Fauchon

Black tea flavored with crystallized red apple. Fannings tea, made from small broken tea leaves (fannings) from Ceylon and flavored with apple, will surprise you with its precise balance between its strong character and smooth taste.
Origin: Sri Lanka

Black tea flavored with Calabrian Bergamot and blue cornflower petals. A divine blend from the tea gardens of China, sprinkled with the much sought-after silver needle white tea, flavored with blue cornflower petals and exquisite Calabrian bergamot.
Origin: China

Honey.

Ingredients
Black tea (China), green tea (China), rose petals, flavours (red fruits, honey, strawberries).

I had some more of this the other day at work. It was good hot, but once cooled off, there is a luscious smoothness that wasn’t there before. This could go on a list of teas to have cold in the summer…

I guess the difference between this and Le Earl Grey is that the other has green tea as well?

I know… I said I wasn’t going to try any swaps lest I be tempted to buy something else. But boychik sent such an awesome swap package, I couldn’t help myself!

I have been wanting to try some of Fauchon’s teas. They all smell so awesome I have high hopes! :)

This one is the super perfumey kind of bergamot. The base wasn’t a standout, but it wasn’t bad either. Mainly this was bergamot. So if you aren’t a perfumey bergamot fan, this is not one to get. But if you are… get some! :)

1.5 tsp per 10 oz.

I have to start making a list of who sent me what. I go on my trips and bring some with and now I can’t remember who sent me what.

Anyway, this tea is good. If you like apricots, even if they give you gas, you should try this tea out. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this tea but as soon as I steeped the tea that wonderful apricot scent came forth and I was like… whoa. It has cooled down quite a bit since breakfast but it still tastes quite good. The black tea does over power the apricot slightly but in a good way. Making sure it’s presence stays known I suppose.

I received a sample of this from bluebelle in our February swap. Thank you!

Oh this is so nice on a cold afternoon! I chose to drink about half my cup before looking at the description. I picked up a smooth black base with a fruity mint finish. The mint is a subtle taste that blends well with the black base and the fruit is just a slight hint to the finish of each sip. I do not detect floral as the description hints to. I would get a tin of this if ever the opportunity presented itself. Thank-you for sharing.

Another sipdown, this one from the BBBBox, courtesy of my steep-sister Sil.
I don’t have anything to say about it, so instead I’ll tell you that my Lily of the Valley’s are blooming! Yay!
https://www.facebook.com/terri.langerak
346

This still reminds me of vanilla wafers, with lemon added.

Sil included this one in the BBBBox, I think (or maybe it came out of the other box I have from her?). I was thinking it would be boring, LOL, but it is actually delightful! I drank part of the cup plain, & then added a pinch of stevia & that was best. It reminds me of vanilla wafers, only with a hint of lemon. Very nice, very gentle, kind of a pale treat.

Not jawdroppingly awesome but a heckuva lot better than that cat pee-smelling cassis blend, eesh.

It’s bitter, so bitter that I’m unable to drink it. I dumped the cup. I steep for 3 min 195F. Should I lower the temp more? No rating until I figure out what’s the parameters.

I’m really not sure why I still have this. Hope that after a few years the flavors would morph into something I’ll actually enjoy? Feeling like I should have a better appreciation for a tea that is hard to come by? Because I like to torture myself? What ever it is, I’m still not enjoying this tea. I need to put it in my get rid of pile and plant some succulents in the tin so I don’t keep going through this every year. To it’s credit, the flavors have held out remarkably well over the years.

I cold steeped some of this in the fridge overnight and I have to say it is LOADS better than when I tried it hot. It is still really weird and I still get a ton of baby powder flavor, but the raisin taste has faded and some of the orange and rose has come out on the sip. The aftertaste is still all powder tho. If the flavors from the sip lingered into the aftertaste, I’d have a winner here, but I just can’t get past the powder mouth.

So strange! When I smell this tea dry I get baby powder and raisins?! It is supposed to be orange and rose, right? The tea is gorgeous in the tin, black with tiny dried rose petals throughout and I’m loving the Fauchon tins.

When sipping this I do get a bit of rose, but I get a ton of baby powder on the aftertaste. I’m really trying to get into this tea, but maybe I was never meant to enjoy afternoons in Paris. I might try this cold before I give up on it.

Such an intense floral mix dominated by rose in this tea! I’m surprised that I didn’t break it out at all this summer for some cold steep! I’m not sure what my summer obsession tea was this year, but I’m glad that this one is holding up.

This tea is listed as having a ton of different ingredients, but when blended together my palate reads them as rose and litchi. It is a very aromatic and perfumy tea, which is a trait that I enjoy. I’m actually drinking this without sugar and enjoying it, which is rare for me. It leaves my tongue feeling a bit dry tho. I bought this tea in the Vente sale on description alone (always a little hard for me when I can’t smell the tea first and am unfamiliar with the company) and I think I’m pretty happy with this choice!

I am exhausted because I couldn’t fall asleep last night (I think because of stress?), so this morning I needed a nice EG to perk me up. To me, EG will always be a “WAKE UP” tea, there’s something brisk and invigorating about it, I think. I’m still tired, but I am enjoying this cup. At first I was let down by this tea because I was expecting Shortbread to be very prominent. But it is indeed quite subtle, probably because the bergamot is super strong. Which I like. So anyway, I enjoy this one quite a bit now, since I have adjusted my expectations.

I had been disappointed with this tea (#31) in the past. I think it’s because I was hoping it would be like YAY COOKIES with Earl Grey, when in fact is more like maybe you ate a cookie 10 minutes ago and now you are drinking a very bold cup of Earl. I used 2 tsp again this time and didn’t have any issues with it being weak, so I’m not sure what happened with my first cup of this. Overall, it was a tasty Earl, and I did get a hint of shortbread from it especially as it cooled. So yeah, I still wish it could have had more cookie flavor, but I’m still happy with it as is.

A brief note, since I’m busy today, but I don’t want to forget about writing these tasting notes. I thought I remembered wanting to change my steeping parameters on this one last time I had it and sure enough, I wanted to try it with more leaf. So this time it was 3tsp of leaf for 12oz water instead of my usual 2tsp.

I was a little worried it might come out too strong for me, but it was fine. Strong, yes. If you don’t LOVE bergamot, don’t brew it at this level, because it was powerful. But regardless it was never bitter or astringent, and the base remained smooth and solid. I think perhaps there was a bit more shortbread/cookie flavor in this cup, but it wasn’t super noticable. This remains a solid EG, although not as mind blowing as I wanted it to be.

A brief halt in my chronology for this new tea! I was so excited to see this one come up for sale on Vente-Privee since it seemed like it was one of the only ones that didn’t get stocked by TJ Maxx/Winners earlier. The reason I really wanted this one is that it is supposed to be Earl Grey with shortbread flavors!

I agree with ifjuly that this is a floral bergamot. In the best possible way! Works for me because I love floral EGs. I also find this nicely citrusy, without any pith-like bitterness. Unfortunately I also think I slightly underleafed this cup somehow, as it seems a bit weak overall. Also there is not much cookie flavor, although I get the feeling it is there waiting to come out. I will definitely have to try it with more leaf. But nonetheless I very much enjoy it as is, so I am pleased with my purchase.

I went scouting local stores for a certain tea today but couldn’t find it. However I did come across a can of this! Someone hid it under boxes of chocolate truffles…sneaky, sneaky. This is my first time trying any Fauchon tea and it’s a pleasant surprise. It’s very floral and slightly tangy. I could easily see myself drinking this in the morning instead of the usual Earl Grey. I’m still on the look-out for an amazing Earl Grey!

Two of three separate shipments from my Feb 3 Fauchon order arrived today—they must’ve really hustled to make it nearly fit the original projected delivery window (a day late), because until like 2 days ago it wasn’t even shipped yet. The last part hasn’t been packed/shipped yet, kind of weird…

Alas, this is precisely that kind of femmy, floral orange blossom water-like bergamot I have an aversion to as opposed to the soapy-clean bright zippy “masculine” sort. Not undrinkable and lots of Steepsters seem to prefer this kind (it’s like Lupicia’s). That said, the tea base is smooth and soft, reminds me a little of the soft unobtrusiveness of most Kusmis.

Hoping I can pawn off some of this to my Frenchy femmy in-town pal. If not, maybe I’ll find someone on Steepster who can give it a good home.