Dammann Frères

I wrote about this on the mail thread, but I will copy it here because it was really exciting! From a previous order from Dammann I knew that they usually threw in samples of wrapped sachets of their teas, so this time I went through their wrapped sachet offerings and in the order comments I requested a few of them that might be available. Well they did send me some wrapped sachets, but they also sent me two half-ounce packages of loose tea of two of the samples I had requested (Vanille and Pomme d’Amour). Awesome! Now I know that I can request loose samples from them in the future!

When I requested a sample of this tea, I didn’t realize it was CANDY apple, or else I forgot in the intervening time since I ordered. Then I was looking at the label and seeing that one of the “arômes” contained the word “caramel”, and I got really excited. And I read Ysaurella’s note and got more excited. SO glad I requested a sample of this one!

It smells sooo appley and also has a definite sweet buttery toffee-ish type smell. I really wanted to drink this before it got cool enough. Finally! This is quite delicious. INTENSELY appley. I agree that it comes across as almost a baked apple, where the apple flavor is really intensified. Definitely caramelized sugar and a bit of buttery goodness as well. If I had to pick out one thing I could do without on this tea it’s the maraschino cherry. It is a light note and meshes well enough with the apple that I don’t mind, but I can still get hints of it. Still, this is super tasty and I’m very happy to have a sample!

I was having my typical indecision of what to drink this morning. Do I try to drink up some old teas? Try to clear out some low-volume teas that are near-ish to sipdowns (although I don’t really have hardly any that are truly near to sipdowns)? But I didn’t really feel like doing either of those. Finally I said screw it, I am drinking a tea I love that I haven’t gotten to drink regularly since I was doing the chronological sip-through of my cupboard. This tea should be logged way more times than it is, mostly because I drink it and don’t really have much else to say about it. I love it, it’s awesome, I want to drink it all the time. I’m already almost halfway through the 100g I bought of it last fall, and that never happens in my tea cupboard. This morning it was delicious as always.

So happy to get back to this one (#17) since before I went on my cupboard sip-through it was one of my go-to teas in the morning. I just always wanted to drink it. There is something about the mix of flavors (bergamot, rose, chocolate, almond), which are all my very favoritest of flavors, that make it irresistable.

I didn’t drink any tea over thanksgiving at home, mostly because my parents do not own any type of kettle and I get annoyed boiling water in a saucepan. When I came home, this is the tea I immediately wanted this morning.

I’m kind of obsessed with it? At this point I think I could drink it every morning and be happy. Bergamot and rose and chocolate and almond cookies… yum. It’s basically everything I have ever wanted in a tea. If you asked me to create a dream blend of flavors, this would be about it. When I first drank it I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but now I love it.

I wanted to try this one again after having Saint-Valentin from MF, since I believe they are fairly similar teas. This one has almond and chocolate listed in the ingredients, where as that one sticks to only bergamot and florals.

The almond isn’t really a distinct flavor, and I wouldn’t necessarily call this tea super chocolatey, but the chocolate notes are there, and I think the almond and chocolate come together to make some cakey goodness.

Of the two, I think I prefer this one for that reason, but they are both delicious (if you love bergamot and florals, which I do!).

Side note: my office is freezing and my throat is feeling sore. Should have stayed at home but the internet wasn’t working!

My morning meeting got cancelled! So I got to have this tea also this morning. Amazing what new, exciting teas can do for your desire to drink tea.

This tea was one of the main reasons I wanted to order because I think it is new (I hadn’t seen it before in my searches of the website). I think it was released in a limited tin last valentines day and then they kept it in bulk, which is how I bought it. I had some silly idea that this could be a replacement for the limited and inaccessible La Naissance from Fauchon, in that it has almond and rose in it, but of course this also has about a million other flavors in it, so that isn’t very likely. BUT those flavors are also ones I love (bergamot, chocolate), so I had to try it!

This tea reminds me of another tea but I’m not really sure what. It is a complex blend, and each flavor peeks out at different points. I would say that the major flavors are indeed rose and almond, with a light note of dark chocolate in the trailing end of the sip and a bright pop of bergamot primarily in the aftertaste. All of these things come together to make a cakey flavor as well.

All in all, delicious. My preliminary rating is “I love this tea” but it’s going to take me a few sessions to really sort through all the flavors.

This tea happens to be next in my cupboard list (#16) and I gave out a sample this morning, so I was thinking about it anyway. I do enjoy this one a fair bit. The raspberry, rose, and orange play well. I should try to remember this one when I am wanting a fruity, rosey tea.

When I opened today’s slot on the advent calendar, before I could see the name of the tea, I could see the orange wrapper and I knew I wouldn’t be drinking it. Rooibos! Blech.

It was a citrus rooibos, so I decided in its place I would drink a different citrusy Dammann tea, but I wanted one that was unlikely to show up in the calendar. That ruled out any of the “Nöel” teas, and also likely Gôut Russe Douchke, so I went with this one, which is blood orange, rose, and raspberry. Close enough!

This tea is very tasty, and I love how the way the orange, rose, and raspberry play together. I might say the raspberry is the most prominent note, but none of them really take over too much. It works.

Today is a day where I might not have had tea at all, given that I have a meeting this morning and I am teaching all afternoon. But this tea was teasing me all evening yesterday; its scent could not be contained in its little paper bag, and I could smell the raspberries from a mile away. So I knew I had to brew this one right away when I got in to make sure I had time to drink it before my meeting.

Side note, I think they may have sent me more than 100g of this tea. It almost didn’t fit in the empty Fauchon tin that I put it in, and usually those tins have a little headspace with 100g of tea in them.

Good thing I really enjoy this tea. I would say that the raspberry is the strongest flavor here, no surprise given the scent, but I definitely get a “dark” citrusy blood orange note, and of course the richness of the rose. I feel like the blood orange makes its appearance at the beginning of the sip, then its taken over by raspberry and rose, and then it pops back out in the aftertaste. There is also a somewhat cookie-ish note in the aftertaste; it’s something I sometimes associate with rose and black tea, in the way they interact, that makes me think of baked goods. It’s definitely here. The base tea is their usual, which is my fave, and is reliably smooth and nicely balanced.

This tea is dark and rich, and the flavors are thick and entwining. It reminds me of 7 Parfums, but with only 3 parfums. :) If you don’t like rose, don’t even think about this tea. If you do, I would definitely recommend this one.

I cannot tell you how I excited I am to get to this part of my cupboard, my Dammann order from last fall. Full of teas that are some of my faves. This one (#18) is delicious, full of rosy-ness and oolong goodness. A nice, relaxing tea for this afternoon.

This was crazy rosey and delicious today. Rose-scented green oolongs are not impossible to find although I wouldn’t say they are common, but I will definitely have to keep one around. This one is extremely well done: the rose is thick and luscious, but it doesn’t cover up the orchid notes of the oolong, either. Definite winner.

Yay, my DF order came in today! And even though I don’t usually have tea after work, I broke into this one immediately. This tea was one of the geneses of this order, since it’s a limited edition spring tea. Yes, most of their limited teas are available for a long time, but you never really know.

When I opened up the tin, I was immediately struck by the scent of the rose. It’s not a dark, lush, rich rose (unlike the rose in Amore, which I can smell through the bag is intense!). It is a bright, springy rose, which makes sense since this is suppose to be some special roses that are harvested early in May.

The flavor on this one is light and delicate. As with the aroma, this is not thick, dark rose; this is gentle, delicate rose. The oolong underneath is also delicate; I might guess a high mountain oolong, but I don’t know for sure. All together, it reads as a bright spring day, which is funny since it is now officially fall. I brewed it on the cool side for oolongs but I think I will try it at boiling as well because it seems like it will stand up to it. It is very good, although I don’t know that it stands out as amazing to me. Which is fine because it is only available in a tin at a steep price. I am curious about their Tieguanyin Rose too, although that one is even more expensive just in bulk (no tin)! Maybe someday!

I was curious about this tea because I tend to appreciate plain black teas that have a figginess about their flavour already. This tea is kind of like that, turned up to eleven. To that end, it’s really lovely – lots of what I like in a black tea. This review is late so a lot of the finer details have escaped my seive-like memory, so further notes, I hope, will be better on the whole detail thing. But I quite liked it! Thanks to Ysaurella for sending this my way!

Hello, beautiful.

I’ve been battling flu for a ridiculous, what, four weeks now? This is just getting stupid.

As such, I’ve taken to drinking about twice as many cups of tea in a day as I normally do. Most of this is reasonably utilitarian office tea (read: stuff I don’t mind forgetting at work and can get a good 3 infusions out of) so I like to treat myself properly when I get home. This is tonight’s treat. I’m enjoying it while watching the Third Doctor (Inferno, if you’re wondering) and doing a sketch of Rocket and Groot for Gentleman’s Christmas gift. Oh, I do hope he likes it. Turns out I had no idea how to draw a raccoon!

Oh yes, the tea. It really is a lush indulgence, isn’t it? It’s got this really nice, toasty nut flavour and a bit of a brighter fruited finish. Lovely.

Well, I’ll be. I have a job interview next week. Huzzah!

And this tea is very nice! I’d completely forgotten what was meant to be in it when I made it, but as it brewed I got a fragrance most strongly reminiscent of biscuits. Like, plain rich tea biscuits: that simple comfort, not too sweet, the kind of thing your gran always has on hand to serve with tea when you come round to visit. A tea that smells just like those biscuits is kind of the best kind of meta.

And then there’s the flavour. And it’s rich and nutty and cozy and very nice indeed. I’m not sure I’d have picked out that it was chocolate I was tasting until I read that it was chocolate and almond, but then I was like, yeah, I totally get chocolate. So there’s that. And it’s not the sort of very marzipanny sort of almond flavour you get in a lot of almond teas, but more just a nice, creamy nuttiness. And I’m not sure I’d have picked out orange in it either, but I think it serves to sort of bolster the other flavours, rather than standing out as a flavour in itself. So all things considered, it’s a very interesting tea, and also very very good. Many thanks to Ysaurella for sending this little gem my way!

Well, I was brave and put both a whole teaspoon of tea leaves per cup, and steeped it at boiling temperature, AND left it in for 4 minutes. And no bitterness – hoorah!

I am definitely getting what a bunch of folks said about the jamminess of the tea. I don’t quite get strawberry jam or fig jam, more like a combo jam. But – I still don’t really like it very much. Which makes me feel bad. I really really want to like this tea! I think I may actually not like the base very much. There is a flavour that seems to overpower the jamminess, and it kind of just tastes like tea. Black tea that’s not bitter, but also definitely not my preferred kind of black tea.

I tried adding some honey, but it didn’t really change much. Sorry, tea. I think I’ll need to find a better home for you.

I still don’t know how I feel about this tea, so no rating yet. The first time I tried it I really liked it, then the next few times I was underwhelmed. I re-read the steepster reviews and that inspired me to steep it longer. I tend to get a bit nervous about steeping black tea for more than 3 minutes unless I plan to add sugar and/or milk, but this tea really benefits from it – and no bitterness at all. I steeped it for 3.5 min, but I think I might even go for 4 next time.

I don’t really taste the figs much. I wish I did, because I adore figs. In fact, the figgiest tea I’ve tried so far is Charlotte au Chocolat, and that doesn’t have any fig in it. Sigh. I think maybe my fig-tasting faculties are off with tea, which is too bad cause I adore figs.

I think mostly I taste the honey, and then there’s a strong liquor-ish aroma (I smell it more than I taste it, but it does affect the overall impact) which I presume is the fig. Maybe a bit of strawberry. No lavender, which I’m also kind of sad about because I love lavender in tea, unlike most people who reviewed this tea, it seems :)

YES YES YES THIS IS GOOD OH HOT JAM

So, Gentleman and I are moving in together a lot sooner than we’d planned because of reasons and am I ever not over the last move yet! Blerg. But it’ll sure be nice to actually live together in one house instead of two, yes? Yes.

So, this tea. It’s like lovely crisp, juicy peaches, and then lovely crisp, juicy apples, and then cooked plums. SO MUCH COOKED PLUMS. Not raw plums, cooked plums. Like a beautiful, flavourful, sweet and tart plum compote. It’s an incredibly beautiful flavour. I’m in love. Thanks for sharing, Ysaurella!

STRAWBERRY JAM.

Sometimes I just want strawberry jam. This is one of those times. Nom.

I’ve been a seething ball of anger of late, as my GP’s basically thrown her hands up in the air about my health issues and told me to lose some weight, instead of actually testing for what’s wrong with me, when what’s wrong with me is like 90% what made me put the weight on in the first place, and I know this, because I can’t lose unless I actually stop eating. I feel like public healthcare has failed me and I’ll probably just chronically feel crappy for the rest of my life, when it’s entirely possible they could easily fix me. Nothing better than being a fat woman whose blood tests come back normal! :D This wasn’t meant to be a rant!

I also did a really cute painting of Iron Man last week and I’m baking my husband a pineapple upside down cake for his birthday. Any thoughts on unusual but excellent flavour pairings to amp up the pineapple upside down goodness are greatly appreciated!

I CANNOT STOP DRINKING THIS MAGICAL BREW. IT IS LIKE A HOT CUP OF STRAWBERRY JAM AND HONEY THAT MANAGES TO BE TRUE TO THOSE FLAVOURS WITHOUT BEING AS CRAZY SWEET AS THEY WOULD BE IF YOU, LIKE MELTED STRAWBERRY JAM AND HONEY INTO A MUG.

THAT IS ALL.

I am getting SO much honey out of this one. I’ve never had a tea that tasted so intensely and so beautifully of sweet, floral honey, without actually adding honey to it. This is so cool. There’s lovely strawberry jam in there as well (I think a good bit of the seedy jamminess is coming from the headiness of lovely fig) and I think the lavender, while I can’t pick it out as a definite flavour-in-itself, is bolstering the honeyed flavours instead. Oh, this is very nice indeed.

Big thanks to Ysaurella for sharing this with me!

Getting to the end of Summer and also at the bottom of the pack of Jardin Vert tea, and it´s been nice, really nice iced tea. I desperately need to clean out the teas I still have to see whether there are others which can be used for iced tea with a similar result…or just wait until next Summer, and see what´s to be found (and approved) in the tea shops. There seem to pop up quite a lot of them in Madrid these days, and some have an impressive collection of green teas, so I might opt for this 2nd way around. Any recommendations are welcome, of course.

Thanks to Ysaurella I know now that this tea might just well be Dammann Frères after all. I´m not a huge green tea fan, but I somehow seem to like it more 1/in Summer, and 2/ cold in iced tea. This year, I started using Tibetan secret, then I finished off another green tea (with banana), and now I´m using Jardin vert. I make a pot of tea, let it steep for an hour or longer, fill a bottle and put it in the fridge…and it´s part of my summer tea routine : I take water with my meals, but when it´s too hot, water is “boring” and I have cold tea. All three teas I used this year are green, flowery, and doesn´t go too grassy or bitter when steeping this long.

The tea I have at home (and I bought it in a tea shop in Pau, France) isn´t from Dammann Frères (as far as I know), but the blend in the picture really looks like it, and the name is the same as well. After I finished the tea I was using for my summer ice tea, I needed another one and this works perfectly. A bit dryer in the mouth but nonetheless very refreshing.