Le Tour de France

From the Round 3 Here’s Hoping TTB

Tea of the morning. There was one serving of this left in the ttb, and I’m glad I decided to try it because this is some yummy stuff. There’s a good black currant flavor which, while not super strong, is spot on and very fruity. The same is true for the vanilla flavor. No strange artificial flavor. It’s well balanced with the black currant and the base tea. The base tea is medium bodied with just the tiniest bit of dryness at the back of the throat. I may try resteeping this one later today to see if I can coax one more cup out of the leaves.

HHTTB Round 3

Settled down with a cup of this this morning. It was a nice. Definitely very similar to Harney & Sons Paris, which is ironic considering that was the tea I made for my MOH this morning while I was making this one for me. I was lovely and not too overpoweringly flavored. I think I’d choose Paris over this one if I had to choose, though.

It has been an insane weekend, so it was nice to just sit down with a cup of tea for once. This weekend was my 10 year high school reunion, and we had events all weekend. I had a great time and really enjoyed myself, but this introvert was happy to have her quiet home to come back to and sit on the sofa and sip tea in silence. haha. I still cannot believe I’d been 10 years since I graduated high school. weird.

After reading TeaTiff’s review of this one not too long ago, I thought “hmm that sounds good!” and added that at the last-minute to my summer tea order at Gong Fu. What a great unexpected addition it turned out to be! It totally hit the spot! Full-bodied, fruity, vanilla: NAILED IT! This tea is just so satisfactory. It’s elegant, lovely, quite dashing with that nice fruity current taste (and smell! Oh the scent that this tea exudes! I seriously spent pretty much the whole five-minutes while it steeped with my nose practically plastered to the bag, inhaling the delicious aroma).

If this tea were a person, it would be that “tall, dark, and handsome”, smooth, clean-cut dashing gentleman in a spiffy black suit at a party . He’d be French, of course. And if you stand close to him under a starry sky in Paris, you are totally drawn in by the fantastic fragrance of his cologne. Ah, Paris. Ah, strong sweet fruity black tea. I am in love. (If I knew French, this is where I would insert the perfect French phrase). Okay, I know, this all is sounding pretty cliche, but this tea is not cliche. It’s just….wonderful.

The only thing wrong about it is it’s name, in my opinion. I would definitely pick something more romantic than Le Tour de France. Not that Tour de France is not a good association—it’s just that it doesn’t represent the elegance and smoothness and finery that is this tea. I would call it something along the lines of “Moonlight in Paris.” Ooh la la!

I mostly drink scented/flavored teas at work. They are easy and I don’t feel guilty about getting the steep time and water temperature all wrong. When I put in an order for more of my beloved Milk Oolong I also added 2 flavored blacks, this one and Garden Grove. I enjoyed this one the other day, and so far it is hitting me as a tea that is very similar to Paris from Harney and Sons. I will have to drink a cup side by side to be sure. I really enjoyed the base in this one and without tasting them side by side I would say that this one wins, but we shall see. This was a very enjoyable flavored tea for work!