, strong enough to welcome all these fantastic flavors.
Recommended to citrus lovers for sure
Preparation
I’d like to hear that symphony :-)
Nice review!
Oh tempting. I have been eyeing all those lesser knowns un-tinned MF teas lately, oh the temptation…
that’s right Mariage have sooooooo many tea references ! sometimes we just don’t know anymore which one to try as new tea :)
I want to test the Mayflower (with fresh fig) the Mandalay …it will be for next rainy day shopping.
@ Terri thank you ! and it comes from you, a musician, so double thank you :)
@ Mlle la fée du Thé : on pourra arranger cela à partir de début novembre si tu veux, je pourrais t’envoyer un échantillon de ce thé.
Your tasting notes always make me want to run out and buy whatever tea you’ve reviewed!
Oh, je suis LaFéeDuThé maintenant! oui, j’aimerais bien «swapper» avec toi! Je vais t’envoyer un courriel pour t’informer car je ne pourrai pas avant la mi-novembre environ…
all these noël teas sound great in theory, I am glad to have your opinion just in case I decide to order from DF. “good enough” is just not that worthwhile.
By any chance have you tried or smelled yet Noël à Paris? that one is sounding very appealing and surely they should try extra hard for a christmas at home blend!
I sniffed it only and didn’t buy it because I was upset with the fact DF didn’t want to sell 50 gr :) It was nice sniffing it but definitively need to taste it