drank Chandernagor by Mariage Frères
513 tasting notes

I’m packaging some of this to send off to sil, and figured I might as well try it myself. I actually got this at the Balzac’s cafe (guffaw guffaw balzacs omg), and it came in the most adorable tin with a really tight lid and this vacuum sealed under-lid thing. Wow that was articulate.

Anyway, the dry leaf smells quite strongly of ginger and cloves, and you know instantly that it’s a fairly spicy tea. You’re encouraged to add milk and sugar to this, which I took liberties to do.

The spice profile definitely holds true for the taste as well. It’s a chai that’s heavier on the cloves and ginger, with sweet cinnamon and a hearty dose of pepper rounding out the sip and warming your throat. In fact, I can imagine this being a really good “sick” tea, because of the throat-warming effect and also the ginger. This is no delicate, sweet cinnamon chai, and as such, might not appeal to those who avoid spicy chais, but for chai-lovers, I think it should definitely be on the to-try list. And given that I don’t currently have a chai in my collection, I don’t feel at all bad adding what I consider to be generally a ‘winter’ tea to it.

TheTeaFairy

Balzac’s cafe…that really sounds like a place you would find Mariage Frères teas!! You’re lucky to have a place where you can pick up any of their teas, no such luck in my neck of the woods!!

keychange

Yeah, I only discovered this because yyz posted in a thread on the boards. Also, they only have a few mf teas—I was also looking for French breakfast, and they said they’d put in a request, so perhaps i’ll get that—but they didn’t have marco polo or some of the other popular blacks. I did have a friend go to London though and she picked me up some other MF teas that I desperately need to try.

OMGsrsly

This is my favourite chai. :) How much are the tins there?

Sil

american breakfast>french breakfast wish id know you wanted french breakfast keychange..would have added some in…or maybe i did..now i can’t remember lol

keychange

Don’t worry about it at all, sil. You’re already far too generous as it is. and omgsrsly, I paid a bit more than eighteen dollars for the 100 g tin.

OMGsrsly

That is amazing. If I run out before Christmas, I might ask you to send me more. I have tins, so I’d just want the tea in baggies. :) I bought mine at Holt Renfrew for $24 a tin.

keychange

don’t worry, OMGsrsly, I’ll be your mad hookup for this tea. Mad.

OMGsrsly

As long as you don’t hulk out and drink ALL the tea (because as a tea hulk, I don’t really see smashing as an option)!

keychange

The one who drinks all the tea around here is ms. sil! lol

OMGsrsly

:D Too true!

Sil

haai! do nooooot… i leave the blergamot stuff…

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TheTeaFairy

Balzac’s cafe…that really sounds like a place you would find Mariage Frères teas!! You’re lucky to have a place where you can pick up any of their teas, no such luck in my neck of the woods!!

keychange

Yeah, I only discovered this because yyz posted in a thread on the boards. Also, they only have a few mf teas—I was also looking for French breakfast, and they said they’d put in a request, so perhaps i’ll get that—but they didn’t have marco polo or some of the other popular blacks. I did have a friend go to London though and she picked me up some other MF teas that I desperately need to try.

OMGsrsly

This is my favourite chai. :) How much are the tins there?

Sil

american breakfast>french breakfast wish id know you wanted french breakfast keychange..would have added some in…or maybe i did..now i can’t remember lol

keychange

Don’t worry about it at all, sil. You’re already far too generous as it is. and omgsrsly, I paid a bit more than eighteen dollars for the 100 g tin.

OMGsrsly

That is amazing. If I run out before Christmas, I might ask you to send me more. I have tins, so I’d just want the tea in baggies. :) I bought mine at Holt Renfrew for $24 a tin.

keychange

don’t worry, OMGsrsly, I’ll be your mad hookup for this tea. Mad.

OMGsrsly

As long as you don’t hulk out and drink ALL the tea (because as a tea hulk, I don’t really see smashing as an option)!

keychange

The one who drinks all the tea around here is ms. sil! lol

OMGsrsly

:D Too true!

Sil

haai! do nooooot… i leave the blergamot stuff…

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Well, it’s been slightly over six months since I’ve joined steepster, and I can’t say enough wonderful things about this community. Like many of you, I began my foray into the world of loose-leaf tea by discovering David’s Tea, and although I’ve ventured out and have discovered many other companies that I’m extremely fond of, there are still many of David’s teas that I hold close to my heart and I will always appreciate it as a starting point for my journey.

As for my preferences, I tend to prefer bold black tea, flavoured and unflavoured alike, and I almost always take my blacks with cream and sugar. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy a good, flavoured white though, and I’m slowly making my way through the incredibly confusing world of oolongs and greens. I am also not a fan of rooibos, although I am starting to suspect green rooibos may be ok, but you know how it is: when you’ve decided you detest a certain ingredient, you’ll notice it everywhere—perhaps even where it doesn’t exist!

Things other than tea: I’m engaged to be married to my best friend, and feel like the richest woman on the planet because of it. I am also a veracious reader, and I also happen to have an obsession with fragrances, and have amassed quite a collection, although it pales in comparison to some collections out there! As a result of this obsession, I also follow several fragrance blogs, and am always up for a chat about scent. I’m also almost completely blind, and this does indeed mean that I come complete with a guide dog, who unlike me, hales from the sunny California campus of Guide dogs for the Blind. I think I’ve rambled on long enough, but if there’s anything you’d like to know or if you just feel like chatting to someone, please don’t hesitate to send me a message.

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