Dammann Frères

A sample from Shmiracles. This is a very pleasant evening cup. It’s delicately flavoured, with a medium strength base. I added milk to this, which is just about stands, but I imagine it’d be just as palatable without. The flavouring here is subtle, but all of the different elements are there. Vanilla is probably the strongest flavour, followed by cherry, and then chocolate. It’s beautifully spring-like, both in flavour combination and appearance. The red and blue flowers scattered through the dry mix remind me of the foil wrapping on an easter egg. So pretty!

This is a welcome change from the more heavily flavoured teas I’ve been drinking recently. Sophisticated and satisfying! A positive first experience with Dammann Freres.

I am sorry, Sil! I tried, I really did, but I could not get past the pu erh taste in this cup. You were so generous to share some with me but the cup got dumped and I will probably pass the rest of the sample along to someone who will appreciate it more than I ever could. Thank you Sil, but this wasn’t for me.

Thanks Schmiracles for sparing some of this tea!

This one I really like. I could tell before I brewed it that it was going to be a good one. It smelled like raspberry jam or those cookies that have that red jelly centre, can’t remember the name of them. I’m also getting strong raspberry jam in the taste, and some buttery cookie type flavour, but that is quite subtle compared to the raspberry. I used up the whole sample on this cup, so I’m glad I’m enjoying it. If I ever made a DF order, I would definitely get this!

Thanks Schmiracles for sending me a sample of this tea!

This was also a miss for me. There was flavour to this one, but not very strong and again I couldn’t tell what flavours were in it. The description lists quite a few flavours but I didn’t really get any of those. I still have enough for one more cup so I will try this one again with milk and agave or honey. Honey makes everything better :)

I big huge thanks to Dinosara for sending me a sample of this tea!

I’ll start off by saying that Damman and I don’t get along so well. We rarely see eye to eye, but I’m not one to learn lessons easily and am attracted to anything almondy like a magpie to shiny. I steeped this in less water than normal because DF teas always seem to have meek flavors for me. When hot, this tea was so-so. As it cooled it got better. The almond taste is present on the sip and fades out to leave the black base to hold up the aftertaste. At first the almond seems sort of baked marzipan like, but has a flash of raw almond tang. I’m finding that my favorite almond teas are paired with something else, making a more complex mix of flavors. Chocolate, coconut, rose… things like that. This tea is good (really good if I’m comparing to other DF teas), but I’m not captivated by it.

Thank you DigniTea for some of this one! Such amazing flavor combinations in the description!

Steep #1// just boiled // 2 1/2 min
Definitely smells like cherry while I’m pouring the water, but not exactly actual cherry. That is mostly the flavor as well. The other fruits seem to be lost. Not really caramel either. I have a problem with the base here, for the same reason I have a problem with the 52Teas base. They both taste the same and I don’t like it… which is odd since the 52Teas is not Ceylon. But they taste the same to me. Sadly, this base alone kind of ruins this tea for me (and probably most of Dammann) and the flavors don’t really end up being what the description promises.

Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min
This cup surprisingly still has some flavor left and somehow the black tea itself is more in the background. Not a terrible tea but I don’t think it’s for me. The base isn’t for me. It seems like this sort of description just sets you up for a disappointing flavor. I can’t love everything (and I’m kind of glad I don’t – too much tea I couldn’t live without!)

Thank you Sil for sharing some of this with me. As I drink it, I can’t help but feel like I have had this before despite never having this tea in my life. The black base is prominent and complimented by the nuttiness while the vanilla comes through in smell as opposed to the taste. Nonetheless, I can’t help but feel like I had this time and time again and for that reason it is not something I need to keep stocked. I am still grateful to have gotten to try it though.