Marie-Antoinette

Love it’s taste !!!

Yay for more tea from Dustin!

Dustin sent so many teas from my wishlist for me to try, including this one. It’s so unashamedly floral – I love it! Still have lots of this one left so will write a proper review at some point later on. I drank it so quickly that all I remember is its strong floral aroma which reminds me of my favorite floral tea (Valley of the Heart’s Delight by Satori).

Gifted

The aroma from the dry leaf is sweet rose petals and a slight tinge of cinnamon. I think about the champagne gummy bears that my wife and I get from our local Marshall’s when we’re feeling bourgeois.

The wet leaf has more of the black tea base jump out, less rose than the dry leaf, and a little more cinnamon. They should make this into a perfume.

On the flavor, I tasted heavy black tea base (smooth & mildly malt), definitely the rose, and an ever slight hint of marshmallow (the marshmallow when cream is added). I definitely find this tea to inspire a bit of poetry or perhaps a moment to write a postcard to a friend (yes, I write/collect postcards)! Quite a lovely session. :)

I was absolutely fascinated that this tea brand has been around since the 1600s. I watched a youtube vid of someone explaining why this tea would not have been the exact one that Marie would have drank but its fun nonetheless. Sounds super fancy with apples and roses growing from Versailles. Anyway, when I first got it the floral apple scent was quite overwhelming and I didn’t like it at first. Until I began adding milk and sugar. Then I loved it. I’m a fan. Kinda pricy…. But maybe worth an occasional treat

Happy National Random Acts of Kindness Day! Today for the sipdown thread the prompt is “drink a tea that was kindly gifted to you!” Dustin kindly gave me several extra French tea samples above and beyond the THEODOR ones I purchased, including this one! Brewed as my morning cuppa.

Made my first cup with my typical black tea parameters: 2.5g to 350ml 205F water, steeped for three minutes. The packet says to use shorter steeps, but since in general I trend to using a lot less leaf than most folks, I decided to start with my standard, then adjust for the second cup if needed. I find it interesting that the company page says the flavoring is rose and apple, because the aroma I got sniffing the dry leaf was a mix of pear, black currant, and purple grape candy!

The aroma from my cooling cup mostly just smells like pear to me, but knowing that it is supposed to be apple, I can certainly get green apple. I’m definitely smelling rose now; a gentle, sweet floral, finely mixed with the fruity aroma and not overpowering. I’m not getting a strong astringent bite from the tea liquor on the sip, so I think it steeped just fine; the base is a touch malty and a touch smoky, neither characteristics I’d peg for a Ceylon, but that’s what I taste. The fruitiness on the sip still presents as pear to me, with soft rosy undertones. I like the flavor pairing. It’s only long after the sip, once the tea has settled on my tongue, that a mellow sweet red apple flavor emerges.

This is nice! I’m really digging the rose paired with a sweet fruitiness. Thanks for the chance to try it, Dustin!

Advent from Dustin Day 8
(backlog)
Another absolutely delicious tea from Dustin! This smells divine- like honeyed rose petals and sticky sweet apples. Tastes pretty much exactly as it smells. The rose and apple work so well together. There’s actually a tearoom near me that’s doing afternoon tea to go and they offer this as a selection, so I may have to treat myself!

I have to assume that the adorable little red tin of Nina’s tea I have is this tea… I don’t recall who gave it to me, but it looks like black tea + rose petals, and it tastes like a mouthful of roses. Anyways – I previously posted about a tea labelled floral death, but that label should really be on this tea. It’s literally like rose perfume. In my mouth. I am not a fan, it’s just far too strong. Thanks for the sample, though, whoever this is from!

This is such a delicate tea! I don’t mean that it’s weak, or that the flavours are hard to find, but it’s just delicate, you know? It feels pretty. The apple and rose flavours go very well together, and I am a fan of rose tea so it’s no surprise that I like this one. The apple isn’t as strong, but it’s definitely there. As others have mentioned it’s not a sweet red apple flavour, but a more fresh, crisp green apple note. I added a little bit of sugar and the fruitiness popped a little more. My only qualm with this tea is that the base is a little bit strong for the flavour pairing. It’s malty, bold and astringent (only a little bit), and it makes me want to add milk though I didn’t because I don’t think it would go with the rose and apple flavours. I can’t help wishing that a more delicate black tea base had been utilised for this blend; something a little bit floral or honey-like, perhaps. This Ceylon has just a little bit too much punch. I haven’t drank this since I was first sent the sample, and at that time I drank most of my black teas, flavoured or not, with a splash of milk. I remember enjoying it this way, but can’t say if the flavours still came through or not. This could quite possibly make its way into a future order, providing it still exists.

Thank you VariaTEA for sending me this! Sipdown 140/395.

This was really good with a splash of milk. The scent of the dry tea leaves is overtly “apple” – but the flavour is much more mellow. You can taste the black tea, but with a crisp apple taste and very subtle rose as well. The rose was my favourite part. The two compliment each other very well. (p.s: The tin is so elegant!)

I was shuffling stuff and, inevitably, tea stuff around the other day and came across a treasure trove of now aging samples from VariaTEA. Ooops. I had been wondering where those had gotten to.

Rose. A lot of rose. It was only when I peeked at previous comments that I noticed apple too. Sip, sip. Yes, apple—kind of like Granny Smith—if I squint.

Thank you, VariaTEA. Sorry that this and a few others got away from me.