French Blend

The second of the three teas that I selected for the third day of Christmas in the 12 Days of Christmas tea swap. If one enters in “French Blend” in the Steepster search, you’ll find a few different brands of teas with “French Blend” teas. I ultimately decided upon this one for a few reasons: 1) it was a blend of black and green teas, and since the other two teas that I selected for this day are both black teas, I thought that a blend of these two teas would at least offer a slight variation to the base tea. 2) It had lavender in it, and I wanted a lavender tea included with my French teas. 3) I liked that there is jasmine and rose in this tea.

My first couple of sips of this tea were a bit astringent, but, I found that the astringency has waned since then. I attribute this to the fact that the tea has had a chance to cool slightly. Other than the astringent start, this is really quite a flavorful tea. I taste all the elements that I was promised in the description: I taste the black and the green tea (I brewed this at 180F) and I taste jasmine, lavender, rose and vanilla. It’s really quite a pleasant cup.

Home from work!
Today I brought this one with me – it was SO good paired with my spicy pad thai from Thai express! Quenching, delicate but full of flavour – and man did I EVER get a kick out of today’s 3rd day of Christmas from LiberTEAS!!! Made my DAY! I’m still smiling :D

http://www.daisychubb.com/on-the-third-day/

Thanks so much for this one Alphakitty!

This totally hit the spot this morning! I’ve already had 3 cups! The black and green blend/base is just what I look for in a black/green combo. There are various floral additions to this as well and they are nicely done. There isn’t one flower that speaks louder than the others…and I like this. It has a hint of smooth in it too! Not really a creamy-flavor but it’s nice regardless!

I absolutely murdered this tea the first go-round. It was so bad I just poured the cup down the drain, but it was really my own fault. This is a green/black blend, but it doesn’t look like there is any green in there (though it is one of the prettiest blends I’ve ever seen!) and the instructions from NMTC say to brew it at 212 for 4-5 minutes. So, boiling water, 5 minutes, and no milk/sugar it was—and the results were horrifically bitter.

So for the second steep I cooled the water down a lot (perhaps too much, but I was nervous!), steeped for 3 minutes and added a tiny splash of milk to cut the astringency. And, like magic, an entirely different tea appeared in my cup. This tasted much more like a green than I thought it would—the hint of milk cuts the astringent of the black down to basically nothing, leaving behind a soft, sweet, floral tea. You can taste the jasmine the most, but the rose & lavender are there as well, with the vanilla adding a hint of creaminess. A great afternoon tea if you like floral blends (which I most definitely do).

Day 3! of the 12 days of christmas tea swap! Thank you to Liberteas for your egg-cellent idea :)

I opted to try this tea first since “floral” and i generally don’t get along and i’ve tried della terra’s tea before. The scent of this one brewed, reminds me faintly of "red rose’s orange pekoe tea. However, the first sip of this is pretty delicious. While i can taste the floral notes in the tea, they’re REALLY subtle and don’t clobber me with flower power. I’m not as familiar with green and black teas but this is an interesting blend. I don’t get much “creamy” flavour, but i may add a splash of milk to my next cup to try that out. Overall, this is a pretty enjoyable cup!

Second tea I tried from LiberTEAS for day three of the 12 Days of Christmas swap, thank you! I didn’t have time for three black teas (or a black green blend, or really any tea) yesterday, so I enjoyed this one earlier today while making stew. It’s a very nice blend, it feels luxurious but not overly floral. It’s more of a smooth, candy like floral, perhaps the cornflower and vanilla? I might have made it a bit light and will probably steep it a second time. French Vanilla and hopefully Black Currant for tonight, will share the latter with the husband!

Backlog from yesterday, this is the third tea that I received with day 3 for the 12 days of Christmas.
ahhhh so much tea to get through.

This smelt nice creamy, vanillaey but also floral like. I really don’t like floral flavours.
once steeped it smells quite floral.
definitely not a tea for me, but glad to try it.

Thank you Alphakitty! This is such a pretty tea! I never, ever have luck with black and green blends. Their either too bitter or too weak. Sadly, this came out as too bitter. The aroma is lovely, though. The flavor is still very floral. The one I taste the most is rose followed by lavender. But it’s still bitter :( it would have been amazing if I didn’t ruin it.

This tea comes across as pretty mellow for me. I like it and the floral notes add a bit of awesome to the mix too. It’s so funny that it looks like a black tea, but smells more like a green/herbal mix. Def. different! Many thanks LiberTEAS for this 2 of 3 teas on the 3rd Day of Christmas. Yes I know I’m behind. But I was out of town and away from proper brewing tools!