Mariage Frères Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 5
It’s like I summoned the Blue Pea-Flower Ghost of Christmas Past by uttering its name yesterday…
This particular oolong seems to work better than the “In Love” teas included in last year’s advent. Buttery oolong is an excellent build for silky caramel, which in turn is a surprisingly good build for licorice (the dominant flavour by far; licorice haters beware).
The caramel component reminds me favourably of Oolong Caramel au Beurre Salé by Dammann Frères – a good tea in my books. When the buttery caramel mixes with the licorice it puts me in mind of one of my favourite ice cream flavours, Tiger Tail, in all of its licorice-butterscotch glory – sans orange (but add rose – which is a subtlety that strangely works here). A couple more things that come to mind are Greek Ouzo candies and South Asian candied fennel Mukhwas. This tea would make an excellent sweet palate cleanser at the end of a rich meal.
I actually dig this one (and I’m extremely surprised to type that). The dark blackish-blue colour even works with the licorice flavouring.
Steep Count: 2 – Second steep at five minutes worked well; the blue colour is gone too (hurrah).
Edit: to balance this positive note, my mom did not like this tea one bit lol
Flavors: Butter, Butterscotch, Caramel, Floral, Licorice, Milky, Mineral, Rose, Smooth, Vegetal
