Le Palais des Thes

Definitely my favorite in this category—for iced tea prepared using the cotton muslin sachets from Palais des Thés. Makes a lot of sense, really, given the flavorings in this blend: rose, almond, vanilla…

So now I have tried four of the PdT flavored green blends iced, and my favorite is this one: The des Vahines. I am currently in a tea-challenged environment, so I brought only sachets with me…

I love roses, and picked up some beautifully scented rose-scented soap at Whole Foods today, so I decided to turn tonight into a veritable rose festival. It turns out that a few of the Palais des Thés flavored green teas in my sampler box contain rose. First up: Thé des Vahinés.

The liquor brewed up fairly yellow and clear, and the scent is more vanilla than rose, as is the taste. I must say that this is a masterful blend. Very smooth and drinkable. I would not recommend this as a rose tea, per se, but as a vanilla-scented green.

I guess I’m the first to review this one! PalaisdesThes is one of my favorite tea companies :3 Great customer service too, which is always a plus. Anyway, on to the tea. I was planning to get the Vive Le The but they were out of it since apparently it’s one of their popular ones…

So I got this instead. And I don’t really regret it. It’s strikingly similar to DavidsTea’s Kiwi’s Big Adventure, but this one is actually cheaper so yeah now I know which one I’m keeping in my cupboard xD The only difference is that the sencha is more pronounced in this tea, especially in the aftertaste. Which I actually prefer. So overall this is a pretty good tea :)

Queued post, written May 21st 2014

Another green tea for Green Tea Day. Apparently it’s not only Green Tea Day, it’s also Ancient Tea Day because this one came from Auggy and it’s even older than the other two. Well. By a couple of months but even so. Still older. In my defence she sent me a few of these and I’ve only got one left. I just haven’t written about it until now.

Smells lovely of green tea and cherry. A very fruity juicy sort of cherry. The sort that I hope some of all the myriads of cherry trees in our garden will produce. (Little hope there, though. Husband’s father thinks it’s a decorative sort of cherry, not an edible one. And he’s worked with plants in some way or another, both at his job and in his garden, for 40 years, so he should know. Still. When there is fruit, I will test it the best way I know how. By biting one.) It strikes me that red fruits generally go quite well with green tea. I think a 4 red fruits blend on a green base might be rather lovely, but I expect that already exists somewhere out there.

The flavour is very floral, reminding me that this is scented with cherry blossoms, not flavoured with cherry. Isn’t it funny though how the flowers sort of smell like the fruit? The green tea is fairly strong compared to the other two I’ve had today, and it’s got a smidge of bitterness to it. No, not bitterness… But a note that tells me that if brewed hotter or longer, it very likely would turn undrinkable. It’s borderline. At the point where it is now, though, it lends body and strength and is quite enjoyable.

This was a sample size that the extremely nice lady at the shop gave me when I purchased the Grand Cru Yunnan. She said “So you can compare!” And so I did. :)

I may prefer this one. I still have enough left for one more cup of this, so I should try them side by side. Maybe this weekend. It would be nice to prefer this one since it is the less expensive one, that’s for sure! :)

I had 2 steeps of this today. One at work with filtered water and one at home with tap water. Cameron B. has been commenting in some of her recent reviews that she is having problems nailing down her water. This is a perfect example for me of how water does matter and bottled or filtered is not always the best for my tastes. The cups I had at work with filtered water were unremarkable. Very plain. Not even really sure I could have said it was a Yunnan – just a black tea. Or as gmathis says, “brown leaf juice.”

At home, the cups I had have been malty with some honey and wood. I’m not sure what they mean in the description by “acid.” I don’t get anything I would say is acid. That conjures up bad thoughts, not nice tea thoughts. :) I do get the “animal notes” though. I’m not even really sure how describe it. Like burying your face in a warm cat or puppy. I had never thought about it in those terms but a lot of Yunnans give me the same impression. No wonder I like them! Nothing better than face fuzzies!

Not sure I’d buy either of the Palais Yunnans I’ve had especially in the 3.5 ounce sizes (the only sizes available online). I know I’d get this one over the Grand Cru Yunnan Buds, though.

Was lucky enough to discover this tea while studying Oolong at the Ecole du Thé (Tea School) in Paris. Dong Ding Tea is therefore kind of special to me. This tea is at the same time subtile and strong. I really love it and I wrote a review on it on my tea blog: http://www.monarmoireathe.com/2014/06/le-charme-discret-du-oolong-the-dong-ding-palais-des-thes.html

I love lavender more than people should. I opened the bag and was punched in the face with it. I was worried it would get that perfumey, soapy taste, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It was soft and floral and I could taste the oolong alongside the lavender. It tasted great with a few steeps too, but the balance of lavender and oolong differed a bit each time. Highly recommend.

You guys! So. Much. Tea. I’m going to be glad I brought just enough clothes and I can wad them up on the way back along with a spare empty bag to use as a carry on.

I must not have done my homework well enough because I completely missed that there was a Palais des Thes store in NYC. I stumbled across it completely by accident. We had just had lunch on 71st & Columbus after leaving Central Park. Decided to walk a bit south on Columbus since there was a Magnolia Bakery location within a couple of blocks. Couldn’t find a cab right off so went ahead and walked down a little further and there it was!!

They were sampling this one. It was really, really good. Steeped very well, not bitter at all, medium bergamot with a really nice base. The ladies in the store were super nice as well. This is their smaller boutique store. Apparently there is a larger store in Soho. So happy to have stumbled across this one. I almost bought some of this but decided at the last minute to go with the Blue of London – an Earl with Yunnan. And a couple of other things… My husband is being so patient with all of my tea, chocolate, bakery obsessions… :)

With the memory of another sakura-style green tea fresh in my mind, I decided to go ahead and try Palais des Thés Fleur de Geisha. This is also a Japanese style green-tea base (theirs appears to be from Japan), but the flavoring is somewhat more floral and less intensely fruity.

The liquor is pale greenish gold and the taste is rather more harmonious than I’ve come to expect from cherry-scented teas. According to the description, cherry blossoms, not cherry essence are used to flavor this tea, so that must make the difference.

I’m looking forward to trying a second infusion of the spent sachet (which plumped up quite a lot) later on tonight.

(Blazing New Rating #59)

This afternoon I tried the loose-leaf version of this Tamaryokucha Imperial from Palais des Thés. It did not taste at all like genmaicha, as I found with the cotton muslin pillow cases. From which I can only deduce that the cotton muslin pillow cases are really made of popped rice!

Soyons sérieux. There are plenty of other possible explanations, above all, batch variations. Anyway today’s two-glass tetsubin tasted very good and Japanese—which will only mean something to people who are amateurs of both Chinese and Japanese green teas!

The liquor was slightly cloudy pale green, and there was quite a lot of particulate matter in the bottom of the glass, which may have imparted astringency to the brew. It was a bit bracing, but very tasty, nonetheless!

I remain convinced, as I believe that I reported last time I brewed up a glass, that the flavor and aroma of the tea in this muslin sachet are very similar to genmaicha—so, yes, Japanese. I am tempted to dissect my way through the cotton to see whether I’ll discover some popped rice in here somewhere…

Well, what can I say to conclude this steep-off chez sherapop? I am not at all sure that Tamaryokucha and Tamayokucha are the same tea at all! I am happy that the Tea Leaves version is organic, but when all is said and sniffed and sipped, I prefer Le Palais des Thés. Despite the small amount of tea in the modest sockish sachet, I find that the resultant liquor tastes better, in the end. I do believe that this tea is very close to genmaicha, but that would be a high-quality version, with a good base tea, not one of the cheaper versions which sometimes use low-grade green tea under the assumption that the toasted rice will cover it up.

One final note, since I tried two different muslin sachets from Les Palais des Thés today. I noticed in both cases (this and the Long Jing) a small snippet of cotton thread floating in the glass! I presume that it is safe to eat, as I could just have easily swallowed it while drinking the tea. I have wondered, actually, about the flavor of these little socks. They must taste like something, no? It seems to me that they should be changing the flavor of the teas, if ever so slightly.

That’s not, however, the real reason why I dislike the cotton sock method, pace Kusmi and Les Palais des Thés and whichever other companies are using them today. I also dislike not being able to see the dried and the infused tea leaves. I feel that I am missing out on some of the full tea experience when I use sock sachets…

This Tamaryokucha Imperial is definitely my favorite from Le Palais des Thés so far from among the green tea offerings. (I do like Thé des Moines probably as much!) The texture is very smooth and the flavor midway between a darker Chinese and a lighter Japanese variety. I have only tried one other tamaryokucha before, and this one seems better than my memory of that one.

The liquor, which I prepared using one of the cotton muslin sachets, is pale greenish yellow. The flavor is not really like sencha or gyokuro. In some ways it reminds me more of genmaicha, though there is no popped rice here—only green tea. There is something of a cereal note, however.

(Blazing New Rating #55)

Another one that came in my Try the World Paris box. This was really nice. Full bodied and a hint of sweetness from the rhubarb. The whole time I was drinking it I just kept thinking how amazing it would be iced.

Meh.
I had a pot of this one while waiting with a collegue at Gare de Lyon in a kind of design & snobbish café inside the station : le café premier.
Beautiful place but low service level. Not bad, low. More than 15 minutes before the waitress decided to ask us what we would like to drink.

I was happy to welcome a pot (but without lid !) of this tea. Good surprise, no lipton.
No possibility to choice the tea.Having said that I just requested “a tea please” whereas my neighbor asked “what do you have as beer”….of course a lot.

I was a little disturbed by the absence of lid on my pot so I may have understeeped the tea but it has a lack of complexity and body to me.
Correct but nothing more.
More a tea I would drink during a lunch without paying as much attention to.
To be correct with it, I would need to have it at home.

I got this in the Paris Try the World box with a few other teas from this company. I had to do some steepster research to find out what was what and what to steep things ate because apparently the 4 years of french I had have completely left my brain.

So the dry leaves of this smell a lot like Butiki’s Creamy Eggnog. It tastes similar too, except a little toned down. I get the buttery and slight vanilla, but I was getting something very vegetal and unidentifiable from the green tea base. Then I read LiberTEAS’s review where she said it has a hint of lima bean. LIGHT BULB! yes… so very much lima bean. It’s so weird.

(backlog from 5/29/14)

This is one of the better rooibos blends I’ve tried. Not at all woody, and the verbena is not sharp but smooth.

Are the muslin bags a copy of Kusmi’s? I ask because Palais des Thes appears to have been established only relatively recently. For some reason they are avoiding the “silken sachet” craze…

(Blazing New Rating #14)

This was the fourth and (sadly) last of the fancy half-off sale teas that I purchased from Dean & Deluca last weekend. Being a Southern iced tea with lemon drinker for many years, I was anxious to see if this French hot version would reach the same high level of enjoyment for me.

When I opened the classy tall metal container (which was packaged in a somewhat elegant and sturdy outer box), a powerful scent of lemon instantly filled the air. The lemon aroma also smelled like the real deal, and not comprised of artificial components.

Mixed in with the black leaves were little yellow flowers that looked almost like miniature dandelions. I steeped the mixture for five minutes at 205 degrees as recommended on the outer box. The brewed color was dark amber. The odor was like tea. I couldn’t detect any of the lemon scent in the finished product.

My first few sips contained strictly black tea flavors. The ingredients say that orange pekoe is also in the mix, but I wasn’t able to discern it. I rolled the tea around in my mouth a few times to try to squeeze some lemon flavor from the liquid. This technique was unsuccessful, but after a few more sips, I noticed some lemon residue in the aftertaste. There also was a slightly sweet and tangy quality that probably resulted from the combination of the flavors.

This tea became more lemony for me as I reached the half-empty (or was it half-full?) mark of my cup. The wisp of lemon was with me from that point forward.

Here’s how I summed up the experience:

o Nice medium-strength black tea flavor with lemon accents (but don’t expect lemon bombardment)
o No astringency
o Slightly sweet and tangy aftertaste

This was a friendly tea. I would not trade my Southern iced tea with lemon for it, but I will drink it periodically until the container is finished. After all, the price was right. I would also not hesitate to serve it to friends. You might want to give it a try if you are looking for a black tea with quiet lemon accents.