Marco Polo

liquid rasberry with vanilla and cream on top. oh, no wait, there is jam, and chocolate and caramel as well…

Stellar!

I don’t really have any teas in sip down range so I’m visiting an old favorite tonight.
This is just a really nice fruity black. Some say finicky – that might be true, but it always seems to work for me if I do 95C for 2.5 minutes. About 2tsp in my Davids perfect mug…
There is just something about the gentleness of the French teas….

I was super excited that Cameron B. gave me the opportunity to try this. I have wanted to try Mariage Frères for a long time since it seems like such a popular company.
Today was actually the best day I’ve had physically this entire year, so I got to try a bunch of black teas that have been waiting for me to try! Figured it was about time I tried this one!
So, if the black tea base was not so strong I probably would have liked this a lot more. But for the most part, when I drink a flavored tea I don’t really wanna taste the base of the tea, unless it really complements the flavors well. Which kinda feels rare in my book. :( I feel like black teas must just be hard to flavor because they tend to overrule the other flavors.
I really like the strawberry and creamy notes in this tea. The black tea base kinda ruined it for me. It really overpowered the cup, so that was a bummer. If they had made the flavors a bit more strong this tea would be perfect!
Least in my book. But clearly this one isn’t for me.
Thanks for the sample, Cameron B.!

Two delicious strawberry teas in one day! I am a very happy girl right now. This is exactly what I was hoping it would be: strawberry shortcake in a cup! The vanilla and strawberry flavors both come through clearly and are natural and sweet without being cloying. The black base is smooth and balanced with no bitterness or astringency, just a tiny bit of a tart aftertaste that actually enhances the strawberry flavor. Thank you so much to beelicious for the sample!

Probably my favorite black tea. :)

A fruity layer over a powerful black tea. It’s not my thing (I’m not a fruit tea person), but my husband loves it.

Next in line! This sample came from boychik and, originally, CharlotteZero (whom I wish would come back so I could thank her!). I’m unsure how this one got missed, as I’m usually rather eager to try French tea samples. I guess it must have gotten lost at the bottom of the sample box! The leaves are very small and dark. I can’t smell much, perhaps a hint of fruit.

I can immediately smell that this tea is French – it has that powdered sugar aroma. I can also smell red fruits and some sweetness. Hm, this is actually quite good, especially for being rather old. There are definitely red fruits here, mostly heavily strawberry and raspberry. It got a teeny bit bitter, but I did steep it for 4 minutes, and the leaves looked quite broken. I can taste a hint of vanilla, but I wish there was more. Pretty tasty, I would like to try a fresh sample of this one. :) Withholding rating because I suspect flavor loss here.

Thank you so much EvaGrimm for sharing this. It had been on my wishlist and I don’t even remember why. I added a little milk and it tasted like my favorite birthday dessert, strawberry shortcake.

Finished this one off! I like this one. It’s delicious. It has a nice berry, jammy thing going on. It’s fruity and has a nice base :)

I love this tea in the summer as it makes a great iced-tea! Let a few teaspoons brew in a jug of boiled water, remove the tea after a few minutes, let it cool in the fridge and have it like that or with a few summer berries.