Macaron Mangue Jasmin

Saaaad sipdown. Although not as sad as it could be, because this tea is soooo old. Over 3 years I think? I have been cold brewing it regularly and finally used up the last of it today. All that was left of the flavor was some green tea and a hint of mango, but it was still tasty enough, so I used it up.

This is the kind of tea that makes me wish I could buy a smaller amount of these teas. Black teas last for a long time, but greens fade fast. I would totally buy more of this one, but only in some future world where I don’t have a lot of other teas, so I would have a hope of drinking it faster. Until then, adieu!

The papaya bits are subtle and nicely done. The Sencha and jasmine shine, here. It’s a bit sweet and nice hot or cold – but I like cold even better!

I can no longer say “I do not like green tea” after trying these French ones. Me-ow this is good! Subtle and delightful. No bitterness. I’d be hard pressed to name a single flavor – I would not say “jasmine!” or “mango!” or “almond!” but I would say “sweet!” and “nutty!” The only sencha I’ve ever liked comes in these French teas – I wonder what it is about them?! I’m so curious to try more!

Many many MANY thanks for Dinosara for showing me a new facet of my tea personality!

as of today we’ve only been back 2 weeks, and yesterday my boyfriend was already googling all sorts of variations on “the cheapest way to fly to europe”.
it was inevitable.

oh Macaron Mangue Jasmin you are fairly stunning, but see, i have already fallen for another Dammann Freres (…or two hah). alas my heart is spoken for.

again i feel very lucky to have tried this tea and to have a couple more cups to go! i mean, have you seen their catalog it’s HUGEMONGUS! how would anyone expect a girl to get through that on her own. we all need the help of our tea friends don’t we.

Dinosara gave me this sample too. she showered me in the classiest of teas. (you should probably read her posts if you wanna actually know about the tea. she said it so well.)

Finally, after lots and lots of internet-scouring and mistakes, I found this tea in a DF stockist! I was so excited, I absolutely adore macarons, so to hear that macarons can inspire tea flavours as well always makes me so happy. Plus, I got on so well with THE O DOR’s “Je T’aime” pistachio macaron black tea, that I thought I would love this just as much.

It’s very very different, however… For one, it’s a green tea, which I thought was a better choice considering the mango and jasmine scent – it’s lighter and won’t clash with a black tea base flavour. When brewing it, the tea gave off a wonderful aroma of jasmine blossoms and… cake, funnily enough, and slowly became more fruity until I removed the leaves. The liquor was a deep yellow and strongly scented, so I suspected having brewed it a little too long.
However, rather than the light cakey flavour I was expecting, the dominating flavour in this seems to be almonds! Obviously since it’s inspired by the almond meal-based macaron, it would make sense to have some kind of almond perfume, but it’s overpowering! The jasmine and mango are definitely there, no doubt about it, yet I get the impression the jasmine lent some of its strength to the almond, and I had an amaretto-like aftertaste… not amazing, I’m afraid, I’m not a fan of amaretto at all. Sadly it dominated the green tea entirely… A very aromatic tea, and certainly something I would recommend to those who love a unique flavour combination (the maltiness of the almond and the fruity perfume is quite something), but it didn’t hit the “macaron” spot for me, unfortunately. Next time I have this to hand I will brew it a little lighter.

Backlog: I steeped this two nights ago, actually. Yeah, I’m that behind. My little girl isn’t often happy long enough for me to pull out my laptop and write a review.

Anyway, this one was VERY floral, with some marshmallow-y hints that I supposed was intended to be the “macaron” flavor. I’ve never actually had a macaron, but I hear they’re sugary and delicious, much like a marshmallow, so I suppose they did a good job! And I say it was “floral” because while yes, the jasmine flavor was definitely present, it wasn’t the only flower I could detect in there. I wasn’t a huge fan, but kudos to Dammann Fréres for achieving the flavor!

I brewed some of Macaron Mangue Jasmin in parallel with a cup of Si Nancy m’etait conte, for a comparison, since both are green macaron teas. By the way, is there a difference between a macaron flavour and an almond one? I can’t tell.

Anyway, I don’t know if the temperature was too low for this one (72 or so), or if I didn’t put in enough tea or… but the flavours just didn’t come out. It tastes perfectly pleasant, but it also doesn’t really taste like much. Nancy, on the other hand, has a nice taste and aroma with the same temperature and amount of tea. Will have to play around with this one more before I give it a grade. I think I must be missing something, what with all the raves on here.