Dammann Frères

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 24

Annnnd… this wraps up my Dammann Frères advent (and I’m now all caught up with my notes)! While I’m more familiar with this company’s teas than I was three years ago, this advent continues to please me with its offerings of mostly flavoured teas. It’s a lovely balance of familiar and new-to-me samples.

In no particular order, some of my favourites this year’s advent: Blanc d’Oranger, My Tiramasu, Oolong Châtaigne, Noël à Pékin (always), Oolong Passion de Fleurs, and Canissoun. Coming as no surprise, oolong and fruity teas are my typical favourites, but loving the coffee dessert blend was a shocker.

Anyways, this tea… While I initially didn’t care for this cherry-flavoured Christmas tea overly much, with repetition comes that welcome familiarity. It’s like fruit cake in more ways than one. I shared a pot with my mom and she particularly enjoyed it.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 10

So far, this is probably my favourite of the DF “Christmas tea” blends included this year. Cherry flavour in tea is a hard-sell for me but I like it here, when it’s caramelized with baked pineapple. Last year I wrote that this reminded me of fruit cake – but, more specifically, it resembles a pineapple upside-down cake (and the old Della Terra Tea of the same name). That impression still stands this year! I enjoyed the tail-end finish of orange blossoms too; it makes for a good last sip.

This blend also contains orange but feels toned down and “softer” compared to other DF blends.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 21

This Christmas tea is a fruitcake! I can accept the cherries here because pineapple and caramel. The black tea base is smooth malt, with no briskness or astringency. For once, DF’s orange vivid orange essential oil isn’t stealing the show, but it’s not hiding either. What a bright tea on an extremely dark day.

I’m also super pleased that DF doesn’t throw hibiscus into the vast majority of their festive blends. It’s been a good advent.

You know when you take a sip and omg, this is the most amazing thing ever comes to you?

Well, yes. Freshly baked homemade butter tart with extremely buttery perfectly baked caramelized pastry with whispers of orange blossom water and toasted almonds.

Happy Christmas to you all, Steepsters! <3

This tea is a bit finicky.

However, when you get right, and when it cools to just the right temperature, the rewards are great.

The cup becomes very very very close, if not identical, to Brioche by the now defunct American Tea Room. A blend that I, and many others, adored.

I wish the base were ever so slightly different, but I’ll take it.

Orange and maybe almond.. As I work my way through the cup, this orange almond becomes orange blossom water scented marzipan.

I think I may have binged on orange-flavoured teas recently.

The base is quite harsh in a Ceylon-kind of way (though i haven’t checked details).
Edit—the ingredients list a blend of black teas.
For future reference, I would suggest shorter cooler steeps.

Likely will be far better with milk. Though it becomes more and more tasty as it cools and the flavours settle.

I have some oat nog handy, but am undecided about making a commitment to that just yet.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 19

Yes, I prefer this to Mon Petit Chocolat because my hang-up towards almond is more severe than I thought it was (unless that almond tries to be marzipan; then I love it). Drinking it with milk, so can’t comment on how thin it is; the milk bulks out the chocolate-like hazelnut, although it still starts off pretty gentle. As I work through the pot, there is a honey-caramel component to the finish that reminds me all the world of a Cadbury Crunchie bar.

EDIT: there was enough leftover in the pot to try without milk and, I don’t know – but I like it too? It’s different though. Not as much hazelnut, more woody Keemun and Crunchie bar. Something about this tea is drying, which is fine. I like Keemun and have happy vague travel memories associated with it.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 19

Bergamot, violet and the intensity of the fruity sugars makes for a particularly fancy floral candy tea. I think I enjoyed this one more this year than last but still not enough to entice me to buy more. I love floral teas but this one is almost too much.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 18

Like a cousin to to August Uncommon’s Dark Iris: violets, peach, umm.. other fruits?(definitely citrus) It has the Bellini/ fuzzy peaches vibe to it. Sweet, smooth, aromatic florals, candied fruits…

The tea base is likely a Chinese Sencha but it’s not bugging me too much today. Every once in a while this green base uplifts the kiwi. But for me, this is predominantly citrus/peach fronted for the fruit. I’m enjoying it but wouldn’t go out of my way buy any!

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 17

I’m behind on DF. Didn’t want to (and couldn’t) drink them while still nauseous – they’re generally lovely but perfumed, which is not a good mix with lingering food poisoning. So now I have four teas tonight! (scratch that. I got to two of them)

This one is pretty sweet, almost cloyingly so! “Blueberry and maple want to drip all over your pancakes and waffles” levels of sweet (I’m drinking this with the “breakfast for dinner,” so good pairing). Also, chestnuts, but they’re pretty subtle here. It’s a nice tea without milk, but in effort to cut the sweetness I’m taking it with! Still good.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 15
This chestnut tea sounded so good on paper that I ordered it along with my Advent calendar so I’ve been drinking it for a few weeks now. I love chestnuts but at first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It’s a great tea, I just wasn’t sure if it was my type of great tea. But I keep coming back to drink it so obviously this is working for me.

This tea has such a strong personality. It’s unique. It’s very rich and layered with so many flavors that it keeps it interesting. The chestnut is not the freshly roasted chestnut kind you get on the street in winter, it’s more like candied chestnut. And surprisingly, I like the maple syrup here.

The marriage between the chestnut the chocolate the pastry and maple syrup definitely makes you feel like you’re eating a rich dessert like a Mont Blanc, Angelina’s teahouse famous dessert. It’s thick and rich and sweet. It makes me think of chestnut buttercream and chestnut meringue in a sweet buttery crust. OK clearly I’m hungry! It’s delicious, but it’s strong.

I need to remember to not sweeten it too much. It’s a perfectly Wintery tea and it matches its name nicely. I can’t say that I pick up too much on the green apple or clementine, but it might be what keeps it from being too sweet or too rich.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 13

Ok, I’m still not feeling great, so tea is not sparking joy right now – even a nice, bright blueberry on a green/white tea base (profile is in-between, despite DF’s label). It tastes like a combo of hay and soy beans/ something green and flat? And stuff. Sorry, tea.

I think I’ve decided that I prefer this without additions. Milk seems to perk up the star anise.

The flavours of the blend cohere better and more smoothly when the tea is drunk black.

I hope I remember this next time.

Having this with milk today because I have milk handy.

So many flavours melded together here. The orange dominates the barest whisper of maple.

The star anise is by turns distracting, subtle, and appropriate in a spice cookie kind of way.

Remarkable layering of flavours here. I had really expected that all this going on in this tea would be too much, but it’s not.

The maple is gentle., but there, offering the slightest bit of sweetness. The chestnut is a starchy, bready presence. There’s a hint of orange and maybe almond. The star anise comes and goes. Sometimes, it is a bit distracting, and other times, it’s not there at all.

A satisfying cup. I’ve been drinking it without any additions.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 24

This is never going to be my favourite but I can’t deny it’s festive. I don’t recall drinking it over a month ago but I must have. I do recall my mom liking this one both in 2021 and 2022 though. Different teas (and tisanes) for different folks.

2022 Advent Summary: I continue to love how solid and affordable DF is even if I don’t love their actual orange-cherry-spice Noël blends (everything else is tasty or at least interesting). Also, we go into 2023 knowing they are unlikely to leave Rooibos de Noël to the last advent day two years in a row, so hurrah! The future is bright.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 10 because I skipped it yesterday

Another spiced Christmas orange tea (with “gingerbread”). Once again, the orange is the most powerful player. Clove takes a backseat to the ginger and peppercorn here, which is a good call. Rooibos is being itself – a sort of tobacco flower-like quality, and nutty sweet whatever. It’s a nice non-caffeinated blend that suits the season!

My Mom’s opinion: “It’s the smoothest, loveliest tea. Like silk. Even good cold.”

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 15

Meh. Smells like Christmas but I wish it subbed in star anise for the licorice. Licorice is definitely the odd one out for me here, with that cloying sweetness.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 11 (I accidentally skipped 10. Whoops! but it’s also non-caffeniated)

We can’t all be winners! Steeped in milk because the ingredients lists said "chai’ to me (tasting it without milk, and yeah I prefer it with). It’s alright this way but I prefer other cocoa spice herbals; It has so many rich ingredients that I want it to be thicker, maybe. Also, not a huge lover of the combo of chocolate and licorice.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 9

Catching up on my advent calendar after a 3-day hiatus. This Oolong Citrons is a hit for me which is somewhat of a surprise because I am in love with Noel a Venise with its lemon caramel meringue pie vibe, and I thought I would sorely miss the caramel in this tea. But no. It was a lovely cup of buttery lemon goodness. It’s a cross between a lemon tarte and limoncello. I enjoyed it very much!

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 9

As a bit of an oolong fiend, I was super excited to try this when I saw it on the advent calendar list; it does not disappoint! It smells and tastes a little like a lemon meringue, and the tea base is floral and almost buttery (sole complaint is it could be more buttery). The citrus hits all the quadrants – peel, fruit, blossom, etc. It’s such a vibrant flavour. Despite being in tea bag form, the the leaf is a beautiful, healthy shade of green and is in generously sized rolls (in contrast with MF’s bagged oolong samples, which are broken). I didn’t free it from the satchet, but after the first steep the leaf volume managed to punch a hole through anyways (jail break!).

It may not be the most complex of flavoured concepts but it does the one thing exceptionally well. If this were available at afternoon teas I’d go with it to compliment my clotted cream and jam scone 9/10 (I’m usually hardcore camp EG for high teas).

Steep Count: 3 – Limoncello vibes.

Derk sent me a cup of springtime in December! The fraise is immediately detectible (both scent and sip). I’m not sure I was ever completely able to identify the pistache part, but no matter: the fruity part made me smile the whole time I was drinking it and made me ache for my mom’s homemade strawberry preserves—had the the exact same jamminess.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 4

Oof! This was also in last year’s advent, but this year I’m getting some of that bubblegum note that Cameron B. mentions. I think it’s because the orange essential oil is so strong and bright; it’s an excellent orange flavour but it tips this tea into fruitier territory than I’m used to seeing in gingerbread. I do find there’s something “bread-like” about the tea though (and a splash of vanilla) – if not “cookie-like” as I would expect.

The medley of spices provide the cup with warm and woody tones; it’s a low, burning simmer of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves that contrasts nicely with the high, zesty notes of citrus peel, ginger, and pine. It’s a cozy, round cup so I’ll keep my original rating in 70’s .