Palais des Thes

I had been putting this one off a bit (one of the last black teas in my MissB package) because it is a Christmas tea, and it just didn’t feel Christmasy. It still doesn’t, but I put it off long enough. I also tend not to care for LPdT’s black tea bases, but we’ll see how this one goes.

Anyway, almonds and spices and such. Also supposedly citrus and rose; I think I got some orange (though it wasn’t very strong), but no rose. It was nicely almondy, and the cinnamon wasn’t overpowering. My biggest gripe with this one is the base… at current parameters, it seems like it needs an “oomf”, something to pick it up and give it a little more flavor. Like a higher temp! But there are also notes that warn me that it might not be so friendly at a hotter temp, like the base would go bitter on me. I think this one would likely be delicious brewed strong and taken with milk and sugar, so I will likely save the rest of it until winter when I feel like doing such things again. :)

190, 1 tsp, gongfu. 30 second rinse followed by 30 second steeps. As far as greener oolongs go, it reminds me a lot of Jin Xuan, more so than Golden Turtle, which was extremely floral. This tea is floral but not overpoweringly so, with a delicate fruitiness and buttery mouth feel. I lost count how many infusions I’ve done, but you can really steep the hell out of this tea. I like it.

i received this as a free sample with my order from PDT. I like mangos, but those of you familiar with me, know that i am not a fan of the blerg despite attempts to learn to love it. This one is pretty good, though i still wish the blergamot was a little less. If it was, i could REALLY get behind this one. It’s delicious mango, fruity, sweet and pineapple. The blergamot adds a floral note to it that i just can’t get behind it.

for those who like blerg – i would recommend trying this one!

free sample from my order. I was looking forward to trying this one to see whether it stodd up to some of my other shou favourites. I have to say, i’m sort of glad that it didn’t. While it was a pleasant enough shou, it was pretty middle of the road and generally average. on the earthy woody side and smooth enough in it’s finish. nothing to write home about.

Not sure how I forgot about this cold steeping in the fridge… but, I forgot.
This steeped for over 30 hours!
However, for whatever reason this taste creamy with a hint of berry. I quite fancy it.

I have never used the word fancy in a tasting note so now I feel more accomplished today.
The end.

While this is better than cold oolongs sold at stores with no sugar, I don’t think oolong makes for good iced tea.

I do like the presentation, quantity, and quality.
http://postimg.org/image/suu2k32wj

This is a tea I drank a morning during a breakfast apointment in a Parisian cafe ( I can take pictures of my tea during profesional appointments, amazing … )

This is therefore an Earl Grey, kind of tea I particularly appreciate as a huge fan of bergamot .

This one is on a Yunnan black tea basis and mixed with blue flowers .

Although I was not able to pay the best attention to this tea , it seemed fine enough , the bergamot flavouring was a success. I am just regretting a too light body as the base was not present enough IMO.

Into the same tea family I preferred the Earl Grey French Blue by Mariage Frères but I would have to compare the two at the same time at home to get an unbiased idea .

The liquors of the Palais des Thés often have a very nice colour and this one is no exception .

Pics of my session with this tea are available here : https://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/blue-of-london-le-palais-des-thes/

I think maybe Cameron sent this to me – thanks Cam! I actually really like it.

I am making myself go through my sample basket and get rid of some of the stuff that is just hanging around, so that’s my theme this week. I packed this up to bring on campus. When I smelled the leaf it didn’t smell like much (actually didn’t smell like anything), so to be honest I wasn’t very excited about it. I figured it was old and wouldn’t taste good. Surprise! I could smell it while it was brewing and I got definite citrus notes from it.

As I drink it, it’s making me happy. I would reorder this. It’s a bit of bergamot and a bit of lemon. Just citrus-y but not overly so, and very nice and satisfying.

A great robust black tea. Great for breakfast with a touch of milk and honey.

I realized that I have cold-brewed this twice without actually giving it a chance hot. Damn, we could have had so much fun together! I could have used my French teacups with the birds on them, and ate Madeleines and croissants… (I think that would be considered cannibalism for me, but damn that would make for a hell of an afternoon!)
All that aside, I really quite enjoyed the cold brews that I made! This blend and another one that came in my February Amoda box reminded me of how much I used to love all things pear. I think I even had my mother specially order a whole bag of just pear Jelly Belly’s for my birthday one year. Of course I ate the whole bag in one sitting and promptly threw it all up on a dog, but that is a story for another tasting note!
The green that Palais des Thes uses is nice and light and slightly grassy, not clashing with the pear flavoring that they use. idk if this is a blend that I would purchase, simply because they don’t sell it in reasonable sizes for tea addicts like me. Ah well, the tin looks cute!
Thanks Roswell Strange for the ample sample!

Ahhh! This is the last caffeinated tea I am drinking before I take my vicodin. >> On the bright side I’ve nearly waited a whole 7 hours before taking another pain killer! And I didn’t even sleep in that time! Now that is an accomplishment!
Anyway, this tea. xD
So I wasn’t sure what to think of this tea, for some reason I thought it was a black for the longest time, even though I looked it up a couple times. xD So I don’t know what happened there!
This tea was like half roasted flavor and half flower flavor. Not floral exactly…well not the floral that I enjoy so much in green oolongs. But more of just like actual flowers…if that makes sense. xD I usually dislike roasted oolongs…like a lot. But the flowers in this one made it a lot more bearable. It was such an interesting combo, I couldn’t stop drinking it. It’s alright. Don’t think I’d get it again ever though. A little too roasty for me!
But thanks soo much for the sample, LiberTEAS! I’m so happy to have tried it! :D

This is a strong cup, but not so strong I can’t drink it straight with no milk. That being said, I think it would take milk really well. It is perfect for a morning pick me up.

The second of the bergamot tea samples sent to me by Nicole. The dry leaves are joined by little purple buds of what must be lavender and some little off white buds. It brews up to a rich, dark amber. I like this one! The base tea is hearty, with only the faintest hint of bitter. The floral bergamot is only a distant flavor on my tongue. I won’t go out and buy 50 grams of this, but I certainly would drink it again if were a choice at a restaurant. (although, sadly, I’ve never yet had tea of this quality at a restaurant.)

I bought this tea before Christmas from my local Home Goods, which frequently has an amazing selection of bagged and loose tea. I just got home from the city, and I decided to make this in my new tea tumbler. I got it from World Market on sale. I had been wanting to get it for a while. It’s very similar but smaller to the tumbler from Mandala. As I’m writing this, I’m listening to my parent’s dog patter around the house. The dog is now living with me and my grandmother as my sister just found out she has pet allergies. Back on topic. This tea is really nice. It’s a very light green tea, accompanied by a floral taste. I really enjoy floral teas, so this is perfect for me. I can definitely taste the orange flower and rose. This makes me really want to try the The du Hammam black blend. Unfortunately, I really don’t care for the price, so I doubt I’ll buy any. I’ll savor this while it lasts.

I always find black/green blends a bit tough to describe. The jasmine and bergamot both stand out, though I really don’t get any vanilla. It’s good, but not great, likely because I’m not the biggest fan of bergamot.

Putting this one in the give away box. I have so much caffeinated hot tea to get through, and this is good enough that I’m positive one of my friends will enjoy it. I pretty much keep them stocked with my castoffs! I like the job, my way of paying it forward.

Backlog:

Beautifully fragrant! As I mention in my full-length review of this tea – http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/03/feng-huang-dan-cong-special-oolong-tea-from-palais-des-thes/ – this aromatic tea impressed me right away.

Sweet, delicious and fruity. Floral notes with hints of spice. It’s a warm and beautiful tea, very autumnal. The sip starts out honey-like. Then I pick up on notes of stone fruit and flower. There is a delicate undertone of spice throughout.

The second cup was smoother than the first, and I found with each subsequent infusion that the flavors mellowed but it was still very flavorful. A very enjoyable tea.

I’ve almost finished the 100g of this I bought late last week — that’s how much I like this tea. It’s amazing, and I swear I wrote a review already.

This was lovely. It is bergamot-y, but subtle. I enjoyed it with a little lavender honey and milk and I was a big fan. Lately I have been using almond milk because it doesn’t spoil quickly, but have also noticed it giving my tea a distinctive almond flavor that doesn’t always agree with it. Using regular skim milk today showed me that I should use skim milk when I have it, it does make a difference, and save almond milk for other things.

Today marks my first full year on Steepster. It has been an awesome one, and inspired me to reorganize and recommit to getting my stash (aka hoard) under control. Pictures and explanation in my blog post for anyone curious: http://myliferevamp.blogspot.com/

Sigh. I swear I’ve seen Sil review this. Boo. Regardless, having this this afternoon and it’s still lovely. Not amazing, but I’m sure that’s just the limescale-filled kettle.

Second time and it’s just as good as the first, minus the crap way I have to make tea at this new place (in a old pot with that yuck nonstick coating).

Wow. This is just wow. Creamy and light, yet with thick, strong flavors like spiced orange and vanilla, along with a hint of something almond and rose? Neither of those last two are usually things I appreciate in tea. Except, I’m learning, in French tea. Holy wow.

This tastes like spring. Flowers and fruit. You’d never know it was supposed to snow tomorrow afternoon. I am a fan, though I can tell it doesn’t take well to oversteeping or overleafing, it gets a bit bitter. For now, I will think of it and not about the fact that it is 23 degrees outside and real winter is here and there are small amounts of snow predicted 3 times in the 10 day forecast. Snow season is here, and I have very mixed feelings about that.

Palais des Thés Advent Calendar – Day 20

It’s always so odd to me when a tea’s description tells you nothing about it… So all I know about this is, it’s supposedly a recipe from Tibetan monks and there are flowers in it. So helpful, lol.

Well, it definitely has bergamot in it. It tastes quite medicinal actually, which is odd since I generally like bergamot. The base tea is quite woody, so maybe that’s why. I do get some vanilla also, and a bit of a floral presence.

It’s not for me. There are so many other bergamot teas that I like better.