Ah, Mariage Freres… I love you in spite of your overblown descriptions.
Full Moon Party is like Pleine Lune with some extra cinnamon and clove hints, for which you pay an extra 11 Euro. I tried the black tea version, which was almond + cinnamon + cloves. Yup. That’s it.
Certainly it’s a good quality, smooth tea (this rather safe combination is pretty much guaranteed to please most palates). I am noticing an inverse ratio between the uniqueness of the tea and the level of Mariage Freres poetic excess in the description.
“Once upon a time there was a tall, midnight-black canister with a Harlequin figure dancing below a full, silvery moon inhabited by a magical rabbit.
The Harlequin urges us to reinvent our calendar of revels – on every night that a full moon rises we can henceforth dance, sing and promise the stars to whomever we wish.
And the rabbit? He restores a childlike vision to us – the vision of Asian lands where a rabbit is companion to a goddess known for her elixir of long life, peace, and luck, as well as for her mooncakes.”
Translation: It’s Pleine Lune with a hint of cinnamon and cloves but comes in a fancy cani$ter. Apparently, it can prompt some strange affairs with harlequins and childlike magic rabbits. I’ll stick with the Pleine Lune, thanks. It’s half the price and does not involve any sleazy harlequins with questionable motives.
Flavors: Almond, Cinnamon, Clove
