Marco Polo

Time to try a new black tea! That always makes me happy. First time having the fancy Mariage Freres, thank you momo! Mariage Frerraaaaarre ;p
The dry leaf smells slightly fruity on top of a strong black base.
Tried to make a half pot. Good with sugar. Its just a plain, good, nice tea.
I want their new teas and awesome tins, especially the chocolate one and the macaron one. Why on earth they have to be close to $40 per 4 oz is beyond me. Unless I’m calculating the currency exchange wrong which is possible.

takgoti was trying to pressure me into buying a new wallet but when I stood strong, she settled for forcing me to try this tea. ahem Right.

She did send this tea to me though so yay for takgoti! And I can’t stop sniffing this because it smells so. Freakin. Good. Creamy and red-fruity and sweet and rich. Before I knew what it was, I couldn’t quite figure out if it was cherry or strawberry or grenadine that I was smelling – just something red-fruity and creamy. Once I found out what it was, I only learned that it was most likely none of those. But it still smells similar. So I’m having some in my strawberry cup in honor of the unnamed red fruits in this tea.

As I poured hot water over the leaf, I was able to fully identify what it smelled like to me. Strawberry syrup. No, no, not strawberry syrup. Strawberry topping. On a cheesecake. The husband is a cheesecake master and he has made some homemade topping before for one of his vanilla cheesecakes. That’s what this smells like. It makes my mouth water.

There’s no way the taste can match the smell. No way. So I’m a little scared to take my first sip, not wanting to be disappointed… And I’m actually not disappointed! This is different from the smell – it doesn’t have the strong creamy, rich vanilla note. But the berry note is spot on. Sort of like eating the strawberry cheesecake and then having a bite that is just one of the strawberries from the topping with no cheesecake or significant amount of syrup. It’s not as sweet or as decadent as the previous bites (or in this case, the smell) but it’s still really good and yummy.

The berry flavoring is very smooth and natural tasting. No nasty aftertaste here. And it leaves a bit of fresh-berry-ish-tart on the roof of my mouth after a swallow. Part of me wonders how this would be with a little sugar or milk and another part of me is scared that it would be way too rich. But that’s not to say that this tea needs to be sweeter. Because it’s got a good berry-style sweet thing going on that I would hate to mess with. It’s got a nice body to it – not a light, thin feeling tea. Not super-thick for me, but respectable.

And my cup is empty. That was fast. I might have been a bit enthusiastic in my sipping. But what can I say? This tea is good!

ETA: Second steep @5:30. The flavor is lighter but remarkably consistent with the first steep. Maybe a little cleaner tasting? But not by much. Still very nicely fruity. And zero bitterness so I imagine it could go even longer without oversteeping.

#2: And just because I was curious, third steep @ 9mins. Okay, the flavor is fairly weak now but surprisingly true to the first steep still with still no bitterness. I think a 4th steep might be pushing it a bit (unless I steeped it for 20mins or something).

Seven samples finished in seven days? Yeah, I’m behind because this is number three! O.o

I have already covered how Cteresa sent me Brave Tea and Interesting Tea. She also sent me Coveted Tea. I’ve had this on my shopping list for just about forever, but never really got around to making an MF order. It’s the New Shop Syndrome. It’s really difficult to shop in a new place for the first time. I tend to have to decide to do so well in advance of actual shopping, otherwise I just end up stocking up of old favourites instead. So MF is one of those places that I never got around to. I don’t think I’ve ever even tried anything from them before, which doesn’t make it easier to shop there for the first time.

So Cteresa is hitting two birds with one stone for me here. If this one comes out well for me, MF is going on the list of the next shopping spree along with Yumchaa. (That just leaves one space open. I’m still undecided about that one, but I do have a few potentials to check out. Three orders at a time seems to be what I’m comfortable with. I probably ought to make it one order per month instead, really.)

Anyway, so let’s see about this much coveted tea. Strangely enough, I’m not actually concerned about disappointment should I turn out to not like it.

The aroma is very sweet and pleasant. It’s quite chocolate-y and also kind of cake-y and vanilla-y. There’s a vague hint of something fruity if you really look for it and knows about it beforehand, but it’s not noticable and it’s not directly recognisable as strawberry. I really enjoy this aroma. It’s like liquid sweets, only not as cloying as one might have feared. It’s very pleasant indeed.

The flavour, however, is strongly strawberry. I’m really surprised at how strawberry-y this is! I can’t remember ever having met such a very strawberry-y strawberry flavoured tea before. It’s amazing! I’m getting a little chocolate underneath, but mostly it’s just the berries. There’s something creamy about it too, and it reminds me of fresh strawberries served with cream or a fat milk and sprinkled with sugar, a very classic summer dessert in Denmark.

Yeah, MF is definitely in the next order group. No doubt about that. I knew there was a reason I’ve been wanting to try this one for so long!

Marco Polo! I’ve been wanting to try this for ever so long! Well, kinda. Back then, I didn’t really like black tea much. So while I found Marco Polo intriguing with all the stellar reviews, I wasn’t really motivated to try it. These days, I find myself craving black teas quite often, though usually chinese blacks. I’m not sure about the source of the tea in this blend, but it tastes Chinese to me. It’s satisfyingly dark and rich without being too strong. There’s a lot of smooth vanilla and berry syrup flavors. Tasty! Not tasty enough to be worth $24 for a box of 30 tea bags… but tasty! Thankfully I acquired this box of tea with a Dean & Deluca gift card I got for Christmas. I would never buy it with my own money at that price. Crazy! Too bad they didn’t have this tea loose. I rather like their tins.

I’m on my third steep of this beautiful mystery because I wasn’t going to sleep anyway. Marco Polo has officially blown my mind. I’m holding the teacup under my nose to better inhale the exquisitely baffling aroma… with my eyes closed. Too much information?

The actual Chinese and Tibetan fruit and flowers blended with black tea to create Marco Polo are a famously guarded secret, but I smell berries. Something like strawberries only infinitely better. At first sip, I taste that gorgeous undetermined fruit. The fruity flavor develops into a bright, full, black tea body. And the finish is so sweet. This tea has a lingering sweetness that will bewitch you into forgoing sleep to drink another, and another cup.

I want to bathe in Marco Polo.

I was already sending tea packages to Auggy and teaplz, and I knew that all of us wanted to try this tea. So when I was standing in line at Williams Sonoma, and it was staring at me I finally said, “Oh, fine. What the hell,” and grabbed a tin so I could split it three ways.

I honestly don’t know how I held off for this long, because the tin explodes in your face with delicious scent. I mean, if it tasted as strong as it smells it would be undrinkable because it would be like kool-aid on steroids, but scent-wise? Mmmmmmmmmmm.

I’m going to sound mildly repetitive here because Auggy and I had very similar drinking experiences with it, but I’ll try to deviate a bit. We all know I can deviate.

As a liquid, this smells rich. Rich like…thick cream rich. I also get strong whiffs of vanilla. And lying on top of all of that decadence is strawberry. Beautiful, beautiful strawberry, glistening above the warm and heavy aromas. Like Auggy, I was slightly hesitant to sip it right away. Part of me felt like nothing could possibly compare, but part of me also felt like if it truly tasted like this I wouldn’t be able to finish it because it would be so cloying.

Once it had cooled down enough for me to take a confident sip of it, I was pleasantly surprised. The vanilla wasn’t there. The creaminess was kind of present, but not overwhelming. Mainly what I got was berry. Specifically, strawberries – like when they’re not quite ripe. The strawberry taste was definitely strong, to the point that the tea almost felt like it was bleeding strawberries. And yet, it never reached the point of “too much.” It was sweet sometimes, but not obviously sweet, and more so when I sucked air in over everything. There was a distinct tartness that hit the back of my tongue as well, that sang of strawberries.

Most impressive to me was the mouth feel. It was thick, heavy, viscous, silky, and it made me feel like I was eating strawberries and cream. If there had been more creaminess in the taste, I certainly could have fooled myself into it.

And then, all of a sudden, the bomb went off. This tea blew up in a very good way. I’m not sure if it was because it had cooled to a magic point, or because Auggy mentioned that she was doing that silly looking slurping thing that people often do with wine and so I started doing it in earnest, but wow. It was like berry-palooza. It was like I had won the lottery, and they paid me in berries. It was like I was the queen and all of the townspeople were berries and I was drinking them. The only two I could pick out were blackberries [sweet, ripe ones] and strawberries, but there were more. It was more complex than that. The tea grew in sweetness, and the texture was making it all slide around very pleasantly, and I officially fell in love with Marco Polo.

I really, really wish I could give this a 100, but I know that the reason why I loved this so much today was because 1) I drank it out of my Sorapot [more on that in a forthcoming review – I’m logging this first] 2) I was really in the mood for a fruity tea and 3) I think drinking tea with someone else is always more enjoyable, even if you are both basically just typing “OH MY GOD WOW!” back and forth.

If this ends up being something that I find myself craving often, or could see myself drinking on any given day, it may reach that point, though. It’s pretty damn good. Never would have tried it if not for Steepster, too, so thanks Steepsterites!

Thank you to Amanda for this lovely sample!
Three of my grandkids came by for a short visit while mom took four others to appointments and one was off on her own (18 and drives). Eight kids…2 foster, 3 adopted, 3 bio. So I made tea and popcorn. Lion and Lamb Lapsang Souchong is a favorite with one and good with popcorn. Bear Trap is a winner for the 9 year old watching cartoons, but the 16 year old composer and I drank Marco Polo and discussed the scent and flavor.

This is a splendid tea. At first, the golden liquid tasted creamy, almost vanilla but not quite and had a floral lilly quality without being any type of flower one could put one’s finger on. I asked my granddaughter what she thought…she was amazed at the flavors and complexity. We added a little sweetening and some cream. “I taste some citrus do you?” Was it orange…no. I thought about it. “How about Honeydew melon?”…“Yes…I can taste it in my nose”, she laughed. “And a little earth…I mean dry dirt.” Well I didn’t get any of that…but she was certain for herself. At any rate this is one delicious tea. Really good and worth having on hand always. I’ve got to get some Marco Polo soon!

Their mom arrived (my daughter). “I’m taking the bus and coming back tomorrow grandma.”, she said. “Me too.”, said my grandson (not happening…9 years old on a bus ah no way). So what is this tale all about? Why do I recount this tasting this way? It’s because tea drinking for me and for millions of people is community. Tea is to be shared and mainly within the family. Makes my old heart glad.

*Second steeping proves excellent. If I were blindfolded I would almost say someone switched in some oolong…is that what I am tasting? That elusive floral creamy butteriness?

In words of CeCe Peniston…
Finally it has happened oh baby…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YfChrPvGPA

I think this was one of the first teas I actually put on my WISHLIST on Steepster! Well, Jaime made that wish come true! Thanks so much!!!

Smells like black tea and flowers but not pretty-girlie florals…more earthy/meadows!

This tastes like a sweeter black tea with a lovely mixture of sweeter florals as well as pretty florals! I can taste a bit of cherry or strawberry or something…well, fruity hiding underneath…I really like this touch!

This is really nice…my favorite part is the sweet tones this has!
Ahhhhhhh! So glad I finally got to try this and it’s all thanks to Jaime!!!! Thanks so much!

Happy New Year, Steepsters!

So, I said that my first tea of the new year would be Marco Polo by Mariage Freres, and I lived up to my word. takgoti sent me some in her amazing box of wonders, and I’ve been dying to try it since I first smelled it. I don’t know how she held out for so long.

Let me tell you, this has to be the most delicious smelling tea I’ve ever stuck my nose in. Seriously, amazingly delicious-smelling. Sweet strawberries bursting with a juicy and full aroma, layered with creamy vanilla and subtle hints of black tea. It is an experience for the nose, let me tell you. Once you smell this, you may never come up for air again. Unless it smells like Marco Polo, that is.

So I dumped this in the pot, nearly jumping up and down with excitement. The leaves are fairly small, although there are some wiry pieces mixed in, and each single leaf has the intoxicating aroma I’ve been describing. How do I know this? I picked one up and took a big sniff. Yep. Marco Polo.

The tea juice that arrived in my cup on the pour was rich and decadent smelling. The wet leaves smelled very similar to the infusion, so I’ll just skip that. A lighter version of the dry scent, with the vanilla battling the strawberry-ish tones in a symphony of amazing. First sip… and I’m happy surprised! No, this tea does not taste as it smells. But would you want it to? That’d probably be ridiculously cloying and overwhelming.

The taste is a rich, slightly bitter and astringent black tea, layered with a hint of creaminess (without the taste of vanilla). There’s a bit of a floral soapiness. And I mean this in the best way possible, although that sounds a bit bizarre now that I’ve typed it out. Unless there was soap in my cup/IngenuiTEA, which would then be pretty interesting. Then the tea opens up in pure berry goodness. It’s not a strong, domineering flavor, so if you’re expecting to be assaulted by berry, then you’re thinking of the wrong tea. It’s almost entirely in the aftertaste, a sweet-tart combination of strawberry-ish bliss. Very full and red and rich. It’s a sweetness and specifically strawberry taste that lingers on the tongue long after you’ve swallowed.

I definitely did hit the temperature point that takgoti mentioned. There’s this magical point when the berry comes to the forefront of the cup. It doesn’t last for very long, but it does indicate that there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface than what you first might think.

This tea tastes distinctly French. I have no idea why. It just does. And it’s completely a tea for the senses. You should be smelling and sniffing this as much as you’re tasting it and allowing it to roll around on your tongue. I highly recommend that you aerate the tea on your tongue. Slurp some sips, that way the full body can be tasted. Sort of like what you do with wine.

I finished this about 5 minutes ago and the sweet berry and cream components are still lingering in my mouth, in a wonderful fashion.

Yes, Mariage Freres is expensive, but it’s so worth it. One of the better flavored teas I’ve experienced!

I think that I’ve been waiting to try this tea since forever, so thank you to Mercuryhime for this sample! The teabag version of this tea is in a cute little muslin sachet. It smells simply of sweet fruit, probably mostly of strawberry. The flavor is malty and fruity, with a fresh berry aftertaste. I completely agree that this tea tastes just like strawberries and cream, and it even has a creamy mouthfeel. It is really well blended, nice and strong black tea but with the perfect amount of flavor. I will definitely be picking some of this one up the next time I go to Chapel Hill!

-Muslin tea sachet with string.
-Teabag smells like sweet fruit. Tea liquor aroma is of strawberries and cream.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Malty and fruity flavor and finish. Fresh berry aftertaste. Creamy mouthfeel.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Fresh strawberries and cream flavor.

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.

This is a sample from momo – one I’ve had on my shopping list forever so I am beyond excited for it! Thank you!

This one’s been on my shopping list for so long that I forgot part of the reason I wanted it was the mystique in the description. I took a huge whiff of the dry leaf and came on here to see what I was smelling (bad me, for not forming my own opinions) only to realize that nope – gonna have to use my brain cells on a Saturday morning.

The answer, if you’re wondering, is strawberries and cream. Juicy spring strawberries, and whipped cream with vanilla. 2/3 of a strawberry shortcake that’s heavier on the strawberry without additives, and heavier on the whipped cream with some milk and sugar. The black tea is smooth and plays well with the strawberry. Even though it’s a black tea it still manages to have a delicate balance to it – this isn’t a “bold” tea like I consider most blacks to be.

One thing I’m not getting is any florality, but I am not very attuned to floral notes anyway, given that I don’t particularly care for them.

Overall, this is going back on my shopping list for once I’ve pared down my cupboard. It is perfection and the mystery behind it makes it that much more fun – I imagine this would be a blast to serve to guests!

Sipdown! (So I guess I’d better review it?)

This is my third cup and I think I finally got it where I want it. The first two attempts were too strong and astringent for me, but this last one was at a lower temperature and for less time. I’m getting a nice floral black with a touch of astringency, and lots of fruity notes – mostly strawberry?

It’s good, but I’m not freaking out about it. I wonder if I should have steeped it differently? :| Or maybe this is just one where I and the Steepster community will go our separate ways? I feel like I’m a disappointment to you all. :P

Thanks CrowKettle for letting me try this!

I received this in my fabulous takgoti box a while back (thank you again, wherever you may be). I’m always apprehensive when a description isn’t provided on Steepster of what the tea is supposed to taste like. Not because I want to be biased, just because I’d like a little warning. I have to be in a certain mind-set for cinnamon teas, for example. When I sniffed this cup of tea, I smelled berry, which was reassuring. I really like berry teas, especially when they’re a black base, as this is.

And this is extremely delicious. The first part of the sip is sweet and creamy, and as you’re swallowing, you get a hint of tartness that makes your mouth water and your tongue tingle. Fantastic. The tartness lingers for a really long time, with tiny strawberries exploding onto your tongue every once in a while. I’ll definitely be adding a tin of this to my cupboard come winter. Thank you, takgoti!

Before I start I have to come clean with something: I don’t like strawberry things. Weird, eh? I also have the worst hand at steeping black teas and avoid them for their astringency.

Already, the strawberry scented Marco Polo and I look to be in a doomed relationship but that’s not the case. Oddly enough, I find this tea to be delicious. I’m not even sure the “strawberry” tag is right- it’s more of an impression of many syrupy fruits. It reminds me of dark chocolate dipped strawberries, which I do like, or even of a cherry jam filled black forest cake. There are fruity and creamy components but the base is ultimately dark and strong. It’s nice to have a dessert tea that doesn’t scrap the “tea” part or isn’t masked over with sugar additives.

My cup today started out hot and astringent, to warm and floral, and then lukewarm with a finishing aftertaste of fruity chocolate. My now empty cup smells like caramel. It’s a complex tea and I can’t do it justice.

Side note: I received this as a gift, along with three other teas, from a friend who came over for a wedding. I’m chocked that Mariage Frères isn’t more readily available where I live but grateful for the experience.

Backlogged….What a great find this one happened to be. My neighborhood is having a village wide garage sale and to my surprise I found 4 different teas, never been opened by Mariage Freres for just 50 cents each. I could hardy contain myself. As it turns out the wife bought these tins to display the tins and not for the tea itself and then never did anything with them so I was the lucky one who got to drink them and this is 1 of 4.

It is a delicious tea with clean fruit and floral flavors. It tasted wonderfully balanced hot and as it cooled off I can tell it would be yummy iced but I will have to make it officially to be sure.

What a great find so glad I went.

Ok, so I’ve been putting off rating this tea for a while. Because everyone loves it, and I initally didn’t find it particularly special. I wasn’t getting the amazing dessert overtones that everyone else got.

But, it’s been growing on me. And now, I really like it. Especially when I have it with half and half and sweetener. Fruity, smooth, and just pleasureable.

Yum.

This has been on my wishlist for ages. Thanks so much Ellyn for sending me a sample to try.

This has a pleasant blend of fruit and floral. Its hard to put my finger on the flavors completely but its a delicious blend. I could see this as an iced tea being very good. It is very strong, you could easily get multiple steepings from it as well.

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!

Ok, maybe I’m losing my mind.

I received this from Ellyn awhile ago and haven’t logged it until now. I had a cup of it when I first got it, but I guess I forgot to really take note of the details.

I made some more tonight, and my mind was blown because it tasted exactly like a version of Monk’s Blend to me. (The two Monk’s Blend I’ve tried so far were from different brands and had slightly different tastes). Is that what this is? I haven’t skimmed down for the earlier reviews of this particular tea but this info was irrelevant to me the first time I drank it, now I feel it really compares to those other two teas, since I’ve gotten a taste.

Anyway, it’s creamy and fruity but there’s something unique about it. I am telling you it tastes like Monk’s Blend. I love Monk’s Blend!

Thanks for the sample, Ellyn!