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If there’s one sweet I have to get when I’m in Paris, it’s macarons, usually from Laduree. The light almondy cookie sandwiched with flavored creams or jams—heaven. So when I was prepping for my trip by looking at all the teas on Dammann Freres’ website and saw that they had two teas flavored “macaron”, I knew at least one had to be mine. Mango and Jasmine was the obvious choice as I adore both flavors. This is the only tea I bought at Dammann Freres that I didn’t smell before I purchased (they didn’t have it in the bins for smelling), but it didn’t matter. Now I can smell it, and the dry leaf almost smells different every time I stick my nose in the bag. At first, tons of mango. Then, rich floral jasmine. Then again, a sweet almondy “macaron”.

The brewed tea added the slightly vegetal aroma of the green tea base to the mix, a floral jasmine-sweet almond scent has taken center stage. Occasionally I can detect a fruity mangoey hint to the mix, but it seems to be blending well.

Somewhat similar to Coquelicot Gourmand, the sip is divided into stages with a floral beginning, fruity middle and almondy end. The aftertaste is distinctly, strongly marzipan-style almond. I’m getting a hint of mango across the entire sip, but it plays differently with the jasmine and the almond. The beginning is very floral jasmine (influenced mostly by the aroma which is heavily jasmine at this point), which delivers a burst of sweet fruity mango that is initially more floral but then juicier as the almond comes in. The almond isn’t quite the biscuity almond of Coquelicot Gourmand, nor a straight marzipan; no, it’s pretty definitely macaron, though concentrated and a bit more almondy than the cookies usually are. The green tea provides a fairly solid background that seems to pull all the disparate flavors together.

Overall this is similar enough to evoke Coquelicot Gourmand in the tasting, but it’s also distinct and delicious. I’m sure the green vs. black tea has something to do with it, but it’s also the addition of a fruit flavor to the floral/almond mix. I don’t know if I can really choose one over the other, but I do know I wish I had gotten some of the Violet Cassis Macaron tea!