Bonne Maman

I have some extra time tonight to try some teas that I only have in small amounts, thus getting some sipdowns rolling for this year. (Ashman is watching tv with daughter so I am snarfing Bissinger’s chocolates in my craft room and drinking tea – pure, unadulterated pleasure.) It is the first time I will have ever kept track of sipdown numbers, and I am also making a list of my absolute must have shelf staples, and that list is surprisingly short so far.

Bonne Maman included a couple of tea samples in with our order for their jelly advent. I received Dream and Vitality, which also happens to be the two teas included in their Perfect Moments gift set, which includes two bags of loose leaf tisane, a glass mug with attractive steeper that seems pretty generously sized, and a spoon. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting much, but I love the scent of this one dry. I enjoy lavender and that is the dominant aroma of this one. I haven’t been as “into” herbal tea as camellia sinensis, but now that I can’t handle caffeine at night I am trying to find some good options.

While steeping, it went through an awkward stage aroma-wise but then started to smell like the dry leaf did.

The flavor is definitely lavender leading and trailing. The rose had to be teased out but it is there. There is a hint of fresh minty flavor, maybe the linden. Somehow that is making it seem like it would do very nicely as a daytime tea as well, maybe even a nice morning cup when you don’t have anywhere to be. I can see sipping this on the patio with fresh fruit on a cool spring morning.

If you don’t like lavender, you won’t like this. If you love lavender, you really might want to give it a try. I dig it, and might buy it when my cupboard is smaller.

Sipdown! (54 | 328)

I’ve been curious about these (semi-new) Bonne Maman herbal tisanes, so I was excited to find this one at my local World Market!

It’s good, but a couple of things keep it from being great for me. One, the elderflower tends to overpower the other flavors. I would like to taste more of the apple and less of the elderflower. The second issue is the stevia. It’s actually quite restrained, which I appreciate. But this blend in general is fairly light, and there’s not a lot in the sachets, but if I try to use more to make it stronger, the stevia becomes too much for me.

Obviously it’s still drinkable, and I enjoyed sipping through the box of sachets. But I probably wouldn’t repurchase it if I saw it again.

I drank this without rereading the ingredients…I remembered it had peppermint, which I could taste. But I thought it had lemon something too, I guess because the other Bonne Maman teas have had lemon balm or lemongrass or lemon something. It must’ve been the hibiscus I was tasting instead. The tartness with the cool peppermint was kind of weird for me. I’m not super big on peppermint teas to begin with. It wasn’t unpleasant, it just seemed like an odd combination. All the Bonne Maman blends are kind of odd combinations really. I think my favorite is still the chamomile one, Serenity.

I wasn’t sure if I’d like this one but after trying a couple of the other Bonne Maman teas I decided I’d get a box of Contentment too. I’m not usually a fan of sweet and spicy together (spices are fine, spicy not so much) and didn’t really know what a Brazil pepper tastes like so I wasn’t sure if I’d like the tea.

The dry tea smells strongly of anise. Really strongly. The teabags are individually wrapped in the box and I could smell anise before I even opened the box. I still smell anise in the brewed tea but I can smell the other stuff lurking in the background. The tea is…kind of sweet, kind of sour (the black currant?)…with a little bit of a warming tingle that I wouldn’t really call spiciness. It’s okay. Not something I’d crave but I can probably drink through my box of it without feeling like I’m being tortured. So far all of the Bonne Maman teas have had annoyingly short strings on the teabags. I like to be able to wrap the string and tag around the handle of my mug so they don’t dive into my cup when I pour in the water but with these that leaves the teabag hanging awkwardly at the top edge of the cup. It’s not a huge deal but I wish they’d make the strings a little longer or just go stringless/tagless.

I looked up Brazil peppers while I was sipping my cup. Apparently Brazil peppers are in the cashew family and are sometimes sold as pink peppercorns. They’ve been used as folk remedies for just about everything and I guess there have been some studies on its use as a potential treatment for MRSA.

This is the second of my three Bonne Maman teas. I mostly smell chamomile. Maybe lemony chamomile? It tastes like lemony chamomile. There’s a slight citrusy tartness…not sure if that’s just the lemongrass and lemon balm or if the cranberry is contributing. I don’t taste cranberry flavor so I don’t think there’s much in it. I’m not really sure what yarrow tastes like or if it’s adding anything here. I think I like the Serenity better than the Dream tea. I usually enjoy chamomile teas. So does my cat. But kitty doesn’t like citrus so maybe the lemony stuff in this one will keep her from shoving her fat head into my cup and knocking it over. Anyway…would maybe repurchase this one. It would depend on whether I had any other lemony chamomiles at the time.

I didn’t know Bonne Maman made herbal teas until I was wandering through the tea aisle of the grocery store the other day. I grabbed three of the five I saw (skipped the apple one and one that had peppers in it). My store only had the teabags but apparently the Bonne Maman teas are available as loose tea as well.

The lavender is the most prominent flavor for me in Dream. I’m not a huge lavender fan but I like a little bit occasionally. The other ingredients keep the lavender from being overpowering and unpleasant but I have a hard time picking out the rose at all and I’m not really sure what linden tastes like on its own to know if I taste it or not. The tea has a cooling feeling like peppermint but there isn’t any mint in this one. I’m not sure it’s something I’ll want to drink regularly but it’s a nice addition to my tea stash for when I feel like something floral and non-caffeinated.