French Friday! Pulled my first French tea sampler out of the stash Dustin sent me to try. The dry leaf has a soft, candied strawberry sort of aroma. Steeped 2.6g to 350ml 205F water for 3 minutes. The aroma is even more pronounced from the wet leaf, though rather than smelling of strawberries, it has more of a candied tropical fruits note.
The aroma on my cooling thermos is still sweet/candied, and just a little floral, like a wildflower honey. I smell strawberry, grape, pineapple, mango, and even a subtle melon aroma. But the way the sweetness and fruity aromas are colliding, it makes me feel as if I’m sticking my nose into a bag of multi-fruit flavored candies, like Skittles, and attempting to smell individual fruits, when really they just smell… like Skittles. Sweet and fruity.
Since I don’t like my black teas bitey and tend to use a lot less leaf than pretty much anyone recommends, I have a very smooth cup; my experiences with Marco Polo, even using the same leaf-to-water ratio and steeping parameters, brought out a lot more astrigency/drying in the cup. The black tea itself has a bit of a bready quality, as well as some minerality, but mostly I taste the fruit, which still has that sort of perfumy quality. It doesn’t feel oily or waxy on my tongue like Marco Polo did, though (which makes me wonder if perhaps the age of that sample had done something weird with the flavoring oils). I taste that soft, candy-like strawberry note, and sometimes I taste purple grape (like the kind found in candies/drinks) left on my tongue. Sometimes rather than getting strawberry in a sip, I get a sort of mixed tropical fruit flavor. It’s a very strange experience, since my nose or tongue seem to read different fruit notes on different sips!
I am enjoying this cuppa and will be working on it throughout the day, with a top-off during my lunch break. Thanks Dustin!
Flavors: Bread, Candy, Floral, Flowers, Fruity, Grapes, Honey, Mango, Melon, Mineral, Perfume, Pineapple, Smooth, Strawberry, Sweet, Tropical
