I prepared this as a dessert tea (a little extra tea, 5 minutes, barely a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of half and half). I’m tasting the most delightful marzipan flavor, which actually reaches a crescendo (!!!) where it sweetens and almost tastes like orange blossoms and you don’t know what is going to happen!!! then it quiets to a nuttier, deeper flavor. Wow. It reminds me of childhood and my Grandfather and definitely Europe and goodness…what can I say. These French teas can be so evocative for me! So many of them taste like things that simply don’t exist in America any more, and they cut me to the quick! I actually have tears behind my eyes!
Needless to say, I find this tea very dear, and I thank you Dinosara for a little visit back in time and across the globe.
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Was your grandfather Italian? French? I wish I had fond memories of grandparents. You are so fortunate. I hope I will be an amazing grandma someday…
He was Italian but you know how everything is so close there – his ancestors on his father’s side were French (and mother’s side Austrian). As far as I know my grandmother was Italian, and on the my Father’s side Italian, but my other grandfather was from Rome, which usually means they came from somewhere else. Add to that -both grandfathers and one grandmother had blue eyes, everyone with fair skin, and I really wonder! I tried to do the ancestry thing where you give your DNA to get tested, but it only shows the matrilineal line for women (so I would only know my maternal grandmother’s dna, and she is the least mysterious one!)! and my father and both grandfathers are dead, so I will never know unless I try to do ancestor research, which is fascinating but time consuming. Maybe after school is done :) Maybe better to stay a mystery. Sorry that was long!!!
But what I wanted to say too was that marzipan is also an Italian delicacy, and a flavor that instantly takes me back to being a child. The marzipan wikipedia entry is completely fascinating – the culture involved in a little bit of almond and sugar! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzipan
And to further show how mixed up everyone is – my husband’s father is from Italy but his ancestors came to Italy from Albania! There are a whole bunch of Albanian Italians http://www.initaly.com/regions/ethnic/arberesh.htm
I’m glad to be the catalyst! :) And get ready for more marzipan in some of the other teas… it’s one of my favorite flavors!
I will look up the info on marzipan you mentioned. I think it would be wonderful to have a big huggy Italian family! My mom was raised in an orphanage so I never knew her parents and didn’t get to see my father’s parents, and his mother died when I was 9 so I didn’t really know her well. I am looking forward to being a benevolent matriarch! I will be the grandma who reads aloud to you in a tent and helps you collect bugs! :)
Was your grandfather Italian? French? I wish I had fond memories of grandparents. You are so fortunate. I hope I will be an amazing grandma someday…
He was Italian but you know how everything is so close there – his ancestors on his father’s side were French (and mother’s side Austrian). As far as I know my grandmother was Italian, and on the my Father’s side Italian, but my other grandfather was from Rome, which usually means they came from somewhere else. Add to that -both grandfathers and one grandmother had blue eyes, everyone with fair skin, and I really wonder! I tried to do the ancestry thing where you give your DNA to get tested, but it only shows the matrilineal line for women (so I would only know my maternal grandmother’s dna, and she is the least mysterious one!)! and my father and both grandfathers are dead, so I will never know unless I try to do ancestor research, which is fascinating but time consuming. Maybe after school is done :) Maybe better to stay a mystery. Sorry that was long!!!
But what I wanted to say too was that marzipan is also an Italian delicacy, and a flavor that instantly takes me back to being a child. The marzipan wikipedia entry is completely fascinating – the culture involved in a little bit of almond and sugar! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzipan
And to further show how mixed up everyone is – my husband’s father is from Italy but his ancestors came to Italy from Albania! There are a whole bunch of Albanian Italians http://www.initaly.com/regions/ethnic/arberesh.htm
I’m glad to be the catalyst! :) And get ready for more marzipan in some of the other teas… it’s one of my favorite flavors!
I will look up the info on marzipan you mentioned. I think it would be wonderful to have a big huggy Italian family! My mom was raised in an orphanage so I never knew her parents and didn’t get to see my father’s parents, and his mother died when I was 9 so I didn’t really know her well. I am looking forward to being a benevolent matriarch! I will be the grandma who reads aloud to you in a tent and helps you collect bugs! :)