Mayflower

I went to the DF shop to buy in person the tea Figue Fraîche but they didn’t have it !
I wanted a tea with fig so I bought this one at the MF shop.
MF rarely blends figs (Boléro has some but it’s clearly not the leading note).I found this one by chance just looking at their website and when I didn’t have the chance to buy at DF, I did know what to do instead.

So I am the first to review this tea and it is strange because the name of tea is an homage to you dear North Americans.

The aspect of the dry leaves is really beautiful : beautiful big petals of a mysterious blue flower (MF says this is a flower which is growing on the pacific coast…any idea dear pacific coast residents?)

Once I steeped it 5 minutes and it’s too much, astringency was really there and I disliked it.

I did it again with 4 minutes steeping and this is perfect, no trace of astringency nor bitterness.

The scent of the steeped leaves made me very happy : I had the fruits and especially fig.

Drinking it is a little bit different, I got more vanilla & exotic fruits (weird because not mentioned by MF but I picked Mango first I think)and the fig but behind.
The black Chinese tea base is nice

This is a very nice afternoon tea, it’s probably not to me to say but I think is this is a beautiful tribute to America.

Fig! so that was what the fruit was. I smelled it and was thinking plums or nectarines or something else, but they are right it is fig indeed.

And I got to say this is the weirdest named Mariage Frères tea I ever had. According to them an hommage to America and its pilgrims so they but blue flowers which according to them bloom in the Pacific (! It´s a whole continent away!) rivers and they flavour it with fresh figs and vanilla. Oh dear. Ah, geography.

This was a sample so kindly sent by Ysaurella, thank you so much! I love trying these lesser know Mariage Fréres teas, and often they can be so very good. That is the case this is a very nice smooth black tea base (Ysaurella reports some trickiness while brewing it, I had not read that note yet and was admittedly careless in that first brew but either I got lucky or it just likes my tap water). I do not get much vanilla though I would swear I keep getting a note like plums! Merci, Ysaurella!

This one came as a surprise in my swap with Ysaurella.

For some reason, teas with fig smell like baby food to me. The fig here is apparent, yet not overwhelming. I’m finding it most in the aftertaste and scent. There’s a bit of a floral quality that drowns out the fig in the initial taste. If this one didn’t have a floral quality and was only fig and vanilla, I may have been able to get on board. It’s more up my alley than Figue Fraiche.

Thanks for the opportunity to try more from Mariage Freres Ysuarella!

P.S. I love how “fish broth” is a flavour option, but “fig” isn’t.

Hm. Fig tea, like Figue Fraiche? Sounds yummy. I’m getting little fig out of this however, although there is the mouthfeel of having just bitten into one. Something rich and fruity, with some vanilla. Or perhaps I underleafed, and this required a bit more tea than I’m used to? It’s pleasant, however likely something I’ll finish up and then leave it off my wish list in the future.

Thank you to Ysurella for sharing this with me; I doubt I would have been able to try it otherwise.

Ysaurella sent this my way and after smelling it, i didn’t actually think i would enjoy this one. Well, I was wrong. :) It won’t be my favourite MF tea but there is something intriguing about this particular blend even though there is a note in there that confuses me. This is a pleasant fruity tea with maybe a hint of floral to it, but clearly nothing overly strong or i wouldn’t like it. The fig is hiding in this a little but it’s there if you look for it.
Thank you madam! this was a pleasant surprise :)