Fauchon

Wow, thank you so much boychik for sending me a sample of this tea! I was broke during the last Vente-Privee sale, and would have been reluctant to purchase whole tins in the future without tasting them first anyway.

Could this possibly be the perfect chocolate tea? PERHAPS! It is rich and creamy and so chocolatey, without being bitter or artificial at all, and I didn’t even add ANY sweetener! The base tea is mild and pleasant, and everything seems to meld together so nicely. I’m definitely going to set aside some money to grab a tin of this one the next time it is available.

From the queue

MissB shared a sample of this one with me, and for those who don’t speak French (I don’t; I looked it up), the name is ‘peach and thyme’. Thyme! I’ve never had a tea that had thyme in it before, but I like using thyme in cooking so this is very exciting. I did actually see a different tea recently which had raspberry and thyme which I found somewhat interesting, but wasn’t brave (or rich! Exorbitant price!) enough to purchase. If this one is a success, I may go back to that shop and get some. Is thyme the new fashion ingredient?

The dry leaf smells… peculiar, but lovely. Herb-y fruit? Fruit-y herbs? It’s not really fully recognisable as thyme or as peach, but something in between which smells thouroughly weird. Weird, but lovely. I’ve been sniffing at the bag for several minutes now.

After steeping, the thyme is quite easily recognised in the aroma. It rather reminds me of spaghetti sauce to the point where I caught myself attempting to detect tomato. I couldn’t, for obvious reasons. The peach, however, appears to have gone into hiding. Perhaps it’s shy. I can tell that there’s something else in there, but it’s not really coming out to play. I can’t really tell anything about the base tea at all, though.

The flavour is quite the opposite of the aroma. Where it smells a lot like thyme and not so much like fruit, it tastes a lot like peach and less like thyme. The first sip gave me a ‘yeah, this is peach tea alright’ sort of experience. It has rather clear herb-y overtones, but to my surprise there is actually harmony between the herb and the fruit. I confess I wasn’t entirely convinced that this was possible. The idea of it just seems so bizarre. Like basil ice cream. But it works. It really works.

I’m very pleased with this. It’s a very interesting and pleasant flavour and I’m definitely feeling much more inclined to go and try that raspberry thyme tea I saw now. This is great.

Not bad, it has a definite pear taste, but not overpowering, a nice tea.

Great raspberry and mint taste.

YUM! This is a great tea…tastes like almond cookies.

This is exactly what I was expecting. Creamy vanilla with lemon. Those aren’t my favorite flavors, but this is well done in the usual Fauchon fashion.

Thanks so much Sil for sending me a sample of this one.

The best before date on this is 10/17 and turns out with age the flavor deteriorates fairly quickly. It is mostly the base tea I am tasting with lemon flavoring, though not the creamy lemon I loved but instead lemon pledge.

It’s weird that on one of the few Spring-like days we have had this year (I even got to drive with the roof down – YAY!) I ended up picking a tea called Winter. I looked for something fruity and this caught my eye, probably because of the white base which is lighter. Today the cream notes are really standing out while the lemon is almost completely muted. Still, its sweet and comforting and just a cup of happy.

I decided to make myself a 4 day weekend by skipping class today (in theory to study for the two midterms I have tomorrow but I finished that last night when I made the choice to skip so now I’m just relaxing) and the snowy weather has provided a good excuse. Apparently I am not the only one skipping as apparently only 3 people showed for class. So, as I decided to make my tea, I saw this sitting on the counter and thought a Winter Tea was a fitting choice in light of the past weekend we have had here in Toronto.

As per usual, this is creamy and delicious and has a light lemon flavor to add a bit more. Yum!

Thank you Sil for picking this one up for me. I truly appreciate it and I am so pleased to have this back in my life.

I worried that this was not going to be as good as I remember. Creamy lemon shortbread cookie. So amazing!! The white base is just present enough to donate a buttery taste that makes the perfect foundation for the sweet and creamy lemon notes. Truly delicious!!

Sipdown!! (157)

This will be greatly missed. Thank you Sil for the opportunity to try it! I am not usually a fan of citrus teas but this is like a vanilla cookies with lemon cream. Delicious :)

Terri Harplady’s description of this tea yesterday as “vanilla wafers, with lemon added” is probably the most accurate description of this tea you will find. It is delecate and sweet with a nice creamy lemon quality. Delicious. Thank you Sil for sharing!!

Something in my package from Sil smelled amazing – like light and creamy french vanilla. When I couldn’t figure out what, I asked Sil and she told me to give this a try and turns out she was right because this is definitely what I was smelling.

I was actually a little hesitant about this because of the lemon and my tendency to not be a fan of huge citrus flavors but so many reviews talked about a creamy vanilla-lemon combination that sounded too good to pass up. I am happy to report that this is definitely a take on a lemon tea that I can get behind. The citrus is very faint and merely acts as a compliment to the more prominent vanilla cream element and white base. I don’t know if I am entirely sold on a 50 g tin given the base might be a touch overpowering in this cup, but I certainly would not turn away another cup if offered. Thank you Sil for the chance to try it out :)

Another tasty tea from Sil, included in our last BBBBox, I think.
Also another sipdown.
359

One of the teas that Sil included in the BBBB last round. Sil sent me another box packed full of tea samples, so I figure I better start polishing off some of the teas I still have from her previous offerings. This one is ok, but not something I’d want to keep around.

Yesterday I thought of one of my dearest friends, who moved to AZ several years ago. We were very best friends when our kids were young, attended one another’s home births, baked bread together, etc, but we sort of lost touch with each other after a few years of her moving. I called her, & it turned out that she was going to be in St. Louis today! We met up for lunch, & spent the next couple of hours playing catch up. I’m really glad I listened to the voice in my head that told me to call her!

Now Tony & I are sitting around watching Cardinals vs Cubs, Cards leading 4 to 3 right now in the 6th. I love baseball!

Another tea that Sil included in the BBBB. I drank this hours ago, & as I was steeping it I saw little rosebuds & was thinking to myself, “Sil likes this?”
LOL, I didn’t hate it, it was ok, but I think it would have been better if I’d used more leaf. Kind of bland.

I wanted to end the evening with something sweet. I hadn’t tried this yet, so I decided that this would be my “adventure tea” of the day. It’s supposed to taste of a combination of oolong, oranges and almonds. The base is some kind of lightly roasted oolong, judging be its looks, and by its non-floral, non-perfumy flavor. The tea brews lightly, with a very delicate flavor profile – don’t have this after a curry or a highly flavorful meal.
It tastes of a good, roasted oolong, and has a slight aftertaste of almonds. If you patiently wait long enough after each sip, you will get a hint of tanginess of oranges. But nothing overpowering. Nothing that announces itself loud and clear. A very subtle tea.
It’s sweet enough to not need sugar, it could never take milk (it’s very, very light bodied), and if you are used to strong or artificially flavored teas, walk away. You will be disappointed. If you, like me, don’t like flavored teas, you’ll likely love this.

I started a note on this a few days ago and didn’t get it finished. I was hoping it would still be here when I was ready to finish it, but no go…. Vamoosh! It’s gone.

I’ve not been real adventurous in the citrus area when it comes to tea. My dad always used to try and make us drink iced tea and lemonade mixed together when I was a kid and we had the unfortunate timing of having them both in the fridge together at the same time…. He loved it, so thought we should too. Then, my first experience with bergamot was too much for me, so I’ve kind of been avoiding citrus and tea together.

Earlier this week, I had a cup of Three Friends, by Butiki… Loved it! The citrus was present for me, but as a nice surprise at the end of the sip, and so pleasant. I admit I had been kind of holding off on both Three Friends and this one because of their citrus notes. After trying Three Friends, I decided I was ready to venture on to something with even more citrus flavor… this one.

Dry it smells sweet and lightly of orange zest.

Steeped I got wonderfully sweet orange, nothing like the bergamot experience that was too much for me or the acidic addition of lemonade, but pleasant sweet orange loveliness with a hint of chocolate. The flavors don’t compete & it is mild and delicious. I’m glad MissB thought enough to send both of these teas my way as they were a nice introduction to orange & tea… From someone who didn’t think they would like citrus in the main flavor of their tea… Thank You!

The final cup of this one, shared with me by Lala. Nothing I would ever stock, but I am grateful for the opportunity to sample it.

I served this to one of my students & her mother, lightly sweetened. Everybody loved it! I drank a small ‘jello shot’ cup of it, & although it initially tasted a little soapy to me, when I let it sit for a minute, the soapiness went away & it was a tasty treat.
Thanks to Lala for sharing a bit of this. :)