Dammann Frères

Another sample from greenteafairy. I was intrigued by this one, as I don’t think I’ve ever had linden leaf before. The main flavor in this blend was definitely rhubarb! (And maybe strawberry? But I could be imagining that, since those two flavors just go together automatically in my mind.) But there was also a leafy, herbal aftertaste that I’m assuming was the linden. Overall…nothing exciting, but a pleasant herbal blend.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – March Tea #4:  A French tea

I basically went through my Dammann Freres teas to find the one that was sipdownable (and that WASN’T Noel Prague because I’m not ready to say bye to that one yet!)   This one wasn’t that great to my tastebuds (hmm.. then how is it the first DF tea that is finally gone?)  I don’t think I need to stock up on this one, rather than some other favorites.   It’s cherry/almond which seems to be present in many DF teas…  always great to try a tea and say I don’t need it in the cupboard though!
2022 sipdowns:  39

Somehow this one is cherry for me again, even though cherry is not mentioned on the ingredients at ALL. But somehow I’m only tasting cherry and maybe some marzipan. Maybe a slight biscuit flavor. Should I be worried about flavor contamination in our group order? I know those DF bags aren’t the best especially if you’re buying mass amounts of tea. I really hope that didn’t happen… but I see other tasting notes mentioning cherry too (and not from our group order.) Maybe it’s something in the other flavors that reminds me of cherry. Or maybe DF loves cherry and I’m trying too many of their teas. :D Whatever happened here tastes pretty good to me anyway! I guess cherry works with this sort of Ceylon…
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 13 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

Another sample from my swap with greenteafairy. I was excited about this one, as I love pecan pie and nutty teas tend to be some of my favorites. Not sure the name quite fits this one, as I’m not getting much pecan flavor. It’s definitely nutty, but more almond/marzipan to my taste. It has a nice smooth base and just a hint of sweetness and overall it’s quite delicious…just not exactly what I was expecting.

Finally used up the last of my sample from greenteafairy in yet another disappointing final cup. It’s my own fault, because in hopes of making the tea stretch as far as possible the last time I drank it, I saved enough leaf for probably half a cup. Forgetting this when I poured the water, I poured a whole 10oz mug and surprise surprise, the tea is super weak. I have a whole box of ‘sipdown’ teas where I’ve saved only enough leaf of each for a small 4oz cup, and I think one day I’m going to just have to sit down with a tiny teacup and the box and go through as many of them as I can.

Sipdown 128/395.

Resteeped my leaves in hope, and sadly this is not a great resteeper. I used boiling water and left it for a whole 7 minutes but it’s still pretty weak. Actually once you get used to the delicate flavour it’s still pretty tasty. I added sugar and the nuttiness came out a lot more, and the remaining flavour is actually (finally!) mostly pecans.

My tea from greenteafairy arrived! Woohooo! Apparently when your parents ask you who the mail’s from and you answer ‘green tea fairy’ you get some pretty strange looks.

I was going to leave this a day or so to settle but the scent through the packaging was just so heavenly I had to make a cup almost immediately (almost because I was still drinking my previous cup). Now I did ask for a sample of this because I’m trying to find a replacement (or as near to one as I can get) for my beloved Maple Pecan Oolong, and greenteafairy did warn me I’d be disappointed because she’s on the same mission, so I was a bit wary. She was right about me being disappointed as a replacement for Maple Pecan Oolong, but since I pretty much expected that already I wasn’t too disappointed with the tea overall. It’s pretty tasty! I’m a huge fan of nutty teas in general, and this is about as nutty as it gets. My issue lies with the name, and I have the same problem a lot of others seem to in that out of all the nuts in the tea, pecan is probably the least prominent and yet it’s the one they chose to name it after. If this was called ‘nut pie’ I have a feeling it would have a lot fewer disappointed customers. Aside from that it really is a very nice tea! The flavour is a little strong and perhaps slightly on the chemically-tasting side, but it’s not much and I can live with it. I brewed this at boiling, and was worried about astringency because the recommended temperature is 195, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it has no astringency whatsoever! I could happily drink this plain. I didn’t, though, because I wanted to try it with additives as I usually do the first time I drink a new tea before settling on how I like it best. With or without sugar, the almond flavour is most prominent, followed by the pistachio. I expected this from the scent, which was strongly marzipan-like. I added a splash of milk and the two flavours almost reversed, with the pistachio in the front of the sip and almond at the end. This became more pronounced as the tea cooled, too, and I’m thinking it might be to do with pistachio being a creamier flavour than almond. The pecan, which was nowhere to be found when I was drinking it black, peeks out a little at the very end of the sip with a pie crust sort of flavour that wasn’t there before either. It’s a really lovely, relaxing dessert tea, especially for a nut-lover, but it’s just not pecan pie. Thanks for the sample, greenteafairy!

I received a sample of this in a recent swap with greenteafairy and was excited to try it out with breakfast this morning! I think I over-steeped it by a minute or two in the bustle of getting ready for work, but thankfully the base didn’t go bitter or astringent. I didn’t pick up on any specific fruits, but there was a nice sweet fruity flavor going on that I quite enjoyed. Not a standout for me, but happy I got to sample it! One of these days I’m going to invest in some French tea and it’s nice to be able to find out ahead of time which ones I really love and which ones aren’t worth paying the crazy shipping fees for.

1/2 tsp leaf + 500mL cold water (two steeps of 500mL each), 8-10 minutes

I enjoy this hot + milk, but I like it even more iced. The cherry comes through really well and is a great fruity blend if you want something neither too sweet, nor too tart. Plus, it is extremely flavourful. I find 1/2 tsp is perfect for a standard travel cup/large mug and it will resteep 2-3 times on the same leaf. I expect if you tied 2 tsp or something it would be way too strong, but if you underleaf it will last you forever.

Wow, that’s a very accurate black cherry flavour! Definitely black cherry and not generic cherry/cough syrup. That being said, this is obviously artificial flavour, but I like it. Dried cherries don’t give the same intensity of flavour. From this, there are notes of milk, dark fruit, jam, and honey.

The base is very strong, very oxidized, and makes the brew quite thick. It kind of smells like grain, but there is no grain/toasty note to be found. I do

I guess I must have wanted to try this because it was “black” cherry not knowing so many of the fruity teas from DF would taste like cherry. This one doesn’t taste like black cherry, it tastes like the cherry of the other blends. haha. The rose petals don’t impart much to the flavor and the black tea is samey, yet again. So it’s a little redundant and this one will be going on the sale list. I don’t need many ounces of DF cherry teas. But of course I enjoy trying the DF teas!!
I’ve been attempting to try more new-to-me teas because the teabox will be on the way back to me soon!

Trying this one last week, I thought it would be another for the sale list. But trying it again, it’s completely different. Both steeps didn’t have any notes of coconut at all. But this one has plenty of rhubarb (last time it didn’t). Maybe because I used a teaspoon and a half or maybe because I made sure my serving had whatever those fruit pieces are included. The rooibos results in a nice dark cup and the flavor is like rhubarb with cream. This is my fourth favorite rhubarb tea I have around though. Can you tell I like rhubarb?
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoon for a full mug// few minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

This one just isn’t for me, after trying it twice. I don’t like the vanilla flavor here and it just isn’t good with the base… Ceylon again. Or something that tastes like Ceylon. Tasting notes lead me to believe other batches of this tea were better. Onto the sale list it goes. My tasting note is as blah meh as this tea is to me.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug// few minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

So, this was one of the picks we got as part of the DF group buy and I’ve been putting off trying it because it smells scary to me.

Wash. Steep. Sip.

Nope.

Tastes fake. The wash toned down the scary smell, but that smell totally carries over into the flavor. I won’t be drinking this again.

Sipdown!
Goodbye delicious tea. I hope to reorder you someday, but I need room for my American Tea Room samples.

Oh, dear rooibos, this is amazing. Lots of fruity notes (cherry, strawberry, maybe raspberry and blueberry), sweet rooibos, cream, caramelised nuts, almond, sugar, and vanilla. These are all my favourite things put into one blend. Best of all, no hint of tartness if you leave it steeping too long.

I honestly can’t think of anything to improve this. Everything about it is lovely. It also resteeps well and makes amazing lattes!