Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea, Flavor
Flavors
Astringent, Candy, Drying, Floral, Lavender, Malt, Perfume, Strawberry, Thick, Milk, Vanilla, Chocolate, Raspberry, Cocoa, Fruity, Sweet, Cream, Red Fruits, Smooth, Caramel, Creamy, Berries, Flowers, Jam, Tart, Bitter, Dried Fruit, Fig, Wood, Earth, Rose
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf, Sachet
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 45 sec 4 g 35 oz / 1043 ml

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269 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Yesterday’s sprinkles gave way to real rain. You can just feel the tired old earth around me go “ahhhhhh.” I woke up craving this. I must have needed an “ahhhh” too. This is lovely and fruity (love...” Read full tasting note
    97
  • “SIPDOWN! I loved this when I first got it, but I did find it to be finicky – finicky, but worth it. As long as I keep the temp around 203F and the time around three minutes this is great. Hubby...” Read full tasting note
  • “It’s been forever since I’ve had this tea. But not because I don’t love it. It’s actually the opposite – I adore this tea so much that I haven’t been able to force myself to open the new tin of...” Read full tasting note
    90
  • “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.” Read full tasting note
    82

From Mariage Frères

Mariage Frères’ most famous secret is this mysterious blend that takes you to distant lands and strange countries. The aroma of Chinese and Tibetan flowers and fruit lend it a uniquely velvety taste. Its extraordinary bouquet makes Marco Polo the most legendary of flavoured teas.

Succès incontesté de la Maison Mariage Frères, ce mélange secret vous fera voyager dans les plus lointaines et mystérieuses contrées. Les senteurs de fleurs et de fruits de Chine et du Tibet lui confèrent un arôme velouté unique. Un bouquet extraordinaire pour le plus mythique des thés parfumés.

About Mariage Frères View company

Company description not available.

269 Tasting Notes

97
2886 tasting notes

Yesterday’s sprinkles gave way to real rain. You can just feel the tired old earth around me go “ahhhhhh.”

I woke up craving this. I must have needed an “ahhhh” too. This is lovely and fruity (love that strawberry thing) on its own, but I splashed in a little milk to see what would happen. Not much, but it’s excellent either way.

I’m thinking that if I had to make a list of “you-gotta-try-it” for tea newbies, this would definitely be on it.

ashmanra

The Anna’s Tea from Tin Roof Teas reminds me a bit of this. I think you would like it, too. Maybe I can send a bit your way! :)

Missy

Yay for rain!

gmathis

Cool! I haven’t Googled it, but I’m gathering from some of your previous comments Tin Roof is a local-ish place?

And oh, my how the moisture was needed! Trouble is, now I’m seeing disturbing patches of green in the back yard…I haven’t had to mow since early June!

Dylan Oxford

“disturbing patches of green”, I feel ya there.

ashmanra

I have it ready to mail tomorrow! Yes, Tin Roof Teas is in Raleigh. Anna’s is raspberry yogurt black and soooo tasty. It reminds me of Marco Polo. Then I had their Strawberry Vanilla Green tea and swooooned. I put both in your envelope!

gmathis

Yay! Good mail to look forward to!

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3210 tasting notes

SIPDOWN! I loved this when I first got it, but I did find it to be finicky – finicky, but worth it. As long as I keep the temp around 203F and the time around three minutes this is great.

Hubby and I now prefer Anna’s Blend from Tin Roof Teas, which I think may be sourced from TeaGeschwendner. I has a yogurty tang to it with nice strawberry flavor, but is overall smoother than Marco Polo and is much more forgiving.

This last pot of Marco Polo was really great until I got to the last cup. A tiny bit of very fine sediment had escaped the infuser and that was enough to add a touch of bitterness, or perhaps it just gets bitter as it cools. Either way, the first two cups were fantastic and the last…not so much.

If I added milk and sugar to my teas this might not be a problem, but I prefer my tea sans additions whenever possible.

The tins are lovely! I peeled off the clear label that tells the name of the tea and relabeled this tin with a permanent marker in my fanciest attempt at lovely handwriting so it can now hold my Anna’s Blend!

DigniTea

Nice plug for our local tea shop – that’s great!

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90
911 tasting notes

It’s been forever since I’ve had this tea. But not because I don’t love it. It’s actually the opposite – I adore this tea so much that I haven’t been able to force myself to open the new tin of it. Gotta save it so I don’t run out, right? So it has languished on my shelf for months and months.

But I’ve been wearing my grumpy pants quite a lot lately even though I should be celebrating (since I only have 22 more days of work). So I decide to enforce some celebration in my life by finally opening my tin of this.

Ahhhh! Yes, such a good choice. It’s strawberry shortcake in liquid form (I did use some sugar and half & half this morning, which helps that idea along). Desserty sweet but also fresh-fruity tart (there is some astringency that, combined with the delicious strawberry taste of this tea, reads to my tongue as a light tartness almost exactly like biting into a fresh strawberry). For some reason, I also get the idea of cocoa when drinking this tea. Not so much the taste, but a hint of it in the texture – a richness or sponginess – that just makes it so deliciously dessert-like and happy-making.

And additional bonus is the caffeine. My hands have just a wee bit of a tremor to them this morning thanks to this tea. Which is good because it means that hopefully I won’t be tempted to crawl under my desk for naptime today.

Before I left the house with my tumbler o’ deliciousness, I did a second steep of this to ice. So I quite look forward to seeing how that turns out. Mmmm.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
JacquelineM

Between the fact that this tea is hard to get, and the fact that it sends me back to a world that no longer exists and I always wind up with tears behind my eyes – ooof- yeah – I can’t be without this tea, yet I don’t drink it very often.

Auggy

This one doesn’t bring up any special memories for me but I totally understand the desire for it to be a special occasion kind of tea. It’s so lovely yet MF stuff is so hard to find…

wombatgirl

Auggy – I’ve got a pretty good line on it most of the time. I’ve got a local Dean and Deluca. If you want, next time you run out let me know and I can run down and see if there’s any there. We can do some sort of swap if you’d like.

sophistre

Shoulda done a tinyurl, but…lazy this morning. x.x

Anyway, hope that helps. :D

thewaterbird

liquid strawberry shortcake!?!

Auggy

Yay – thanks to both wombatgirl & sophistre! takgoti was my buyer last time – I am jealous of those with local MF hook ups! :) And OMG at the lovelies at Market Hall Foods……. Do they ever have any of the more special teas (like Opium Hill)?
thewaterbird, It’s gooooooood. :)

LauraR

Another great source of Mariage Freres is The Cultured Cup in Dallas, TX. www.theculturedcup.com.

Auggy

So true – I had forgotten about them. They are only 50ish minutes away so looks like I need to visit them again!

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82
14974 tasting notes

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.

Lilysmom

I just found out that MF tea is sold at Fauberg a patisserie shop in central Vancouver….looking forward to trying this brand….

Sil

awesome! MF has a bunch of great teas! If you’re trying to decide what to pick up, feel free to poke me for suggestions if you know what they sell there.

Lilysmom

That would be great – I like flavoured black tea the best – Marco Polo might be a good selection, if they have it….

OMGsrsly

Lilysmom, THANK YOU. I bought another tin of Chandernagor at Holt Renfrew last week, and was worried one more tin wasn’t going to be enough!

Sil

omg – need to get you to send me a sample of that sometime…

OMGsrsly

Oh, I thought you had it! I’ll start a list for you. :)

Lilysmom

This is great, I hadn’t seen the list! I think Chandernagor or Marco Polo might be my first choice? Btw their spice loaf is wonderful…..gingerbread cakey……perfect with tea…..probably only around during the holidays tho……

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97
863 tasting notes

SIPDOWN! This is the last of my sample from momo – it will be missed, but not for long as I definitely will be getting more of this one! Like last time, it is all strawberries and cream. I had a touch more leaf than I wanted to use for 12 oz., but there wasn’t any bitterness despite the extra tea… yay!

I’ve had both Strawberry Zabaglione by 52Teas, and Strawberry shortcake by DAVIDsTea, and both of those are similar in taste profile to this, but this edges both of those out on three points. One, it’s actually available for me to buy again. Two, it was consistently good both times I had it – both other teas seemed to be touch and go, sometimes when the parameters didn’t even change. Three, it has a good resteep where the others did not. Definite must buy!

And now for something only marginally related to tea:

There are so many things I’m happy about right now that I think I’ll list them:

1.) Payday
2.) 4 days off – all on a weekend, no less!
3.) It’s raining.
4.) My tea station has wheels!!!

That last one is especially awesome, and I really need to be extra nice to the boyfriend for it. I didn’t think I would particularly NEED the luxury of just moving my entire collection/set up into another room but it is REALLY awesome to just sit it near the couch and lazily reach over for refills.

Aside from a quick grocery store run and some laundry, this is probably what my day will look like: couch, books, Steepster, and bathroom. One more day until Taurus starts – I can’t think of a better way to welcome it!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
ohfancythat

What does your tea station look like?!

ashmanra

Show us! Show us! Nice! Give him a big smooch.

Sil

YAY!

JoonSusanna

Haha I certainly will ashmanra! As for pictures, it’s the last one in the photo album below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/117543481218540418474/MyTeaStation?authuser=0&feat=directlink

I love it so hard.

Tamm

Oh, it’s so well organized and nice! I love the setup and I’m getting pretty jealous of the Breville. The wheels make it even more epic.

mrs.stenhouse12

Jealous of your station! It looks awesome :D

TeaLady441

That’s so organized! You must be thrilled.

Sil

You had posted this a little while back…i totally went to ikea and picked up 3 solid doors to hide my stash behind since my tea is also in an expedit bookcase. :) However mine lives in a 2×3 lol someday i’ll condense it down to 2X2

JoonSusanna

Thanks guys! @ Sil, I love the Expedit so much. I haven’t seen a 3×2 though – the one in Atlanta only has 2×2 or 4×2 options. You’ll have to show pictures! :)

ashmanra

Nice! It was great before, but the wheels add a lot of style in addition to making it easier to move. I think it looks really great with the added elevation!

Sil

haha oopsy i meant 2×4 apparently i’m having issues counting today :)

I really would prefer what you’ve done, but right now we don’t have the space for a little one in the house. the 2×4 is actually a room divider for us too heh.

ohfancythat

It’s so nice!! Sil do you have a pic of yours? Now i’d kill to see how you store your stash, lol

Sil

http://instagram.com/silaena

the first tea cupboard looking picture is how it’s all stored, i just left the 3 doors open so you can see behind them. the two next pictures is 98% of all the tea in my house on the table, had to go int two shots lol my tea takes up 5 cubes.

Sil

I’ll take a better picture eventually lol

ohfancythat

Awesome! In the pic with everything on the table, where’d you get the tiny square tins? I think they’re orange

Sil

teaopia when it was closing down. there are 16? little ones that go into a big one and because they were closing out it was like 4$

ohfancythat

Ohhhh nice find!

Sil

yeah i hate the colour but can’t complain over the price – perfect sizes for samples from people :)

ohfancythat

Yeah it would be nice if places sold those! I don’t want giant tins, no room for them!

Rie

Absolutely epic tea station!

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87
1759 tasting notes

ahhhhh now THIS is what I remember! my terrible marco polo experience from last time has now been banished from memory and replaced by this delicious tea sensation.
Fruity, floral, black tea. Mmmmm.
My only regret is that I played with the steep time and cut it down to 4 min. In contradiction to my tea-loving past, I like the flavours to come out strong. I like it best just before it starts to get bitter which can be a little difficult to time.
There was a day when I loved “weak” tea. Funny, I never thought I would see the day where I would evolve to enjoy it so!

Indigobloom

whew, what a relief! thanks QG :)

Daddyselephant

We need to find a place to buy this in Toronto!

Indigobloom

I know!!!
Apparently the distillery district has some Mariage Freres, but I’m not sure about which flavours exactly.

ashmanra

Do you have a Williams-Sonoma there? They carry it in the US.

Indigobloom

yes we do! I shall check it out, thanks for the tip!

nomadinjeopardy

This is the cafe that sells MF in Toronto (two locations): http://www.balzacscoffee.com/. I was told they don’t order stock frequently so what they have’ll depend on when you go, but they seem pretty helpful and if you call ahead they’d be able to tell you what’s in stock. They have Marco Polo and the vanilla rooibos as well as a few others to go, so I assume those would be the options to buy.

Indigobloom

ahhhh thx Jessie :)
Now I know where to go in the DD! Too bad it’s such a pain to get there… ah well, it’s so worth the walk!!

Daddyselephant

I was at Sherway Gardens today and checked out their Williams-Sonoma. They did indeed have this tea…for $32. I promptly put it back on the shelf XD. They also had some Harney & Sons (English Breakfast and Paris) but they were marked up considerably as well. The Blue Banana in Kensington has a bigger selection of H&S teas for better prices.

ashmanra

OH MY! Did you that Harney sachet tins are only 10.95 at Barnes and Noble but are $16.95 at Williams-Sonoma for the SAME TIN? I have only purchased Mariages Freres at Southern Season so I have no idea how much it costs at WS in the USA.

Daddyselephant

Yeah, that’s the general feeling I get from W-S. “Oh, hey, our stuff might look a bit nicer than the stuff from Wal-Mart or Sears, it works the same, but we’re gonna jack up the price anyway.” Designer kitchen stores make me sad…thank goodness I live five minutes away from IKEA!

Just curious, how much does it cost at Southern Season?

ashmanra

I am pretty sure we paid about $22 for a tin of their Vanille des Iles, which is why we switched to Harney and Sons Vanilla Black! Much cheaper, and tastes as good to me! I think I paid about the same for Marco Polo.

Daddyselephant

Yowza. Of course, I’ve paid that for tins of DT, but MF’s tins seem so small! Harney’s too, for that matter. I guess it really just depends on how much that tea is worth to you.

ashmanra

The MF tins are 3 1/2 oz or 100 grams, so that is a bit pricey! I think we pay about $24 for one pound of Harney Vanilla Black, so it is quite a savings! But there are one or two special teas I don’t mind paying a bit for, especially if they resteep well.

Daddyselephant

Yeah, I paid $22 for a tin of Whisky White today, but it’s so very worth it to me. Still made my heart stop at the price, though. I need to find a good Vanilla black, vanilla is my one true love.

Indigobloom

the price we pay for tea… and yet I will never have enough. Still, $22 for whisky white! I hope they keep that one around :)

Daddyselephant

XD Have you see my cupboard lately? I so feel your pain. So far it’s still only around for Father’s Day, but hopefully it has staying power.

Indigobloom

I think enough people like it that they will keep it. Fingers crossed! SO much better than buttered rum, IMO :)

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1112 tasting notes

With 1 teaspoon of sugar and a splash of half and half, this tea tastes exactly like the incredible strawberry shortcake baked at Isgro Pasticceria in the Italian Market area of Philadelphia. Juicy perfectly ripe strawberries, moist barely sweet cake redolent of good vanilla, and fresh whipped cream. I had this cake every year for my birthday my entire childhood. This tea is moving me to tears.

The flavor is incredibly delicate and not artificial in the least. It’s an absolute work of art as far as I’m concerned. I never want to be without it, and it was worth every penny.

EDIT: decided to resteep – very pleasant strawberry taste but the cake and whipped cream and tea are gone. Tastes too sweet. The next time I make this tea, I might resteep then drink the resteep without cream and sugar.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
teaplz

Love your story, and I really love this tea. Mmm. I haven’t tried it with milk or sugar or anything, but your experience makes me want to try it!

fcmonroe

Beautiful!! A tea that brings back childhood.

JacquelineM

I can’t guarantee it will be quite so Proustian, but I hope it will be delicious :)

Ricky

I was tempted to have this earlier today but I went with Rishi’s china breakfast instead. I was going to have it with some sugar n milk, but then I was like wait would it get too sweet? Now I’m going to try it next time =P

takgoti

I love this log. I’m making this tea today because of it.

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93
558 tasting notes

Having a pot of this so late in the night is not a standard practice for me, but when I saw I still had a few teaspoons left from what Jaime had sent me, I knew it was what I wanted this evening.

I can’t say much that hasn’t already been said, but I certainly enjoy this dessert-y treat of strawberries and cream (more creamy because I added milk and sugar to it). YUM.

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92
676 tasting notes

Tonight I had a killer sweet-tooth that would not go away!

I thought about drinking a sweet flavored tea to curb the urge to completely blow it and dig around in the cupboard for my hidden small stash of Godiva Chocolate Gems. However, I knew that if I found them I would eat them all!

What to do?

I remembered the Sour Cherry Jam in the frig that I opened for my grandson to have in his Russian Tea recently.
Aha!
A few tablespoons would be a tasty dessert at the bottom of my teacup.

The next step was picking the right tea.
Russian tea would have been the logical selection. Being the Bonnie that I am, I passed by that suggestion and soon remembered that I had some Marco Polo out intended for the morning. That tea and the jam would go well together.

I prepared the teapot: Poured the tea…
The Marco Polo Tea was fruity but floral and a little smoky. This combination was perfect with my Sour Cherry Jam melting at the bottom of the cup…swirled with my spoon, scooped up into my mouth bit by yummy bit. I drank 2 mugs of this sweet jammy tea, slurping and swirling and gnoshing the scoops of cherry bits.

Very satisfying to my sweet-tooth.

I’m so bad!

Ninavampi

Interesting idea… I might have to try this one day!

You’re bad in a good way! :)

Bonnie

Was handed a cup of tea like this by Fr. Basil a few years ago at St.Nikolas Russian Orthodox Church ….really good and kids like it as a treat in the Winter!

Invader Zim

I’ve never heard of putting jam in your tea, but it sounds like it would be really good!

Bonnie

It’s not my idea. It’s a Russian Tea custom usually with a floral smoky type of tea. A soft spicy tea could be good too in the Winter!

tigress_al

I like hearing about your experiments! Sounds delicious!

pyarkaaloo

sounds delicious! i never in my wildest dreams thought of putting jam in my tea…what a good idea!! sour cherry no less…would love to experiment now with my teas in the same way :)

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74
1598 tasting notes

When this tea works, it works SO WELL. When it doesn’t, it’s bitter and undrinkable. Because of that, I’d never buy any, but because Sil gave it to me, I am enjoying a cup now, and have enough for one cup later on. Today it’s almost perfect. I’m getting jammy strawberries and other warm fruits, and it’s only slightly bitter. I count that as a win.

Dexter

Don’t you just hate it when teas don’t behave….

QueenOfTarts

I’ve had the same experience with this tea. It’s either perfect or really, really off.

TeaLady441

It’s so disappointing! When I first had it, it was SO GOOD. I would have been very upset if I had bought a tin based on that cup!

Sil

i, thankfully didn’t buy it – my parents brought it for me. :)

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