This is a cheat note – I’ve had this numerous times already. It’s been this year’s holiday tea, as I got if for Christmas. Well, sticking with the theme, it was technically a cheat Christmas gift. Something I was supposed to get did not arrive on time and so I was tasked with finding a temporary replacement …
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gluttonette
Vert à la vanille – Palais des Thés
It’s been a busy end of the year; travel, travel, some more travel and then boom! Christmas! So let me wrap it up with a bit of tea. The word ‘serendipity’ always rubs me the wrong way – possibly because of the sheer, undiluted horrors of that Cusack/Beckinsale romcom (2001?! I can’t believe it’s been …
Cookie – Lupicia
Okay, so this is one tasting note for two individual steeps, because I got SO GREEDY and just had to have another cup. The second I even had… with popcorn! Seriously, this tea is amazing; all malty, buttery caramel popcorn. There is no end to how much I love this.
Flowery Pineapple Oolong – Butiki Teas
The base tea here is wonderful, and the dry tea gets extra bonus points for the big, lush pieces of pineapple. Scent wise, it’s not for me – I get a sweaty, chemical ginger note I’m guessing is the ‘flowery’ part of the equation, and which reminds me of Kusmi’s ginger-lemon on a bad leaf …
Grapefruit Green – Lupicia
In the bag, this perfectly mimics grapefruit – one of those very aromatic grapefruits, with tons of citrus oil in the peel. In the nose there’s definitely rind and bitterness – the full scale of true grapefruitness. In the cup, though, the bitter element is reduced to the slightest hint in the aftertaste, just enough …
Pineapple Oolong – Lupicia
Both pineapple and coconut are flavors that can be very difficult for me to appreciate (see how brave I’ve been this time around – melon, lychee, pineapple and coconut; I’m taking on all my taste nemeses) and in the bag, this is all piña colada, with an emphasis on the coconut. No bland, artificial coconut, though, but …
Lychee Oolong – Butiki Teas
The dry tea carries elegant, perfumed notes of lychee and oolong. I overleafed slightly, and I swear the little Butiki anole on the bag looked at me disapprovingly. Steeped, this smells mostly of really gorgeous oolong. Flavour wise, the balance is absolutely perfect – the lychee is tartripe and ripesweet and sweettart all at once, …
Lychee Oolong – Lupicia
Lychee isn’t really my thing – except for that lychee martini at Doraku, but even then I can only have one. But when it comes to tea, things can really go either way, so I decided to attempt some lychee oolongs. This one from Lupicia is exactly as expected in the bag – a dirty-ripe, …
Cantaloupe and Cream – Butiki Teas
So time for round two of this melon tea extravaganza. This has a subtle cantaloupe/honeydew scent dry. I will admit to cheating a little with the amount of leaf used, going by my previous two instances of following the brewing instructions to a T (again, major punface) with Butiki teas. In the cup, the melon …
L’Oriental – Dammann Frères
Okay, second try, now with boiling water and a 2-minute steep. Much better this time around, but still too subtle in flavour to really convince me it has a personality. But there has to be a way to make the flavours in this one pop. Has to. This is beginning to feel like a So …