Wedding Impérial

The dry leaves were smelling so good ! Caramel and a hint of chocolate for sure it was so sweet…I bought it ! I met an angel…

Then it was just a demon !
I struggled with this tea all day long.

I had it this morning and steeped it 4 min but I found it strong and bitter but I drank it.

I took it with me at work because I thought I did something wrong.

Second cup at work, I have been busy and I forgot it, it steeped for 6 minutes probably : it was just undrinkable to me : bitter incredibly bitter, I just dropped the beverage.

I made a second steep and for 3 minutes and a half this time, it was nice.

I made a third steep and it was nice as well.

The tea base is an assam and it is too strong for me I think. It hides me the fantastic flavors this tea has from the second steep.

It means I should find someone to drink all my first steep cups :)

I’ll try this with milk and sugar as well, may be good even on first steep.

I received this sample from cteresa and the following was written before I looked it up on Steepster.

I smell… coconut, vanilla and some sort of fruit.

The flavour is a bit rough, which I attribute partly to the base and partly to the heavy coconut note. There really is a little too much coconut in here for me. I get vanilla in the aftertaste and around the edges, but that fruit is eluding me. I can tell it’s there, because there is a depth to the coconut and vanilla which I get the impression wouldn’t otherwise have been there, but I’ll be darned if I can find that note on it’s own in any way at all, much less find out what I think it is. My bet is on something tropical because pineapple strikes me as something that would fit in here.

And then I looked it up to see that it’s a blend of Assam, chocolate and caramel.

What?

Okay, caramel and vanilla can be confused so what I perceived as vanilla is probably the caramel. Chocolate? Hmmm, perhaps that has something to do with the coconut-y note, although I do still think it’s more coconut-y than anything else. I’m not really sure I’ve ever met a chocolate flavoured tea that I though was truly chocolate-y, which is kind of funny considering how often that note shows up naturally. No fruit, but an Assam base. I can’t find any Assam characteristics underneath the flavouring, but I think that accounts for the sort of rough, slightly astringent feeling of it. Perhaps it’s the maltyness that cheated me into thinking there was fruit involved?

Perhaps it’s because I subconsciously expected this one to be similar to the wedding blend from Harney&Sons?

Perhaps it’s because I’ve got so used to my flavoured black teas being on a Chinese base that it never occurred to me that it might be something else entirely?

Perhaps my tongue just needs to be calibrated?

It’s a pleasant tea, though. Even if it has caused rather a lot of confusion this morning.

Another tea from ysaurella! Ill refrain from rating this until I can get back to my computer but I am thoroughly enjoying the delicious caramel and chocolate of this tea. Even my other half tasted this and liked it. Altogether win from marriage freres!

Thank you so much madam!

holy crap imperial wedding!!
i only steeped it for 2.5 minutes because everyone seems to comment on how strong it is.
and it IS only our first date after all.
and yes, though i will try longer steeps just to see, i think for me 2.5 minutes is very good. definitely malty and hearty assam. and i can smell the chocolate caramel notes on the nose very easily.
i guess it’s darling subtlety is what has gotten Mariage Freres it’s reputation over the years.
i did buy two capital D dessert teas while i was there, plus 2 straight teas (one black and one green).
this will probably turn into a pre-run staple during the upcoming race season. i can see it already.

Wow!
This tea has a very strong, almost coffee like taste! I followed Ysaurella’s suggestions to only steep for 2 minutes, & I’m thinking caramel latte.

Of course, being a fan of strong teas, I like it! It’s bold, but smooth. The flavoring is deep Assam, with caramel floating throughout, and a hint of bitter chocolate to round out the cup. I drank part of the cup plain, & then added some stevia, & both were satisfying.

Thank you, Ysaurella. I’m enjoying my ‘tour’ through the teas you sent!

This is a bold vanilla (and other mysteries)-flavored tea. And its flavors are strong enough to have an imperial air…

At first, it seemed slightly astringent (maybe due to the assam base), but once I added some sugar… Boy did these flavors bloom! I could detect vanilla- a lot , caramel a little bit, and even some chocolate. Somehow, these flavors combined into something else altogether!

Next time, I will try this w/milk and it is definitely strong enough to handle it…

I got some of this from Dustin in a swap and also Scmiracles sent me some because she is totally awesome!!

I tried this once a few months ago at my local fancy tea shop, but then she never had anymore in stock. Speaking of fancy, I feel fancy when I drink it.

It does get pretty strong pretty fast and I remember the lady at the tea shop telling me this, so I steeped it at 95 degrees and only for about a minute and a half, I do not regret that decision as I can actually taste a hint of bitterness even at that time!

It’s delicious though, chocolatey and caramelly and the scent of the tea is intoxicating. I know it’s all in my head because it’s my curse to always want things I cannot have, but I swear it even SMELLS like quality. It’s so nice to be able to try this!

My ultimate life goal of visiting Paris one day (and England for that matter) is just emphasized now because when I get there someday, I will absolutely be raiding Mariages Freres!

Thanks so much for the samples, you guys :)
I am truly enjoying my cup of this while I rewatch Season 5 of True Blood, two of my favorite things at the same time, too much awesomeness!!

It doesn’t smell like tea. It smells like a candy shop >_< TOO sweet. This is even worse that Vanille des lles – it’s disturbingly sweet and lacks any tea flavor at all… I doubt I will ever touch this again…

There really is a world of difference between naturally sweet honey-nectarish Huang Zhi Xiang dancong and this… abomination

Another tasty treat from shmiracles. I read the reviews ahead of time and was planning a 2.5 minute steep but I was 15 seconds late and this tea gets bitter fast! Luckily it wasn’t too bitter and the creamy chocolate and caramel still shine through. I really like this. I would really think about ordering more of this.

This is very nice! I received it in a swap! You can smell a tad of chocolate and a tad of caramel. I think it smells and tastes a bit nutty too. The taste is more caramel than chocolate. It’s a medium brown color. Yummy, tho!

Thank you Shmiracles for this sample!

The dried leaves smell incredibly yummy. I checked on Steepster before I brewed it and took the advice to keep it short. I did 2min30sec.

I am picking up on the coconut flavor that one of you other reviewers mentioned too. I do absolutely love a good macaroon (and, incidentally, so does my siamese cat) or German chocolate cake, but I’ve never liked coconut in teas. It usually makes me feel sick. But this isn’t coconut though, now is it? It’s coconut-esqu minus the horrid after-taste that real coconut teas give me.

I do like it quite alright, but I’m not in love by any means. I’ve been pretty picky about dessert teas, so no surprise there. However, I like it a whole lot better than most of what I get from Della Terra. The sweetness of this one is not rediculously-over-the-top. Unfortunately, the coconut-like flavor, while not at all nauseating, is too reminiscent of the teas I don’t like and it is putting me off just a bit.

I’m afraid to try too many samples from exotic over-seas companies because i am afraid that I will love them and won’t be able to acquire them easily! I let my husband take a sip from my cup and he loved it. I told him, well, that’s too bad. (^o^)

Many thanks to cteresa for this one! She left a careful note saying to watch out how I brew this one because it’s difficult to get right, so I took every precaution to time this one on a stopwatch. (I don’t normally time at all- maybe I should make a habit of this?)

It smells incredible… Both the unsteeped leaves and the brew have a lovely, fragrant, vanilla-y malt smell, but without being perfumey or, on the other hand, too off-puttingly malty. It’s almost like the flavoured syrups you get in coffee at this time of year, strong and sweet, practically alcoholic.

And the taste… my first thought was “I’m drinking chocolate”! It’s more like a chocolate bar in taste than any chocolate tea I’ve tried so far! And I’m actually willing to overlook the Assam a little for something with such a smooth, strong kick to it as this.

I can’t decide if I want to buy some of this for myself- the caramel’s syrupy and strong, nearly too strong, but the chocolate taste is so, so tempting. Might try this with milk.

I was in another town today (giving my last presentation until October!!) and stopped by a store I had never visited but had heard had a great tea selection. And wow, they did! I picked up several things from my shopping list as well as a few things that I hadn’t heard of. And I found this! A friend let me have a little of hers a few years ago. Back then I was interested in tea, but not near the degree that I am now. I’d been looking for it since, and had about come to the conclusion that I’d have to order it from France. So yay for A Southern Season in Chapel Hill, NC!

I was so excited that I didn’t want to underdo it, so I think I might have used too many leaves for this first cup. It’s still amazing, but not quite what I remember. A little sugar makes up for it, though. :)

Three minutes in boiling water make this black tea bitter. I wish these teas came with brewing instructions on the box or tin so I wouldn’t have to guess. It smells really nice, a chocolate scented tea. The bitter taste is less as it cools, but it is still not smooth. I’ll have to try a lower temperature next time. For some reason instead of dumping my cup and trying again I’m making myself drink it. Penance for ruining a cup of expensive tea? Life is too short for bad cups of tea.

Yum yum, yum, even the husband was impressed

I got a tin of this last Christmas and saved it until my wedding in June. It’s almost gone now. I love it. It smells incredible – chocolate and caramel. It tastes incredible too. I drink it sweetened with milk because it’s already so indulgent, I just bask in the sumptuous sweetness. On that note, I’m really careful not to over-steep it. Anything over five minutes starts to bring out the tannins. I give it four minutes, 45 seconds on the clock to give me time to run over and remove the leaves before it hits five minutes.

well, this is the scraping of the barrel, the last lost little broken dusty bits at the end of the tin. So this tasting might not be too fair, because of that and because the tin was bought a couple years ago.

It is lovely. I think by now the caramel overtone is topmost note, though I can also catch some vanilla and some chocolate. It tastes almost almondy to me as well.

Very very good, though I will probably take a break from it right now and buy instead maybe Thé sur le Nil. In Autumn I will reconsider buying – maybe this is a season prejudice of mine, but Wedding Imperial is in my mind, a very winter-ish type of tea.

Love it… it makes me think about wedding. Rich in scent and great for with milk.

caramel et vanilla flavors. it makes you give over 70scores at least..if you’re just normal person who loves sweets, sugar, caramel etc.. add a dash of sugar, it create illusion that you’re drinking real caramel drink..

Brewed in a big teapot.
The taste of the tea base is a little too strong, I’ll try to brew it a bit less next time.
The scent and flavor of chocolate is nice.