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Okay, so I’m going to curl up in bed with a cup of tea and a few articles I have to read online. Bed, because it’s where the internets are strongest in this apartment… also it’s warm. And there are fresh linens. So it’s just a really good place to be right now.

I have a theory about tea making at Dammann Frères. I think I already dramatized enough for one week in my Mamma Mia review, but imagine the exact opposite of what happened at the David’s Tea headquarters – instead, try to remember that scene in Love Actually where Rowan Atkinson is putting together the gift package for Alan Rickman’s disastrous, horrid little extramarital fling. These very elegantly dressed men who throw in a pinch of this, and a pinch of that with an expert flick of the wrist and then step back and reflect and then add another pinch and then it just goes on like that forever.

Because, in the end, all these blends are almost exactly the same. They have nice bases and high quality ingredients, but they’re the same bases and high quality ingredients – they’re just put together in different manners. I would have a very hard time telling any of the DF teas I’ve tried so far (with a few exceptions) apart in a blind experiment.

This is one of my favourites of their same-same-but-different teas, though. I have a hard time writing a tasting note for it, as I constantly want to refer to their other teas, ’It’s the almond used in X, and the berry used in X and the…’ But that seems unfair – instead, let me declare this a tremendously well-balanced green with notes of berries, exotic fruits and really elegant florals. Would I be able to tell it apart from any other fruity and floral DF tea in a week? Probably not.

Oh, and speaking of Love Actually, here’s a brilliant and hilarious takedown of that sexist-beyond-comprehension cringefest of a movie: http://jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388

[From my epic Instant-Thé order to Rome, October 2013.]

Atter having such a meh ginger yesterday, I wanted to remind myself what a good one tastes like. This turned into one of my staple travel teas last year, since I’ve been doing most of my transfers in Copenhagen, and in the lounge there they stack bags of it pretty much floor to ceiling.

There was a crazy blizzard when I was returning home for a brief visit right before Christmas, and my flight was delayed. It wasn’t so bad, four hours or something, but it didn’t really matter, since there were Christmas decorations and an open fire and mug after mug of this tea.

I’m up early, which is always absolutely horrible for me, so I decided I deserved a cup of this. It’s such a very good tea. So much flavour – this is what I love about Mariage Frères’ greens – they’re present throughout the entire sip. None of that Dammann nonsense where you have to sit and inhale in a staccato-like manner at the end of each sip to possibly get an inkling of an aftertaste.

No – this tea is right there, all along, just like a good friend.

Oh, oh, oh. Where was it. I had this luscious dessert back in October when I was in Chicago – a pumpkin bread pudding. It killed. Right! Yes! Sable! It was their warm pumpkin-pecan bread pudding, with bourbon whipped cream and toasted buttered pecans.

Droolface. Seriously.

The dry tea doesn’t smell that much – mostly there’s a hint of warm vanilla – but steeped? So pumpkin bread puddingy! I know it’s supposed to be crème brûlée, but now I’m dead stuck in my dessert memory and there will be no escape.

This was a sample I asked for mostly because it had such a high rating. Pumpkin was very much an acquired taste for me, but now I love it. It’s something I rarely consume, though, and mostly when I’m overseas… and never in liquid form.

This is fairly rich in cinnamon, which is a tea flavouring I generally avoid, and added to my personal is-pumpkin-really-fit-to-drink issues, this really shouldn’t appeal to me as much as it does. It’s very well-balanced, round and smooth, and I doubt I could find a better, more natural-tasting pumpkin tea.

This is a really lovely and well-executed tea. All in all, I could definitely see myself drinking this seasonally, a few times a year, but a pumpkin tea is not something I’d keep as a staple.

[From my Butiki order to Santa Clara, October 2013.]
[Sample polished off in Rome, January 2014.]

This is a sample that came with my order. It looks like a nice enough blend on paper, I mean – mango, rose petals? Other delightful fruity things?

But then there’s Dammann Frères’ ginger. And boy, is their ginger not for me. It’s a faux-exotic ginger. It’s a dirty ginger. I don’t know if I can explain it better. It’s just so medicinal.

Furthermore, this tea isn’t at all as well-balanced as I’ve come to expect from DF. Both in the bag and in the cup, and both in terms of scent and flavour, the ginger overpowers everything else.

In additional news, tonight’s game is killing me.

[Sample from my epic Instant-Thé order to Rome, October 2013.]

Okay, so this is interesting. I’m drinking this on the same day as Butiki’s Creamy Eggnog, and as I smelled this sample in the bag, I was struck by how very similar they appeared to my nose. There’s one note that’s very present and dominant to me and that sort of drowns out everything else. I think this might be the safflower, as this is the one ingredient that seems to overlap between the two teas.

I like it, but after having had the eggnog tea so recently, this just seems like that same tea, but without the creaminess that made that appealing to me. I get no grapefruit at all. Nothing even remotely resembling citrus, even. And seeing as I just had the grapefruit tea that potentially renders all other grapefruit teas obsolete, namely Grapefruit Green by Lupicia (reviewed here: http://steepster.com/clareborn/posts/199758) this review seems particularly badly timed.

So sorry, little dragon, you went down quite smoothly, but you’re just not for me.

[From my Butiki order to Santa Clara, October 2013.]
[Sample polished off in Rome, January 2014.]

Now this is the last of the Comptoir teas, and this time I’m not mistaken. It’s a bit confusing, as this smells almost exactly like Le Thé d’Amandine by the same company. (Reviewed here: http://steepster.com/annchen/posts/212004)

Obviously, these two teas have completely different flavour profiles on paper, some of which comes through in the brewed tea. Weirdly, this one has a slight hint of Dammann Frères’ Pu erh Gourmand, as well. (Reviewed here: http://steepster.com/annchen/posts/196900)

So this feels like a big, crazy, mosh pit of French quality tea. It should be more appealing, you know – two teas I really enjoy coming together in one dirty oolong? Because the base tea here is very nice, just the kind of earthy oolong I enjoy. But no – it’s just too similar, like when you hear a song that sounds almost exactly like one of your favourites, or when you meet a person who looks very much like a friend of yours. Something’s just the tiniest bit off, and it’s hard to make out what it is.

Still, this is a great tea. Dark, rich, velvety sips all throughout the cup. If I’d tried this one before the two others, this could very well have ended up being the one I preferred.

[From my epic Instant-Thé order to Rome, October 2013.]

I’m not from a noggy nation at all – those big cartons of eggnog you can buy at any supermarket in many countries? No. None of that. So I don’t really have a relationship with nog – it’s not a seasonal thing to me, and I can pretty much take it or leave it – that much said, I’m definitely curious about this sample.

Dry, this smells familiar – frustratingly, I can’t remember if it reminds me of another Butiki tea or something else altogether. It’s has a mellow, smooth, creamy, vanilla-esque note to it, which is very pleasant.

The scent is present in the steeped tea as well, but the sip is fairly vegetal. It has a slight metallic undertone to it – not metallic like hibiscus, but like that White Mulberry tea from A.C. Perchs I like so much. It’s a different metallic, one that doesn’t offend me at all, but it’s definitely there.

I like this a lot – that smooth, creamy vanilla I enjoyed in the bag is present throughout and highly drinkable. Is it distinctive and memorable enough for me to start craving it? Time will tell, but either way, I’m very happy I got to try it out.

[From my Butiki order to Santa Clara, October 2013.]
[Sample polished off in Rome, January 2014.]

Alright, time for this Anna to do some Dammann damage. Dammannamage? No. Let’s not even go there.

This smells absolutely lush and lovely. There’s peach and a hint of orange and a vague, smooth fruit base. Brewed, the orange notes become more present, but without overpowering the peach.

In the cup, the tea reflects the scent profile quite accurately; I’m surprised by how much I enjoy the peach/orange combination.

A typical Dammann experience for me – a complex, pleasing blend that I wish packed far more punch. For my tastes, it’s just too subtle, but I do understand why most people love these teas.

[Sample from my epic Instant-Thé order to Rome, October 2013.]

Sometimes it’s good to be wrong; I thought I’d tried all my Comptoir teas, but there was one sample and one black tea that were hiding behind everything else on the tray. This is the sample.

The picture of the dry tea looks very pretty, but there is nothing even resembling a strawberry in my little bag. That doesn’t make it smell any less delicious, though. What instantly comes to mind is my favourite strawberry gelato from Giolitti. Steeped, it retains the same lush berrynote.

In the cup, nothing overly surprising happens – if that gelato were a tea, it would taste something like this. The problem is, I don’t really want to drink ice cream. I know, a surprising lack of debauchery on my part, but I honestly do prefer it pre-meltage.

If you want a very nice, natural strawberry tea, this is a good choice. If you want a little more smoothness and fun (I know I do) go with Lupicia’s Strawberry-Vanilla.

[Sample from my epic Instant-Thé order to Rome, October 2013.]