Paul et Virginie

When Cteresa and I were planning our small swap, she suggested that I try some of this one. I had never heard about it before so I went and looked it up.

Then I made this face: O.O

And then I’m afraid I resorted to pitiful begging to pretty please with a cherry on top have a sample. Or something like that. Okay, maybe not quite that much, but I definitely wanted to try it.

I mean, caramel, vanilla and red berries? That’s like, three of my favourite things to flavour tea with! It reminds me rather of the St Petersburg blend from Kusmi, only without the bergamot. And you know what, I can totally live without bergamot. Easy. And I’m actually quite fond of St P. So what I’m expecting here is something similar but better. St P got 86 points from me on Steepster. Let’s see if we can’t beat that.

Oh my word, the aroma of this one! It smells like cherries and creamy-sweet vanilla and sugar-y sweet caramel. It’s quite heavy on the caramel too. This is liquid sweets in a cup. The berries here are cherry, strawberry and raspberry, but I can only really find the cherry in the aroma. That herry flavoured number from Fru P that I’ve got is really coming in handy here, because the cherry aroma in that one is exactly the same as in this one. Perhaps there’s a wee bit of strawberry underneath, but I can’t really be certain.

Okay, so the aroma is definitely leaving St P behind in a cloud of smoke. So far so good.

The first sip gives me juicy fruit a-plenty. It reminds me at first of a 4 Red Fruits blend, but extra sweet. Although this is only three red fruits. But who’s counting.

The vanilla and caramel are both quite subtle at this point, but the vanilla comes out more as I sip and lends a creamy note. I’m now reminded more of some kind of red berry ice cream dessert. All we need now is the caramel, but I expect it’ll show up if the cup is allowed to cool off a wee bit more. This seems to often be the nature of caramel flavoured teas. They need to be allowed to develop a little more before the flavour really comes out to play. (And no, as I’ve mentioned before, your various tricks of adding sweeteners of various sort do not work for me. It makes nothing “pop” for me. Adding stuff just breaks the tea for me.)

It’s true for this as well. A little patience before sipping further and the caramel is there in the aftertaste.

Oh yeah, this is better than St P all right! I must shop at DF som time.

I’m nearing the end of my Dammann Freres teas from Doulton – I truly appreciate that you put these together for me. They all have been nothing short of divine! Thank you!

I really like this tea. It is a perfect balance of flavors – the tea and the fruit and the sweet all come together so well. The black tea tastes slightly earthy and has a nice astrigency and just a hint of bitterness – but it’s a good bitterness! The fruit is sweet and juicy, but it is a bit lighter than most fruit flavored black teas that I’ve encountered… it’s more like a touch of the fruit. The caramel and vanilla are seamless and there is a nice, burnt sugar note to the caramel that is not too sweet because of that bitter note I mentioned.

It’s really so very good!

mmm this is a fruity, sweet tea that is quite nicely blended. I’m a littl sad that i accidentally let this cool off a whole bunch before getting a chance to really enjoy this hot. Thankfully i have a bunch more to play with though to be able to provide a much better review in the future. over all though, pleasantly satisfied!

This is my first Dammann Fréres tea and I am quite impressed, this is delightful.

I noticed the other day and pointed in another tasting note that I had nothing less than 4 well know tea blends, from different blenders, all with the same notes – red fruits and caramel (and two of them added bergamot to it); and all those teas are among the most popular for each of their blenders. I am talking of Harney´s Paris, Kusmi´s St Petersbourg, Mariage Frères´ Marco Polo and this very one. And it´s easy to see why it´s so popular: it works, the caramel gives something to the red fruits and vice versa. The Fred and Ginger of taste pairings? He gives her class, she makes him sexy.

Of those 4 teas mentioned I like this better than Paris and St Petersbourg. It´s the fruitiest of those 4 with the most recognizable, juiciest fruit scents and for once I can detect clearly all the fruits mentioned – the raspberry, the cherry and even the strawberry. The vanilla is also quite noticeable in the scent, the caramel gives it an extra depth, and I found it particularly noticeable in the aftertaste of the tea. The tea base used is a mix of Chinese and Ceylon teas, and it´s very right for these flavours – it´s not too strong though or at least not as I brewed it (relatively cold (90C) for not too long (3-4 minutes) with a generous scoop of tea). I think this is definitely an afternoon tea. It was very quick to disappear!

Finally! My inaugural tea of the Doulton-engineered French buying extravaganza!

MmmmmmMMMMmmmmmMMmmmm.

And that’s just the smell of the dry leaves. Amazing raspberry. Reminds me of the filling in linzer tarts, which I used to get from a little pastry shop in Cambridge, MA. I can smell it from several feet away; if I stick my nose into the bag (that has an adorable little giraffe sticker on it :-)) it becomes extremely concentrated. Dark chocolate color leaves with flecks of lighter brown.

The variety and complexity in the aroma becomes more apparent after steeping. I can smell some vanilla, and berry, but I’m also getting a note that seems lemon or orange. Some citrus in any case.

The taste has wonderful berry things going on. It’s not the Kool Aid of some berry teas I have tried, it’s more of the kind of berry note you’d find in a nice wine. It adds a tiny bit of tartness to the tail of the sip. Vanilla is there, but not a strong presence. I’m trying to figure out what berry I’m tasting and I think it’s mostly raspberry and strawberry, but what a contrast to the strawberry of other flavored teas. It’s subtle, but deep and smooth. Apart from the tart berry-tail, the tea is medium-sweet. Not sugary like some blacks. I can see what they mean when they say caramel, though it isn’t the sweet caramel of the Sugar Caramel Oolong. It isn’t bitter either, it’s just a number of notches down from carmelized-sugar sweet. There’s a fresh note to the finish which strikes me as floral.

Note to self: try more leaf next time. I used about 1.5 tsp in about 8 oz water. I think it could go stronger and perhaps unfold even more.

Like most French teas, the DF advertises a multitude of flavors for this blend: chocolate! vanilla! cherry! strawberry! And like most French teas, they magically blend into a subtle /sophisticated flavor like a classical symphony and certainly not a rock concert…..

One more mystery: these French tea blends are typically leaf only w/a smattering of flower petals. No chucks of cocoa nibs, chocolate chips, caramel squares, vanilla bean chunks or dried fruit are present. Do they flavor these teas with a French-patented flavor oils?

This is the first DF tea I have tried from Doulton’s order and phew I have many more to sample…

Oh Yum!
I tasted something like this before! I remember I had a tea with these flavors.
If only I could remember!

It’s a black tea with a lot of different flavors… There is caramel. And God how I love the caramel. There is a sweet and bitter thing in the middle, berries or flowers? I don’t know, I can’t get my attention away from the caramel it got me paralyzed. Oh, now I remember what this reminds me of! A.C. Perchs Bailey tea and a Unknown labels Love tea. I am sure those two combined would become this! (Or something close to that)

Conclusion: It’s awesome. I am not sure that I would order it from France, but this tea reminds me that I have to have something caramel-ish tea!

This came from the Doulton package :)

Another deliciously well blended and subtly perfect Frenchie! Berries and caramel, a little vanilla. Also, indescribable! Have you noticed how the French flavored teas taste like 10 different things you can barely put your finger on?

Decadent with a little sugar and half and half. REALLY decadent paired with chocolate! I rate this one 90, but with a little ounce of good chocolate beside it, it rocketed to 100 for me! I am going to save this one for this purpose :) Fantastic.

This is a delicious blend of black tea with berry and vanilla flavorings. The description says there is also caramel, but I couldn’t detect that. It’s a nice, smooth black tea — no astringency, and not super-strong. The flavors are delicate, not “in your face” like some flavored teas, and there aren’t little bits of dried fruit and such in the tea.

This tea is kind of like Mariage Freres Marco Polo’s older, more reserved sister. The two teas are quite similar, but whereas Marco Polo is practically bursting with strawberry flavor, Paul et Virginie is content to let the flavors slowly build and achieve more of a balance with the black tea. Even so, I think I slightly prefer Marco Polo, because when I want a strawberry flavored black tea, I want the flavors to be bold. I’ll definitely enjoy the rest of this tea, though; it’s a real treat.

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Water: 22 oz filtered, boiling
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet and fruity
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, cherry
Flavor: black tea, sweet, fruity
MilitiaJim: vanilla
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent, fruity
Liquor: translucent dark orange-brown

As I said earlier, my taste buds appear to be ignoring vanilla lately. This is sad as I love vanilla.

This was a lovely scent, a blend of sweet fruits that makes your mouth water. The flavor is more subtle than the scent, but still smooth and a very nice cup of tea.

Post-Steep Additives: German rock sugar
Less astringency

Resteep: 4 minutes
Slightly weaker, but still delicious

As I drink the second pot (I was expecting some help, but apparently all 44 oz are all mine) I noticed that the tea is silky smooth – not buttery, but when I swallow there is a silken residue in my mouth and throat for a moment. I was too busy chugging and noting before to get that feeling.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/04/dammann-freres-loose-leaf-black-tea_16.html

I thank cteresa for sending a generous sample of Paul et Virginie.
Of course, the flavour, as the tea name is somehow very romantic : berries, caramel and vanilla.
No berries nor chunk of caramel in this tea, every flavour comes from essential oils here.

So different from St Pétersbourg from Kusmi teas with the same flavours…I am not a fan of St Petersbourg.
The tea base has a hint of astringency to me. It’s not an in your face flavoured black and the berries are the main flavour here – raspberry is very detectable as well as strawberry, less evident for cherry to me.
Caramel is far behind even if pleasantly present.
Not bad even quite nice but I think these kind od mix between fruits and caramel or fruits and chocolate are rarely for me.
Quite strange as a big fan of the cake “forêt noire”, I’m not seduced by the same with tea.

First teapot from the generous sample sent by CTeresa.
At the first sip, vanilla popped in my mind, then definitely caramel, of the unsalted sort. At the middle of the teapot, I realized this tea would be perfect with Carambar and tastes as decadent as those sweets. I did not really identify the berries and fruits, except as underlying flavors in the background.
I really liked it, will probably enjoy a lot the remaining of the sample but will have to decide whether this tea should remain on my shopping list or if the caramel flavor turns too overwhelming for my taste in the long run.

Trying this sneakily as I bought it for my housemate over the summer to replace his Lady Londonderry tea (our favourite local stockist no longer does it!! I’ve managed to source it somewhere else, nonetheless… a tragic loss!) – it’s not exactly the same, obviously, this has vanilla and caramel and more berries, but I’m intrigued.

This tasting is off a mug brewed to a deep orange, although I tried it a clear pale orange in a teacup last night. It smells intensely floral even though the flavours are mainly fruit – is this a Dammann Freres feature? In the first sip there is very little actual floral taste, however, and the first fruit to jump out is… cherry, with a hint of caramel, and a vanilla aftertaste.

Despite being brewed so strongly this isn’t as dry as other black teas. The further I get into the mug, the more raspberry comes out, too… It’s all delightfully sweet, I wouldn’t mind a splash of milk or drop of lemon in this!