362 Tasting Notes
This is an old love, a few years ago i was wildly infatuated with this blend. And it is still lovely, it still tastes the same, but my affections for this thing (caramel, chocolate, black tea) seem to have been unfairly alienated by Yumchaa´s Caramel Sweetheart (milk mandatory). Maybe unfairly, because Caramel Sweetheart is denser, less just-tea, but maybe irrevocably. Lovely caramel tea, but an ex-love.
Preparation
I dunno. I was trying a sample which had been sitting oxidizing for days (till i felt like trying it) from a tin opened maybe 2 years ago (?more?). It´s not a fair trial. Keep that in mind. But since there seems to be very little about this tea that i can find on google, here goes my 2 cents.
Official description mentions hazelnut and vanilla and citrus. I spotted the citrus, bergamot-ish indeed to my nose, vanilla yeah now that you mention it, but I did not get any hazelnut (old tea, remember. a fresh tin might be another matter). It seems like it has some Darjeeling on it. And it reminds me a bit (bergamot, vanilla) of Thé au Tibet. But it really is not fresh tea so it is unfair to compare.
Preparation
Well well, so this is FRENCH lapsang souchong. It´s a totally different lapsang souchong, while being very lapsangsouchong-ey, than my usual beloved but run-of-the-mill Twinings.
I brew it wrong, did not give it the attention it deserved, but even so I think there is the potential here for a mad love affair.
ah, a warning, this tea is for acknowledged unashamed lovers of Lapsang Souchong only: – first, you probably won´t like it if you do not like LS;
- second it´s a waste of this tea to have people who do not love LS drink it. Let´s save it for the rest of us, ok?
Preparation
This is as tibetan as Marco Polo is related to anything Marco Polo himself might have encountered – that is, no relation at all. This is, to my mind, the fanciest, most french, most feminine earl grey blend ever. There are other things there, but bergamot is most emphatically there and puts it clearly on earl grey territory in my mind. But if Guerlain made Earl Grey tea, this would be it – I can sense the vanilla and rose there, and it just amplifies the other many little scent notes, this is like a symphony of flavours, with bergamot as soloist and all those many other support notes as an orchestra behind it.
(I got no clue why they think this reminds them of Tibet. Then again i do not know why they call Marco Polo that)
Preparation
Almond. With some spices – a hint of cinnamon and maybe clove as well. And other things. First time I tried this, and it was not love at first sip. Don´t get me wrong, it is very very nice flavored tea, but then again considering the source and price, so it should be – I am not sure (yet) if it is going to became one of my MF favorites.
Preparation
Hey Tea-Twin, it seems you are the only one to have identified a clove flavor; it’s indeed the main one I get and unfortunately it also does not make it for me.
MF mentions spices without saying really which but there probably some clove, yes. But to me it is not the main one, that’s interesting to have different opinions.
Clearly some flavors or spices strike differently; some will recognize the “evil” hibiscus from far away for instance. I guess clove in tea is turning out to be my personal no-go no-like flavor.
So you can eradicate Mandalay,Chandernagor and Alexandra David-Néel MF blends from the tasting list for sure.
I love cloves, admittedly, so I never mind. But I am absolutely totally sure Pleine Lune has quite a bit of those, I now think more cloves than cinnamon, and of course more bitter almonds (not plain almonds, different thing!) than anything else.
Chandernagor, which I also love and is my favorite chai blend (excepting, if you forgive the vanity, chai I mixed myself) is also heavy on cloves. But as I said, I like cloves, or more specifically I like a touch of cloves with other spices and flavors.
Teresa, we always prefer a home made pie vs a bakery pie, don’t we ? So it’s just normal you prefer your home made chaï blend, there is no vanity at all.
This is very very fruity – I convinced a friend to order a teapot so i could try this, she did not love it unfortunately. And neither did, not quite, I. It is maybe trying too hard. It´s floral tea with straight ironed dyed-platinum hair and long fake nails. It´s too much, thank you very much.
It tastes strongly (nicely but too much and too sweet) of loquats (nêsperas!) to me, can not spot any other fruit (maybe some citrus?), though it also smells a bit floral.
I will try this again if I can, just to make sure, but it is probably not going to ever be my cup of tea.
Sometimes, no strike that, almost always simple is best. It has taken me ages to try this, it sounded so simple, raspberry and vanilla (with rose petals) rooibos. Nothing really new or different. But oh my, is this awesome. Awesome indeed. Smells like raspberry, very intense, but just kicked subtly into more awesomeness by the vanilla and rose. I was in love at the first sniff, the taste is as awesome as the smell and this is probably going to be a full fledged long term love affair. Love this.
Preparation
Totally agree with “almost always simple is best”; it certainly requires high quality ingredients. But your comment following Angrboda’s review that there are plenty of dried rapsberries in there sold it to me…
It is lovely indeed – but I think Yumchaa is very very good at blending rooibos mixes.
It´s not you, cup of tea, it´s me. Seriously, you smell awesome and the ingredients read like a great idea. But I got a perhaps irrational dislike to aniseed (or liquorice, or anything of its family) and dear tea, it´s not going to work between us at all.
(nice rooibos base though)
Preparation
Yep, anise/liquorice can really ruin a cup if you don’t like it. It’s usually all I can taste!
Love the review! I get the relationship issue completely! And, if you are like me, anise/liquorice and I will never get along.
yeah, not a aniseed/liquorice lover, or even friend here, so it´s not my cup – I think it is the first, and so far only Yumchaa blend which has not worked for me.
I’d been comparing this one to Chilli Chilli Bang Bang, which is unfair to almost any spicy rooibos, but noticed that it contained aniseed just last night. I share your feelings about it in teas, though I like liquorice itself just fine. Will try another cup to see if it’s strong enough to have been the problem!
It just might be your cup of tea – the aniseed, liquorice thing is really personal (though maybe more of a hate thing in southern Europe. salmiakki, eurgh)
Oh, it’s not bad but I don’t like it all that much either. I realised I have exactly the same top two dislikes in teas as you – hibiscus and aniseed, and want to reassure you that I did NOT just copy you! Long-standing tastes but just starting to get serious about why I like or dislike a particular blend/flavour of tea.
Don´t worry, great minds think alike (and we so agree on so much else!). Though I think a certain dislike for hibiscus is almost inevitable in almost tea lovers sooner or later :p
:) It does seem a very unnatural like to me too!
I so understand the “ex-love” thing!!! so many of those in my cupboard…
it´s an ex-love, but I think we can remain on friendly terms. And I forgot to mention something I have been noticing (for a few hours after drinking this), it´s a very “peppy” tea. Maybe higher on caffeine than I used to, but this blend does seem to give me a lot of energy. Still a place in my life for it – if only all ex-loves on the cupboard were the same.