Grand Marnier

Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act II scene 7

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
Twelfth Night, Act I scene 1

Last night I was going through my Shakespeare box trying to decide what I’d have this morning. I settled on the Vinegar Black and then I had my choice narrowed down to two Culinary Teas. As I looked back and forth between the two a realization dawned on me: I had been seeing the name of this tea as “Grand Mariner” which I felt fit into the British theme of this box quite well. Oh. It’s actually “Grand Marnier” like the liqueur. ::facepalm:: I laughed and decided that this would follow the Vinegar — sort of a sweet and sour experience.

I have never had Grand Marnier on its own, and as far as I know I haven’t had it as part of a meal or mixed drink. So I am unable to judge whether or not this lives up to its namesake. When I opened the packet it was like an orange creamsicle. Yum. The cup maintains that orange creamsicle smell but gains the fragrance of Ceylon. The taste is more Ceylon, but the aroma is all about the creamsicle. I’d imagine that this would be crazy-good with cream or sugar. This also would be perfect with the right sort of dessert. I may have to try this iced. If this is great iced, then this may be added to the reorder list from Culinary Teas.

I dub this tea the play Twelfth Night. Partially since it kicks off with a shipwreck (a tip of the hat to my misreading of the tea’s name), and also because Twelfth Night (The Feast of Epiphany) kicks off the New Orleans’ Mardi Gras season and this tea would fit right into all the revelry — from the parties on Bourbon to the elaborate balls. This tea is a light fun sort of dessert tea and I’m having a good time with it. NE

I love Grand Marnier…either with Duck a la Orange, in chocolate truffles, or in a stiff drink. This tea captures the flavor of it well. This is one of the best orange flavored teas I’ve ever had. It was a creamy like background to it that I love, but not to the point of being a orangesicle. Makes for a great iced tea. I like the black base in it, too. It has some orange zest in it and yellow petals from some flower.

At first taste, I didn’t like this tea at all. It tasted more like orange pith than anything else, very overpoweringly bitter with no hint of the fresh orange peel sweetness I was hoping for. After adding 4x more sweetener than I do with my other teas, I found the flavor I was looking for, and the tea became quite good! Would’ve been rated higher, but I like to use even Stevia sparingly, and prefer teas that work with little.