Bougainville

Is this a different base tea from DF’s other flavored blacks? At least I can taste this one, and it’s a reasonable OP. And the flavoring, supposed to be ‘apricot, fig, plum, strawberry, and vanilla,’ well, there is certainly a touch of vanilla plus ‘fruit.’ It’ll make a refreshing iced tea.

Sipdown (231)

My giant Dammann Freres advent calendar arrived today and so in order of its arrival, I am finishing off (what I believe to be) the last Dammann tea I had in my cupboard prior to the order’s arrival. To be extra festive, I even had it in a Christmas-themed mug. Check out the picture here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B372an1hEat/

This tea’s best before date passed in April of this year but it is not bad. It is not great either but that’s likely my fault. I don’t hate the base like I sometimes do in fruity French teas and I think that is because the fruits in this, i.e. plum and fig (which may not actually be in the tea but something tastes like it), tend to compliment that more dark/flat base tea (sorry if this is not making any sense). Essentially this is generically fruity but not in a bright or sweet sort of way. It is more dried fruits-fruity, a little less sweet and slightly passed its prime. Again, that latter part may because the tea is past it’s best before date.
I also get some creaminess which was unexpected. I think that is the vanilla coming through.

Tea Swap Sample Sipdown Catch-Up! 4 of 4 (12)

Yay, my last catch-up swap sample! This one comes from VariaTEA again (she sent me a boatload!).

I would love to try more teas from Dammann Frères, they have so many that sound amazing. But why can’t they just offer 50g sizes?! I would want to order multiple different teas, and there’s no way I could ever drink 100g of each one… So I guess I’ll just wait and see if anyone is up for a group order sometime this year.

This is a nice fruity black tea. I taste the apricot and plum most strongly, and they add a bit of nice tartness. They’re closer to dried fruit or potentially preserves than they are to fresh fruit. The fig adds a nice richness and rounds out the bottom note. I’m not sure that I specifically taste vanilla, but there are some sweet woody notes that sometimes go along with bourbon vanilla.

It’s yummy! I’m not sure it’s unique enough that I would order it, and I do wish there was a stronger vanilla presence to add a nice creamy element.

Sample from VariaTEA I didn’t look this one up so had no idea what the flavouring was. It was a good cup but i had a lot of trouble figuring out what was i was drinking besides “fruity” On seeing the flavlouring, maaaybe i was picking up on the apricot since it wasn’t “red fruit” taste..but i couldn’t say for sure. Fun to try anyway!

This one is a bit of a disappointment, even though it was one I wanted to try more than most others from DF. Apricot, fig, plum, strawberry and vanilla!!! That sounds like my perfect tea! Some of my favorite flavors should be here! I love the idea of all of these flavors here, but the result of the brew isn’t much flavor at all. I can definitely taste SOME sort of fruit flavor, but it’s tough to pick out what they specifically are. I’d guess cherry if I had to. No vanilla. Simply fruit flavor on a black tea base that seems like Ceylon. I hope all DF black teas aren’t Ceylon bases.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoon for a full mug// 12 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Finally, finally thought it was time to write about these DF teas from the group order. THANK YOU SO MUCH to Marzipan for organizing it! I feel so lucky to have been a part of it.

I’ve actually tried a few already but thought I’d write my first note about this one. Its fragrance isn’t as distinctive as some of the others I chose, meaning that I can’t detect the individual fruity notes of strawberry, fig, plum, etc. I can even say that about the flavour. The base is extremely smooth, but the flavour is like a slightly generic mix of dark fruits with a swirl of creamy vanilla. It’s tasty, but if I were to taste this blind, I couldn’t tell you, “Ah, that’s apricot. And strawberry! And there’s definitely some plum in here too.” I wouldn’t buy more but I’ll happily finish up the amount that I snagged.