Mariage Frères

Wow! I’ve been on a green tea kick lately. This was a sample from Crowkettle
and I must say, this little guy is pretty darn good! The leaves are just beautiful and it has this light, sweet and fruity taste. The smell is a cross between fruity and floral.
Just mmm!

This was my cup of the morning. I meant to reach for the Margaret’s Hope FF, but put this one into my teapot instead. The infuser was still damp from being washed, so I couldn’t put the leaves back. I was hoping I would like this tea better the second time drinking it…

The dry leaves had a very sweet smell. The mouthfeel was really smooth. I could smell some cherry, sandalwood, light florals. It left a mint-like cooling sensation and closed up the back of my throat a little bit (not drying, but a tightening). For as green as this tea is, it has some strong tannins! I was actually disappointed that the flavor of the tea wasn’t more interesting. The aftertaste was very weak.

Well, the first tea I’ve ever tried from New Zealand… And I wasn’t disappointed!

Dry leaves: sweet, typical oolong scent, with a hint of condensed milk

Taste / Mouth Feel: The sweetness of the vanilla really comes through; it reminds me of a milk oolong in some respects, like the relatively heavy, silky mouth feel. There is a ‘green-ness’ to it that the milk oolongs don’t have, though this doesn’t – to me! – taste as pronounced as the usual difference between a ‘standard’ and a milk oolong. This tea reminds me of a custard cream biscuit dunked in some oversteeped assam – biscuity, custardy sweetness with a tinge of bitterness.

Brewing Particulars: I used MF’s recommendation of 95 degrees for 5 minutes.

Subsequent brews: This tea carried itself for two brews, but by the third steeping, it was losing the sweet notes, and gaining a little bitterness.

This has that wonderful bitter-almond-gyokuro type taste that I’ve only experienced in a first flush Darjeeling. It has a nice mouth feel as well (“sparkling”, as MF say in their blurb, sums it up nicely), and some hints of sweetness.

First steeping was 90 deg C for 3 mins, which worked well for me, although I didn’t get the cantaloupe flavours mentioned above. Maybe next time…!

Definitely not one for someone who only likes black teas, as it has a very ‘green’ flavour, making it quite a nice choice for a daytime tea. That said it may be a bit light for some people first thing.

400ml of water at 195F
1 generous table spoon of tea
Steep for 4 minutes
1/4 teaspoon of highly refinded suger

Teapot warmed and rinsed with hot water. Tea leaves placed into the teapot and left standing for 30 seconds to build up the aroma.

This was quite unexpected. A first flush Darjeeling to arrive in JANUARY of 2013. Mariage Freres always provides a wide spectrum of Darjeelings always pushing the boundaries of what a Darjeeling should taste like. The Namring Poomong is no exception.

Very large green leaves with silver tips mixed throughout the tea. The scent of the leaves is light. The leaves yield a very yellow tea after being steeped for 4 minutes. Yet even at 4 minutes, the tea does not exhibit any atringency which gives way to the delicate flowery/fruity flavor and aroma, with a hint of nuttiness.

This is not a Darjeeling having a bite to its taste. This is a delicate and smooth tasting Darjeeling where all of the individual light flavors can be enjoyed. This tea is a worthy addition to first flush line up of Mariage Freres Darjeelings.

As described by MF, this is a very good morning tea. I don’t know that it awakened the warrior in me, but it was a smooth blend in which no one type of tea stands out to me. The crushed leaves allows more flavor to come out because there is much more surface area, but I suspect it also allows for the use of lesser quality teas. It also didn’t require quite as much as a teaspoon per cup when I weighed it on my gram scale.

My all time favorite along with Les Classique

I received a sample of this tea from Cteresa – thanks again ;-) – and liked it so much that I recently bought Histoire Tibetaine from THE O DOR as it resembles this tea ingredient wise.

These teas are similar in some respects but certainly not the same.

Starting with the basis: both teas contain vanilla, bergamot and jasmine. The HT adds marigold and uses a base of black and green tea. The TT adds mandarin orange and rose and uses a base of black tea.

Although the vanilla and jasmine are very recognizable in both teas, they vere into entirely different directions taste wise.

In the HT the vanilla is really in the forefront, both scent and tastewise. De jasmine prevents the brew becoming too sweet. The bergamot and marigold aren’t really recognizable, at least not to me (actually I don’t even know what marigold smells and tastes like). The tea is warm, sweet and comforting in character. The floral notes remain in the background.

In the TT on the other hand the floral notes – and especially the rose – are at the forefront. Together with the black tea base this makes for an edgier tea with a slight smokey feeling. The vanilla is cetainly present but seems to be in a supporting role rather than a leading one. As the tea cools the vanilla becomes more noticeable btw.

It’s really great to see how two teas with for a great part the same ingredients can be so different in character. They actually aren’t comparable at all :-)

I like both teas. For the TT that’s something, as I actually don’t like rose in my tea and usually try to avoid rose scented teas. The HT is more of a ‘happy feeling’ tea as the TT is more elegant and sophisticated. Being a sweet tooth I’d probably choose the HT over the TT most times, but I can imagine that being different for others.

Prep details: HT 80 C/ 4:30 min & TT 95 C/ 4:30 min

Rating is for TT only. This review has been posted under HT too and give it’s rating there

Having this again and this is just not for me. It sounded so very much like my thing I would have ordered it sooner or later. But it´s just too much, too strong, too floral. Like a lychee-geranium smell and sadly it´s just not my cup of tea.

So finally found a Mariage Freres rooibos I did not love, took me a while!

This tea was very kindly sent to me in a swap with LaFleurBleue – she is almost scarily a tea twin of mine. Or at least a tea sister, so far it is amazing how our tastes coincide. She was not a huge fan of this, but in her review she mentions a magic word, lychee. I love lychee black teas (while being indifferent towards real lychee fruits), and when we decided to swap I remembered this one and requested it. And while it is interesting, I am not a fan either.

It is a very very pretty rooibos to look at – not saying it is “the” prettiest since I have seen Rouge Provence which might win that beauty pageant. It smells like it tastes – very sultry. A fruity-floral which translates to the liquour and which smells almost perfume-y to me. Description is guava with blackberry and flowers, lafleuerbleue thought it reminded her of lychees and I agree with the lychee comparison, it does indeed remind me of the smell of lychee fruits more than anything else – with a flowery note which maybe reminds me not of real roses but of rose geranium. It´s, to be frank, really really girly and sultry. I find it, despite the smoothness of the base, cloying – but will experiment with the rest of the sample in case I grow fonder or change my opinion.

Lafleuerblue thank you very much for the sample, I would have bought it sooner or later just to try it, am lucky to be able to test it this way!

This was my after-court tea on way to the office. I so love my timilino that allows me to brew the tea at 7:30Am and its still piping hot at 12:30. I think I leafed more heavily this time and was getting a vanilla note that I had not noticed before. I am so in love with this tea. Yum!

This is my tea of the afternoon. My tea travel cup is so wonderous at holding a temperature that I made this tea at 6:00 Am this morning and it is still warm, even after sitting in my COLD car for hours and hours.

This tea really is fantastic. The flavors are so light, fruity and comforting. This really is a quality tea and I am thrilled it is in my collection.

I’m really liking this tea. The tea has a few golden tips, I am guessing from an Assam. It is “strong” like an Assam, but not quite as malty. My overall impression is very high.

The tea looks really nice in the bag, with all the little lavender petals sprinkled – not as blue as I would have liked though.
It smells extremely strong, as just opening the bag wafts tea and lavender smell all around the room.
The color of the brew is a bright orangey.
And the taste, just what I expected: very strong on lavender, though the underlying tanginess of citrus can never be forgotten. The lavender tastes really natural, which makes me feel like walking a garden bordered by blooming lavender bushes – a very pleasant and relaxing feeling.
The tea base is a tad stronger than usual for MF black blends, which is good considering the intensity of the flavoring. I managed to resteep it twice (the third cup was quite light and remained fragrant but felt much more like herbal than black tea). I am sure I could have brewed a whole very fragrant tea pot with the content of one tea-bag.
I’ll have to compare it directly with Gryphon Earl Grey Lavender that I haven’t had in the past weeks to see what are the differences, which one I like best. However I’ll also definitely take into account the fact that even though this tea is an expensive one by MF standards (9.50 Eur per 100g), it sells for less than 40% of the Gryphon price for the same quantity (not available loose, only bagged).

I coveted this tin and the others of the same series, or just about almost all of Mariage Fréres special edition tins. I always resist due to prices and so far, when I have had a chance to try those teas I am glad I have resisted the impulse. This is nice, but not quite dazzling enough for that sort of prices (unless you think the tin worth it, and from what I have seen it just might be).

Ysaurella very kindly sent me a sample in a swap and rereading her taste notes I pretty much agree with everything. Wonderful fruity smell, rich juicy goji berries, a grassy slightly astringent green tea, a very refreshing tea. I think this would make a great iced tea! But somehow not quite a great blend for my taste.

And I can not help but wonder, are they going to make a tea called Rat when it cames time for it?

This was a fine Ceylon tea, with a bit of astringency on the tip of my tongue. I enjoyed it and agree with MF that it is an excellent daytime tea.

The MF description is “over the top” and makes this sound like one of the best teas ever. This is good, but it is much more like a green tea than I expected. It has a lot of depth and many good features, though, and it is a tea I will enjoy many more times.

It has just started snowing here — lovely fluffy snowflakes! A cup of black tea is calling to me and this one seemed most appropriate. I actually don’t get much of a scent from the dry leaves. It’s a little surprising since I was expecting something a little sweet or perhaps spicy.

Sipping… Well, I’m not getting very much flavor at all. It’s a nice black tea with that mouth & throat drying aspect. There is a very slight sweetness in the background, but mostly it’s just the black tea base. My experience with chestnut teas says that the drying black tea actually lends itself to the chestnut texture. But in this case, where is the chestnut? The Vanilla? The texture is all there, but not the flavor.

I hope to figure out how to bring out more flavor because I’m not too impressed with this cup.

First, I have to admit draw to Mariage Frere is the look and shape of its round tin. Then, this particular tea choice is that this is one of only three or four MF that local Williams-Sonoma carry. I already have Marco Polo, have tons of Earl Grey from other tea companies and have a hankering to branch into Darjeelings after my introduction to a sample of Adagio’s Sungma Summer. PLUS, I loved the Darjeeling in 52teas’ Earl Grey Cheesecake. To sum, I drank this to reminisce about other tea experiences and hopefully to create new ones. Darjeeling is a favorite of my MIL so I associate it with afternoon tea sessions with savories like quiche and cucumber salad sandwiches. My recommendation, drink this tea if it is easily available and know it is a gateway tea to better tasting FF Darjeelings. This Princeton is a blend from different estates so, taste-wise, it is a middle-of-the-road experience that isn’t worth the import premium unless you are like me and like vanity tins. This tea won’t be replaced unless you count my eventual refilling (probably with Ovation Teas liquidation Darjeelings I picked up recently). End of review and sorry for all the name-dropping in the process.

Enjoying this very much again. It has wonderful color, nice malty flavor, and a light astringency. I’m drinking it in a 1660 LONDON tea tasting cup and it seems to bring out more depth than my previous tastings.

I brewed this tea for five minutes this morning and it improved substantially. It is really a good Assam tea.

This is a very good, classic Assam tea.