Pleine Lune - Full Moon

Every time I finally bite the bullet and get this tea and ship it all the way to my house, I unpack it and pour a cup and wonder why I order any other kind of tea ever. This tea is truly the best tea I’ve ever tried and any ‘dupe’ I’ve enjoyed, while reminiscent of it, doesn’t truly hold a candle to the original.

I love it so much! It’s so layered and spicy and so sweet and so nutty and has so much to recommend it. I drink it when I’m having a good day to celebrate the fact that I’m having a good day. I drink it when I’m having a bad day to console me. It is truly a tea you can smell and taste, it doesn’t just feel like hot water with flavourings in it. I appreciate it so much.

It is truly the tea that got me started drinking tea and I will always love it with the whole of my heart. <3

So pretty with the flowers. Dry and brewing, the sweetness of almonds really comes out along with some floral notes—reminds me a lot of Korres’ Bitter Almond scented line of bath products (a compliment as it’s one of my favorite fragrances, and rather unique, not just the usual everyday “nut” scent found in products).

Funny about the Korres Bitter Almond aroma, because upon drinking it reminds me of their Vanilla Cinnamon line. The spices are warm and sweet, and there’s some cherry and vanilla too. All of these things in, say, a cheap drugstore lipgloss, that is to say artificial with a heavy hand, would turn me off, but here they’re beautiful and intoxicating. That said this is indeed quite sweet, so you have to be in the mood for that.

I have a feeling I’m going to have to mete out my MF experiences in order to prevent getting too used to the loveliness, ‘cause my across-the-ocean US pocketbook can’t afford to make them a habit. Hope I don’t start to feel like Icarus flying too high towards the sun only to get burned, ha.

j’ adore ce thé quand t ’ on le goute on a l ’ impression d’ etre sur une ile desserte

Nice almond-based tea, definitely on the sweet side. I like drinking it in the afternoon for a little pick-me-up. Might be nice with milk and sugar for a kid’s tea party (which is not to say it’s unsophisticated!)

ce thé est vraiment un de mes préfére un the noirs de qualité j’aime beaucoup cette arome d’amande vraiment délicieus !!!! ce thé est a la fois doux et fort enfin c’est ce que je pense !!! désolé je suis francaise vu qu’il ya beaucoup d’américaine sur ce site …. bref un mélange d’arome trés agréable

A classic Mariage Freres black with a great whack of almond. It’s not at all phony or artificial, but it is powerful. Notes of dried orange peel and the faintest hint of cinnamon balance it out, but this one is all about almond. A really nice accompaniment to a sweet dessert.

As usual, the description is pretty OTT:
“Inspired by that heavenly body and the realm of dreams, this poetic composition combines fragrances evoking the feast of the full moon: fruits, rare spices, and the sweet taste of almonds.”

Translation: This is a black tea with LOTS of almond.

The aroma smells like Christmas to me with cinnamon, clove, vanilla, ginger, orange, red cherry and caramelized brown sugar. The tea seems like a good orange pekoe from somewhere. A classic ‘tea orange’ color and taste. I can also taste the incense the tea was shipped with ;P It sips brisk and mineral-woody astringent but turns thick before the swallow. The aftertaste is of warm spices and caramel; vanilla-cola syrup lingers lightly in the back.

I sense a faded opulence. Everything’s more faint than I expected or maybe that’s the style of Mariage Frères? Still, the bags from White Antlers went quickly and I’m glad I got to try another French tea :)

Sipdown! 161/397

I’m so so sorry to the person who sent me this, but it’s not on my spreadsheet and I have no idea why not! I have a feeling it was either Tea Pet, OhFancyThat or Red Fennekin based on the way it was packaged, so thank you all for your swaps and apologies again for not knowing which one this came in.

I was really excited about this tea. It’s gorgeous, smells divine and I have had nothing but positive experiences with Mariage Freres. It is a nice tea, but I think because I had such high expectations I was disappointed. The flavour combination seems bizarre and cluttered – too many flavours, not enough thought behind the combination. The description is pretty vague, and I couldn’t detect many pronounced notes except for a thick, syrupy cherry at the end of the sip. The mouthfeel was very thick, too, and was accompanied by a little astringency (even though I steeped it at a lower temperature for a black) that made me think of cough syrup. This is all sounding more negative than I meant it to, I promise I enjoyed the cup. It just didn’t blow me away or live up to my high expectations. I guess it lacked the subtlety and complexity of most Mariage Freres and other French teas I’m used to. I paired it with homemade sunflower seed bread, which I think actually went very nicely and brought out more of the subdued spice notes in this tea.

Had this lovely stuff this morning, sweet and strong with milk. Though I love to snack on almonds, it’s not really my favorite flavor for desserts or beverages — nevertheless this is really gorgeous and yummy when I’m in the mood. The weather hasn’t been cooperating with the whole chilly “festive season” thing, so some of the more wintery holiday tea options didn’t strike my fancy and this was a nice alternative, just a wee bit spicy and smoothly cheering, without a jarring jingle bell vibe.

“Well, hello, baby. It’s good to see you. I’ve been thinking about you allllll day long and couldn’t wait to come home to you so we could snuggle in bed”.

This is how I feel about Pleine Lune. Absolutely delicious with a natural cherry almond, hints of fruit and nut, and I can still taste tea in it as well. It’s not all fun and games, though. Even though the notes are comforting there is a feel of moodiness to this tea…..like, catch it on a different day or treat it differently and it will show you a whole different side to it. But you don’t care, you are so attracted to it that it could serve you nothing but Cheetos for a month and you would still think it was the best relationship ever. It’s that good (if you’re into dessert-y teas). When I brewed it, the color was a touch lighter than I expected it to be but the flavor was a surprising juxtaposition to the visual substance. The leaves in the tin are gorgeous and smells very much like a cherry liquor. I don’t get a lot of artificiality here, it smells like they used some bitter almond EO, which smells strongly of cherry so the stone fruit strength here would make sense.

In the meantime my husband just got home and this tea needs to go hide in the closet. No one can know of our love. Except you guys.