408 Tasting Notes
As I was not very impressed with you, dear tea des sables, I decided to make you iced.
I need to clear my tins to put all my good teas, the ones still in a simple bag…So bye bye basic teas and unloved teas !
You’re not my cup of tea but you may be my glass of tea ?
Sure ! you’re definitively better as an iced tea but obviously I am really less picky with iced teas (I think I’m not far of even being not picky at all when I am deshydrated !)
I get the rose flavour here and the peach one not sure for mango.
This is flowery and fruity and really refreshing.
I’m sure I’ll get my tin available very soon :)
The dry leaf of Figue Fraîche strongly smells like dry fig to me.
It is very pleasant.It smells really like summer, Mediterranean countries.
4 minutes steeping later, I get the classic medium bodied black tea base of Dammann with a strong fig taste + a bakery taste.
Drinking it it reminds me some little biscuits we have here, the Figolu which is something similar to your newtons fig.
The fig is really natural and tasty, no doubt this is a greedy fruity fig tea.
Even if it reminds me the figolu biscuits, it is absolutely not an over-sweetened tea, it’s a perfect fig tea.
I’m very happy to finally have the opportunity to enjoy it, I had difficulties to find it (Dammann frères shops didn’t have it ! and the salesman even asked me if I was sure Figue Fraîche was one of their teas…you know with a stupid snobbish way to speak ! YES I was sure, grrrrrrr Working here, are you sure to know the teas of the brand ? hehehe). I managed it to find on line and now I have 50 g to enjoy. YES Figue Fraîche is typically a Dammann Frères Tea, natural with a smooth medium bodied black tea base from China and Ceylon.
Preparation
I asked for a tea the other day at Dammann and they were very surprised to hear the name. But thankfully one person in the shop knew it was one of their teas (they just didn’t have any).
I ordered some of this tea from instant-the.com as well, hopefully I will eventually get my order! It got delivered after I left my hotel, and they said they would send it to me.
so you are enjoying the hot weather here in Paris :)
I hope you’ll get your parcel soon. Instant Thé was very reliable from my experience and the French mail service is normally very good.
I think you’ll enjoy this one, looking forward to read your review about it and other DF !
The service at Dammann shops is just nice, not better
I hate when sales assistants don’t even know their own products. I’ve worked in retail and it’s happened to me but at least I had the decency of actually researching the product before rolling my eyes.
Don’t think I’ve ever had fig in tea, it sounds delicious.
This tea has a special place in my heart. It was one of the first loose leaf teas my mother have bought when I was a child and the name of this tea was really a dream to me…la montagne bleue…where is this magical blue Mountain ?
So I purchased 100g of this one and I’m not disapointed at all.
This is a “classical” strawberry and rhubarb tea with a very pleasant tea base. It’s not a sweet tea despite the presence of the strawberry.
It’s a very different way to play around rhubarb and strawberry vs Jardin Bleu (Dammann Frères, sweeter, tarter) and Thé du Hammam Black leaf (Palais des thés, on a keemun base, really more mellow).
This version is more serious on a way, darker.This si the serious side of the strawberry somehow.
I like it really much, there is absolutely no bitterness, just profoundness.
This is a profound tea with joyful accents to me.
I can’t believe I’m the first one to review it :)
Preparation
What a lovely tea !
It has some ingredients I rarely have in tea : plums (particularly mirabelles) and pear.
In addition apple and peach are present as well.
To be honnest apple and pear are really behind and the main taste to me is clearly mirabelle, for the best as I love mirabelles ! But the other fruits give a special note to this blend even if they are nor really detectable one by one.
The impression is an automnal blend, it makes me think to a setting sun.
Very well blended. Not sure it would be the aromas I would have chosen for St Petersburg but this is really well done.
Another Dammann Frères I really enjoyed.
Now remain 3 teas from my last order to taste including 2 chaï, I feel lazy today to prepare a chaï so maybe next week end !
Preparation
I had this tea this morning even if it’s typically more an afternoon tea.
I was expecting more cherry due to the tea name but it’s more a mix of red berries.
The scent is lovely and the dry leaf is made of some dry fruit and cut tea leaf.
The liquor is pleasant even if not very interesting. This is a natural and decent tea but for real cherry lovers I recommend more Cerise Noire from Betjeman & Barton (black tea base) and Sakura 2000(Mariage Frères on a green tea base)
Preparation
Velours nacré is a tea I have never heard about before ordering it to complete my Dammann teas order.I wasn’t expecting too much from this tea as I didn’t choice it really and just went for it to access the free shipping for my parcel.
This is a yummy tea.Very greedy with its almonds and chocolate aromas.
The fact of adding a splash of orange blood to the blend is really a nice idea. It adds some depth to the blend.
The orange lingers a long time after having finished the cup
Really delicious to begin the day.
Preparation
I am continuing tasting my new Dammann Frères teas.
I have been very curious about this one since a long time, mainly because of the mix of provencal flowers and a typical fruit from mediteranean areas : fig.
I am a sucker too for teas containing honey and this is the case of this one.
The dry leaves smell honey and fig mainly and are really beautiful with the blue flowers (cornflower mainly and a little lavender) and yellow flowers (sunflower)
I am not disapointed at all : the flavours come so lovely on the very smooth and mellow tea base : honey for sure and fig on the top, strawberry comes on a supportive but really present role.
I was a little afraid to find an heavy lavender essential oil taste but it isn’t the case, the lavender taste is quite absent, I suspect DF only added some flowers to the blend and that’s it.It is perfect to me but if you are looking for a lavender tea, you may be a little disapointed.
Cooling, it becomes even sweeter and smoothier.
Preparation
Yesterday I went to a Mariage Frères tea room with my daughter and I picked this one out from the biiiiigggggg tea card.
I wanted to taste it for ages and it was in my shopping list.
Let’s say it was perfectly brewed as Mariage knows to do so.
I was weak to me, weak tea base, weak raspberry and blueberry flavours. I had a hint of Vanilla. I was very disapointed by this experience tea.
Especially as well because having a tea at MF is very expensive 10 € for a full teapot (it was 9 € 3 months ago ! and it was already very expensive !)
So I was upset against myself to have made a wrong choice.
It is not a bad tea but it is a meh tea for me.
At least I can take it off from my shopping list
That is always disappointing when you pay a lot for a tea and it doesn’t live up to expectations. But “meh” is better than “bleh” and you know you don’t need to try it again. :)
Oh nooo, that’s really sad considering that price tag ): I wonder if that might be because of the preparation rather than the tea itself, maybe the water they used wasn’t hot enough? So often do I order one of my favourite teas in a tearoom only for the staff to ruin it!
I think MF did a good steeping and I am afraid this is the blend…sure now I know I won’t buy it :)
Thanks to Dammann, I know by now what a pitanga is, as I had to search for that :)
What an ingredient list…I was expecting something more parfumed regarding that point but it wasn’t so perfumed.
The dry leaf scent is really lovely, a mix of flower scent and citrus to me.
Same DF base, I won’t speak again about their unique base (which is good).Pourquoi changer une équipe qui gagne ? hummm to get more personnality and tea exploration pershaps ?
Liquor : I was expexting something more perfumed as well but it is really nice : I get the cherry blossom for sure (the famous pitanga !), fig, citrus.
The flavours are recognizable, this is really a nice surprise , I was daring having a kind of global flavour without subtility and it’s not the case.
More complicated to me : get the flowery notes separately _I don’t manage to, sorry.
It was my first cup of the morning but I strongly recommend to have it in the afternoon.It’s a very delicate and quite complex tea.
I don’t think I’ll repurchase it but I am happy to have 50g to enjoy.
I do the same thing! Any teas I don’t care for hot I just default to cold steeping. They’re usually better that way, and it’s a great way to make room in the cupboard. :)
I was up late last night looking for tea houses in Paris for my Nephew David to explore. He lives close to the Arc de Triomphe. Thought of you.
@ incendiare yes and even good teas can become a HIT iced ! I tried with a just correct rapsberry tea and it became a paradise drink !
@ Bonnie, thanks Bonnie :) Your nephew can try the mariage frères tea room at Ternes (not far from the Arc de Triomphe)
If he’s looking for great Japanase teas he can find some in the area of St Michel, what does he want to try ?
Have you been to Maison des Trois Thes? I was looking for a Chinese Tea House with gonfu service and no flavored tea and read about this highly rated shop.
I’ve never been but I know this tea room (very reputated)
You’re absolutely right they offer the tea ceremonial. It can be a little intimidating for a new tea drinker, a place dedicated to meditation.
Then, you and I would enjoy it because we know what we like and are not intimidated or snobbish. People are that way about wine too and I used to laugh at the winery when people got snobbish. Tea is for everyone! Without humility you know nothing!
Haha, clever: ‘You’re not my cup of tea but you may be my glass of tea ?’