Dammann Frères

Farewell, wonderful cola tea. I was hoarding this for too long, had to bite the bullet, and polish it off. The 25g I got in the group order wasn’t nearly enough. I easily could have ripped through 100g. Oh well, still grateful we were able to do the group order and I was able to experience it. Wish they would bring it back but who knows how likely that would be.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to drink cola bottle gummy candy and not have to worry about calories?

Cola tea! I wish I got more of this because of the 25g I got with the group order, I’m already almost done from cold brewing. It smells exactly like cola bottle candies. I freaking love that. Chewy candy exploding with cola flavour.

It’s nice that this is decaffeinated too. It allows for the flavour to shine through more. The first time I had this, I enjoyed it hot, and the cola flavour was even spicier. It reminded me of why some spicy blends end up tasting like cola to me, and prompted me to do a little research on what exactly makes cola a flavour in itself anyway. Of course, cinnamon, vanilla, and citrus are the main flavours and I can totally taste these notes hot.

It doesn’t appear to be on their site anymore. Whaaaat? I hope this only means that it’s seasonal. I just may have to email them with my terrible, basically non-existent French and ask.

One last sip down courtesy of my mom. I gave her the remaining few cups to take with her to the house in the middle of nowhere, where she hardcore milked it (that is, double—sometimes even triple—steeped it) and she reported to me today that it has officially bitten the dust. We both prefer Bourbon, so while this is a decent vanilla black, Bourbon will be the one on our reorder list, ultimately.

Oh, and finally under 50 again!

Having this during the Habs game maybe wasn’t the best idea because it wasn’t getting my undivided attention, especially since the Blues kept tying up the game shortly after the Habs would score, and then winning in OT. Ugh!

This is a soft vanilla tea. Nice smooth base like most DF flavoured blacks, but it isn’t outstanding or terribly unique. No distinct biscuit flavours, as suggested by the description, but I imagine this would be lovely with milk, and even a hint of sugar if desired. I definitely prefer DF’s Bourbon over this. It overall has a stronger flavour and has more going on.

Holy doodles, another instance where I’m not writing about a tea until I’m already sipping it down. This brings me down to 49! I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen a number that low.

What a unique, fruity blend. Cherry and vanilla are in the forefront but there’s more to it than that, and I suspect it’s the naranjilla. Never had the pleasure of trying one but it looks awesome, and it’s supposed to taste like a cross between rhubarb and lime according to Wikipedia. Now that’s my kind of fruit!

Although I don’t detect rhubarb- and lime-like notes in here, this has a sparkly, lively fruity vibe going on. My mom is enjoying the last of this with me and when I just commented on the sparkly vibe, she said that she does get a rosé wine impression from this. I imagine this would have been great cold brewed.

Would I take the plunge and order a full amount? Not really sure. It’s interesting but I don’t know how often I’d reach for this.

I think with the addition of some cream, this would be a great dessert tea. As it is, without any additions, it’s a really strong vanilla tea. The tea isn’t lost but certainly isn’t the forefront in taste next to the vanilla. It does seem more like a Ceylon than a China black, though the site says it’s a mix – it’s softer than a China black, if that makes any sense. This is a solid vanilla tea. Obviously it uses flavoring but not in a nasty way. So happy to have had this and to have enough to try it again with cream! Thanks, Sil!

Thanks to Marzipan for throwing in a sample teabag of this from the DF group order!

I drank this down quite fast. My opinion on Darjeelings in general is middle of the road. I neither love nor hate them. This one was more honeyed than others, if I recall. No ripe fruits, contrary to the description. I’m sure this would have been good with milk, and maybe a small dose of sugar on top of that.

I am not fond of roasted oolongs but after having that artificial peach tea , this one isn’t too bad.

There’s definitely a medium roasted flavour from it but it’s missing any complexity. I do get a bit of spicy note from it but nothing else.

Today again, this one is fabulous.

I’m heading out to do a little late shopping (hopefully the mall will be quiet-ish), and needed some tea before I left.

So. Good. Chocolate. Yum.

Thanks so much, Sil!

This one is pretty good.

IDK. I’m so exhausted today. Gimme all the coffee.

Thank you, Sil. I have a little left at home for a small mug. I’ll try it again when I’m feeling a little more alert. :)

This smells FANTASTIC.

SO SO GOOD. REAL CHOCOLATE. Not the fake weirdo chemically stuff. Real. Chocolate.

My cup was super full so I only added the tiniest bit of cream. OMG. So so good.

Sil mentioned Florence by H&S in one of her notes. This is way better, I agree. The flavouring of Florence felt really fake once I had finished all of it. This feels like I’m drinking dark chocolate tea. :)

Thanks so much, Sil!

My mom always dreamt of going to Vienna, and imagines how wonderful Christmas is over there. The poor thing has rarely done any travelling in her life yet has worked so hard, and I feel like a total jerk for having the privilege of visiting years ago, just after Christmas on top of that. As a consolation, I suggested that we try this tea this morning. Kind of the next best thing? Maybe we’ll go next Christmas and I can be her tour guide. Parenthetically, it just seems like once I moved back from Europe, which was a much shorter stint than expected to begin with, grad school ate up all my time and didn’t allow me to travel, and I’ve spent how long looking for a job, so now that I’m starting one, it’s like, gee, heaven forbid I take any time off to travel over the next how many years because I need to work work work to make money to make up for all the time wasted on academia. Sigh.

Anyway, this isn’t as flavourful as I thought, and I doubt it’s because it is older. All my other DF teas are still fine. The dry leaf is chocolate and apricot. The apricot didn’t really show up to the party in my mug, however. Aww. Maybe a little orange, a warm nutty note, and a touch of chocolate but they’re all rather muddled. It’s just so thin and watered down compared to DF’s other offerings. At least there is no unwanted astringency or fake flavours, which you’d never get with a DF blend, regardless.

Maybe I should try to use more leaf for this one next time. FWIW, I used the traditional 3g per Nordic mug with water that’s been freshly boiled then cooled for a few minutes. That tends to work perfectly with the others.

Sipdown! My mom did the honours. She absolutely loves this, although she thinks this tastes like “flowers” more than anything else. Will we reorder? Maybe, probably, we’ll see!

My brain seems to confuse DF blends like this one and Fleurilège because they’re creamy, nutty desserts in a cup. Yeah yeah, Fleurilège is hazelnut vanilla while this one is marzipan and biscuits but I’m drinking them back-to-back to decide if I like a certain one better for a future order. I haven’t even written about this yet either so it’s high time that I do.

Maybe it’s because I only have a couple cups worth of Fleurilège left in the bag, so it’s not as aromatic, but I swear Coquelicot Gourmand is more desserty, nuttier, like nougat. You’d think it would be the other way around.

I wouldn’t say that this tastes like marzipan. A cookie of some sort, definitely, but no marzipan. I got that fleeting raspberry note that Lala was talking about, before coming onto here and reading it too, so there was no influence there. I swear we’re gustatory twins.

This is tough. I like this but I’m not sure if I would get more. Luckily I have enough to experiment with this for a while before I make my final decision. It’s delicious, like practically all DF teas, but I feel like there are a couple of their other desserty teas that I would rather have or order if I were to limit myself to an x amount.

A very pleasant, light liquorice tea. It’s recommended by Dammann Frères that it be allowed to steep for 6 minutes – the resulting liquor is still fairly light and the tannins remain mild. The black liquorice is present but not overbearing. A pleasant after dinner tea.

During a walk in Florence, Italy, I was delighted to spy a small shop with wall full of canisters of my favourite tea company, Dammann Frères’ tea. Oronero sells a nice, broad selection of their own line and Dammann teas, as well as chocolates. We decided to try a few new ones in addition to our original favourite, Jardin Bleu, which is a good introduction to their fruit and flower infused teas.

This is a nice winter holiday tea, with rich, warm notes of caramel and vanilla, and essences of dark fruits. The tea is smooth with a medium-coloured liquor, and a lingering note of cherry on the finish.

First sipdown in what seems like ever. The last couple cups were extremely heavy on both the (astringent) almond and fiery hot cinnamon. I’ve had a couple cups which tasted like mostly just the latter, but either way, I’m not terribly impressed. It’s slightly two-dimensional and uninspiring, especially for DF.

Had a damn good job interview today and now I’m back at home chilling out watching Scrubs and drinking tea. So exhausted. Went to bed at 12:30am, which is early for me, hoping to get a good night’s rest, and kept tossing and turning until past 5am. Ugh.

This is pretty good but not amazing or unique. The dry leaf and taste are very heavy on the cinnamon, like cinnamon heart candies. And the almond is trailing close behind and seems rather astringent too, almost like almond extract. These two notes are so strong that it’s almost too difficult to even tell which one you’re smelling/tasting since it’s an ongoing battle between the two. It reminds me a lot of holiday spice candles, or the smell of craft/Michaels stores, you know?

I believe I sipped this down a couple weeks ago but forgot to log that on here. This is one of the most unique flavoured teas I ever tried. It’s floral yet has this surprise licorice note that isn’t mentioned in the description. On the other hand, I did not detect any nuttiness—especially chestnut—in here. Good work, DF.

Holy Tea Curveball Batman. What’s that flavour?! I’m sure it’s safe to say that no other tea in the world tastes like this.

First off, there’s no licorice in this, yet I both smell and taste it in here, along with floral background notes—which I will get to later. There is no licorice in here, however. In addition, we’re not talking about licorice root, red licorice candy, or your typical black licorice candy. Not salted licorice either. And no, neither fennel nor anise. It’s licorice but a very specific kind of licorice candy. I want to say Good ‘n’ Plenty, which I normally detest, as it has a much heavier, almost earthy undertone in comparison to other types of black licorice. This is like a mellower, more enjoyable version of that. So, I’m so excited to come on here, perplexed by this ghost licorice note, only to see Lala make the same observation. High five!

As for the background floral notes, I get a mixture of white florals but not an obvious orange blossom. I’m so damn dedicated to making sure of this that I pulled the orange blossom water out of the cupboard, added a bit to some plain Greek yogurt, and had that as an evening snack. Yep, mind refreshed. Definitely not an inkling of definite orange blossom in Tourbillon. Oh, I can recognize that wonderful flavour anywhere.

I can see why many Steepsterites aren’t crazy over this. It’s insanely unique, but I kind of like it. Dark heavy licorice combined with white floral notes makes for a very interesting tea. As this cools, it gets even more floral, and along with it at this stage comes thick golden honey. I think that is the apricot kicking in—honeyed apricot-like. But, I love edible flowers, save for jasmine. So it’s safe to say that unless you’re a floral fan like me, you probably won’t enjoy this tea.

I had high hopes for this one. Caraemel-Toffee, I mean how could you go wrong? The base is cardboard and the only thing the flavor offers up is a little bit of sweetness to the cup. The sample is old and it is a sample so I will not write off the tea yet, but boo. Slightly disappointed.

Sip down! The last cup was quite astringent since I overleafed (the whole too much for one cup but not enough for two dilemma). I tasted mostly astringent black base with a hint of spice in the background. The unfortunate thing about this tea is it smells so freakishly scrumptious, especially fresh. Spicy yet effervescent from the citrus, but it doesn’t taste nearly as amazing as it smells. At least it makes things slightly easier for me when I place an order.