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Huh. I guess the name of this tea was shortened to “Passage” some point after this tea was added to the Steepster database. I had to google Passage du Desir, thinking it was one of the passages in Paris, alleys often with glass ceilings that have turned into shopping strips with cute cafes and shops lining them. A quick google search turns up reference to one passage with not much detail, but most of the results are of a sex toy or “adult novelty” shop. Was this tea named after a street or an adult toy shop? My curiosity is peaked.

Dry, this tea has that rich dark chocolate scent that reminds me of prunes for some reason. It is a deep chocolate smell. I drank most of this cup absentmindedly while running morning errands. As I sit with the rest of the cooled cup I notice the dark chocolate in the sip and finish. It is subtle and might be made more substantial with cream, but I’ll have to test that theory out on my next cup. There is a slight barley scent when I’m sipping and I’m not able to pick out the hazelnut in the flavors. Overall I’m still undecided on exactly how I feel about this tea.

It had been long enough since my first cup that I forgot the part about the hibiscus. Too lazy to to get up and make myself a different tea, I punished myself by drinking half the cup before dumping down the drain and storming to the garbage can with the rest of the dry mix, determined never to make the same fatal mistake a third time. Drama aside, what is with the obsession of tea blenders to over hib the hell out of stuff?!

I’ve had this tea for so long now and still have a bit left to go through! It still delivers a pretty good cup and makes me reminisce on my early loose leaf days. I get some floral baked almond cookie type flavors. It’s nice, but I feel like I’m ready to move on from this tea. I’ll need to come up with a plan to clear this from my cupboard quickly. Amandine Rose cookies?

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Wasn’t sure what this tea would be. It was in a mixed package of teabags I bought and the name caught my attention this morning. Opening the package reveals a bergamot scent. I expected that the first few sips of this would be bitter and I’d have to get used to it, but that wasn’t the case at all! Not sure what Pouchkine means, I’ll have to look that up, but this is an EG all the way. I can’t pick out the tea flavor over the citrus in the sip, but it appears in the finish along with a hint of leather. It doesn’t have that sharp bite that many EGs have and I wonder if it’s the smokiness that dampers that. Either way, I approve! I usually drink EGs with a bit of cream, but when I added some to this cup the flavors were significantly dampened. This tea is better without anything added.

The scent of this tea was intriguing, which is what caught my attention in the store. It smelled woody, like cinnamon with that hojicha scent. Steeped, it smells fruity with the cinnamon and there is almost a barley tea flavor in it. I made it hot and then poured it over ice which made for a really nice cup.

First sip was chocolate, second was cinnamon. After several more sips there is a hint of chili and a sweetness mid sip. It has a hearty quality. As I sip further the chili creeps in a bit, but stays lingering in the background. It’s nice, but there is room for it to grow on me.

I’m not sure about this one. It tastes like I’ve bitten into one of those Xmas decoration oranges. The ones that are covered in cloves. It tastes a lot less bergamot to me and way more orange peel. It’s hard to get past the orange clove combo and taste anything else. Clove can be dominating that way. Adding cream killed the flavors. I’d like to try different steeping parameters next time.

Picked up a bag of this in Paris not remembering that I’ve had it before. I was in a bit of a rush with my family waiting outside for me, which is not how a tea fanatic wants to explore an amazing tea shop! I want to love this tea, but it’s just okay in my book. I taste the vanilla, there is a hint of malt. It’s a decent cup, just not anything that super excites me. I kinda wish that will all the options of MF teas in front of me that I had picked something different. :/

A little bitter and bland when first steeped. Once I added creamer it turned into a much better cup as most breakfast teas do IMO. It is hearty, the cream rounds out the flavors so well. Slight bit of malt. It’s delicious. I’d drink it again, but I don’t know that it should live in my cupboard. Luckily this is from a sample set so there is little commitment needed right now!

I’m trying to follow the steeping directions for August Uncommon, but I feel like they aren’t quite working out for me and need adjusting for my tastes. This tea smells really good dry! Sweet, smoky and rich. Once steeped it is coming across as a bit bitter in the first several sips. It mellows out a little as I drink on. I can smell and taste a smokey woodsy caramel, but it isn’t as intense as I had hoped. The start of the sip is light, the mid has some flavor coming on and the end is where things get more interesting. Adding creamer makes the whole thing a bit smokier and knocks out the nuances. I’d like to adjust things next time, but I’m not sure if I should go with a lower temp for the same amount of time or the same temp for a shorter time. Maybe I’ll have to try both!