Mariage Frères

So I managed to brew it correctly for my palate !
2 minutes only are really enough.

I can now appreciate both malt and caramel and behind a little chocolate hint

I amended my rating.

First time in my life I have to steep a blend such a little time !

This tea can really bear several steeps without any problem, so quite economical finally :)

The dry leaves were smelling so good ! Caramel and a hint of chocolate for sure it was so sweet…I bought it ! I met an angel…

Then it was just a demon !
I struggled with this tea all day long.

I had it this morning and steeped it 4 min but I found it strong and bitter but I drank it.

I took it with me at work because I thought I did something wrong.

Second cup at work, I have been busy and I forgot it, it steeped for 6 minutes probably : it was just undrinkable to me : bitter incredibly bitter, I just dropped the beverage.

I made a second steep and for 3 minutes and a half this time, it was nice.

I made a third steep and it was nice as well.

The tea base is an assam and it is too strong for me I think. It hides me the fantastic flavors this tea has from the second steep.

It means I should find someone to drink all my first steep cups :)

I’ll try this with milk and sugar as well, may be good even on first steep.

This is perfection. I drink this all year round, even in the dog days of summer but it’s got this magical blend of clementine, spices and almond that absolutely embody the holiday season. I adore this. It’s fresh and crisp and the perfect cup to make you wish it were a little colder outside. Gorgeous stuff and one of my favourites teas.

I’m going to get though some of my green teas. I would like to terminate Sakura asap because again greens are losing their flavour so quickly.

But I have still a lot of this one. I think it will become my evening tea for a while so !
Sakura 2000 is a perfect tea for the evening : low caffeine level, light, really great to finish the day with this cherry blossom.

Here are some pics of the session with this tea : dry and wet leaves and liquor (with agaun some cut leaves in rrrrr) : http://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/sakura-2000-mariage-freres/

I am enjoying this green tea while I am trying to decide which teas I should say bye bye to…
Gosh… sometimes we do need to clear out our stash, don’t we ?

Here is the result : http://steepster.com/discuss/6964-french-teas-to-swap

This green tea is a little wonder, so perfumed, so greeny and cherry. Just so yummy.
I keep this one for sure !

After my disappointing visit of the Dammann Frères shop, I was so frustrated that I decided to visit the nearest Mariage Frères shop (not a big walk…450 meters ! )

My 10 years daughter was with me and she saw a beautiful canister(Sakura 2012 green tea), she sniffed the blend and she absolutely wanted me to buy it…but it was 22 € and didn’t want to spend so much just for the canister…So to replace I took the Sakura 2000 which is available in loose leaf.

Prepared it yesterday night and I had no problems to sleep behind (theine level shouldn’t be too high)

Well I just need to say it’s a wonderful tea :

the smell is a wonderful bouquet of cherry blossom
there is absolutely no astringency with the liquor, the first sip is highly floral and sweet.
the after taste is clearly fruity with a delicious sweet cherry.

You keep the taste a long time after finishing it, it is delightful.

I highly recommend to discover it.

I really like this tea. It’s definitely a sort of variation on Earl Grey, you can taste the bergamot-citrusiness of it more strongly than most Earl Grey, so I like it best in the morning for the bright smell and taste.

Just opened the bag, which was given to me, so I hadn’t smelled or tried it before.
The dry tea looks and smells fantastic : I can identify the apricot and the peach, maybe the fig, in the aftersmell. Before checking the flavors, I just knew it was fruity and extremely mellow.
I drank it 3 times already.
The first time, all I could think of was “oh mellow, very round taste, very sweet and nice, cannot identify any specific flavor in this blend”.
The second and third times were the same, combined with a question of how I would rate this tea in comparison with others; I came up blank on this latest topic, wondering whether its appeal might last.
Despite knowing which flavors to expect,I did not manage yet to identify any when drinking. To me, they all are blended together in an harmonious and lush blend.
When drinking it, I am reminded of the rich lotions and body butters, with a fruit fragrance, that I loved while I was younger, especially an Apricot thick lotion from Body Shop which I always wanted to eat ;) It’s like I was doing it now.
I also really like the feeling this tea leaves in my mouth after swallowing it, as if a soothing balm covered my palate.
The tea taste only comes after the mellow explosion of fruits; it’s good, though not exceptional a base. I did not feel any bitterness.

All in all : a fruity tea very easy to drink, throughout the day.

Absolutely one of my favourites… As a classics student and overall nerd anything named after Alexander the Great is going to appeal to me!! :D Somehow I remember the blend being different a couple of years ago when I went to Paris, the last time before I went this year, and it had spearmint and things I didn’t like… So to find it to be a green tea with violets (never had a tea with violets before!) in it was quite the pleasant surprise. And so, I have a tin of it to accompany my delicate rose tea. You can’t have one without the other…

The scent from both the leaves and the brew are beautifully fragrant and sweet, like they used an essential oil in it as well as the flowers. To me it smells exactly like parma violets… probably because I’ve only eaten two things with violet flavouring in before, parma violet sweets and crystallised violets chocolate. This is very much like that— sweetened as well as naturally sweet. And the colour of the tea is lovely! A pale green rather than the yellow you might normally expect from a sencha or bancha (which is what the leaves look like)!

The first sip is always surprisingly overwhelming in its fragrance and sweetness, just because, although I know green tea takes floral flavours rather well, I never expect it to take it THIS well. If it wasn’t for the mellowness of the liquor and the slight, pleasant astringency at the end of a sip I would think I was just drinking violets without the tea. But the slight roastiness of the tea is there, like a backup to the violets, and gives it maybe a second little kick to renew the sweetness in the mouth. And the taste is so clean and pleasant… I can’t find any drawbacks on this tea at all; you asked for violets, you got violets. It’s certainly unique, and very simple- can’t help but wonder how an extra couple of flavours might taste in this. Vanilla? Cream?

It took me a while to review Pleine Lune because it’s my favourite tea. I can’t get enough of it. Some bestsellers I’m flabbergasted are even appreciated but this deserves all the praise and then some.
And I already know I can’t do it any justice but let’s try and convey ALL THE FEELINGS.

It’s a beautiful tea to look at (cornflower in tea really is my weakness), smell and drink. It reminds me rather foolishly of an impressionist painting – it’s a striking landscape full of colourful pieces which, when put together, magically become greater than the sum of their parts. There are no harsh lines in Pleine Lune, the blending is perfection so that you don’t know when one flavour ends and another begins.
I would describe it as an almond flowery tea, and this is one of the few teas that tastes exactly as good and strong at it smells, which is complex (it’s an unusual combination), grown-up (the flowers, surely) and nostalgic (I blame the sweet almond oil my mother used to wash my hair with when I was a wee child).

Pleine Lune, to me, is what tea is about. You can’t get this sort of fantastic aroma of such different food categories as nuts and flowers from any other beverage. And the comfort that comes attached to a mug full of hot Pleine Lune with just a drop of milk and honey is unparalleled.

I credit this for getting me through the year. I know that whatever happens during the day, I’ll at least be able to truly enjoy something in it. I always allow guests to choose which tea they’d like to drink from my stash when I offer hot beverages and everyone’s always picked Pleine Lune; and for some reason every time someone smells it for the first time, it always reminds them of a memory long forgotten. Pleine Lune, it seems, is a lot of people’s madeleine.

I love this so much.

Mmmm. This smells like the best liquour dark chocolates ever. This makes me think of college when I would send chocolates to my now fiance more. I would sometimes send him a box of little chocolate mice filled with different ganaches and he would share them with me. This smells just like the fillings of one of the little mice (I think the cinnamon dark chocolate one).
This tastes dark, smokey, and slightly sweet. It has an incredible mouthfeel, dense and rich. I am in the mood for a little sweetness, so milk and sugar are being added but this can definitely stand on its own. I get a really neat little bourbon aftertaste.

This tea has a very special place in my heart. It’s the first high-quality tea I ever drank. One of my best friend has been drinking it for years and I regularly shared it with her while being student (more than 15 years ago). Each time I go to her place, I still enjoy a few cups with her, like a comforting tradition, even though she also has some other teas. I’ve never bought it, as I really associate it with enjoying a moment with this friend.
Each time, as soon as I smell the steaming cup and start to drink it, I remember why my friend likes it so much and why she has real good taste.

THANKS to DINOSARA for this sample…eh..um…huge bag! I’ll be enjoying this tea all winter thanks to you! I really like this one. I’m not a huge fan on straight Earl Grey but love Earl Grey Creme.
I’m going to try steeping this at different temps and times and iced also to see if I can acquire additional flavor.
This first time I did 2 tsp for 16oz, 3 min steep at 208 degrees. I totally tasted the vanilla and bergamot. I did not get any jasmine or orange and I love my jasmine! So overall this is an excellent tea just based on flavor. If you’re wanting jasmine and rose to come through they didn’t for me at this steep. If I don’t get more on other steeps I might try adding a jasmine pearl or two.
I would definitely buy this tea.

If you were to ask me which type of teas do I like most, I’d probably say green tea, but lately I’ve been expanding my choices and black tea is definitely gaining on green tea. And with the help of Marco Polo, the race is drawing closer than ever. Amazing flavour!!

Sipdown! Had a small cup of this before tucking the rest ofth is away For cavocorax :) while I enjoy this one, it’s not my favourite of the MF teas that I’ve had the pleasure of trying.

Pulled this one out to go with my other cup from MF. i really need to try this cold brewed to see how it fares. While i don’t dislike this tea, there are others from MF that i love more! I do understand this teas popularity though.

backlog!

I tried this one cold brewed today and i think i might prefer it over the hot brew. Jury is still out though. I like that the cold brew brings out more of the fruity flavour and smooths out the base just a little. I understand why this is one of MF’s most popular teas, though i suspect there are others that i will prefer more than this one in the long run of trying various MF teas.

I’m not sure how i feel about this tea yet so forgive the small tasting note. I just wanted to track drinking it so that i can come back to this after i’m finished with it. It’s in my travel mug today so it’s still too hot to drink :)

Edit: guess i accidentally hit a rating…for sure didn’t mean to yet but i’ll let it stand for now since it’s pretty tasty at the moment.

Mmmmm a sample from Indigobloom this tea is really interesting. It’s berry and fruity and yeah… I’m really enjoying this one. There are some floral notes in here as well, but mostly there’s a fruity taste to this. This wouldn’t be a go to tea for me, but it’s a refreshing cup. I wish the taste of the tea matched up more with the scent…because the scent is truly unbelievable!

The first few times I drank this tea, I was not wowed, though I found it very pleasant. But then, I realized this brew was one of those I picked the most easily from my cupboard, knowing I will enjoy it whatever my mood and taste preference are.
What I really like about it, is its simplicity : it taste like rooibos, with just the right hint of vanilla, which is never overwhelming, hence a very suble blend. For those of you wondering about Bourbon, it’s actually the brand name of the vanilla, grown in the Indian ocean (Mauritius, Madagascar or Ile de la Réunion); no link with the US whiskey.
I also have used it for making ice-tea (after a hot brew); it is absolutely perfect, both refreshing without any bitterness or aftertaste; the vanilla taste gives a smooth flavor, as if it were lightly sugared.
A favorite of my husband as well.
Very nice with honey, to doctor a cold or a sore throat.
I will soon have finished the pack and will definitely buy it again sometime.

Quietly nicking a spoonful of this from my housemate while he’s away… It’s too good to resist.

Unfortunately today I have some cold symptoms so the taste is affected quite a bit, especially considering it’s something as light as a TGFOP darjeeling, but it turned out delicious nonetheless! Recently, also, Twinings UK put up a guide to professional tea tasting on their website: http://twinings.co.uk/about-our-tea/how-to-taste-tea As I have to taste teas for work I’m going to try using this kind of vocabulary and guide from here on out. So with my inability-to-smell-handicap, here are my thoughts today:

This darjeeling brews very very light. A good teaspoonful with boiling water didn’t brew to an amber for quite some time, remaining golden for a few minutes (I tend to judge when a tea is ready by its colour- perhaps something I should avoid doing in future after this?), and having left it has possibly made it more astringent and dry than is normal for this tea. It’s toasty and light without that heavy roasted taste of many black teas, due to its quality I should think, and the toastiness comes towards a floral flavour, even very slightly hops-like and edging into wood flavours. It is really, however, very dry and bitter towards the end.

I’m rounding this off with a little unsweetened soy milk as the tannins are proving too much for me at the end of a tiring day, but lighter, with an afternoon tea, I think this tea could be taken black perfectly!

It’s quite nice, not as harsh as some earl grey’s I’ve tasted, but I will still choose Lady Grey over Earl Grey everytime.

I had a lovely cup in the late afternoon yesterday and this tea really is something special. It has deep darjeeling flavor without heavy briskness. It’s nothing like a first flush, having good body and an etherial after note of smell and taste probably from the Rose petals in the tea. Wish I had brought back a lot more of this one.