Sans Complexe

I’m forcing myself to go through my tea stash and pay attention to some of the ones that have been sitting there waiting for me to drink them and much of my The O Dor collection is sitting very pretty, like a well dressed Parisian woman waiting.

At first sniff: I can picture in my head the meringue peaks with toasted caps and how the sugar smells mixed with the egg whites. It literally smells like that to a T. The lemon notes wrap around this smell and then develop the more complex (ha ha, it’s without complexity though right?) smells and aromas. Some days I love it and some days I think it smells almost like soured baked goods.

At first steep: I’ve been following The O Dor’s instructions on brewing lately, to see if I’ve been doing something wrong with every other cup I’ve brewed with them. They seem finicky with black flavoured teas. I brewed at 85C and for 6 mins, because I’ve found the 3-5 it says just isn’t bold enough for this girl first thing in the morning. The lemon comes out much stronger after it has been brewed and that lovely meringue taste fades to the background slightly. I added milk and stevia to it and the stevia brings the meringue back into play, but the lemon is definitely taking a stroll on my taste buds. Although not my favourite The O Dor blend, I do like it when I’m in the mood for a light dessert.

Side note: I tried to do a re-order of some of my favourites on their website… the shipping is upwards of 50Euros…. for a few 100g of tea. Sigh… why must stores in Vancouver bring in high end French things and then change companies (I’m looking at you TWG.) Well, might just be worth it to make a trip there, vs paying that ridiculous charge. With the exchange rate, I’m paying 1.5 to 1 basically. Yeeesh…. I’ll just sip my sans complexe nicely… and lovingly.

The liquor reminds me of some type of cookie dough. Sugar cookie or snickerdoodle maybe? Not big on the taste at first as it enters your mouth. Sort of artificial.
But as it lingers a bit I get a sense of lemon cookie, sugar lemon cookie, with bits of wood accents and malt o meal. The wet aroma is much the same as the dry. It’s good and I’m glad I tried it but I don’t know that I would buy it.

Hot, this didn’t taste like much. Cooled, it tastes like chocolate or other desserty flavors. The flavoring could definitely be less mild, but my cup of this was pleasant enough with milk and sugar. It was sort of cookie-ish. Thanks to the TTB for this one!

Tastes like a toffee lemon cookie. A bit of cookie sweetness, and a bit lemony. Not the best I’ve had of this flavor profile, but certainly not bad.

French Friday! This sampler courtesy of Dustin, thank you! (Only three more to go!)

I haven’t been drinking much hot tea lately on account of the weather here being solidly in the 90s for weeks now, but I also have felt more more tired lately, I believe due to not having my typical warm cuppa of black or green tea in the morning and only drinking cold brews (which extract much less caffeine, or happen to be herbals). So this morning I prepared this warm to sip before work, but may throw any leftovers in the fridge to turn to a chilled brew to drink later.

The dry leaf aroma really reminded me of a buttery lemon cookie! Brewed 2.5g to 350ml 205F water for three minutes. I’m still getting that aroma from the steeped cup, though a lemon cream smell is most dominant.

Mmm, the steeped tea definitely has a biscuity taste to it, with a sweet lemon that fills out over the tongue mid to late sip. The lemon tastes creamy, but also has a hint of tang that gives it just enough sharpness to not taste artificial. I’m really digging this lemon cookie vibe! Probably one of my favs thus far.

Thanks Dustin!

I’ve had this tea for a while and decided to do a restock on this recent order. I’m puzzled why I haven’t written a tasting note before and why it gets a thumbs down in so many reviews. It’s lemony for sure. I don’t know that I get a bright lemon, more of a baked or defanged lemon with deeper caramel like notes behind it. I get a little tartness in the sip on top of the deeper flavors of the tea base. Towards the end of the sip the lemon starts to come out and lingers into the finish. I suppose it could have a little more going on in it, but I enjoy it as is.

Something about this screamed chocolate to me but then I remembered this is meant to be a lemon meringue tea. Yeah, not getting that at all. If I concentrate really hard I maybe get a touch of lemon but that’s it. It’s not a bad cup by any means as the base itself seems flavorful but the flavors premises just aren’t there. Nonetheless, I am grateful to Sil for the share because this is one I would have grabbed and been disappointed by and then stuck with probably 50-100g. Gotta love tea friends who enable you to try before you buy.

When I smelled this tea, I thought it would be the best tea I ever tasted. Smelled exactly like a slice of lemon merengue cake. Unfortunately, the scent did not transfer through to the flavor of the tea when brewed. I tried several different temperatures and quantities when brewing a cup and nothing seemed to help bring out that lost lemon merengue flavor. It tastes like an astringent black tea with moderate lemon flavor – or perhaps more appropriately, a candied lemon peel flavor, as another reviewer noted., combined with subtle notes of vanilla and caramel. The tea does get bitter very quickly, even when brewed at the recommended temp or below the recommended temp (I tried 175 F as well). Really, I think the astringency of the black tea overpowers the intended flavor profile of the tea. Definitely a disappointment for me. I definitely expect more from a company like THE O DOR which is capable of producing some very nice flavored black teas. I will probably use the rest of this tea for making sweetened ice tea since I don’t see myself wanting to drink it otherwise.

Another tea swap rescue from the back of the cupboard. I looked this up online to see what type of flavor I should expect and was very excited when I discovered this tea has been blended to invoke a lemon Meringue pie… Only like my favorite desert ever (well, after chocolate turtle cheesecake). I couldn’t boil the kettle quick enough!

Unfortunately I think this tea might be a little old, it’s still pretty darn delicious, but I’m getting more malt and chocolate flavors than I am tangy citrus or creamy meringue… No, wait, as it cools there is a definite tart but sweet lemon flavor starting to punch through… It’s soft, but it’s there.

I would LOVE to purchase more of this so I can experience it in all its glory and I almost pulled the trigger on an order despite being on a buying hiatus until I got to the shipping costs… Woah! €63.60 in shipping for 11 oz of tea?? Holy cow!! I’d be paying $258 for the order… That’s almost $24 an ounce… Ok, back away from the computer, stop hyperventilating and delete that shopping cart immediately… wow, just wow… Sorry tea, I really like you, but not that much!

this tea confuses me. i don’t get lemon meringue pie…or even lemon really. maybe super subtley but not enough…i had the same challenge with buttermilk lemon from Tea G, so maybe there’s something about that sort of flavouring that just doesn’t work for my tastebuds – they’re deficient or something lol. doesn’t mean i don’t like the cup of tea..but for me this is more vanilla like than lemon.