Sakura Thé Blanc

I pretty much adore this tea but I think that it is kind of odd that I do. It smells so sweet! Like little-ball-of-marzipan-candy sweet. And the taste! It’s a light, sweet, floral and slightly earthy tea with faint notes of wood or nuts and then a lovely sweet floral poof at the end and then a chaser of marzipan that can in no way be natural but I still luf it muchly. Just thinking of this tea gives me the urge to sprinkle glitter and candied flowers over everything and dance around a garden in a white gauzy dress.

(The second steep (also at 3min) is my favorite. The marzipan and flowers thing doesn’t change (if anything it may be a little sweeter), it just smoothes out a little compared to steep number one. I still need the glitter, candied flowers, garden and dress to really set the mood.)
2.5g/5oz

I picked this up on a whim when I was in the grocery store the other day. I won’t lie, it was because I thought the box was pretty [but it also helped that I’d had a good experience with Mariage Frères previously].

The dry leaves have a strong scent, reminiscent of the great Marco Polo experience of 2009 [ah, 2009] except instead of smelling like Strawberries on Steroids [coming atcha in 2011] it smells like Cherry Blossoms on PCP. So, delicious.

The scent actually reminds me of a few things. Grenadine, for one. Also, some types of gum. Extra, maybe, or Bubblicious. But most of all, Mr. Bubble bubble bath, which my parents would not let me or my brother have anymore after one of us dumped half a container in the bathtub. [I still maintain that it was him.]

Taste wise, this tea is light, like sugared flowers. That kind of light. It’s sweet, and that stays with me in the aftertaste and pulses in intensity as I breathe in and out.

It actually reminds me of Ludens cough drops, which, as anyone who has them may be aware, can be most accurately called candy. They do not taste like cough drops. I am 98% sure they are just candy and have little to no medicinal value. They taste a hell of a lot better than regular cough drops do as a result [if you like candy, that is] and I would beg my dad to bring some home when I was sick. [He often did, on the condition that I actually ate one real cough drop for every three Ludens or something like that.] Anyhow, this tea reminds me of that, just with the volume turned down a bit.

If I were to sum up this tea in one word, it would be sparkling. It seems to shimmer with sweetness, and has this almost nectar-like quality to it.

Mariage Frères didn’t offer any insight for steeping, so I put it in for three minutes, drank about a third of the cup, stuck it in for two more, and then drank the rest. The three minute mark had more flavor, so next time I’ll try a full cup there and probably continue to play around with some more steep times and stuff. I know that I’m tired because in that previous sentence, I wrote “but so and,” so…I’m going to stop here.

Oh, except to say that this note is based on the 3 minute steeping because I liked the flavor better there.

Okay, but so and good nighting!

Another tea from the lovely Takgoti.

The scent of this tea reminds me of cherries, but not the fresh, juicy sort; it’s more of a candied smell. It brings to mind those sugared blossoms that are sometimes used to decorate cakes.

Taste-wise mostly what I’m getting is the white tea (which is quite nice, BTW) with a hint of something floral and sweet at the end of each sip.

THIS IS DELICIOUS (but lacked in steeping instructions).
Sweet like sugared flowers, or more like flowers made of sugar.

Conversely, the smell reminds me of cherry losanges and I was bummed with the quantity in the tin. But don’t let this put you off from a solid Bai Mu Dan with an addicting flavor.

This is unlike other sakura teas I’ve tasted. In fact, I don’t know what I’m tasting, but it is pleasant. The texture is thick, the taste is fruity. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. Me gusta.

what a beautiful taste. its like perfume for the mouth. it has a great smooth, floral, aromatic taste that is to be savored.

French Friday! This sampler was kindly provided by Cameron, thank you Cameron! I had a French sakura tea from Palais de Thes yesterday, so I thought it would be interesting to compare them. (Also, this is my S entry for Ode to Tea! I only need to finish up the sipdown on my K tea and then sipdown a B tea and I’ll be done with the 26 sipdowns!)

Prepared 2.3g for 350ml of 185F water, steeped for three minutes. The aroma of this is almost a dead ringer for the Fleur de Geisha tea I had yesterday, except the aromatics seem to be a bit more on the floral/sweet site than the fruity cherry side (I definitely smell both flowers and cherry, though). The aroma also reminds me a little of grape candy, somehow…

Huh. The tea tastes just like grape candy, too! Not sure why I’m getting that strong grapey/muscatel note, but I don’t taste cherry (just grape) because of it. There is a hint of a cherry-esque note toward the very end of my sip, but during the sip, it’s all a sweet and syrupy grape. I wonder if they used any jasmine flavor for the floral? Jasmine can often taste like grapes to me. The white base is coming through too, as I’m getting a bit of a cucumber water, wildflower honey, and fresh grass. Very pleasant, I’m often extremely let down with flavored whites because they always seem to use such LQ white tea for the base which is very distracting. This is one I could easily drink without the flavorings.

Of the two, Fleur de Geisha definitely reminds me the most of sakura, but that doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying this cup. I’m just enjoying it as a very floral and muscatel white!

This is another awesome share from Cameron!

This smells exactly like a red Life Saver (are these even a thing anymore?), and tastes like one too. Thanks Cameron!

Hmm…

I’m just not a fan of this. The base tea is fine, but the flavoring is just too… something. It’s very candylike cherry, almost medicinal like a lozenge. It has a powdery sweet floral quality as well.

This tea is a few years old, so normally I would potentially toss the remainder. But the flavor still seems potent, and being a Mariage Frères tea, which are a bit of a pain to get here in the US, I think I’ll keep it around in my swap box where hopefully it can eventually make its way to someone who will enjoy it more.