Backlog of yesterday while Steepster was down.
Polka was my afternoon tea. It’s an absolute fruity tea, opulent, greedy.
The orange used is not a classic orange but a blood orange, very present in the mix of fruits.
It is difficult to distinguish the difference fruits except for the blood Orange but it is a nice cup of tea.
The main difference of B&B teas with Mariage Frères ones to me is the heavy use of essential oils. They are not blending their teas as MF does. However I suspect they use the same black tea base for every flavour tea, which is not the case for MF blends.
That’s the reason why I think B&B remains a challenger only to MF and not a too much dangerous challenger.
Saying that, don’t get me wrong: B&B teas are using only natural ingredients and natural flowers and essential oils, nothing artificial in their teas. Polka is a very decent tea, pleasant.
But I won’t wake up in the middle of the night craving for a cup of this tea.
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I so agree about preferring different bases for different teas – and about Mariage Fréres doing it. I remember being baffled once by somebody complainingn they did not like Mariage Freres black tea base and I was WTF – which base, the one for Marco Polo or Wedding Imperial or Thé au Tibet? All very different!
I see, really weird she/he didn’t get the difference…
Dammann often uses the same tea bases for their flavoured black teas as well but not always. I should continue to taste all my Betjeman & Barton teas to find out if they use other tea bases (maybe in Luxury) but I am pretty sure Polka, Autumn blend, Jour de fête and framboise share the same one.
Of the Dammann teas I have had so far, i think all or nearly have had the same base (though it has only been the samples you sent me and two tins I got here!). And it´ s not a favorite base for me, it tastes almost “thin” somehow – I like Theodor´s base better though I have only had 3 of their flavoured black teas so can not really be sure if it is really the same base!
DF uses a keemun for Charlotte au chocolat but for the other blends I agree, had the same tea base… DF & B&B belongs to the same group…
Theodor is really nice, I need to taste more their teas, I think maybe next month I’ll try to pop up in their shop in Paris
I so agree about preferring different bases for different teas – and about Mariage Fréres doing it. I remember being baffled once by somebody complainingn they did not like Mariage Freres black tea base and I was WTF – which base, the one for Marco Polo or Wedding Imperial or Thé au Tibet? All very different!
I see, really weird she/he didn’t get the difference…
Dammann often uses the same tea bases for their flavoured black teas as well but not always. I should continue to taste all my Betjeman & Barton teas to find out if they use other tea bases (maybe in Luxury) but I am pretty sure Polka, Autumn blend, Jour de fête and framboise share the same one.
Of the Dammann teas I have had so far, i think all or nearly have had the same base (though it has only been the samples you sent me and two tins I got here!). And it´ s not a favorite base for me, it tastes almost “thin” somehow – I like Theodor´s base better though I have only had 3 of their flavoured black teas so can not really be sure if it is really the same base!
DF uses a keemun for Charlotte au chocolat but for the other blends I agree, had the same tea base… DF & B&B belongs to the same group…
Theodor is really nice, I need to taste more their teas, I think maybe next month I’ll try to pop up in their shop in Paris