Palais des Thes

(backlog from 5/29/14)

This pleasant rooibos blend from Palais des Thes brews up amber and tastes smooth. The mint and the linden are quite light but serve to moderate the rooibos a bit (not much of a rooibos fan here…).

The pores of the muslin sachet are rather large so that small woody pieces jutted out before brewing, and there were some particles in the bottom of the glass.

(Blazing New Rating #13)

I was debating whether to start my tea day with darjeeling or not, and then it occurred to me that this lighter black-green blend might work in the extreme heat as well.

And it does. The blend is basically an earl grey vanilla, to my taste buds. It differs from the others, however, because the base tea is so much lighter. I would never think to adulterate this one with cream, though I nearly always douse standard earl greys.

Thé des Moines represents a midpoint between Harney & Sons Earl Grey White, which is a white tea scented with bergamot, and a heftier Earl Grey Cream (take your pick—they are all very similar and differ primarily in the quality of the base). The vanilla seemed quite marked today, perhaps because of the heat.

I stand by my earlier rating. This is a good tea and probably my favorite from Palais des Thés so far, though also the only one I’ve tried in loose-leaf form. I recently realized that I’m not very fond of the cotton muslin bags favored by this company—nothing personal, I dislike Kusmi’s, too.

My very first Palais des Thés experience, I have to say that Thé des Moines is a very pleasant surprise!

I was concerned that this black and green tea blend would pose brewing challenges, as I have found it tricky to negotiate the parameters for Tazo Joy, which combines black, green, and oolong teas. I read somewhere that the best approach to these sorts of teas is to brew conservatively, as though the entire blend comprised only the most sensitive tea.

When I smelled Thé des Moines, however, it was so reminiscent of Earl Grey cream teas that I threw caution to the wind and brewed up a small pot as though it were completely black. Boiling water; 5 minutes.

The result was remarkably good, so good, in fact, that I enjoyed the entire large glass of dark amber liquor without adding any cream, which is a real rarity for this Earl Grey amateur. I usually take a sip or two of a new Earl Grey before adulterating it, but in this case the brew was so tasty that I preferred to drink it au naturel!

The flavor is subtle and smooth, with all of the beauty of an Earl Grey cream but without the usually mediocre base tea. Very tasty. I was thinking about reinfusing the leaves, because so many of them are obviously green, but then I decided to drink a suite of new teas on this cold, gray day. I’ll try multiple infusions next time.

For now, I am glad to have a beautiful clay potful of this unique blend! The recipe appears to be a carefully guarded secret, but clearly bergamot has been added, along with a smidgeon of vanilla or something else which gives it that “creamy” taste. The black and green tea leaves are visible, so no debate about those ingredients, though it’s unclear which black and green teas they are…

(Blazing New Rating #1)

Drinking this while listening to this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p024yqk3
Mozart’s Symphony no. 40 in G minor played from memory by the Aurora Orchestra during the wonderful BBC proms season that is going on right now.
What more could a person want (except for peace, and a few more hours of sleep)?

Working my way through this tea, because I happen to love it and because I want to clear room in my tea cupboard. Had it with a hint of maple syrup and brewed stronger this time, just to see how far it can go. The leaves grow large (although they are broken) if you give them enough time, and the coconut flavour was kind of lost in a strong brew. Brewed it lighter and it was much tastier. A testament to what brewing time can do to tea.

Had a delicious, delicious cup of this this afternoon, while I was working on a university paper.
I can’t praise this tea enough.

Tasty, with a gentle coconut flavour, and no artificial or chemical taste. I don’t normally enjoy flavoured teas, but this is the exception.

I popped into Palais des Thes after work today to buy two cup and brew basket sets for friends. I of course, made the mistake of checking out their highest ranked teas in Steepster first. Woe is me :)
I bought two plain black teas (one Assam and one Yunnan), and since I was feeling adventurous – this coconut flavored tea.
Why adventurous? Because I don’t like flavored teas. But this didn’t smell overly sweet or artificially flavored. It was actually so pleasant that the other sales attendant dropped her gift wrapping and came for a sniff.
How is it?
Delightful. It’s a Chinese black tea base, with a bit of astringency and dryness, and has a great, juicy taste of coconut, that isn’t overpowering or artificial. It lingers slightly in your mouth, and makes you think of palms waving in the wind, on the white shores of beaches lapped by aqua blue waters.

Sipdown (182/188)!

New tea from a new company, so thank you VariaTEA and by extension Dustin!

I wasn’t sure what was in this when I steeped it up; I just knew it was an easy sipdown so I took advantage of that. Dry I did get a very floral feel from it though; which I guess would have been the lavender.

Hmm, this is really weird but in an agreeably good way. I don’t usually like lavender in, well, anything; the “exception” is DT’s blend Jessie’s Tea (but that’s because of the coconut). However, paired with the strong strawberry flavour here, and with the black base I think this is jarringly tasty. I’m also really impressed just how present all the listed ingredients are because, like I said, dry I only smelled something generically floral.

And I have to point out that this is another blueberry tea that I really enjoy; that seems to, as of late, be a surprisingly reoccurring thing what with my aversion to almost all things blueberry flavoured in general…

I don’t even know where or how I’d go about getting a hold of more of this; but I’d maybe like to do so; it’s really, really good! I don’t think the one cup is going to be enough to keep me happy…

Thank you Dustin for the opportunity to try this tea. When I looked at it, I half anticipated an EG but what I am getting is a hint of rhubarb followed by honey coated lavender. It is nice enough but I am just not loving it. It is still fun to try something new though.

I picked up a sample of this higher quality sencha the last time I was at Le Palais des Thés. The employee sholdn’t have asked me if I wanted any free samples, because preparing them all kept him busy for quite some time.
So today I was in the mood to try something new. As soon as I emptied the sample bag into my clay kyusu (love that high pitched “cling” sound as the dry leaves hit the pot) I started to notice very fresh aromas of cucumber and freshly mowed grass. Sweeter and hay – like aromas appeared when I poured hot water over the leaves. After a minute I poured the tea into my tall glazed ceramic cup (that I made myself). At this point, the prevailing smell was that of cotton candy or bubble gum – strange as it may sound.
As for the taste itself – it was silky smooth, light and only slightly bitter towards the end.
The final verdict – I am not sure. While I like this tea quite a bit, I am stil a newbie and I am not really good at telling apart different taste and aroma nuances. But what bothers me at this tea is the price. I do not thnk it is really worth 15 EUR per 100 g, especially if you are a beginner (as I am). I have drank much cheaper teas that were equally good for me. But I am aware that many sencha enthusiasts would be able to appreciate this tea much more.

This is quite a good tea. At first, it will surprise you with sweet aroma, which changes into nutty and vegetal (namely asparagus) as the aroma unfolds. It has a smooth feel in the mouth, but leaves a slightly astringent lingering aftertaste.
Even though it is a good tea that I would recommend, I think it is a bit expensive (15 eur /20 usd) for the quality you get.

(I must admit that my senses are too dull to offer the appreciation this tea deserves. But I will try myself. And hopefully I will get better. ✍ )

smell of this tea was intriguing – not so strong that you’d want to cover your ears with a pillow and cry “5 more minutes please” yet with a tint of citrus flavor just perky enough to lure you out of a drowsy dream. The taste is light, gentle and fresh but the best part comes after you swallow the tea and then slowly breathe out – as the air flows through me, it reminds me of a warm breeze through a forest in early Fall – traversing the light brown and crispy leaves, carrying the sweet reminiscence of the summer flowers, as if they had never faded away.

I never knew waking up in the morning could be so gently cleansing and delightful.

I got this from our swap at the Taste of France Festival, I think from greenteafairy. Thanks!

Alas, I think I let this one sit around too long. It’s beautiful – the dry leaf is interspersed with pink and yellow petals. The smell, both dry and brewed, is pleasantly floral. The floral aspect doesn’t translate much into the actual sip though. Mostly I’m getting a grassy flavor with a dry mouthfeel and just a hint of rose. Pleasant enough, but I don’t think this is at all what the tea was supposed to taste like. Shame. I’m not giving a rating, since it’s not the poor tea’s fault that I callously neglected it.

Hey by the way, another sipdown.

Thank you, Anna, for a sample of this tea!

This tea smells delicious as a dry leaf as well as a ready steep. Fruity and floral, delicate and mysterious.

Each sip gives you a slight shock at first because the Chinese green tea base seems to be pretty definite and strong. But then it studdenly smoothens out and you detect nearly everything that the aroma promised – fruity sweetness and blossoms. There’s a hint of some sort of candy, makes me think of a lollipop in particular :D It’s probably not the most complex cup but to hell with that. Fruity, refreshing, yummy. That’s all I need right now!

This tea is just perfect for a sunny late afternoon like the one I am enjoying now.

When I was in high school, I used to buy bags of tiny Italian hard candies in different fruit flavors—from Trader Joe’s, I think. Google tells me they’re called Puntini. Anyway, I haven’t seen or even thought about them in ages, but this tea tastes exactly the way I remember one of the berry flavors—probably blackberry, and the best one in my opinion—tasting.

The honey is quite prominent as well, and there’s a generic sort of floral undertone to it all that, as an unabashed floral lover, I’m enjoying quite a bit. I don’t get distinct lavender, which is just as well since that can easily veer into soap territory. The tea base (Ceylon, maybe?) comes through nicely despite the strong flavoring. There is a bit of astringency, which is fine by me.

I like this much more than I expected to, given my (admittedly few) past experiences with Palais des Thes—their teas have struck me as passable but lacklustre, with a bad case of the jumbled (or perhaps muddled would be a better descriptor?) flavor thing I just can’t get into with so many French teas. I’m sure the nostalgia blast isn’t hurting, but even aside from that this is a really lovely blend for those who like florals and don’t mind a bit of astringency. I bet it would also be great iced. Thanks for the sample, Dustin—I’m adding this one to my shopping list!