Fleurilège

excuse me while i roll around in this one for a while. Oh man. This is a delicious vanilla and hazelnut tea! I’m not sure what i was expecting when i opened up this sample from dinosara but it wasn’t something this deliciously wonderful! Seriously… oh yum.

I quick note on this before I pass out from exhaustion. I was thinking about the fact that I have pretty much no time for tea drinking with my current schedule, and how I want to do some sipdowns. I figured that I probably have enough time between getting up and starting teaching to drink a cup of tea (I don’t leave a ton of time in the morning; not a morning person). So I made a cup of this in my ceramic “travel” mug (it has a silicone lid). I ran into two issues with this plan:

1. There is a hairline crack in the mug which was hissing during the making of the tea, although it doesn’t seem to have allowed much if any liquid in between the double walls. Ugh I need a new travel mug, but can never find the perfect one (99% ceramic or glass on the inside).

2. I forgot that midway between waking up and getting to work I brush my teeth (after breakfast). I ended up drinking the tea rather quickly pre-toothbrushing, and I guess I will keep trying that for now, but otherwise I don’t know if I have enough time.

Ugh, two more weeks of this heinous schedule. Is it September yet?

This tea just arrived with my order of 16 teas…yes I know 16 teas…:)
I found a lovely website selling Dammann Frères teas by 50 g ! So I was able to order more teas for the same amount.

This one wasn’t in my wish list but I decided to take 100 g to reach 39 € to beneficiate of the free shipping.
This is a great surprise because I like it so much.
As usually the tea base is the same Ceylon +China and the aromas are vanilla and hazelnut.Really nice for breakfast.

So sweet, so mellow, so YUMMY without being exceptional…just YUMMY and that’s really nice enough to me.

This whole Dammann Frères experience is turning a little too existential and emotional. I just wanted to drink some tea, okay? And now I’m forced to reminisce about my dead grandmother and maybe even reevaluate my whole outlook on black teas. I’m packing my trans-Atlantic suitcase right now; I don’t have time for these shenanigans!

But fine. My two top blacks are teas from Mariage Frères – they’re rich and luxurious and very flavourful. I love all those things. But they’re also fairly thick, almost a little muddy, and very dark, which pretty much sums up what I have a hard time handling when it comes to certain blacks.

Dammann’s black bases, on the other hand, leave the liquid a dark amber, and they’re very light and easily drunk. In this case, though, the flavour is a little too delicate to leave me entirely seduced. It’s quite smooth and elegant, but I think I’d like to try a somewhat longer steep to see if I can get some more flavour out of this.

[From my epic Instant-Thé order to Rome, October 2013.]

I served a bunch of teas today, & even managed a few sipdowns in the process, which I’ll report on later. For now, I’m back at Tony’s, working on a few teas I brought with me while he fixes dinner (He truly is the most wonderful man in the world). this tea is a tasty hazelnut & vanilla, from my *Sil*box.

I love the hazelnut in this and the base is really nice – you can’t really go wrong with Dammann. A piece of brioche with this would be heaven and very Proustian. I have a piece leftover in the kitchen – should I?

back with the brioche You know, looking at the ingredients it seems like my brioche has a bit of rum to it which makes a lot of sense. Brioche is not about straight sugar, it has a depth to it, just like maple syrup for example is not just a sweetener but its own particular woody, fabulous taste. Brioche is good at any time but I’m glad I paired it with this tea.

Now I need to find a rum-scented tea. I don’t like alcohol but I’m really curious about the combo. Done right, it could be really decadent. OR a maple syrup tea! Oh my god just the idea of this.

Another winner in my batch of samples from Ysaurella. Thank you again, dear :)

I’m not usually a huge fan of flavored teas. So it’s a bit of a mystery why I’ve ordered several of exactly that from Dammann Freres. This was my first taste, and I’m pretty happy. I mostly taste a warm vanilla, and it’s somehow both obvious and subtle at the same time. It isn’t a fake or chemical-tasting vanilla, but a nice smooth addition to a smooth tea that I’m sure will be terrific iced as well.

How delicious are you, Fleurilège! Hazelnut marshmallow in the pouch and in the cup. And my tastebuds agree. Gooey hazelnut-crusted marshmallow. It even reminds my mom of s’mores. For anyone who has tried Bayswater’s Divine Temptation, it’s kind of like that but not as creamy and sugary. This would be splendid with milk and/or cream, I imagine.

I was worried that this would be too similar to Vanille, but I find this actually has a more balanced flavor. The hazelnut flavor is a nice touch. I’m drinking it at room temperature now, which is probably not the best way to drink it for a tea review, but I like it now. I think it would be good at any temperature, hot, iced, or room temperature. I would serve this to friends.