Le Palais des Thes

sipdown!(211) Sort of the official last one of the day that counts since i’m about to add all the teas that came in the mail today into my cupboard. At least i ALMOST made it to 200 before the teas came..i would have if they had waited until monday haha.

oh well…half the fun for me is the neverending battle to get my cupboard under control. I like setting goals and having fun trying to get to them lol. Plus this weekend i get to re-organise my cupboard and package up teas to go out to the girls involved with the BBBB…as well as family mail and tea out to nicole! since i found extra of a tea she wanted heh.

Life is good! 3 hours of sleep from last night and i’m still not falling over yet. Dresses to peruse at BR tomorrow and orders to consider!

Thanks to shmiracles for sending this one my way! i’ve enjoyed it but it’s not quite a restock for me. still happy to have been able to enjoy a few cups of this one while i’ve had it.

I had this earlier today and I’ll be honest in that i don’t remember much of it. It didn’t strike me as anything wonderful but it didn’t make me want to pour the cup out either. I’ve got a bit more from shmiracles that i’ll use to make a proper note of things, but for the most part this seems to be a rather bland-ish sort of tea for me.

I’ve been working most of the weekend, so I figured I’d take some time off before bed and watch a movie and drink a cup of tea. In terms of the tea, I’m trying to be a good decaffeinated Anna and drink my rooibos. I chose this, because it’s so luxurious and smooth and always hits the spot for me. I honestly think this might end up being a restock when I finally manage to clean out my tea stash.

As for the film, well. May I say I’ve been having the most amazing time so far – there’s roughly a quarter of an hour left of this masterpiece, and even though I was quite late to this particular party and have indeed been exposed to much of the hype, I am not disappointed. It’s such a privilege to get to watch one of the actors you adored growing up in the role of a lifetime. From teen heartthrob to this – a deeply conflicted individual, struggling to reach out to his estranged family in a time of overwhelming hardship. The enemies this man faces. The obstacles. Not to mention the stunning visuals. Finally, may I say how rare it is that I watch a movie and am consistently surprised at every twist and turn – I doubt I have leaned forward in sheer awe this many times during a screening before.

Seriously – don’t miss it; unless you’ve already seen Sharknado, hunt it down this instant.

This is a fairly sophisticated rooibos. The berry flavour is very prominent nose wise, but the tea itself tastes far more of (bitter) almond, in my opinion. It’s a nice, full flavour, though it seems to kick in the most by far in the aftertaste. There’s a creamy vanillaesque roundness to top it all off. I really wish the distinct blood orange note that carries through so strongly scent wise would be more noticeable (or rather noticeable at all) in the cup.

Completely pointless re-steep; smells and tastes of nothing but generic rooibos dregs.

[Purchased at Le Palais des Thés in Tel Aviv, June 2013.]

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 that long.) But this past year – or, to be fair, these past two years, even – have been all about one thing – and that is the right people making the appearance in my life at exactly the right time. Over and over and over again. And my gratitude knows no bounds.

I have two quiet days (again, boundless gratitude) ahead of me – there are few things I loathe more than a New Year’s party. If I dare leave the house, it all turns into Peter’s Friends – no exceptions. I think I’m probably spoiled, raised at the one address in my home city from where all the most lavish fireworks could be seen – now it gets really old after the first three explosions, plus it scares everyone’s poor pets; what’s the point, really? I used to watch all the tipsy-to-smashed people crowd in my street and then my special new year’s treat was to bundle up with my window open – it was right above this little piazza with benches, and there was always some couple drunkenly, tearfully breaking up.

For over a decade, I started my new year off listening to people breaking up in sub-zero temperatures, dressed to the teeth.

Back to the other people, though – my people. My favourite person bought this tea for me in Tel Aviv, and we tried it late at night, sitting together in the dark. It was a peaceful, needful, well-timed trip. I would be a much lesser Anna without this love and this patience and this kindness and this loyalty – without this person traveling the world with me, drinking tea with me, sitting in the dark with me.

This I know.

(Please note that I steered clear of the serendipi-tea pun throughout this tasting note. Award points accordingly. Thank you.)

So I now have my new variable temperature kettle from Bosch to play with. (I finally found the one I wanted through an Italian vendor, so I didn’t have to produce any sort of documents at all to resolve the hostage situation that generally ensues when I receive a suspicious package from a foreign country.)

The Palais des Thés teas are among the greens I’ve been particularly curious about reevaluating. I’m very much against oversteeping greens, so I generally go for 1.5 minutes and boiling, or near-boiling water, as per the usual Lupicia instructions; I’ve found it works well for most flavoured greens, but some of the more delicate ones do deserve a somewhat lighter touch.

This is not one that really benefits from a longer steep at a lower temperature, however; the base still comes off fairly average, the vanilla still doesn’t pop. And still the utter weirdness of a melty caramel nose that’s entirely elusive in the cup.

Maybe if I very surreptitiously drop some kind of toffee bon-bon in and let it dissolve? Or is that cheating?

This tea smells absolutely gorgeous dry, but this doesn’t really translate to the cup. However, I do prefer the very natural, albeit subtle, vanilla flavour to something artificial that’s more present. For me, this can be summed up as a very basic and plain green tea with hints of vanilla that almost completely disappear after a re-steep.

So I find myself still looking for a green tea with a flavour that better matches the scent of Les Palais des Thés’ Thé vert à la vanille – rich and warm, with a hint of caramel.

[Purchased at Le Palais des Thés in Tel Aviv, June 2013.]

Yeah, I bought a bag of this last month and got around to trying it out.
Very strong orange and caramel smell.
Tastes good hot, very strong flavor tea.
Tastes good, but not something I’ll crave everyday.
I’ll keep it in my work desk drawer for now and sniff / huff it.

I picked this up in town on the day I smashed my elbow, and only tried it in a rather half-hearted way while at my daughter’s. I’d no infuser, her rubbish teapot, no bags… unsurprisingly, it didn’t turn out amazingly well, but it seemed as if it might make a nice iced tea. A few days ago I made a big pot, added some lemon honey (ridiculously, we have no plain honey in the house – lemon, ginger, cinnamon and manuka, but no plain) and stuck it in the fridge. (Oh, right, no ice cubes, either.) It is a very nice iced tea indeed. Peach is the predominant fruit flavour, and it’s a good one – don’t know if the other fruits are that easily discernible or not, but I didn’t get them. Nice green base, if nothing amazing – but you don’t necessarily want amazing in this kind of flavoured tea. [Yikes, just these notes, and my right hand has started ballooning up again. Off to elevate it I go – no teacup in hand, either, alas!)

I was lucky enough to find this and two other Le Palais Des Thes on eBay UK. All three brand new and 100g packs and I couldn’t be happier with the find. :)

I plan on making wire wrapped gemstones today and watching films so I might as well start my day off with a black tea. As I was about to boil the kettle my new teas arrived and there is no time like the present so Saint James will be the first one I will try.

In raw form this tea is thinly rolled, curly and for the most part finely chopped into 1-2cm long pieces. The leaves are dark brown with a few flashes of burgandy wood coloured leaves mixed amongst them. It has a strong wooden, musky yet floral scent.

The tea is dark brown/black in colour once steeped and has a rich, malted aroma.

The tea has characteristics of malt, wood, flowers, cocoa and musk. It’s a little strange…it tastes like a normal black tea and then it changes to become thickly floral and cocoa like….I’m not so sure of what I make of it. I will have to have another pot of this and re-evaluate. I could just be having an off day with black teas.

A very tannic tea, but no bitterness. The bergamot and saffron go a long way in smoothing it out. A pleasant and strong breakfast tea, but it does leave a slight dry aftertaste.

This has a very nice green tea base- grassy and light. Peach is the primary fruit flavor. The watermelon is very mild and I can’t taste the kiwi. There is a floral smell and taste that I can’t place. No bitter aftertaste and only slight dry mouth feeling. I think the fruit taste might be better if I made this cold.

I love how the sampler came with the teas in metal test tubes. Perfect for making me feel all sicientific right before watching “Fringe”. :-)

Sipdown, 163. Cold brewed, took two sips, and then dumped. Don’t know what happened with this one… when I tasted it this morning it was just nasty. I was trying to come up with what it tasted like but all I could get was cucumbers and bitter buttery beans. Sometimes I like buttery beans as a flavor in green teas, but in a cold brew, just no. Yuck.

A very grassy green tea, slightly bitter. I must try steeping this at a lower temperature. The vanilla was just right- not too overpowering, very natural. I added a little alfalfa honey half way through the cup and it helped make it slightly less bitter.

No 10 from TTB-A
The aroma of the dry leaf is somewhat chai like, & the brew itself is ok. Not really my thing though.
NEXT!

No 9 from TTB-A
nope…
Onward through the fog…

This tea started out ok for me. The aroma of the leaf hints at peach, roasted oolong, & light florals. The flavor didn’t really deliver any of the flavors promised, other than a very lightly roasted oolong & a physical discomfort on the tip of my tongue that I associate with artificial flavors. There was also a soapyness/perfuminess that built up after a few sips…blech!

Sipdown!
This one is very similar to the Jardin Bleu, but I think I prefer this one. It has a more natural flavor, I think.
Thanks again to Ysaurella!