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“The last of Ysaurella´s sample and upping the rating a bit as well as putting this on my definite to buy list (one day! If i ever get to order from dammann or go to Paris anytime soon). Violet tea,...” Read full tasting note
“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...” Read full tasting note
“this sample was a bittersweet gift from ysaurella. my grandmother was the dearest person in my life. i remember being a very little boy staring at a bowl of purple sculptures on the glass table in...” Read full tasting note
“And here’s another fantastic sample from JustJames. The base is light and delicate in a way that I associate with french teas, while the smell of violets pervades the cup. This is an enjoyable...” Read full tasting note
“Violette” flavored black tea
A blend of black teas with violet flavour. Freshness from spring wood scents. (flower petals)
Brewing time: 4 to 5 minutes
The last of Ysaurella´s sample and upping the rating a bit as well as putting this on my definite to buy list (one day! If i ever get to order from dammann or go to Paris anytime soon).
Violet tea, so pleasant, so smooth, a very good one and a type of tea i crave sometimes.
To buy for sure.
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 :)
it is an unusual tea to be sure…. it gives me memory cues which is why it works for me.
Unusual is quite accurate. I have another tea called Candy Rose which is a great combination of candy sweetness and delicate florals but imho this tea also has those two elements but they just don’t mesh together as well. It was still an interesting taste experience though – fun to try something new and unique every now and then regardless of whether I love it or not.
i wonder how it would be as a reduction over vanilla ice cream…… hmmm.
haha you would have to let me know. It has been months since I had ice cream and I have run out of this tea so I don’t think I could try that.
this sample was a bittersweet gift from ysaurella.
my grandmother was the dearest person in my life. i remember being a very little boy staring at a bowl of purple sculptures on the glass table in the livingroom— tiny, delicate…. she popped one into my mouth! light, perfumed, crunchy and sweet. the flavour of violets will always make me think of her.
she died almost two years ago, and i will always miss her. finding bits and pieces that take me back to snapshots of memory is something significant to me. this tea is a direct link to her: not because she’d like it, lol! she was a purist tea-wise… assam, unflavoured, no sugar. in a pinch, lady grey. but we’re talking about my memories here!
lovely. and i must have some.
ysaurella, thank you so much.
candied violets, perfectly captured. seamlessly executed.
davids sugar and spice reminds me of my croatian grandma who passed four years ago now.. she always had gingerbread lebkuchen cookies.. and it reminds me so much of christmas time and eating them in her kitchen! its lovely :)
isn’t it amazing how scent and taste can give us a piece of the past? i haven’t even checked how much it costs…. doesn’t matter. it will be in my cupboard…. FOR christmas. i’ll have a cup of this blend and something with marzipan and smile nostaligically.
Anything with Roses reminds me of my gramma, because she always smelled like them.
i think that grandmothers must be very special creatures… they stay with us even after they are gone.
for sure Grandmas are exceptional, I miss mine so much.
I’am happy you liked this one so much, this is clearly a blend linked to childhood.
I prefer it plain but you can even add some milk to it, it works as well.
lol, i did a resteep with milk….. much better without!!!
What a beautiful tribute ♡
And here’s another fantastic sample from JustJames. The base is light and delicate in a way that I associate with french teas, while the smell of violets pervades the cup.
This is an enjoyable cup, but not one that I would go out of my way to pursue – I just don’t think I’m THAT into floral teas. Still, I won’t say no to the occasional cup.
Ysaurella was kind enough to send some of this my way recently. :)
This is a nice, mild black tea with strong violet flavor. It is also sweet.
What it reminds me of are the violet candies you used to be able to get in 5 & 10 stores in small towns. http://chowardcompany.com/products.htm
I never cared much for the candy. As a tea, it is okay. Not bad, but nothing I’ll seek out to keep in the cupboard. I’ll share some of the sample I have left with my mom and her friend and it will all be steeped and enjoyed while it lasts. :)
Interesting! I don’t think I ever saw the violet candies before, but the packaging reminds me of the Clark’s Teaberry gum on the candy racks at Horton’s Dime Store in Lamar MO, circa … (cough cough cough)
I always get some of the violet whenever I run across it in the old stores and eat one and remember why I don’t like it much… :)
I tried the Choward’s Violet and Parma Violets. I might like Choward’s better, but I LOVE Choward’s Guava candies. GG, when I go back to A Southern Season I will try to remember to get you a pack!
Nicole you’re right it tastes like a very sweet violet – in France we use to use violet in candies as well, in hard candies like this :https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violette_de_Toulouse_%28confiserie%29
this is a typical recipe from the town of Toulouse (south west of France)
you can try it too with milk and sugar, it is nice
I’ll give it a try with milk and sugar. I love the look of those candies! So pretty!
Oooo… the mango ones did sound appealing when I saw them on the site. :)
I don’t typically try new teas during the work week, although I don’t exactly have a good reason. I think it’s just that I prefer to try my teas on the weekend, when I can really laze around, cuddle up with them, and give them all the attention and energy a brand new tea deserves. But the package just smelled so wonderful and it was so easy to know which tea was which so I just had to! Besides, I’m a floral lover, both in my tea and perfume.
In the bag, this actually smells strongly of violet, although I admit I haven’t smelled an actual violet-I’ve only smelled its rendition in perfumes and the like. This did not smell like perfume, though; it just smelled like a flower that grows in fresh earth, and that has a serious depth to it.
I have to say that although I found the tea enjoyable overall, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the taste the way the smell might have led me to believe. This isn’t to say at all that the taste was mild or weak—it was actually quite potent. it’s more that the smell was more of a strong, candied violet, while the taste was more generically sweet but also quite pleasant in that undeniable way the French have with tea. I found myself enjoying the cup more and more as it cooled though, and am really glad I have enough to make a second cup! To be honest, I’m actually a little bit relieved I wasn’t terribly in love with it: there are only so many French teas I can afford to love! Thank you so much, JustJames, for so generously sending me this sample! The world is better for your presence.
Sorry wasn’t able to find out a picture of thé Violette !
It isn’t sold on Dammann’s online website.
I bought it directly at the shop place des Vosges, so I’ll need to take my own pic of it .
It is a really pleasant tea.
First the scent of violet is fantastic, the liquor color is deep and we get immediately the violet note.
I had it in the morning , half of the cup plain, the other half with with black crystal sugar + a splash of milk.
I loved both methods.
This is nice but not on my Dammann top list.
This tea made my whole dorm room smell like violets; it is delightful! It tastes just as well too :) Today was particularly exhausting due to unpacking, grocery shopping, and driving for a few hours to the airport and back to pick up a friend; such is college life!
Anyways, This tea was a swap sample sent by James. It has a rich violet taste, very thick but not overdone. The black leaves underneath give it a very woodsy fragrance and a lightness to contrast the violet. I don’t think I would put this in my stash a a staple but it might be a “I need something different in my stash” kind of tea.
My all-time favorite tea, but then again I am a complete sucker for violet. I have tried many other Violet black teas, including the Kusmi, and nothing comes close to this one in terms of complexity, flavor, and strength. HIGHLY recommend. Also great iced!
I found Dammans freres in. Rockery store here in Beijing!!! I’m so excited to pick one to bring home haha yes…French tea from china :)
I bought a box of Dammann in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia!
Haha. Awesome!
oh wow, am so impressed! much more exotic than place des vosges (lovely though it is!)
Funny how a lot of the high end teas are french and selling their teas to Asia. Mariage Freres seems to focus very much on the japanese market for example.
Violette is nice as well with milk and sugar.Plain is perfect too.
Yeah, they need to start selling them in the North American markets more! I was shocked at the selection I could get at a grocery store in Ulaanbaatar, but you can’t find it at all in any store here.
FYI, if you look for this one on the Dammann site, it doesn’t come up when you are looking at the english site, though you can find it by searching for violet. There are actually quite a lot of teas that don’t show up on their english site, but you can still find by searching!
yes, here it is : http://www.dammann.fr/thes-noirs-parfumes/912-violette.html
dino – i agree! you can find them a bit in ontario at high end stores, but they cost like twice the price as it would be to buy them in europe. it’s stupid. I managed to find all the teas on the damman freres site that were in the store here in china, and the prices are only maybe a dollar more than if i were to buy them in europe. since i don’t have to pay for shipping, i’m ok with that, so likely some of them will be coming home with me. Also there were some betjeman and jason? teas…
Betjeman & Barton teas, this is a French brand as well.
they have fantastic teas : http://www.betjemanandbarton.com/
Oh good to know. They also have a Dutch website, hoeray! In fact, at first I thought they were Dutch. Esp. Betjeman sounds rather Dutch…
you’re right Barbara it sounds definitively Dutch, cannot find anything about the creators of the brand…Barton sounds British …but they are Marchand de thés à Paris depuis 1919 …who are they ?
ok reading in Dutch :S (thanks google translate !) it seems they were both English but decided to associate themselves in France (maybe a much open market in 1919 for teas !) no idea why the French website doesn’t mention the origins & history of the brand, it’s a pity.
Hahaha, French people reading Dutch, albeit through Google translate. It’s a world upside down (don’t know if you can say taht in English, it’s actually a Dutch saying.). In the Netherlands in most schools French is obligatory for a number of years (at least when I attended).
Those frenchies and their monopoly of truly great tea :p (it is weird. The english for all their love can not compete at really high end tea!).
Fortnum & Mason are really nice, we should ask the opinion of Meliorate and Kittylovestea, sure they have a lot of lovely brands we don’t even know
Yes, and I have been drooling over Postcard teas – next time I go to London will budget for it!
postcard teas are really neat! I have a list of teas i want to try whenever i can make it to europe sometime.
Never heard of them. Nice, something to check out :-)