The dry tea smells absolutely gorgeous. There’s fruit with a kick of sweetness, followed by that characteristic sea-buckthorn tea scent that’s so hard to characterize. (The wet tea leaves smell like waterlogged puffed rice!) In the cup, the scent is more vegetal than sweet, again in the typical manner of sea-buckthorn brews. The sweet fruity …
Month
Showing: 1 - 10 of 13 RESULTS
August 2013
Fruites del bosc – Tea Shop of East West Company
I’m cheating just a bit – I had this before, but as an after-dinner tea to accompany raspberry sorbet. It turned the whole thing into the most berryful of orgies, so I didn’t bother with a tasting note. I still find flavoured black teas slightly overwhelming at times. There’s just so much of everything. Then …
Vert Provence – Mariage Frères
Much like in the case of Rouge Provence, this is a tea I gifted someone who ended up hogging it relentlessly – you know, ‘I swear I saved some for you, but then I was all out of tea and I HAD to drink it!’ (Uh-huh.), so it does seem it has a certain suave appeal. In …
Thé des Impressionnistes – Mariage Frères
The first time I smelled this tea, it was so familiar. I’m absolutely elated it only took one more whiff to figure it out, because it’s a weird one and it would have driven me crazy trying to hunt it down. Dry, Thé des Impressionistes smells like… Shea Butter Hand Repair Cream with Cocoa Butter …
Thé Vert Marco Polo – Mariage Frères
When I buy teas, I generally pick them out myself, going on scent alone – this is why so many of my ratings are clustered in the 80-90 range; I know what I’m going to like in the cup. When I procure tea in a different manner, though, anything can happen. For my latest Mariage …
Wedding Impérial – Mariage Frères
I suppose the time has come for me to confess I’m not a big fan of the kind of ‘dessert tea’ that contains large chunks of chocolate and caramel and whatnot. I’d rather just have a hot chocolate, complete with rum and whipped cream and vanilla extract and all the decadent little trimmings. I do …
Thé à l’Opéra – Mariage Frères
So what do you do when you have a self-imposed ban on buying more teas? Outsmart yourself, of course. Maybe one of your friends has a small debt to repay. Perhaps said friend is going on a trip. Maybe, just maybe, you refuse cash, but suggest your friend repay you in tea instead? This is …
Safari – Bönor & blad
I’m pretty sure this is the same tea found here: https://www.tehusetjava.se/product/safari-losvikt. Its origin escapes me – all the main tea chains in Sweden seem to share certain blends. I got this for a friend to try, but ended up with some that didn’t fit into the special Gluttonette-fashioned Tea Travel Set™ gift canister. I get no …
Kustfägring (Coastal Beauty) – Bönor & blad
I’m not sure if this is the same tea as this one: http://steepster.com/teas/kahls/30691-kustfagring. I guess it’s possible Bönor & blad sell teas from Kahls, or maybe this is just one of those common blends I never realize is a common blend until I’ve come across it in fifteen different stores. Either way, this is really excellent …
Kvitten (Quince) – Kränku
I do love a bit of quince jam and the characteristic tart-ripe note of the fruit is indeed highly present scent wise in the dry tea. Unfortunately, this complexity doesn’t quite translate to the cup – the main body of the scent matches that of the flavour, but the quincey aftertaste goes missing somewhere along …