Butterscotch

Looks like I am the first to rate this. This is a sample from the recent swap and tea crawl, and I think I got this one from CrowKettle if I’m not mistaken.

This tea kinda smells powdery, and I am really not sure why. It also has a little of that to start. It does meld into a sweet finish though. I can pick up some sweet caramel and butterscotch notes at the back of my throat with the sips. I did add sugar and milk to try to give it a little kickstart on the sweetness and creaminess.

The infusion was a lovely mahogany red shade. I think the only thing that catches me off guard with this one is that powdery start. It’s so unusual. I don’t think the tea is off, because it was sealed in a foil pouch.

I’d say this is an ok tea, but it isn’t something I can’t live without. I’m glad I got to try it.

Not my favourite from Mariage Freres. The Butterscotch flavour is artificial and is sickly sweet. Unlike other teas from this maker which have thick and rich mouthfeel, this is rather thin and watery even after adding full cream milk. Adding milk improves and flattens out the flavour but the artificial aroma and sickly sweet taste (which is almost metallic) remains. Would not recommend.

Well, sad of not being able to get a sample of their oriental beauty, I lower my sights and asked for a sample of this tea. A full change of registry! But I also wanted to taste this famous tea.

“Butterscotch” the term for a French, does not really mean anything. In fact I know by now there is a kind of Scottish caramel made of brown sugar mixture and butter, molasse. But before I thought it was a kind of cake … well … I had to taste a butterscotch shortbread … which explains my mistake … I’m ignorant :)

The dry leaf displays a very strong fanatic fragrance (yes fanatic, not fantastic) of caramel: even with a big cold I don’t think possible for anyone not to detect the caramel because it is really so strong. And it’s not the smell of a light, sweet caramel; it smells like an aggressive caramel, very very red, not the little light caramel found on a tiered cake!

The leaves are cut rather short with a lot of very small twigs: suddenly I get scared and decide not infuse it more than 2 minutes 30 and at 90 ° C.

I get a wet leaf that looks like “packets”. I wonder what taste I’ll get in the end…

The liquor is a very dark amber brown very …caramel … actually …

And the surprise happens at the very end and essential chapter in the art of tea: the taste ! this tea is amazing! It is relatively smooth, very soft and the taste of this caramel is truly unique, very present but not too strong – that unique taste that I do not know, I love it … it’s probably that… the butterscotch … it should make sense isn’t? :)

Some pic of the tea (dry, wet leaves and liquor) are available here : http://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/butterscotch-mariage-freres/

I added milk to this morning’s cup and I think it’s a good thing I did. The milk adds a bit of creaminess and fullness to the cup. Without it, it could get a little bit thin and almost coppery? The start of the sip is mostly vanilla and rum for me and it slowly turns into a thick and sweet butterscotch flavor. This flavor works really well with the tea base which comes as a surprise since I thought the two would clash. The tea leaf and the flavor are balanced quite well!

This was a nice and sweet cup of tea to start my day. I don’t think I would buy more simply because there are other flavors that I enjoy more, but it’s certainly a must-try for those who like butterscotch! Thank you ToiToi for a sample of this.