Bonsoir Steepster! I’ve just returned from another trip to Paris, a daytrip this time, and again I’m loaded with various teas I’m all excited to try :)
First off: I bought this tea because of the name. As a classics student anything with a mythology or ancient language-inspired name is going to catch my interest. However Artemis seemed too similar to another rooibos I had which I didn’t like, and Apollon was out of stock – so this is the next best thing! Métis, which called to mind resourceful Odysseus’ cunning plan when he told the cyclops that his name was ‘me tis’, “nobody”. Turns out Métis is also the name of Athene’s mother whom Zeus swallowed. The more you know!
The scent is very pungent, not purely because of the rooibos base, but there’s a hint of spice and, dare I say it, the lavender seems to be the root of that floral liqueur, as well as the sharpness of the red berries. The taste is overall very complex and floral and sweet without being like a perfume (as lavender and mallow flowers can be!) – more like a sweet, candied-flower dessert? Apparently spices are in this tea as well but they aren’t coming out as strongly as they do in other MF rooibos teas such as Nil Rouge – if they’re there at all I wouldn’t say they do anything other than round off the flowery, fruity flavours to something clean and fresh-tasting.
Something different, and with such a pretty name I don’t think I’ll have any problems getting through this :)
Preparation
Comments
in addition of the mythology sense, métis is also the adjective we use in French to speak about a “mixed-race” person – the word in English seems awful for a French-we avoid to use the word race (anyway there is only one race – the human one)
Can we consider this blend to be a mixed of several very different tastes ?
Ahhh I didn’t realise! I’ve had my head in classics books so much that I didn’t think about looking it up… That’s probably a better reading of it. The only thing I could find in common with mythology was that the Artemis tea was also rooibos!
in addition of the mythology sense, métis is also the adjective we use in French to speak about a “mixed-race” person – the word in English seems awful for a French-we avoid to use the word race (anyway there is only one race – the human one)
Can we consider this blend to be a mixed of several very different tastes ?
Ahhh I didn’t realise! I’ve had my head in classics books so much that I didn’t think about looking it up… That’s probably a better reading of it. The only thing I could find in common with mythology was that the Artemis tea was also rooibos!
MF probably plays on the double meaning :)