Finally! My inaugural tea of the Doulton-engineered French buying extravaganza!
MmmmmmMMMMmmmmmMMmmmm.
And that’s just the smell of the dry leaves. Amazing raspberry. Reminds me of the filling in linzer tarts, which I used to get from a little pastry shop in Cambridge, MA. I can smell it from several feet away; if I stick my nose into the bag (that has an adorable little giraffe sticker on it :-)) it becomes extremely concentrated. Dark chocolate color leaves with flecks of lighter brown.
The variety and complexity in the aroma becomes more apparent after steeping. I can smell some vanilla, and berry, but I’m also getting a note that seems lemon or orange. Some citrus in any case.
The taste has wonderful berry things going on. It’s not the Kool Aid of some berry teas I have tried, it’s more of the kind of berry note you’d find in a nice wine. It adds a tiny bit of tartness to the tail of the sip. Vanilla is there, but not a strong presence. I’m trying to figure out what berry I’m tasting and I think it’s mostly raspberry and strawberry, but what a contrast to the strawberry of other flavored teas. It’s subtle, but deep and smooth. Apart from the tart berry-tail, the tea is medium-sweet. Not sugary like some blacks. I can see what they mean when they say caramel, though it isn’t the sweet caramel of the Sugar Caramel Oolong. It isn’t bitter either, it’s just a number of notches down from carmelized-sugar sweet. There’s a fresh note to the finish which strikes me as floral.
Note to self: try more leaf next time. I used about 1.5 tsp in about 8 oz water. I think it could go stronger and perhaps unfold even more.
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Ooh, do you remember the name of the pastry shop?
Unfortunately no, and I have no idea if it is still there as I haven’t been back since the mid 80s, but I remember where it was. It was in a shopping center in Harvard Square that also had a Souper Salad and Pizzeria Uno, among other things. The little pastry shop was right next to the Souper Salad. It really wasn’t a lot more than a counter with cookies and pastries in a window, but I remember it being a great temptation after having tried to be virtuous by eating at Souper Salad!
Oh, sad, I don’t think it’s there anymore :( and neither is Souper Salad, although Uno’s still is!
Ooh, do you remember the name of the pastry shop?
Unfortunately no, and I have no idea if it is still there as I haven’t been back since the mid 80s, but I remember where it was. It was in a shopping center in Harvard Square that also had a Souper Salad and Pizzeria Uno, among other things. The little pastry shop was right next to the Souper Salad. It really wasn’t a lot more than a counter with cookies and pastries in a window, but I remember it being a great temptation after having tried to be virtuous by eating at Souper Salad!
Oh, sad, I don’t think it’s there anymore :( and neither is Souper Salad, although Uno’s still is!