Palais des Thés

One of the highlights of my “almost everything” Black Friday haul. I wasn’t completely sold on the advertised strawberry, but wasn’t put off enough to pass on this one.

The flavor is much more “fruity” than “strawberry”. If you search for it, the strawberry is definitely there, but the prominent fruit flavor isn’t just a single note. The cornflower comes through ever so slightly to give this a mildly peppery finish.

The black tea compliments the flavor, rather than overpowers it. You know you’re drinking a black, but not one that slaps you in the face to let you know it’s there.

This one really exceeded my expectations. Sometimes, PdT goes a little overboard on flavors, and when I saw cardamom and clove front and center, I was thinking this was going to be another Christmas tea that tastes more like Mom’s Christmas potpourri.

Luckily… happily… the different flavors here are nicely balanced. Can you detect cardamom? Yep. Is the clove present? Sure is. But they don’t overpower the orange peel or almond. The vanilla flavoring acts more to soften things rather than bring a vanilla-forward flavor, and the cinnamon presents more of a cooling effect on the finish than an in-your-face spiciness.

This is definitely on the lower end of the rating scale, as I work through the last of the 20 or so tins I bought during the PdT Black Friday sale.

Conceptually, this intrigued me. I like a sweet fruit flavor every now and then, and I enjoy green tea from time to time. Berries and dates sound good… so I was feeling optimistic, despite the fact that this hadn’t bubbled up to the top of varieties I was trying.

From opening the tin, though, it smelled like it had been sweetened and flavored. So that made it all the more surprising when I steeped it and discovered how the green tea is nearly absent. On the nose, the tea smacks of fruit-and-cream vape juice. It’s… odd.

The initial flavor is vaguely “fruit” and there is an almost off-putting creamy element that I just can’t figure out. On the finish, I start to detect the date, and waaaaaay in the back, a touch of orange blossom. But it’s one of those things where I feel like I need to put on my wine tasting hat to try to figure it out. As something you just want to drink without thinking about, the best I can come up with is “inoffensive”. It’s like a vaguely sweet water. Like putting hot water in a cup that hadn’t been washed after containing fruit juice.

In a word: delicate.

The brewed tea has definite floral notes, but the initial sip is a light green tea with heavy apple. On the back, it becomes more of a stone fruit flavor, like nectarine or white peach. and the quince starts to come through.

I think this is probably the most interesting blend I’ve tried from PdT for how un-subtle the transformation of flavors are.

It’s just SO flowery. Which… I get. That’s what’s advertised. But the jasmine is so overpowering that this is one I couldn’t even finish. I went back to the tin to see if I was getting bonked over the head with artificial flavoring, because it was just so present.

This goes on the “give away or trade” shelf.

I’m not one to be stopped in their tracks by flowery or fruity aromas, but there’s something about this blend that I’m really drawn to. It’s entirely possible that there was a drugstore perfume that a cute girl in the ’90s wore, and my subconscious is trying to pull me back in time. Or, maybe I just like the berries and citrus.

Either way, the strong and pleasant steam wafting from my cup is a bit of a betrayal, because the flavor is nowhere near as intense. On a normal steep, the black tea is light, the berry flavor is on the tart side, although it sweetens a bit on the finish. I want to say the flavor is “delicate” but that’s not the right word at all — it’s just light. Weak, even.

I gave it another go on my second cup, letting it steep for nearly ten minutes as an experiment. This time, there was an uncanny alcohol-like nuance, almost like I was drinking grocery store Lipton or Tetley tea that had a shot or two of liqueur.

Experiments aside, this needs a longer than usual steep (maybe upwards of 6 minutes) to really deliver. It’s different, not in a bad way, but not in a way that I can see anyone having this as their daily cup.

UPDATE: I took @ashmanra’s suggestion and backed down the temperature, and let it steep for five minutes, and the results were fabulous. Exactly what this blend needed to tease out the flavor of the black tea, without diminishing the other flavors.

Freshest peach flavor I’ve ever had in anything that wasn’t an actual peach. Accompanied with the orange blossom, this is squarely in the “sweet” category without being sugary-sweet.

The green tea isn’t particularly notable. It’s there holding everything together, but that’s about it.

Another one that I think will wind up better iced than hot, but a very nice break from the norm either way.

So glad that I tried this as one of the first teas out of my PdT Black Friday haul.

The black tea is on point. Sharp. Simple. Strong. And it needs to be to stand up to the in-your-face citrus blend. It isn’t sticky sweet, but boy, is it forward. This, easily, could become a go-to in the morning, but would be just as delightful throughout the day.

I suspect this will also be amazing iced, particularly using something like the Takeya flash chill iced tea maker.

Tried it twice in the same hour, because the first time around, it was so light that I thought I pulled my infuser too quickly.

Another item from my 16 canisters from the PdT Black Friday sale, this one is vaguely like Earl Grey that hasn’t been steeped for long enough… or maybe hot enough. Either way, as someone who truly appreciates Earl Grey, I just couldn’t get into this one.

On the second cup, I cranked up my kettle to max, doubled the leaves, and let it sit for nearly 10 minutes – just as a sanity check. And even then, it was like a weak Earl Grey with very, very subtle notes of vanilla. Closest comparison would be Teavana’s Earl Grey Creme if it had only been infused for a minute or two.

This goes in the “trade or give away” section of my tea rack.

Might be better iced?

Bought a can on the Black Friday sale, and just can’t get into it. I get the lemon and hints of ginger, but not much beyond that.

Enjoyed hot, it makes me think of unsweetened TheraFlu.

There are so many different ingredients here that I think they’re working against each other. When I first opened the tin, I had a vague recollection of the aroma, though I couldn’t quite place it.

After steeping for about 3:30, it hit me – it reminded me of the potpourri trend from the late ’80s.

The black tea barely breaks through everything else happening. The clove and bergamot are both rather strong on this one and overpower the other elements. Effectively: it was what I’d imagine the experience would be like if I had taken a sip from Mom’s potpourri pot.

Completely inoffensive. If someone asked for “tea” and didn’t stipulate any further, they’d probably enjoy this very much.

It doesn’t have the early-morning punch I was sort of expecting, but is well rounded with light fruity notes, and would be good just about any time that caffeine isn’t a concern.

Ther bergamot is forward and sharp, not quite “bitter”, but not far from it. Blue of London is a much better Earl Grey from the same company.

Standard green sencha with a mild grassy/vegetal note in a fancy muslin tea bag. It’s an absolutely a bog-standard sencha for which PdT have chanced their arm by charging around $1 per bag. Almost any Japanese mass-market sencha would stack up admirably to this at a less than a quarter of the price.

It’s clear PdT and I are not meant for each other, though their single origins are passable compared to their terribly weak blends. If folks are happy to pay such a price for a very middling tea, more power to them, I suppose? I just feel the pricing is out of hand for such dull products. Even the packaging is quite bland, in my opinion. I have some more of the 2023 Advent to work through and then I shall be delighted to return to tastier tea pursuits.

A very basic black tea with a flowery description. PdT says, “From a grand old plantation that has developed a name for itself around the globe. This light, copper-colored infusion has an slightly chocolaty taste. Harvested in a prestigious garden in Sri Lanka, this strong and full-bodied black tea is ideal in the morning.”

I say: Fancy Lipton. I do not catch chocolate or anything but bog standard slightly malty Ceylon. Not bad by any means, but I’d say the price makes this a pass unless you are really interested in the St. James Estate in Sri Lanka in particular.

Sip Down and Backlog

Sipdown (2625)!

This was actually much nicer than I expected it to be. Very bright and lively with quite natural tropical fruit notes. Ripe pineapple, peaches and mango. Mostly the pineapple with its tangy juiciness but it still all came together in a nice medley of just sweet enough “orange and yellow fruit flavours”. I bet it would be very, very good iced or cold brewed too!

June Sipdown Challenge – June 28th: Cream Tea Day

I had hoped Ashman could join me for this but he had to work late. This is one of the samples my friend got in her PdT order and she passed it on to me since she doesn’t really drink black tea anymore.

A British blend seemed just the thing for Cream Tea Day, and while I couldn’t have a fancy Cream Tea in a fancy tea house, I did set out some frozen Cream Puffs to thaw to go with this.

I was surprised it is a blend of just Assam and Yunnan tea because I felt like it had lots of the fruity high notes I get from Ceylon teas. The Assam didn’t have a big bite, and I drank this with no milk or sugar and found it very palatable for the pairing.

It is what it says – more or less an English style tea that could take milk and sugar if you wanted but is also drinkable without. It is not as strong as a builder’s tea and doesn’t have the bass notes I find in many Keemun teas that are billed for breakfast. It served well for an afternoon tea time, and maybe reminded me just a tad of Brigadoon. It is strong enough for me for breakfast, but I don’t need caffeine to get me going so it might not be strong enough for everyone as a kick start tea.

A friend came over for breakfast this morning and brought me a tin of Palais des Thes Grand Jasmine Chun Feng and a couple of samples, including this one.

The packet that the sachet came in smells like those strawberry hard candies that have a soft center. I love that smell!

The steeped tea is mostly a decent black tea with strawberry flavor but you can tell there is more going on. There is a flavor that tones down the strawberry, keeping it from being a tart strawberry. That could be the honey. I didn’t lavender.

I had trouble with some Palais teas in the past because they were finicky, so right off the bat I made this with slightly cooler water (200F) and kept the steep shorter than their recommendation. First steep 3 1/2 minutes and second was 3 minutes. The two steeps were combined in one pot and enjoyed first with lunch which included fresh garden tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinegar, so I may not have had the clearest palate for tasting the tea.

The last cup was paired with a couple of Lindt Stracciatella truffles. Strawberry is still the dominant flavor, florals are not coming through, and the strawberry is at a really nice level. I would absolutely buy this to have on hand for a nice little strawberry black tea.

I deleted my review 3 times it goes something like this

1st Steep:
Honey-like, sweet
2nd Steep:
Overbrewed it but it’s still very good
3rd Steep:
Nice good equilibrium on the top, very round taste, definitely one of the best offering from PDT.

- Flavor Complexity: 15/30 – What it lacks in complexity, the tea gains in balance; it’s on the lighter end.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 15/20 – Seemed to take my 95°C pretty well!
- Quality Across Infusions: 17/20 – Definitely high quality and it resisted by overbrewing.
- Overall Enjoyment: 25/30 – I liked this. It’s a good session, very light, a good breakfast tea.

- yaro

90C

1st Steep:
Ooooh complex this one, I really like this !
For a PDT blend I sure expected less, for a first steep this has some light notes of jasmin, just a bit smoky too with the some common features we can find in both greens and blacks. This is a surprisingly good tea !

2nd Steep:
The soup is oddly thick, but in a good way.
I cannot really describe it, it’s just a very satisfying tea, a perfect blend of both tea types where ones doesn’t overwhelm the other.
I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint specific flavors however, it really has a tiny bit of everything.

3rd Steep:
Light, thick and round.
That’s all this is, I love it.
I really love it.
Rare PDT W ?

- Flavor Complexity: 25/30 – This is a rather complex tea, yet it’s very light which makes it very pleasant.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 20/20 – Contrary to pure green tea, this seemed to handle different temperatures pretty well.
- Quality Across Infusions: 20/20 – This was all very surprising, high quality and delicious tea.
- Overall Enjoyment: 20/30 – I really liked it !

-yaro

This is a South Korean green tea.
15s wash

1st Steep (75C, 15s):
Definitely drinks like a lighted roasted tea, so it’s steamy more than smoky (if you get what i mean). Some bitterness on the front, but for now it seems like this is going to be one of the boring ones.

2nd Steep (75C, 25s):
Nothing interesting really, some floral notes that are drowned by the light astringency.

3rd Steep (75C, 35s):
Again, the same. I’m not gonna pain myself any longer with such a boring tea.

- Flavor Complexity: 10/30 – Exceptionally simple.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 10/20 – It seemed particularly sensitive around 75(± 2)C
- Consistency Across Infusions: 15/20 – Consistent, but its sensitivity scared me a bit.
- Overall Enjoyment: 10/30 – A boring tea that’s mildly enjoyable, the subtle traits that are indeed felt aren’t ones I enjoy particularly (I really don’t like boring floral notes that always turn into bitterness).

-yaro

No wash

1st steep (95C, 15s):
This is really good and light, definitely get where the “milky” comes from, this is a very creamy and round tea, light sweetness at the bottom that I have trouble identifying accurately for now, overall, very tasty, I’m glad I drank the wash for this one.

2nd steep (95C, 20s):
It’s definitely subtle, although I did have a smaller sample size, but I don’t think it needs any more steeping than this, it’s very light and pleasant, the perfect balance, I like this, this is probably on the less oxidized side of oolongs, and definitely have some young puer notes.

3rd steep (95C, 25s):
Tea evolves a bit, I’m getting smoked hazelnuts, nothing much other than that to note, it’s just a very correct milky oolong, I’m guessing this is a solid representation of what a generic one would taste like.

4rd steep (95C, 30s):
No particular change in taste, knowing I probably understeeped the tea I don’t think there’s any point in going any further.

Great tea overall.
- Flavor Complexity: 10/30 – What it lacks in complexity the tea definitely gains in balance, it’s on the lighter end.
- Brewing Forgiveness: 15/20 – Seemed to take my 95C (and sometimes a bit under) pretty well !
- Quality Across Infusions: 20/20 – Definitely high quality, and very consistent too.
- Overall Enjoyment: 15/30 – I liked this, it’s a good session, nothing more nothing less.

-yaro