I picked this up on a whim when I was in the grocery store the other day. I won’t lie, it was because I thought the box was pretty [but it also helped that I’d had a good experience with Mariage Frères previously].
The dry leaves have a strong scent, reminiscent of the great Marco Polo experience of 2009 [ah, 2009] except instead of smelling like Strawberries on Steroids [coming atcha in 2011] it smells like Cherry Blossoms on PCP. So, delicious.
The scent actually reminds me of a few things. Grenadine, for one. Also, some types of gum. Extra, maybe, or Bubblicious. But most of all, Mr. Bubble bubble bath, which my parents would not let me or my brother have anymore after one of us dumped half a container in the bathtub. [I still maintain that it was him.]
Taste wise, this tea is light, like sugared flowers. That kind of light. It’s sweet, and that stays with me in the aftertaste and pulses in intensity as I breathe in and out.
It actually reminds me of Ludens cough drops, which, as anyone who has them may be aware, can be most accurately called candy. They do not taste like cough drops. I am 98% sure they are just candy and have little to no medicinal value. They taste a hell of a lot better than regular cough drops do as a result [if you like candy, that is] and I would beg my dad to bring some home when I was sick. [He often did, on the condition that I actually ate one real cough drop for every three Ludens or something like that.] Anyhow, this tea reminds me of that, just with the volume turned down a bit.
If I were to sum up this tea in one word, it would be sparkling. It seems to shimmer with sweetness, and has this almost nectar-like quality to it.
Mariage Frères didn’t offer any insight for steeping, so I put it in for three minutes, drank about a third of the cup, stuck it in for two more, and then drank the rest. The three minute mark had more flavor, so next time I’ll try a full cup there and probably continue to play around with some more steep times and stuff. I know that I’m tired because in that previous sentence, I wrote “but so and,” so…I’m going to stop here.
Oh, except to say that this note is based on the 3 minute steeping because I liked the flavor better there.
Okay, but so and good nighting!
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I’ve been known to do that too, buy something because the box was pretty. If the contents of the not so pretty box sound more interesting than the contents of the pretty box it can turn into quite a dilemma. I go by the most interesting label too when choosing wine. :)
It is a beautiful tin. How come my grocery store doesn’t carry teas in pretty tins? They don’t have any loose teas at all.
@Angrboda I also buy the pretties.
Looks and sounds very pretty! The thought of sugared flowers makes me happy.
I secretly used to love getting a cold so I could eat those Ludens. I’d go through an entire bag at a time. I also used to really like the Celestial Seasonings cough drops, but they discontinued those. The berry ones were really good!
Anyway, glad this one tastes as nice as the tin looks!
Wow! I want to shop at that grocery store! The tea sounds really unique and delicious.
@everyone I’d like to say that I read through all of the descriptions and then make an at least semi-informed decision, but what happens is I start reading everything and then I forget what’s what and I get both bored and overwhelmed at the same time and so I just go “YER PURTY” and grab it if it sounds decent. Plus, Mariage Frères and some of these other people don’t name some of their teas super descriptively. I mean, “Fall in Love”?
I should also mention that I went out to Balducci’s, which is hardly my daily grocer. I don’t roll deep like that. It’s a smaller, frou-frou grocery store that I go to sometimes when I’m in need of something that’s harder to find for cooking purposes. Now I’m going to be going there for tea purposes too, it seems, since they carry a lot of good looking stuff!
@teaplz They’re so good! I don’t know if they still make them this way, but they used to have them in these little boxes with this wax paper bag inside. Something about that felt old to me, so I used to pretend that my stuffed animals were sick too and that it was their medicine when we were “out on the trail.” Except then I’d try to ford the river and our wagon would tip over and somebody would die of dysentery.
But you always have to ford the river, because choosing any of the other options is for chumps.
Also, you always killed way more than you could carry back to your wagon. It’s not your fault you’d see nothing but rabbits for ages and then BAM, bison. I mean what can you do? Really?
I know! Stupid bison.
I also seem to recall a spinoff of OT called Amazon Trail that was essentially exactly the same but with a graphics upgrade. [And also it was set in the Amazon.] I think there might have been some extra mini-games. If I’m remembering correctly, I also got it out of a Cheerios box. I think you got to spear fish in that one instead of shooting stuff.
I always caulked the wagon and floated it. And sometimes it’d be too heavy because I was PARANOID AT THE GENERAL STORE and bought like, 5,000 of everything. And then the wagon would sink. PITIFUL.
There was Yukon Trail as well!
OMG Amazon Trail! When I was in elementary school my class would play it sort of as a problem-solving lesson. I seem to recall a magical black jaguar that sent you on a quest to get things for the Inca King in the Lost City or something. And I remember that we had to take picture of animals and ID them. It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a computer class.
And I crashed the boat. A lot. XD
@teaplz I was going to say that I don’t think I ever played Yukon Trail, but then I wiki’d it and I remember it vaguely. I think that ten-year-old me somehow knew that there were talking jaguars on the way and thus lost interest too quickly to play much of it. That, or it might have been right around the time when I became obsessed with Duck Hunt…
@Jillian Holy crap. I remember the jaguar now. HAHAHA. And the picture taking. It was like the predecessor to Pokémon Snap. [Did anyone else see the new HAWP? Oh, man. So disturbing. And hilarious.]
@notarevolution Do it! Watch out for them squirrels!
You lot are inspiring. I had to pay a visit to abandonia.com last night because of you. :)
I’ve been known to do that too, buy something because the box was pretty. If the contents of the not so pretty box sound more interesting than the contents of the pretty box it can turn into quite a dilemma. I go by the most interesting label too when choosing wine. :)
It is a beautiful tin. How come my grocery store doesn’t carry teas in pretty tins? They don’t have any loose teas at all.
@Angrboda I also buy the pretties.
Looks and sounds very pretty! The thought of sugared flowers makes me happy.
I secretly used to love getting a cold so I could eat those Ludens. I’d go through an entire bag at a time. I also used to really like the Celestial Seasonings cough drops, but they discontinued those. The berry ones were really good!
Anyway, glad this one tastes as nice as the tin looks!
Wow! I want to shop at that grocery store! The tea sounds really unique and delicious.
@everyone I’d like to say that I read through all of the descriptions and then make an at least semi-informed decision, but what happens is I start reading everything and then I forget what’s what and I get both bored and overwhelmed at the same time and so I just go “YER PURTY” and grab it if it sounds decent. Plus, Mariage Frères and some of these other people don’t name some of their teas super descriptively. I mean, “Fall in Love”?
I should also mention that I went out to Balducci’s, which is hardly my daily grocer. I don’t roll deep like that. It’s a smaller, frou-frou grocery store that I go to sometimes when I’m in need of something that’s harder to find for cooking purposes. Now I’m going to be going there for tea purposes too, it seems, since they carry a lot of good looking stuff!
@teaplz They’re so good! I don’t know if they still make them this way, but they used to have them in these little boxes with this wax paper bag inside. Something about that felt old to me, so I used to pretend that my stuffed animals were sick too and that it was their medicine when we were “out on the trail.” Except then I’d try to ford the river and our wagon would tip over and somebody would die of dysentery.
But you always have to ford the river, because choosing any of the other options is for chumps.
Also, you always killed way more than you could carry back to your wagon. It’s not your fault you’d see nothing but rabbits for ages and then BAM, bison. I mean what can you do? Really?
I know! Stupid bison.
I also seem to recall a spinoff of OT called Amazon Trail that was essentially exactly the same but with a graphics upgrade. [And also it was set in the Amazon.] I think there might have been some extra mini-games. If I’m remembering correctly, I also got it out of a Cheerios box. I think you got to spear fish in that one instead of shooting stuff.
I always caulked the wagon and floated it. And sometimes it’d be too heavy because I was PARANOID AT THE GENERAL STORE and bought like, 5,000 of everything. And then the wagon would sink. PITIFUL.
There was Yukon Trail as well!
OMG Amazon Trail! When I was in elementary school my class would play it sort of as a problem-solving lesson. I seem to recall a magical black jaguar that sent you on a quest to get things for the Inca King in the Lost City or something. And I remember that we had to take picture of animals and ID them. It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a computer class.
And I crashed the boat. A lot. XD
@teaplz I was going to say that I don’t think I ever played Yukon Trail, but then I wiki’d it and I remember it vaguely. I think that ten-year-old me somehow knew that there were talking jaguars on the way and thus lost interest too quickly to play much of it. That, or it might have been right around the time when I became obsessed with Duck Hunt…
@Jillian Holy crap. I remember the jaguar now. HAHAHA. And the picture taking. It was like the predecessor to Pokémon Snap. [Did anyone else see the new HAWP? Oh, man. So disturbing. And hilarious.]
@notarevolution Do it! Watch out for them squirrels!
You lot are inspiring. I had to pay a visit to abandonia.com last night because of you. :)