THE O DOR

sad sad sipdown for me. (127) I needed something to get me through having to go to the mall today so i packed this with me. Sooo good. I WILL be getting more of this..oh yes i will. thank you again cteresa

edit: resteep on this is pretty good too…i just couldn’t bear to let it go..

ok seriously? SOOOO GOOOOOOO! i don’t have time to dig into this tea and get a proper tasting not but thank you so much Cteresa for this one. More to come later but this made my day SOOOOOO much better for being in it!

last tea of the day and a sample sipdown of that, from the lovely cteresa. Pretty sure i’d be willing to add this into my cupboard, even in a 100g quantity not because it’s the most amazing blow your socks out of the water rooibos, but because it’s lovely and pleasant and when i’ve been drinking it, i keep drinking it down without realising it. Quite pleasant on the whole, so thank you for sharing this one with me cteresa!

(on a cupboard note…added my yezi teas in today and i’m still officially under 150! – 140 to be exact… go me! Note that it’ll last long but hey, the longer the better haha)

Another tea from the lovely Cteresa I quite like this one, though i would be hard pressed to name all the fruit flavors in this blend! I mostly get a rooibos vanilla blend with a dash and splash of citrusy flavour. :) Overall i quite like this one, and have a feeling that I may search this one out in future, especially since i am in need of GOOD rooibos blends in my cupboard. Thanks again cteresa! I hope my teas arrive soon :(

Sipdown

Caramel, a simple name with one simple motive: to taste like those gooey pieces of caramel. It does just that. Yet another one that I am going to have to order one day from The O Dor… sigh.

At first sniff: It smelled like caramel, like cooking sugar with that buttery texture.

At first steep: I am so bummed this tea is gone. I added cream and sugar and it was just so delicious. It has pieces of caramel in it and it is milky, buttery and creamy. Yum yum yum.. there was a time where I drank this tea daily and went to Urban Tea Merchant before they switched suppliers and ordered as much as they had left. Hand over the little square wrapped caramels please :D

There’s no better way to say I love you… marzipan and macaroons. Yum.
I will admit, this also was not one of my go to teas from The O Dor. I bought it because I am an ever romantic and love the name. However, that being said, I steeped this morning and I think my opinion has changed.

At first sniff: I smell coconut, marzipan and pistachio. It couldn’t get much closer to French macaroons.

At first steep: Again, echoing that I am trying to do the water temperatures and steep times, but I did increase this to 95C and 6.5 mins because I do appreciate my black tea base to be stronger. I must have enjoyed this though, because I gulped it down like it was going out of style. I probably have 6-7 cups of this left and then it’s gone, so we will see. Might have to re-review at another time.

Je t’aime!!!! (Sorry had to do that, you can’t help but feel romantic, or maybe that’s just me, seeing as I am a hopeless romantic… and Dawson’s Creek is on TV right now and taking me back to pre-teen school love.)

So my day today has been less than stellar. I ended up making this tea and putting whipping cream in it (33%) instead of either coffee cream or milk. You know you’re going to have a rough day when…
Anyways it still remains delicious and an amazing comfort on a day that needs to end!!!

Wow – hello spiffy changed Steepster. I decided to drink this in the morning. I have the late shift today and needed something that felt homey and comforting. This was the choice. Served with cream and stevia!

So I had a little giggle over this tea… partially because the owner/master blender at The O Dor, originally worked at Mariages Freres. I find the description of this tea on their website to be a bit cheeky:
“It reminds you something? You think you know it? Nothing of the kind …Your jealousy is out of bound…How to say? This one is much better, deeper, more balanced and somehow far more subtle. You speak ill of it because you know much too well… It is only a coincidence if you pretend loving a similar one. Anyway, this one is mine and I don’t like sharing.”

Now, I can only speculate, BUT I sense he’s talking about Marco Polo, Mariages most famous flavoured black tea. Very very cheeky Parisian, that master blender.

I brewed this at 95C for 6 mins, as I feel I need a little more robustness in my black teas. The instructions call for 85 for 3-5 mins, as it seems with most of the The O Dor flavoured black blends.

At first sniff: This tea smells very fruity with subtle hints of vanilla and reminds me very much of Marco Polo… with the information above, I wonder why. Fruity, vanilla goodness.

At first taste: This tea again mirrors Marco Polo but with some other subtle notes. The O Dor is good a subtle hints of other flavours. I’m tasting nutty of some sort, but nothing strong like hazelnut though. Might be almond (almond extract maybe?)

I love this tea with milk and sugar (or stevia as of late.) I guess I personally appreciate the more subtle and delicate flavours, as some people knock The O Dor for their “weak” tastes. Depending on the day, I like in your face teas, but usually I like more elegant and refined flavours that have depth to them.

I’m forcing myself to go through my tea stash and pay attention to some of the ones that have been sitting there waiting for me to drink them and much of my The O Dor collection is sitting very pretty, like a well dressed Parisian woman waiting.

At first sniff: I can picture in my head the meringue peaks with toasted caps and how the sugar smells mixed with the egg whites. It literally smells like that to a T. The lemon notes wrap around this smell and then develop the more complex (ha ha, it’s without complexity though right?) smells and aromas. Some days I love it and some days I think it smells almost like soured baked goods.

At first steep: I’ve been following The O Dor’s instructions on brewing lately, to see if I’ve been doing something wrong with every other cup I’ve brewed with them. They seem finicky with black flavoured teas. I brewed at 85C and for 6 mins, because I’ve found the 3-5 it says just isn’t bold enough for this girl first thing in the morning. The lemon comes out much stronger after it has been brewed and that lovely meringue taste fades to the background slightly. I added milk and stevia to it and the stevia brings the meringue back into play, but the lemon is definitely taking a stroll on my taste buds. Although not my favourite The O Dor blend, I do like it when I’m in the mood for a light dessert.

Side note: I tried to do a re-order of some of my favourites on their website… the shipping is upwards of 50Euros…. for a few 100g of tea. Sigh… why must stores in Vancouver bring in high end French things and then change companies (I’m looking at you TWG.) Well, might just be worth it to make a trip there, vs paying that ridiculous charge. With the exchange rate, I’m paying 1.5 to 1 basically. Yeeesh…. I’ll just sip my sans complexe nicely… and lovingly.

There was a point in time, where this was my hands down favourite tea by The O Dor. I got a bit tired of it for a while, but after making myself a cup of it this morning, it’s like an old friend smiling back at me.

At first sniff: My mother cannot stand the smell of this tea. I personally smell the chocolate at first and then a nutty after smell comes through. I wouldn’t say it’s the nicest smell considering it’s suppose to be Chocolate and hazelnut, but what it lacks in smell dry, it makes up for in…

At first steep: Today I actually brewed it to the instruction on my tin. 80C at 5 mins. It’s a bit on the weak side to my liking, so I think I would brew it longer next time. The hazelnut and chocolate come out way more in the aroma of the tea once brewed. There’s a reason it was a number one contender at one point. And it doesn’t disappoint like say… Choconut Oolong from DT. No licorice here, no fake smells or tastes, just pure ingredients. I’ve been thinking more and more this is why I don’t appreciate DT as much… I’m use to high class French tea. The French do it right, it seems and they are my favourite cup of tea, if I had to choose a country. I take this tea with milk and sugar (today it was stevia because I’m trying to cut down on the sugar I ingest) and it’s just delicious. A dessert in a tea. I use to have this at high tea all the time and it goes well with both savory and sweet. I’m glad I decided to brew this tea today, made me appreciate it again.

Simply: wow.

This is my first Oolong, so I did not have any expectations. I took it because I am discovering Theodor teas, and this one was on my random shopping list.

The smell in the box is weird, I felt milk and caramel (although there is no caramel at all). It is not the most exciting smell, I almost gave up buying the tea. I stuck with it mainly because I was already about to pay :-).

I find that this tea marries extremely well with the cake and / or cookies.

I steeped at 75C for 5 minutes and at 80C for 3 minutes. I prefer shorter steep at the higher temperature, as I perceive it has more smoothness and character. But in any case this is a rich, voluminous and profound tea.

Okay – now this is the official sipdown

I had some left in the Breville from yesterday so I resteeped the tea leaves with some added water and the left overs for 8 mins at boiling. Maybe a little tacky but I like to think its more thrifty.

I’m going to miss this tea, doing this didn’t even wreck it. Good-bye friend! Until we meet again (or I have the courage to bear the shipping charges.)

A very sad sipdown

Well the last of my Melange do Galice is gone. This is probably one of my favourite The O Dor teas, other than Place St Marc, which was a sipdown very very long ago.

I brewed this tea to the instructions this time (85C), rather than at boiling like I use to do. I honestly didn’t know that this tea was suppose to be brewed at lower, as it is a black tea. The O Dor seems to do this with a lot of their black teas. I didn’t find it any different than any other time I’ve had it.

At first sniff: This is a fruit lovers dream, read: a orchard peach lovers dream. Combined with the vanilla, it smells heavenly. I grew up in the Okanagan, during my summers as a kid and this takes me right back to it. The vanilla undertones are lovely and compliment the black tea and the peaches.

At first steep: This tea brews up a lovely rich colour and the smells waft even more. I take it with cream and sugar and it just tastes like a peach dreamsicle. I’m so sad it’s gone and probably won’t be able to stock up on it for a while. C’est dommage. It wraps itself around your tongue and feels like you’re biting into a very ripe delicious peach. No fake peach taste and no fake smells. So refine. This is apparently the laziness tea according to The O Dor and I would say it does take me to a lazy summer day sitting on the porch eating a fresh local peach with some ice cream. Yum yum!

I thought it would be the perfect tea to compliment the cupcakes I was icing this morning for a baby shower. Aw yeah, pink cupcakes, peach tea and my doggie best friend makes for a lovely Saturday morning.

This is a lovely chai tea to which my supply is dwindling. I had it with milk and sugar and enjoy every sip of it. It’s so fragrant and one of my favourites.

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus, but with fall around the corner, I’m back!!

Another morning with this tea. Today I had it with almond milk and stevia. The almond milk brought a different quality to the chai, but it was very pleasant. This is still my favourite chai. It’s spicy, warm, comforting and tastes quite authentic to me.

An excellent decision for me this morning!

I wanted something spicy this morning and this Chai is lovely.

At first sniff: This chai does not smell sweet like a lot of the other chai I’ve smelled. It’s a bit more savory because of the cardamom pods and the chilli pieces in it. It’s lacking cinnamon and has more complex flavours with the spices that are chosen. I haven’t been exposed to many “authentic” chais before, but this one seems pretty close. I have made this on stovetop before as well

At first steep: It’s a lovely brown colour and smells slightly medicinal, but with a spicy quality. I took it with cream and stevia today because I feel chai should include sweet as it enhances the spices in it.

It’s probably my favourite chai I have on my shelf, but I am a sucker for Tazo chai lattes from Starbucks. Hands down the best chai lattes are from there. I don’t care what anyone says. I’ve tried from other chains and independent chains and I guess I go back to what I’m most familiar with.

I’ll be sad when this one leaves my cupboard. Might have to bite the bullet and do a The O Dor order. Maybe we can all combine to save on shipping.

Sipdown

I originally bought this tea a couple years ago because of the ridiculously cute tea tin it came in. It was pink and had fairies on it. I didn’t realize it was a tisane (makes sense as it was marketed as a tea to give for a baby shower. They had a boy version too.)

I have never had this tea hot. I have always iced it. I steep for a long time hot and then chill in the fridge in a rubbermaid pitcher.
Smell: The smell of this tea takes you off in to a tropical wonderland. You instantly smell the cherries and pineapple and then the banana is there to end off the note. I really like the smell of this.

Taste: Again, I have only had this iced, can’t comment on it warm, but I find fruit teas taste really sour when they are hot, so prefer them chilled. This tea looks like fruit punch Kool-aid. Its a dark red-pink. The taste has a tropical cherry taste with a hint of banana at the end. It’s probably one of my favourite to make iced, which means I might have to bite the bullet and order more from The O Dor, even though I’m sure I will pay large for the shipping from France. The local store I bought this at no longer carries the line.

J’adore Je M’appelle Dorothee!

I am slowly drinking the remains of my The O Dor teas that I had from Urban Tea Merchant. I have probably 10 – 15g left of this one, so I brewed some yesterday. I always liked that The O Dor was not artificially flavoured and am becoming increasingly irritated with other companies that do, as I don’t think it’s necessary. I have become more and more of a tea snob in that sense.

Side note: Kind of like how I am now a sushi snob. Before I could stomach the all you can eat variety, now… it tastes like garbage.

I digress back to the tea…

Dry: It smells citrus-y and the notes of raspberry come out right away, it’s a comfort to me.

Steeped: I am pretty much consistent in adding some sort of milk or milk alternative to my tea, along with some sugar or stevia, especially with black tea. Herbals I find I don’t need to do this with, but there’s something special about black tea. I catch onto the berry flavour immediately and the sugar brings out the vanilla that’s in it, it feel thick and in my mouth, probably because of the cream.

Overall, this never was my favourite black tea, but it was one that I did like when I was looking for something that was more tart and fruity instead of sweet and fruity.

Thank you so much cteresa for sending me some of this tea. I wanted to taste it for ages but each time it was out of stock on the internet website.
Now I’m recovering from pneumonia I can find some courage to prepare a tea.
The blend itself is so lovely with these rose petals and it smells delicious and I decided to strictly stick to Theodor’s brewing instructions. I may have been wrong because I think 90°C may have been better.
As cteresa I find more chocolate and coconut in this tea than almond and pistachio…and this is not what I was looking for.
The tea base is too weak for my taste and I will continue to try this tea with different steeping times and temperatures.
Pistachio comes more when the beverage is cooling.

I am not in love with this Theodor creation even if of course it is more than correct and decent.
There a lack of explosion in this tea, something I miss. Exactly when you have an appointment with a sexy guy to have dinner and …meh…there is no electricity between you and him, you begin to look at your watch…
I may have put too much expectations in Je t’Aime…but I’ll continue to have some dinners with because I think something may happen.

Lately I’ve been craving coffee. The strength of taste, the bitterness, the ‘kick’… My normally preferred whites, greens, greenish oolongs and mellow (Chinese) blacks just weren’t it. Trying to get off this coffee bing, I decided to try Britisch Breakfast. And what a happy choice that turned out to be! This tea is a ‘real’ black tea with lots of character. It’s strong, it has a slight bitter-ish note and it definitely packs a punch. It probably won’t become a real favorite as I usually like something a bit sweater and ‘kinder’ in taste, but I won’t automatically pass up on breakfast teas anymore either.

There aren’t many teas from Theodor I don’t like, but this is one of them. In my opinion the fruity flavoring and the oolongy characteristics don’t really mesh well. It’s not awful, but nothing special either. Not my cup of tea…

This is by far the sweetest Theodor tea I know. I believe it’s a white peony with tropical fruits. As a result it tastes sweet and syrupy in that particular way tropical fruit juice mixes tend to taste. If you’re in for something new that doesn’t emphasize the tea but rather the flavoring this would be a good choice.

Brewing: anything from 3 minutes and up.