Dammann Frères

Day 15!

I double checked this one and it is for sure just a tisane, unlike the last one, day 1 or 2 (I think).

This one tastes strongly of the lemon balm and verbena. I am definitely getting a lot of citrous peel/rind flavours. I can taste the smooth rose underneath it all. I often think of describing rose petals as rusty tasting. Not that they taste like rust or iron, but just they way it feels in my mouth, I want to say rusty. I can taste and smell the chamomile which is a dead give away because for some reason I just don’t like that taste and can pick it out immediately. I seem to be getting a bit of heat in the back of my throat at the end of the sip, not sure from which ingredient though.

This one is definitely different from all the other Dammann teas I have had thus far, it is much more vegetal vs fruity or floral.

Advent calendar, day 15.

The smell of this dry was herby and medicinal. There was orange, but also a lemongrass note (probably the verbena and/or lemon balm) and lemon grass is my sick tea so this doesn’t make me super excited.

I don’t know what it is about drinking sick teas when you’re not sick, but…

The top scent once steeped is orange, then that medicinal herb. Maybe it’s chamomile? I don’t know but I could do without it. Not really any floral notes, but I don’t mind. I don’t like drinking flowers, as a rule.

The taste is very much lemongrass. Maybe an orangey lemongrass, depending on the sip. It is quite soothing, and I imagine it would be a great sick time tea – but I have one of those from Upton and its cheaper and stateside.

As always, glad to try it, but this won’t be a tea that I order.

Day 14.

So I guess I pretty much didn’t like this last year. I wish that when you make subsequent posts on a tea you can add additional ratings. Because this year I am finding it not too bad. So I am going to change the rating. But that doesn’t change the experience I had last time. So in short, I wish I could give a tea a different rating each time I had it to reflect my experience…

Also I find it quite amusing that on this teas page, the English translation description of the tea is different from the French one.

This tea smells very delicious. Creamy cherry with almonds and rose petals. The taste of the tea is a fairly nice white base. Slightly astringent. There are notes of cherry and definitely some almond nuttiness. I feel like I am getting rose this year, although I don’t think rose petals are part of this blend.

As I noted above I am bumping the rating up from 60.

Day 14!

The dry tea is so very pretty. New colour scheme for my house maybe? Ha ha. The dry sachet smells of delicious cherry candy and maybe some vanilla, or at least something creamy.

I made this to brave out shopping with me. Wasn’t even shopping for me. My brother keeps texting me with his shopping list. I have been done my list for a month now. I hate holiday shopping. And the roads are super bad today, winter bad. Guh! Anyway, my contigo mug kept is super warm so I am drinking it now to de-stress from my outing.

Anyway, this one is sadly reminding me of soap. Like if you are staying at a kind of fancy hotel and they have delicious smelling little soaps in the bathroom. It tastes like cherry and lavender to me. It is definitely a very thick and creamy liquor. The cherry is sweet and artificial candy like.

Unfortunately I am not liking this one a whole lot. Well still almost half of the calendar to go so I am not worried, ha ha.

Dammann Advent Calendar, Day 14

This is not one of my favorites. I find it super cherry pow in the flavoring, which is probably my least favorite flavor ever. That said, I don’t mind it quite as much this year as I did last year. It’s still very cherry bomb, but somehow not as offensive. Still, I won’t be reordering this one ever!

Dammann advent calendar, day 14. Yay, another one I haven’t tried! I am excited about the almond and spices, but perhaps not so much by the cherry. Well, I’ve had other cherry Dammann teas before and enjoyed them pretty well.

However, this is just a big nope for me. Very cherry candy. I drank about half the cup and couldn’t finish it. Just not my type of flavoring!

Advent calendar, day 14.

Per usual, no additives, because the tea doesn’t need it. Served with German Pancakes for a really awesome Sunday breakfast

The dry leaf definitely smells like cough syrup. It’s the cherry flavoring, I’m sure. Anyway, I have learned not to put too much stock in their dry leaf scent because it always turns out okay once the water hits. I will say this, though – the pink flowers in this blend and the white tea leaves looked absolutely beautiful while steeping. I’m not a particularly visual person (auditory learner, don’t know how to accessorize a room to save my life) but I had to stop and watch for a while just because of how pretty it was.

Yup, the steeped tea has a beautiful clear, pale yellow liquor and a slightly more natural cherry scent. Taste wise the cherry is at the forefront ant it surprisingly a fruity, bright pie cherry flavor. I excepted the spices and more of an almond cherry, but I prefer this so I’m not complaining. I guess there’s a hint of cinnamon trailing behind the cherry notes, but again, it’s more like pie filling than anything else.

As it cools the white tea becomes a little harsh/astringent but that may be the effect of the nuts becoming more prominent in taste as well. Either way, I prefer this more when its warm but there isn’t much left to drink up now.

Eh, it was good for a one tea bag attempt, but I’m not really clamoring for more.

I’m enjoying this tea more and more as it cools and the flavours intensify at first it seemed a little mild. I really like strong Earl Greys.

The ingredient list is bergamot and orange essential oils, but the way they merge together reminds me of sweet lime, with sharp bright citrus notes.

Brewed, I smell light leathery notes from the base, mixed With hints of cooked lime mixed with bergamot. Maybe this is a tart orange like the ones bought for juice in Ecuador.

The initial flavour was not quite as strong a citrus note as I was expecting but the flavour intensifies as it cools. The flavour is bergamot with hints of ginger and spices,the orange oil tempers it and kind of removes the floral notes from the bergamot. The base tea is robust but is kind of innocuous after a 3.5 min steep. Enjoyable but not a must have for me.

Sipdown!! (161)

Though I am finding this tea better today than I did when I first tried it, it still is not really for me. The floral flavor and I are just not compatible. It was fun to try but I don’t think it will be missed. Nonetheless, thank you Cavocorax for sending this my way :)

Cavocorax sent me a sample of this and I think that perhaps floral teas are just not for me. The combination of sweetness and floral in this cup is just not working for me. Thank you for sharing with me though :)

Day 13!

I think Damman has to get a little more inventive because several of the teas are the same day this year as they were last year.

I quite liked the smell of this dry tea. Reminded me of tart grapefruit. I was really looking forward to trying this tea. Same thing I thought last year. Then I read my review and didn’t seem to like this tea a whole lot last year.

I brewed it up, I am actually not getting too much jasmine at all this time, which is pleasant. The tartness now is definitely pineapple and not grapefruit. It is almost as if the jasmine with the pineapple makes grapefruit. The black base is fairly smooth.

Overall I wish this tea tasted a bit more like it smelled.

Day 13!

The dry sachet smells so much like grapefruit to me. I thought immediately I would like this blend. I didn’t actually look up the ingredients in this blend until after I brewed it. So I was surprised to see there was no grapefruit, and that there was jasmine in it. I probably steeped it at a little too high temp.

This one tastes not too bad. I find the jasmine to be quite dominant. I am getting a bit of citrous which could now be the pineapple. I don’t get any grapefruit flavour like I was getting in the dry scent. I think there could be some mango in there as well. I am not sure what red passionfruit tastes like and if it is the same as regular passionfruit, but I am not getting any flavours I would describe as passionfruit.

This tea reminds me of an exotic oriental tea. It is a good tea, and it is extremely well blended, but is not my preferred flavours. I think I would have loved this tea if there was no jasmine in it.

Sample sent with my Dammann order. The name of this is so much fun. I think ‘coquelicot’ is now my favorite word ever.

I have to admit I’m very intrigued from the description of this tea. Poppy? Biscuit (I’m assuming cookie-biscuit more than, say, dinner-style biscuit)? Marzipan? These things just don’t compute.

The smell of the dry leaf is very strong. Like, pull yourself back immediately because it’s overwhelming strong. On second (further back) sniff, I get syrupy cherry and cookie. This is really highly reviewed on here but I’m not quite sure how I feel about it so far.

Steeped at below parameters, no additives.

Brewed tea smells much the same, if less strong. A lightly floral cherry/raspberry sugar cookie. I don’t get strictly marzipan but I imagine this is because the nuttiness blends in with the cookie notes. This is just how it tastes, too… unfortunately, I don’t enjoy raspberry and that is probably why I am not overly in love with this.

The quality of the blend, like all Dammann teas, is outstanding. The tea has a great texture, the base is perfectly complimented with the flavoring. Apparently poppy tastes like raspberries in my mouth, though, so I won’t be buying more.

I will, however, try to work the word ‘coquelicot’ into conversations as much as possible…

Advent calendar, day 13.

I am loving my little routine of getting up and trying new teas every morning. Such a fun little present to myself. I’m also loving all the different “Noel” blends. It brings me to their website every day, making lists for future orders. Honestly it seems as though they have enough teas to where I could make my own advent calendar for a year. I’ve never once felt inclined to visit France (despite loving the language, and wanting to see the rest of Europe), but now I know I’ll have to stop in just for the tea alone.

Steep notes: No additives, below parameters.

Black and green blends always make me nervous about steep temperature, but I’m less nervous since the Dammann teas seem incapable of bitterness no matter what you do to them. I don’t think I’m getting jasmine in the dry leaf, but I’m not good with florals. I am definitely getting pineapple, maybe mango. The tea, as usual, is not immediately discernible in the scent.

Steeped, the pineapple is 100% at the front of the taste. Surprisingly it’s the green tea that follows right behind, but I think it’s a perfect counterbalance to the sweetness. As it cools it takes on a more tropical flavoring, which I guess is the mango peeking out more. The very, very last sip was all passion fruit/guava. No floral (no biggie, not my thing anyway), and the black tea base is its typical mild, unassuming self.

I liked this – can’t say I would buy more, because green/black blends aren’t really my thing, but it was awesome for an unexpected, one teabag treat.

Day 12. Half way there!

This one is interesting. Before I read my last years review I thought the dry tea smelled of burnt caramel pastry, the kind with a cookie crumble base. The taste of the brewed tea is quite strong lemon. Unfortunately it is coming across as artificial and a bit waxy. I would definitely use lemon custard with Graham crust as a descriptor. Not getting much caramel in the flavour. There is a bit of tartness in the flavour.

Then I read my last years review and realized I had a totally different experience last year. That is what I love about tea, it is different each time.

I would say I don’t think I enjoyed it as much this year as I did last year. I do however still want to spend a Christmas in Venice.

Day 12!

This one dry and brewed definitely reminds me of lemon meringue pie. Mmmm.

The brewed tea to me tastes like strawberries and toffee. The toffee is the dominant flavour. I know there is no strawberry in this blend, but that is how the “fruit” flavour is coming out to me. It also tastes creamy. As usual the black tea base is light, smooth and not at all astringent. For me, this one is sweet enough on its own, no need to add anything else.

While this one was hot, I found it did not taste like much other than hot water. But after it cooled a few degrees, the flavour really started materializing.

The dry tea smells very much like the dessert it’s named after! Brewed for 4 minutes, the brewed tea smells of chocolate, and amaretto infused with a touch of wood smoke, with the smoke and some of the cocoa coming from the base tea. The chocolate and amaretto notes are prominent with the smoke adding a note that reminds me a little bit of a mole poblano sauce. The bit of smoke helps to make th tea seem more robust and deepens the chocolate note. It makes me think of late fall, early winter evenings curled up by a fire place. Very nice, I can see why this tea is sought after.

Had a big mug of this earlier today. No additives, which is my usual. It felt a little light on flavor, though I didn’t steep for as long as I usually do.

This is just the best. Lemon and vanilla. I am going to need to order more soon, but I’m hoping to order some of their toffee or vanilla black varietals just because I imagine it’s done well. I’ll always be glad I got the Dammann Advent calendar because I found this treasure in it.

UGH. I got the flu vaccine today (I have to, for work) and usually every time I get it a get a little sick, since that’s what a vaccine is. It’s definitely setting in a little – I just feel… off and my sinuses feel like they want to be congested, and I have a headache on top of that. Pffth. I HATE that this happens, and that I effectively have no choice but to subject myself to it every year.

Anyway, so I’m not in a great mood tonight and I knew that called for a special tea that always makes me happy. One of my old faithfuls. This one, with its lemon creamy goodness, was definitely it.

I had it without additives as usual and it was fabulous. This tea really shines as it cools down, which, since I’m a slow drinker, works out well. I’ve been spending most of the day looking up french tea companies on Steepster and trying to sort through the many blends they all offer. WHY isn’t there just one big superstore where I could buy each companies wares at once? That really would be so lovely.

Because seriously, if a hallmark of french teas is delicate, natural flavorings of consistently good quality like this one, then I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to get to this point.

Ever since I saw the Butiki discussion on their new flavor I have been REALLY wanting a macaron tea. I have been avidly reading all the tasting notes and the description of lemon and vanilla sounds amazing. Then I realized that hey, that sounds kind of similar to the flavor profile of the L’Hiver tea by Fauchon, which I also equated to a white tea version of this, my beloved Noel a Venise.

So naturally then I had to make this before going into work last night.

A lemon and vanilla pairing has to be one of my favorite things. I made this in the DAVIDs travel tumbler and was absolutely overjoyed to have gotten the same flavor in that vs. a mug. It kind of cements the fact that stainless steel travel mugs just aren’t going to work for me. Glass is the only thing that keeps the flavor as it should be.

I still really want to try the Butiki lemon macaron blend, but this, a black tea variation of it, is a classic for me. I’ve had no interest in visiting France before but French teas are some of the best I’ve ever had, so I’m starting to rethink my stance on that. I’d probably die if I could play around in a Dammann Freres, Fauchon, and Mariage Freres store all in the same day. Talk about tea heaven.

Maybe when I finish all of my Dammann teas I should go visit there to pick up more. :)

Such a great black tea. It is equally good with creamer or plain, but this morning I had it with no additives.

The cream/vanilla flavor doesn’t come in until the tea cools but the sweet lemon is present from the beginning, tasting so fresh and natural. I wish the cold ready to drink teas could figure out how to use this lemon flavoring- it’s the most authentic I’ve ever tasted.

I have no faults with this tea…it’s one of my favorites.

Drank this this morning. Seems like it was a different world then, and it kind of was. This morning there was still snow and ice on the trees – now everything is practically melted away. I’m not complaining…I missed the sun these past few days.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with this tea. Its like I’m expecting it to let me down or just not measure up to the expectations I’ve set for it. And then I smell it, freshly steeped, and I can just feel all my nerves and tensions uncoil. Its nostalgic, though I don’t know what it is, exactly, that I’m remembering so fondly.

This morning I tried it with creamer and the lemon got lost momentarily, but as it cooled peeked out again. Lemon meringue indeed. I love this more and more with each cup.

Things I’ve discovered about this tea -

1.) It is better as it cools
2.) It tastes horrible in my Klean Kanteen, likely because of the fact it stays hot for so long.

I still prefer it with no sweetener and milk, but I imagine it would be tasty that way. Once you get it at the right temperature, it is lemon and vanilla heaven. I am so glad I splurged for it.

Tea of last night.

Made in my Klean Kanteen insulated tumbler, which works a little too well at keeping things hot and burned my tongue even after sitting for an hour with the lid halfway off to vent. Sigh, this is actually going to be me reviewing that tumbler because I really feel like I’m just not able to do hot teas in stainless steel. I know how much I love this tea but it just came off weak, watery, slightly metallic tasting and way too hot for me to enjoy drinking it straight away. So heartbreaking because it smelled SO good every time I’d go to take a (disappointing) sip.

I still had some left in the mug 7 hours later and since it’s cool I went ahead and tasted it for any weakness in flavor. The buttery vanilla is there now for these last few sips (which I love this tea so much there is no way I’m throwing it out) but I guess the take home message for me is to not put any tea I’ll be drinking any time soon into a travel tumbler. Lesson learned!