Hediard

Came across the last bit of this, about a half spoon’s worth, in my Project Sipdown basket. Ok, one of my Project Sipdown baskets. Added Capital Teas Ltd’s Keemun Classic to make up the spoon. Smooth with the slightest hint of apple and whisper of vanilla.

Perfect. Especially after a day or two of tropical fruit and jasmine tea, I had been looking forward to a cup of simple and no-nonsense tea.

And it’s a sipdown!

I wasn’t expecting much here given that I am not a huge fan of F?ranch teas AND this one has been hanging around for ages. That said, this one is all apple juice and apple cider and apple crisp. and then there’s that French Je nesais quoi. Really lovely. I must have done something right.

tI think this sample is from Sil from years ago. Thank you, Sil. (Yes, it’s ancient—don’t judge me.)

and it’s a sipdown!

I’m no Darjeeling expert, nor am I even very familiar with it, so I’m not sure what makes a good or bad one. This tea is light and malty. It has a descent balance, but is faint. I imagine this is a good type of tea for cream and sugar, but the flavors are so light I worry I might drown them out. Added c&s and it didn’t kill the flavor! It’s alright this way. It is a little drying after each sip. I don’t think it is something I would gravitate to, but who knows. It could grow on me.

Not hitting the spot today. It tastes weak and a little too citrusy. I should have read my previous note and tried it cold steeped.

I found this tea (and several other Hediard teas) at Homegoods of all places, which I have randomly found other good teas at awesome prices like Fachon and Kusmi! If you are a Halloween enthusiast like me (hands down best holiday EVER) then Homegoods is also your spot for great finds. Tea AND Halloween?! How could it get any better?! I failed the test of tea temptation that day and left the store with with several tins at $8 a piece.

Dry, this tea has the aroma of candied orange peel rounded out by vanilla. There is supposed to be lavender as well, but I’m not able to detect it. Once steeped, the flavors lighten up significantly. I can pick out the citrus in the back of the sip and the aftertaste. There is a smoothness in the flavor that I attribute to the vanilla and I think I get some floral hints, but it’s hard to know for sure. I drank most of this cup during my busy morning and am now trying to write a note off the cooled remains of my cup. I think this one is my favorite so far of the Hediard teas I picked up and I look forward to trying it cold like the other reviewer mentioned.

Citrus and green tea. Some like it, some don’t. I do not. Despite that this one isn’t bad, I just don’t like the bitter notes that some citrus fruit bring to green blends. The muscatel notes do a bit to tone the bitterness down but not enough for my taste. Even the grassy notes are overshadowed by the citrus.

Sipdown (199)

Finishing this off iced tonight. It’s weird because this doesn’t scream apple to me. It’s super sweet and actually makes me think of the candy coating on a candy apple which is basically sugar with the slightest apple flavor to it. That’s what I am getting and though it’s not bad, it’s not the fruity tea I wanted either. Nonetheless, thank you Sil for the share.

This is one thick tea. I had it iced and it all moved as one highly viscous mass. A mass that didn’t really taste like apple. It was like stone fruit and baked goods. Thank you Sil for the share. I think maybe some experimenting is in the future for brew methods with regards to this tea.

Cold Brew Sipdown (137)!

Back to three sentence long reviews to try and clear some of this backlog…

So the first time I tried this cold brewed I experienced a very weird mint note in the tail end of the sip. However, this time around I don’t taste it which leads me to believe that it must have been some sort of fluke cross contamination type thing. What I do taste is a really nice, custardy apple flavour with subtle warming spice undertones.

This is a queued tasting note.

Had this one as a cold brew, which was a different preparation style than last time. While I still greatly enjoyed the flavour and simplicity of the tea, I did end noticing different things this time while drinking it. While apple was still the prominent flavour I also picked up notes of cinnamon as well as spearmint, and I can’t exactly put my finger on where that mint note came from.

This is a queued tasting note.

This is one that I nabbed from the second GCTTB when it was making rounds; I really liked the idea of a simple apple flavoured black tea that was still primarily tea and not stuffed with ingredients that completely over power the base. Yes, shots fired DAVIDsTEA…

I made this one for the commute to work; this summer I’ve been doing something that is actually really different for me and that’s icing my commute teas. Traditionally I drink my cold brew on the way to work and then have a hot tea during lunch but it’s just been so hot that I’ve wanted my cold brew with lunch. And of course it’s too hot for a hot cuppa on my bus ride, typically. So iced tea has been the solution.

And this was pretty good; I basically did get the simple apple flavoured black tea that I was hoping for so I can’t really argue all that much when my expectations were perfectly met. It was sweet, with buttery apple notes. Think apple pie or crumble, I guess? And the finish had some subtle warming spice tones. I’d have expected cinnamon, but got more of a nutmeg/cardamom vibe. Very pleasant!

GCTTB5 backlog:

Others have said that this tastes like apple and cinnamon, but I didn’t get that much apple OR cinnamon flavour in the dry leaf. Instead, when the tea was brewed, I got a hint of apple plus a hint of toffee – dark, sugary, toasty. Ultimately, this was very smooth going down; good easy drinking. I bet it would have tasted even better with some agave syrup.

Baked apple without cinnamon. Not a terribly fakey apple either. Not overly sweet either. Very nice to have tried! Thanks, Sil!

Mélange Madeleine is a tea I picked up over the summer at Hédiard’s flagship store on Place de la Madeleine in Paris. It was one of the few teas I squirreled away in my already overstuffed suitcase to bring home and share with my friends. It isn’t the type of tea I would typically consider since I’m not a fan of citrus flavors, but I’m glad I went with the recommendation of the store, it’s a fabulous tea. The black base is mellow, yet full-flavored, and has hints of orange, vanilla, and lavender. While I’ve really enjoyed drinking it hot, it makes an excellent iced tea. In fact, most of my tin was consumed during the later part of the summer when the temperatures soared. I’ll likely finish off what is left before the end of the week. This is one of those rare teas I could drink a lot of and that isn’t something I say often when it comes to things that are heavily citrus flavored.

You can read the rest of the review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2014/12/2/tuesday-tea-melange-madeleine-hediard-tea-paris.html

mmmmm another tasty tea finished up. I finally feel like i’m making headway on some of my older french teas that i don’t necessarily ADORE, but still really like. It’s been far too easy to hoard the teas so i’m trying to make a concentrated effort to finish them off. I like this one because it’s not your traditional apple cinnamon tea imo. The flavouring is subtle though, so that doesn’t appeal to some.

noms. I pulled this one out because it’s a different sort of apple. This isn’t trying to be fresh green apple and thankfully it’s not apple cinnamon. This is just baked apple without the spices. it’s also…yes, that’s right… a BLACK! tea base haha.

mmm bumping the rating up on this one a little. this is like baked apple goods, minus the cinnamon and vanilla ice cream. lol I am a fan of this today, especially since the tea i had it with, was in contrast lacking in flavour. :)

I guess i forgot to write a tasting note on this one the first time i had it. Oopsy! This was one of the teas Ysaurella sent me and it’s a sneaky tea. The front half of the sip of this tea was all like..“Yo! Sil! i got your black base here…gimme some…” and then APPLE jumped out and poked me in the tastebuds. true story. This isn’t a crisp, juicy sort of apple…but this IS baked warm apple without the cinnamon. You hear that people? NO CINNAMON! yes! now…i don’t have anything against cinnamon…and apple crisp is one of my favourite desserts and HAS cinnamon..but after 120398210398 teas that were all a variation on a theme of apple + cinnamon? this. this was a welcome change!
it’s also my first tea from Hediard, and so yeah. goooo me! thanks madam!

This was a bonus sample that Ysaurella added to her swap box, thank you so much.

This might be an example of “be careful what you wish for”. I was whining not that long ago about apple teas always having cinnamon in them. This is a black apple tea, no cinnamon. While I can appreciate the lack of cinnamon, this isn’t my favorite apple flavor. To me, this is baked or cooked apple. I’m craving, tart, crisp fresh apple. This just isn’t it.
I don’t think this is a bad tea, it’s just not to my tastes….

noms. farewell delicious tea. Finally have a little time this morning to enjoy tea before the rest of the day kicks in. This tea + everything bagel with herb and garlic cream cheese with slices of cucumber. delicious. heh