cteresa

I am a Yumchaa fan since I accidentally found one of their market stalls a few years ago. In the meanwhile I have made my way through a lot of their teas – I might be on my 4th or 5th 100 gr pack of Berry Berry Nice for example! Some have been samples from friends or tried in their tea shops, and a few of the new ones I never had a chance yet but I have been trying as many of their teas as I could. This is one of their old tea blends which I left for last. A friend (obrigada!) brought this for me with my nth package of Berry Berry Nice all the way from London and oh it was a great seasonal choice. And a tip : those two packages together smell wonderfully. Unbelievably good. one of these days I will even try brewing them together. Might be a mess, but the scent is just too alluring to not try.

so Christmas and this chai, I picked this by accident because I am so into chai right now and I had never tried this one, but this is IMO a sort of perfect Christmas tea – the spices making it festive, the spearmint candy making it uncloying, and the Yumchaa nice sencha base underneath it all. A really really nice take on green tea with mint or green chai or christmas tea, however you would like to class it, it´s a good one!

Another café cup of tea, and I think brewed unfairly hot. A generously sized teabag in a mug with water from the cofee machine and it was OK. And actually pretty nice, even brewed that hot it was not bitter.
Not really a tasting note, but just a small note to remind myself this was actually nice and a decent choice.

The wolf, the big bad wolf is as sweet as any golden retriever and a perfect gentleman, oh I do love it.

It´s chocolate and hazelnut tea, on itself a wonderful idea, but not a sickly sweet combination, more like dark chocolate type. And magically the underlying tea can stand up to the flavor, without being bitter, tanninic (or since I experimented having it at night, not too much caffeine I think). And it is one of those magic flavored teas where I can be so careless when brewing it, it is not fussy about temperature or steeping times. I love this wolf tea, and everybody who I have served it to seems to love it as well, this is not going to last very long here. A re-buy for sure.

Another so kind sample from ysaurella, many thanks!

Oh this is nice, nicer than the other violet tea I have, smoother base and more delicate flavour. Base has some ceylon on it, no? And this smells so strongly and sweetly, I had to segregrate the ziploc containing this from the other samples, even on the ziploc it perfumed the cupboard where I put it.

It is a violet tea, not sure how to describe it other than that. Base is strong enough, I think maybe with some Ceylon on it (as well as chinese teas, maybe?). The scent is violet, not quite as strong as in my other tea, but more delicate and I do prefer this one. And that is it, tea with violet. Violet is almost certainly a specific taste for food – I like it, love violet candies and love violet perfume notes as well. But it´s always a strong scent, maybe the essence of floral (along with roses and jasmine, maybe) so beware of violet teas if you are not already know you love violets.

Dragon well (Longjing, Lung Ching, whatever) is one of my favorite teas. When infussion so kindly offered 3 samples to steepster users (the other 2 samples I have to figure out how to use, not being tea-tea!) this was a no-brainer choice. Longjing, I am always interested in!

And this does not disappoint. I am trying just the first infusion with plenty of water and a 3-something minute steep and it´s dragon well magic, intense, sweet, buttery and nutty.

No notes yet.

Another opera tea by Mariage Frères, this one so kindly sent in a sample swap by Toitoi (thank you! ).

This tea is totally a half sibling or close cousin to Thé au Tibet – though I think not such an easy one to brew! Thé au Tibet is a magic tea for me, one I do not seem to be able to spoil and which always cames out so refined and just right no matter what time or steeping temperatures I used or how careless with it I have been. Elixir d´Amour is a similar tea, a bergamot tea with flowers and vanilla, but not such a forgiving one – I think I brew slightly wrong, the bergamot came out slightly bitter. Must try a shorter steeping time!

The MF website describes EdA as black tea with citrus, rose, lotus and osmanthus. Is there some green tea in the mix as well or am I projecting from the similarity to Thé au Tibet ?The citrus include with total certainty bergamot, it´s an unmistakable note and the dominant. I think I detect as well some orange underneath. The florals are unmistakeable, rose indeed and a lychee-like note from I believe is the lotus, as well as some sweeteness which is probably the osmanthus. Not mentioned in the official description but there is some vanilla in here as well, it´s particularly noticeable when the tea cools.

Very lovely tea. Very similar to Thé au Tibet, and I think a tea which people who love flowery creme earl greys will love.

Wow, just realized I got at home right now samples from none less than 3 different Mariage Fréres teas named after operas : Prince Igor and Aïda (thank you Ysaurella) and Elixir d´Amour (thank you toitoi!). And I knew there were a few more operas, just went checking and they got even more teas named after operas – Madame Butterfly, Parsifal, Bal Masqué, any more? Plus of course, cheating a bit Swan Lake and Thé à L´Opèra. Hmm.

Aida, I am not going to rate right now, if I can manage to not rate it. I think I brewed it too cold and just come out wrong. It is totally and completely a citrus tea and for me, weirdly this would be a russian tea – citrus and black tea (Far more than Prince Igor, which is to me is a very french tea!). Lemon and oranges, and somehow, maybe because of the temperature used, so sweet! Amazingly sweet (no sugar added or anything) on its own. Another tasting note when i brew it hotter.

Risking the danger of hopeless cultural stereotyping ( pardon aux français pour ce que se suive), wow, french and scents, they really get how to make things smell sublime. Mariage Fréres particularly included in that – I swear I would buy Vert de Provence to wear as perfume and this is another tea I would just buy and wear as perfume. It smells indeed sublime – some sweet green tea underneath, a bit of fruity cherry, and something floral and wonderful. I would call it roses, tea roses (no relation to tea actually) since I do not know what sakura smells like but it would make sense if it was sakura.

A warning, consider that I am in a mood where I do not seem to really love flavoured green teeas and this is of course a flavoured green. Despite that this of course, evidently wonderful. Cherry blossom green tea was one of the first flavoured teas I liked, and it has became ubiquitous companies now seem to have a take on it. The last few blends I have had of it have been quite bad, so much so they left me with a bias that no, I do not like green tea with cherry after all and have been avoiding it ever since. Trust Mariage Fréres to do sakura tea right and remind me how awesome the idea really is.

Brewed up around 80C and for maybe 3 minutes. It was a very very smooth base with a strong note of red fruits (the cherry) and a very strong rose-like floral note. Lovely.

At the time I am drinking this nobody else has rated it on steepster and I am a bad first taster for this. Liquorice! or Anise, or something of that sort. To be fair, a subtle ammount, but I hate stuff with liquorice with a passion.

I made this chai style, simmered in milk with sugar and it was lovely apart from the aniseed. I saved enough for a classic water brew, but poor chai, lovely as it is, it is just not going to me my cup of tea.

A very kind surprise from Mel (meliorate) and I wanted to love it. Real turkish tea! the oh so nicely exotic. But sadly it turned out to be way too much hibiscus for me. Interesting apple flavour, pretty strong and in your face, but the hibiscus was just too much for me.

this is still one of the nicest bagged teas I have ever had. Just a note to be careful with steeping times with it!

No notes yet.

I think it was Ysaurella´s review of this a few weeks ago which has made me crave a peach and vanilla black tea. I was at the time ordering Thé-o-Dor teas and her review of Nosy Bey made me choose their Mélange de Galice. So an inevitable comparison from the start!

In the meanwhile Ysaurella oh so kindly got into another tea swap with me and sent me this as well (and oh so many other so fascinating goodies. Thank you so much!). I now got two dreamily-named black teas with vanilla and peach, not just one! And I do love to compare and contrast flavoured teas, how different companies can make such different takes on the same idea.

A warning: there might be a bias by previous acquaintance, that I would always prefer the first one I tried. Theodor ended up the winner but maybe I was biased because I had it first? Dunno.

The teas: Mélange de Galice is a mix of chinese and Sri Lanka black teas with peach and vanilla flavours and some sunflower/marigold petals sprinkled around (for prettiness, I guess). Nosy Bey is a chinese black tea, with vanilla and peach flavors with rose petals and I think tiny sugar cubes? (or is it dried peach?) Both teas smell divine when dry. I think Nosy Bey smells a bit more floral and bit more like orchard peaches, while Mélange de Galice smells a bit more like regular peach and orchard peach mixed together, and has a stronger vanilla scent with no floral notes. Honors even here, both wonderful scents, different but equally lovely.

Nosy Bey brews very much like a chinese BLACK tea. Mélange de Galice has (predictably) a bit more body and is (unexpectedly!) smoother as well, even when brewed at the same 85C that I brew Nosy Bey. I do not understand why a ceylon-chinese blend brews so so smooth while having some body, but there you have it, even at several temperatures it is always smooth and even naturally sweet.

And then, the liquor: and it is here that Mélange de Galice pulls ahead to win me, it just tastes more, a richer, more intense, more layered taste. But Nosy Bey is still pretty lovely on its own. And drinking peach and vanilla tea in December, oh it is so mood lifting!

This was an unexpected arrival, not the mate I wanted. I wanted toasted mate with red fruits, this is green mate with citrus and kola. But I now got 100 grams of it, not going to waste it.

I brewed it according to instructions, 75C for 3 minutes, a generous teaspoon of leaf per cup. And it is really quite nice, tastes of a blend of several citrus fruits with no underlying nasty notes from the mate, just a sort of nice base underneath.

It´s going to take me a few hours to judge properly the caffeine-like effects. And I think this might be very interesting brewed in cold water like tereré-style, except now is winter and cold drinks are not sounding that appealing! But if I still have some of this when summer comes, i got to try it cold brewed!

No notes yet.

The dangers of buying loose tea by the weight. I ordered this, which is supposed to be black erva-mate with red fruits and supposed to look like this

http://www.theodor.fr/shop/lang-en/the-weed/49-me-faltas-mate-noir.html

The non-local tea shop, whose existence and selection of teas I very much appreciate wrote Me Faltes ( I suspect some subconscious grammar correction, thinking that brazillians would not use the second person of the singular, LOL) on the package and they seem to have packed me this

http://www.theodor.fr/shop/lang-en/the-weed/139-lembranca.html

I need a small rant: IDIOTS! Oh well, I can not go there for them to fix it since it´s not a local shop, and Lembrança was on my wishlist for one day anyway. But sniff, I wanted this. Fazes-me falta, Me Faltas.

Geographical relativism is a bitch. I think my mental image, associations of Galicia, the region are pretty different than from a Parisian´s associations. For me it´s “up north”, “lá para cima”, morrinha and fog, cold summers, even colder waters than Moledo beach (brrrr), great shellfish, almond tarts, stone buildings and rias. That vibe for me is definitely northern and very atlantic. I would not associate it with peaches and vanilla nor with the sin of laziness exactly ((Thé-o-Dor associates most of their teas, whether black, green, infusion or unflavoured origins tea with a particular sin or quality. This is Laziness tea.) But I love Galicia, I was in the mood for a peach black tea, so hence the purchase.

I brewed this “wrong” and it turned out to be perfect after all. I accidentally dumped barely warm water on the tea pot already filled with a generous amount of dry leaf. Instead of trashing it at once I decided to see if it would be rescued and filled the rest of the pot with free boiling water and let it steep longer. By my calculations the water must have been 70-75 C at most, and I must have left it at least 6 minutes. It was a happy accident, I think it brew perfectly! Only quibble is that it cooled rapidly, the last of the tea was colder than I would prefer.

And this is just as advertised: real exhuberant peach flavour, with noticeable vanilla with an almondy, nutty quality underneath which I associate with Bourbon Vanilla in particular, and with just the right amount of body. The loose tea is filled with yellow petals, I don´t know if sunflowers or marigolds, can not really detect any influence from their presence. As the tea cools there is a strange change in flavour, it´s the Bourbon vanilla which is predominant, and the peach becames just the supporting role.

This is a great tea to be drinking in winter while wishing for summer! I will play around with different temperatures for it.

I wish I was sure of what I am drinking right now! It is supposed to be this blend, Thé O Dor´s Christmas red tea. But it was bought by weight, handwritten label and wow, it looks different than from what it looks in the blender´s site ( or other photos google shows me). Is this supposed to have little white sugar (almondy-sugar) snowflakes? The rest looks just right, the rooibos and the marigold petals and little bits of presumably spices. But sugar snowflakes? Hmm, nobody says so. (And are not little sugar snowflakes a little bit, uh, unexpected for Theodor teas? )

Taste wise, it tastes like it should be if it is this 25 December. The rooibos underneath is very much to my taste, and then you got orange, a bit of cinnamon, a hint of I think nutmeg and something sweet like anise or liquorice (this is what kills it for me). Not going to be a favorite, though that always seems to happen with me and Christmas teas, I have not loved wholeheartedly one yet (Easter Tea OTOH is a different thing!). Interesting blend, whichever it is, and I will enjoy my sample of this, but would not buy any more.

This is from a very generous sample sent by Angrboda, thank you so much! I had sent her some tea from Mozambique, and was interested to compare with other different African teas. Kenya tea I have had before, Tanzania never.

Not sure why it took me so long to try this. Breakfast teas are usually the ugly ducklings of my tea cupboard – I only dare have them in the morning, but I never have tea at breakfast, so mid morning at most, and to brew loose leaf, I got to have my things. Loose leaf breakfast teas have a very narrow niche of opportunity with me. Here goes this one though.

First thing, I think I brewed it wrong. About 5 minutes with boiling water brought just below boiling point. It was too long or too hot, this brewed up a bit too tanninic, too astringent for my taste. Got to experiment with it, definetely a bit colder brew.

Other than that, oh this is tea indeed. A nice cuppa, so to speak. A lot of body, a lot of taste (though like Angrboda points, a sort of generic tea taste, no real individual notes), and I think a lot of caffeine (will be surer of this in a couple hours). It reminds of Ceylon teas mostly, and it´s a pretty different thing than the Mozambique tea I know – which is more like an afternoon tea almost. I think this would make an awesome base for flavors. And I really got to tweak those brewing parameters, this is worth getting right.

My second Theodor rooibos and I am impressed, even if I did not love this quite as wholeheartedly as the first (Carpe Diem).

This smells heavenly – baked apple and toffee and indescritably dessert-y. Just the smell makes you feel good. Brewed up the taste is not quite as intense or as identifiably caramel-apple (Tarte Tatin) but I am impressed by how smooth, nice, full of body the rooibos base is. The apple-toffee melds wonderfully with it. The rooibos seems to have nutty-caramelley-honey tones itself and that is what makes this shine. I am so impressed by Theodor´s rooibos bases and how they flavour those. If you like rooibos, try to check what they are doing with rooibos.

This is wonderful. I am sort of in love with it which is a surprise because so far I had not really loved white teas.

The leaf itself is beautiful and slightly strange – so silvery, so long, the strangeness that is the blossom. It smells wonderfully, an essence of tea smell with notes which remind me of raisins and yes, vague flowers (I have no idea what peonies smell like!).

I could not control temperature too well, so keep in mind the desired 80C are probably just an approximation. But regarding the liquor, brewing this at the advised amount with bottled water, at close to the advised temperature, and at 2 minutes per steep:

1st steep – very pale, very light golden with no hints of red (yet). Surprisingly full of body and tastes fruity and slightly floral at the same time, a taste which reminds me a bit of grapes – tiny grapes with a lot of skin but sweet table grapes just the same (comparing anything to wine grapes would not be a compliment!).

weirdly I do not like at all the smell during the steep, it smells very grassy and almost minty, I worry if I am using too hot water. But it does not translate to the taste of the steep

2nd steep – no worries after all. A deeper color, and flavour much richer, with perhaps even more body. No bitterness or astringency. Absolutely wonderful.

3rd steep – ah, now it has decided to remind that yes indeed this is related to black tea. The color now really has reddish tones. Just as sweet if not even more, with even more body, and the taste has now moved fully to raisins. I try to decide if this or the 2nd steep is my favorite, I decide the 2nd probably but it is close.

Brewing the 4th steep I am wary, I think the leaves are probably gone.

4th steep – but no, still alive and kicking. Slightly less rich than the 3rd steep, but still great and full of body. Lovely. I am going to go for a 5th steep but decided to stop the review right here since Peony Tea S only advises 4 steeps, not fair to take it further and risk finding fault on it when it´s me taking it past its limits.

I received this tea from Peony Tea S a few months ago, when they were asking for volunteers to test their shipping services, thank you so very much for your generosity! They selected the teas and I took my time getting to them. This was a weird psychological thing: a mix of weather, me being slightly intimidated by the tea´s obvious quality and wanting to try them for the first time when I could give them their due attention. I left this for last because well, silly me, thinking I was not fond of white tea. I was wrong, of this I am very very fond indeed.

Ah, a note, as advised by Derek, I kept this (and the green tea) in the fridge, sealed and double sealed from the rest of the fridge. I think it is more than worth that small effort!

oh, this is nice. I have a weakness for red fruits in tea, particularly in rooibos. I think a lot of my favorite rooibos blends have strawberry or other berries there in some form or the other. So when Melanchocolate offered to send me some of this I could not resist accepting. And it is not a disappointment at all.

Funny that I seem to get a subtle green apple (granny smith) taste from a lot of things which are strawberry based – Marco Polo for example and this here. I think it is happening on my brain not on the cup!

This is just unbelievable. And I do not even like oolongs! Or maybe I should say I didn´t. And did not know plain tea could be like this.

PS -

I was sort of dubious about it. I am not usually so fond of oolongs, but both the concept of a milk oolong as the reviews about this particular one were tempting. As are Theodor´s tea tins in general – and I am a tin fetishist, and Theodor´s tins rate quite high on my appreciation scale (you can pile them! Close very safely! Colors differ according to tea type…). But Thé-o-dor´s tea tins are always the same price everywhere (20 euros) which is almost always ridiculously expensive for whichever is inside (particularly when it´s hibiscus and fruits). This might actually be the case where the price of the tin is not too ridiculous for this particular tea. I chanced upon a tin of this locally and with a discount, ok, sold!

I then got buyer´s regret as soon as I unsealed the tin – the dry leaf is very oolong-y. Green oolong and I am not a oolong lover. No hints of the promised caramel or vanilla notes. I was so not sure if I was going to love this. But I was going to give it a fair trial. I used not too much tea, maybe 2 grams or even less for a cup and used tap water (it did not seem to matter at all) and followed the brewing instructions in the tin (love that, that the temperature and time is written right at hand).

I dumped the leaves into the damp warmed pot while the new water warmed and something magic started to happen. The scent, while still of oolong tea became much stronger, richer and with totally new notes – fruity, sweet, vanilla-ey, fudgey sort of. Putting the not-too-hot water in the pot, it just became stronger, richer, full of many other scents. I never made any tea where scent changed and evolved so profoundly and so strongly!

The liquor was wonderful. Tea and just tea with nothing artificial but where the scent really was quite unbelievably evocative of other things, sweet, delicious things. Condensed milk sweets, or maybe pineapples somehow, or vanilla. No bitterness or any astringency at all and somehow still with some body. I had this with a bit of honey-rosemary cake and having the cake with its subtle flavours and sweeteness and then the tea was an even better experience. If you have this, have it plain, no milk or sugar, but accompanied by some sweet!

I found myself tipping the cup vertically in order to get at the last drop, and then re-checking the cup again to see if any was left just incase. Besides this being admittedly pathetic is something pretty rare so this rates very very high on my appreciation scale. I tried a second infusion and it was very good, though not quite as perfumed or as intense as the first steep.

This is really amazing tea. And I don´t even like oolongs.

Tangent to topic : something I appreciate in Theodor´s teas is that they give precise tea instructions, which differ from tea blend to tea blend even if they are the same general type of tea, written in the tea. That is priceless to me and gives me confidence they do care about what they are selling. If you are selling tea expensively, please put as much useful information to brewing it properly as possible.