359 Tasting Notes
Hardly been reviewing, I am trying to drink through my stash, so nothing new interesting to talk about.(just been followed a lot by spammers on steepster. Steepster and spammers of all things). But this is a rare new purchase and worth writing down my opinion.
It smells fantastic (which was what sold me), like boozey chocolate mousse. It is priced extremely surprising (17.50 euros for 100 grams!), but I was in a Thé du Loup craving mood and I risked buying 50 grams. And it is nice but can’t help feeling how “thin” the Dammann teas taste, how the scent is not there and can end up a bit like drinking scented tannin water…
This is not bad, just a bit disappointing. Particularly for the price!
Flavors: Dark Chocolate
I had never had a tea with rosemary as a flavor or ingredient and now in a single month two teas, two Christmas teas from favorite blenders , have rosemary as an ingredient, this and The-o-dor´s Laponic December 25 (black). zeitgeist. sounds interesting.
I love lapsang souchong, and loved the couple flavored teas based on lapsang souchong I tried, it can really work. on this case, sadly it didn´t for me, I thought the orange and pink peppercorn were too overwhelming – and not sure what christmas baubles are or are supposed to add to flavour.
Flavors: Orange, Peppercorn
Preparation
I have tried this, Lupicia number 8508 from Lupicia France, under the name Belle Journée.
And it´s such an interesting idea, a green tea with rooibos. It was a sample, so worth risking, I was quite unsure if I was going to like it, but indeed it works and it´s oddly refreshing.
I am usually not a fan of grapefruit flavours, and it´s noticeable here, though the peach is more prevalent. I will probably not buy it because of the grapefruit, I might tire of it, but it´s certainly interesting on its own.
Brewed the way Lupicia insists, boiling water 2 minutes, it works (have given up doubting them on how to brew their teas).
Preparation
a chance buy, I did not expect it to be a green chestnut tea. I would not think it would work, but it does, and it´s fantastic, the sweetness of the chesnut is perfectly amplified by the tea.
I have not been buying much new tea, and sticking to finishing a lot of my stash. But Thé o Dor is a favorite brand I can´t order easily (they sell online but the shipping prices are very of-fputting!) but found a store which had some tins and could not resist indulging in this Christmas tea.
It´s a very unusual christmas tea, rosemary, oak moss and cranberry on a very nice chinese black tea base. It´s wonderfully refreshing, fresh, clear, pure compared to how sweet and spicy most christmas teas are. Luckily , I love it and will enjoy it the rest of the year as well!
Preparation
If it were not on item description I would never have expected it. Maybe a certain woody-ness, a green note. I have tried perfumes in the past with oak moss notes, I think it is supposed to be in the background.
The rosemary is very dominant here in a very interesting way – maybe the moss and berries balance it so it tastes very pure, very wild, rather than flowery. I can’t imagine Lapland smelling like this in reality but it tastes like something of a pure winter forest without being pine-y. I like pine scents very much but a pine tea might not be nearly as drinkable as this.
This was a really exciting interesting idea for a tea, I loved that it works out!
It sounds wonderful. I’m wishlisting this one!
I rebought this, and making my first new cup of it, chai-style, maybe I was lucky, maybe I overbrewed it or overleafed it (in a good way!), but it was much more spicy and piquant than I remembered. Awesome for the sinus, but just leaving a note, not nearly as mellow as I used to think!
Flavors: Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, Pepper
Preparation
still loving this, this is really an incredibly good morning tea.
Maybe it will mean the same to some people including who labelled your sample, but in general chai is not the same as cha.
Cha is the original cantonese word, and countries which got tea directly from China tend to use it. Chai is the word, based on cha used in India-Persia area, and at least in the western world now mostly means a type of spiced tea like chai masala. But it´s not universal. Notice how MF called this “cha”, not “chai”!
After looking at the website, and inspecting my tea, I think mine is just a misspelling on the baggie. :D
Now this finally a sample whose donor I can identify – thank you Ysaurella.
I liked the oolong-quality of this a lot, the base was lovely and smooth. I think I must have kept it too long, the caramel notes were there but somewhat subdued, and that was not necessarily a problem, I enjoyed it very much just as it was.
I got to confess, this was a sample I got in a swap and it was so long ago i forgot who i got it from – sorry! The package was fantastically hermetically sealed and this was in great condition, but still finally giving this a try.
Rooibos with cinnamon, or spices in general is right up my alley and this time of the year, I am always putting the kettle on, but mid-afternoon I got to swap to rooibos or tisanes, so this sample was a nice re-discovery. There is a right time of the day/year for every tea for me.
This is interesting, because it´s a perfect example of how americans and europeans (or the rest of the world?) call cinnamon to different spices. This is the sharp, almost hot, cassia taste, which I confess reminds me inevitably of cinnamon chewing gum. I am used to Ceylan cinnamon, which is rounder somehow. But cassia does work really well as a flavouring, I added some sweetener and milk and it´s very pleasant. Just, and I knew about it, could not help expecting a different cinnamon because of the name.
Hiya Teresa, the price is due to the tea base which is a keemun. Which temperature did you brew it ? Normally it is a quite a nice flavoured tea but it doesn’t react very well hoter than 90°c
How nice to hear from you, hello, and happy holidays!
I did brew it boiling, will try again a bit lower and with more leaf, to give it a fair trial! It smells lovely.
I did break down in my craving for Thé du Loup and bought some things from Thé-o-Dor, Thé du Loup did not disappoint on its return (good because I got 250 grams in 2 125 grams packages), and I do love their Laponic Christmas teas – the black was a rebuy, the green I am now crazy in love with it!