Le Palais des Thes

morning tea….this one works much better in a mug but it was still a delicious cup of tea.

Sipdown, 163. Cold brew.

I apparently thought this was a different tea when I put it in to cold steep last night… for some reason I thought it was the des Songes blend, with oolong, but nope, it’s des Sables. I probably would have steeped it with less leaf if I had realized that. Unfortunately this didn’t come out very tasty and I stopped drinking it about halfway through. Too strong, too grassy, to over-flavored. Just too much, really. Meh.

A very tannic tea, but no bitterness. The bergamot and saffron go a long way in smoothing it out. A pleasant and strong breakfast tea, but it does leave a slight dry aftertaste.

This tea is kind of overwhelmed by a soapy floral cherry and rose petal taste. It’s the first thing I smell and the first thing I taste. I’ve been eating a ton of cherries since yesterday, so the difference in flavor between the real cherries and soapy fragrance is even more apparent than it would have been.

I added a little raw alfalfa honey in after the first few sips and it helps tone down the cherryand brings out the base and papaya. Tastes like a black base although it is supposed to be a blend. Smooth and not bitter or astringent, so that is nice.

sipown! thank you *hallieod for sending this along for me to try. I didn’t think i’d enjoy this much as there is a strong bergamot flavour to this. However, I’m open to trying things just in case! Overall? I wouldn’t ever order this myself but it’s not as iscky to me as i thought it would be. The base is rather smooth and the bergamot is softened by the other citrus fruits in the blend. My only wish? that this was a bit sweeter. There’s a bitterness from the fruits that makes this less pleasant than it could be. Still though…not too shabby :) Thanks Hallieod!

This has a very nice green tea base- grassy and light. Peach is the primary fruit flavor. The watermelon is very mild and I can’t taste the kiwi. There is a floral smell and taste that I can’t place. No bitter aftertaste and only slight dry mouth feeling. I think the fruit taste might be better if I made this cold.

I love how the sampler came with the teas in metal test tubes. Perfect for making me feel all sicientific right before watching “Fringe”. :-)

Sipdown, 163. Cold brewed, took two sips, and then dumped. Don’t know what happened with this one… when I tasted it this morning it was just nasty. I was trying to come up with what it tasted like but all I could get was cucumbers and bitter buttery beans. Sometimes I like buttery beans as a flavor in green teas, but in a cold brew, just no. Yuck.

I wish I had a hot French girlfriend that I could drink this tea with and make love to while we plan our vacation to Paris to visit Jim Morrison at Pere LaChaise Cemetary.

I bought a box (20 count) of this Frenchy tea.
Not my favorite, but will eventually sipdown the entire package.
The cotton muslin teabag and string are unique.
The French / English translation and color coding makes a fun 5 min French lesson.
Didn’t have a black “pick me up” that I wished it had.

A very grassy green tea, slightly bitter. I must try steeping this at a lower temperature. The vanilla was just right- not too overpowering, very natural. I added a little alfalfa honey half way through the cup and it helped make it slightly less bitter.

No 10 from TTB-A
The aroma of the dry leaf is somewhat chai like, & the brew itself is ok. Not really my thing though.
NEXT!

No 9 from TTB-A
nope…
Onward through the fog…

This tea started out ok for me. The aroma of the leaf hints at peach, roasted oolong, & light florals. The flavor didn’t really deliver any of the flavors promised, other than a very lightly roasted oolong & a physical discomfort on the tip of my tongue that I associate with artificial flavors. There was also a soapyness/perfuminess that built up after a few sips…blech!

Had this one last nigh to compare against caramel toffee from Damman. End of story they are both pretty delicious!

love. this. tea. Thank you kittylovestea for this one! I have to do a side by side with the caramel toffee tea from damman that shmiracles sent me but i think this one comes out on top. Really loved the creamy caramely/toffee taste this morning a whoooollle bunch! mmmmm so glad i have a little more of it than your average small swap ;)

Sipdown, 169.

Ahh, a nice evening Earl Grey, haha. Most people wouldn’t go for Earls in the evening but I decided to go for it because I was home early enough to drink it relatively early in the evening. We shall see if it keeps me awake at all tonight. I made this one strong with milk and sugar because that’s how I wanted to have the last of this one. And the bergamot is strong and easily cuts through the milk. As much as I love all my unflavored teas and as much as I drink almost all of my teas without additions, I do love a sweet and milky Earl. Mmm.

This is absolutely amazing! This is one of the best ‘minty’ greens I have ever had! I like this both hot and cold even tho it was designed to be a ICED tea. From their new line of Iced Teas…this is wonderful! Les Plaisirs Purs! YUMMERS!!!! I’ll be sharing the rest of this with Liberteas and Azzrian and I hope the enjoy it, too!

6g / 400ml in a glazed ceramic pot.
Single infusion @90C for 4min.

Astringency and a slight bitterness, with fruity aftertaste.
Slightly earthy?

This would be very nice for breakfast.

Thank you NofarS for this sample.

My first cold steeped jasmine tea. I usually brew my jasmine tea hot and leave it to cool anyway as to my preferable taste. This was left to cold steep for roughly 4 hours.

This has a thick and sweet jasmine fragrance that’s so strong it smells like jasmine perfume. I sell jasmine perfume made from essential oil at work and this is exactly the same, uncanny.

The flavour is as thick as the smell and I’m glad that I didn’t leave it to steep overnight. It edges on being too strong and perfumey with a little bitterness but it quickly subsides. It’s nice to have a jasmine tea with some punch to it. There is also a grassy taste amidst the jasmine.

Glad I cold steeped this, it’s fresher than I thought it would be. I have enjoyed cold steeping so much over this weekend that when I return home tomorrow the first thing I’m going to do is buy a couple of these funky sealed large mugs so I can make them whenever I please.

I couldn’t see this on the Le Palais Des Thes website any more. :(

ya know what, this is a musky earl grey, and weirdly i will admit, i think i like it more than more usual earl greys.
i’m not a person who is drawn to earl grey. i could take it or leave it kinda. and sometimes they seem too puckery. but this one is more moody. it’s a slight nuance i think, but i feel it.

(note to self: i liked the 2.5 minute steep slightly better than the 3.5 minute steep.)

thanks again Dinosara!

my very first swap sample received from Dinosara!

i really like this simple tea. the green tea is vegetal and fresh and the vanilla is low key and cheery. i know it’s not blow-your-mind delicious or anything, but i’m very glad i got a chance to try it and that i have a good 3 more cups worth.

i just finished watching Bridesmaids. i’m glad i watched it. also if you haven’t heard Adam Scott on the podcast Doug Loves Movies do yourself the favor cuz then you’ll love him even more.

I’m going through some of these LPDT samples that I’ve had for a while but never tried so I can decide which ones I will drink the rest of and which ones I will swap and/or put in the TTB (if it ever comes).

They recommend steeping this one for 5–7 minutes. I can’t imagine! I did not follow that, though I did use their recommended temp. The resulting tea tastes kind of… odd. I can’t really parse it, and I think it’s the fruity floral flavors combined with the dark, roasted oolong. These are not things that go together in my mind, and I wanted this to be a green oolong. I also can’t for the life of me figure out which fruit and flowers are supposed to be in here. It is very confusing. The base is actually not too roasty and pretty nutty, so I feel like it would have been a great candidate for a chocolate/nut based tea. But no, fruity florals. Once I got partway through it started growing on me a bit, so it ended up being a drinkable tea, but definitely not one I would seek out again. Such has been my experience with LPDT… nothing quite amazing, but a lot of decent teas.

Yay, it’s my birthday. Boo, I have to spend all day writing my dissertation chapter. I have been very motivated this week, but today is looking bad.

Well, I better say something about this tea so I can get back to work. It’s a pretty drinkable tea, and I am enjoying it a bit more today than I have in the past. Very strong bergamot, but it avoids getting bitter, at least when hot. This is one of those odd teas that actually tastes worse once it cools a bit. The base is nice, with even a hint of sweetness to it, again, at least while it’s hot. Even while pretty darn warm this one is starting to become more astringent.

Sipdown, 169. Again, sending the rest of this one off in a swap!

So a while ago I had a weird time with some flavored green teas where they gave me an odd savory note. I discovered that it was my kettle that needed cleaning, but I think that was not the whole story. I think there is something about flavored senchas lately that are not sitting quite right with my taste buds. It’s been a while since my incident (and I had a cup of bilochun earlier that was fine), so I know the savory note I’m getting from this one is inherant. Of course, it is a super super mild note compared to my last experience, but it’s still there. I think I am starting to become not a fan of the base of most flavored senchas. Hmm. Anyway, the vanilla on this was light and creamy and pretty nice, it’s just the tea base I don’t find so awesome. I was never that excited by a green vanilla tea, though, so I am happy to send the rest of this one off to another home.

Sipdown, 171. Sending the rest of this off in a swap!

First off, argh beaurocracy. I’m glad that NSF decided not to tell me when the annual report for my grant was due, but rather just inform me once it was overdue.

Anyway, this tea. Looking back at my tasting note from last time, I change no opinions. It’s pretty much exactly the same as the last time I had it, which is to day decently tasty, with a nice sweetness that I really enjoy, but also the yunnan is on the musty/earthy/woody side of things and that’s not quite my style. An Earl on a golden-tippier yunnan base would be awesome… oh wait, it was, back when Verdant had their Golden Earl years ago. sigh.