Dammann Frères

So today, I gave the leaf a good shake before dipping my spoon in. I steeped each cup for a good four or five minutes.

The result is far better today. The cup is far more layered and the flavours are more nuanced. The Chinese base tea is far more present and supportive. Much much better. Much more of a balanced cup.

Still, the overall impression is that of Polish or German spice cookies, the hard round ones drizzled with crunchy icing sugar glaze. Bright orange lingers in the after sip.

There is still a bit of that mystery unpleasant—to me—flavour which I have dispatched with a glug of evaporated milk. With milk, this is quite lovely.

This is my first cup of this and I am just two sips in. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

The flavour reminds me of Polish or German Christmas holiday cookies: the hard round ones with dark faintly ginger scented cookie covered with a crisp white icing sugar glaze. (The same brand makes the soft heart shaped version covered in bittersweet chocolate.)

So that’s what this tea tastes like with the addition of orange and lemon, like candied bits of citrus peel. The Chinese black base supports my ginger cookie premise.

The orange and hint of vanilla flavours are a bit cloying. There’s something vaguely unpleasant going on here, an ingredient I often come across in DT’s blends—chicory? Stevia? So far, this cup is ok, but I am not loving this tea yet.

Maybe a glug of milk would be good here.

That said, my first impression may not be all that accurate. The bag of leaf was full, so skimmed from the top. Perhaps things will improve once I am able to shake up the leaf.

I must mention here also that my steeping was not as focussed as it could have been. The water may have cooled more than needed. The steep time may have been too brief.

Stay tuned.

Edit—there was that wonky note that was not working for me. Thankfully, I had a tin of evaporated milk handy. A glug of that was a great help and vastly improved my cup. Quite delicious now.

This is such a joyful tea, especially so in these dark grey November days.

True passion fruit with jasmine trailing behind. Jasmine overtakes the passion fruit as it cools. There may be hints of pineapple tartness here as well.

As this is a green black blend, I steeped with cooler water as for green. I’ve been doing my own version of flash steeping. One heaping DT’s perfect spoon, fast steeps under two minutes in and out of my Libre.

When I first began trying French teas, I found them far too perfumey floral in general. This is not that. Both the fruit and the jasmine smell and taste real.

The layering of the flavours is quite remarkable. A masterful blend.

Also, this does not seem to do well in a travel mug. The continued heat dissipates the passion fruit and muddles the jasmine. Still tasty, but not as nuanced as intended.

Happy Day of Thanks to those celebrating today. I am grateful for all of you, my tea friends.

I don’t normally think much of black green tea blends. That said, this blend is the bomb: true passion fruit followed by jasmine, all underpinned by a solid base. The green tea somehow lightens the black and fruit flavours without thinning them.

So I drank this one inspired by Cameron B’s note that I read today.  This won’t be as good as Cameron’s note!  I have never written a note for this tea, since I have never tasted as many flavors as Cameron noticed.  So today I went with two teaspoons in a big mug and that made a BIT of difference.  Using two teaspoons at a time would also help finish those 100grams faster if I ever bought that much of DF’s teas (this tea is from a LONG ago group order, so not much left.)  So flavorwise, I’m tasting strawberry and cherry… and a bit of booziness to that cherry, or maybe it tastes like those fruits if they were dried.  The black tea is dark and tasty enough.   I do like it steeped this way, probably a bit more flavor than I was getting from previous steep sessions.  So I think I have learned how I like DF’s teas steeped best for me(though I’m sure 1 1/2 teaspoons would probably work too.)  I think it was Courtney that mentioned that possibly DF’s cherry flavor might just last longer than their other flavors… and then it might seem like DF has mostly cherry teas as those teas age. haha.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a big mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Also, sidenote: the name of this tea is fitting today as I’m reading the lovely book ‘Chouette’ by Claire Oshetsky and the mother of the owl-baby Chouette is worried that anyone will confuse the owl-baby’s name as ‘Charlotte’.

A whole Saturday with sunshine, spring weather, everybody in the house healthy, first load of laundry dried out on the line and a clean(ish) kitchen floor…love the fresh starts and do-overs the day has provided.

And with that…I decided to not ruin a cup of The de l’Abbaye. (First try a while back didn’t go well.) With attention, a shorter steep, and water that didn’t scorch it, it was light and beautifully scented. I’m not sure I picked out either the plum or the caramel individually, but the fruitiness nicely complimented the (only slightly) bitter veggie-ness of the sencha.

There’s really nothing to read here except my confession of abject failure. I was so excited to try this…took it to work (Mistake #1) and scorched it—kettle water was too hot. Bitter, bitter, bitter! Added a little honey, hoping to neutralize it (Mistake #2) and then all there was was a cup of hot bitter honey water.

Before trying to doctor it, I did get some hints of the lovely little fruity notes that I’ve seen in the other reviews.

Sigh. derk, dearest, I apologize for my sloppy mishandling!

Mini Note backlog:
Liked this one, it tasted almost exactly like DT’s Jumpy Monkey tea that was a family favorite for years. This one tasted more natural though and I would imagine the flavor consistency between cups would be much better. The DT blend had more ingredients including white chocolate which made Jumpy Monkey slightly oily at times on the surface. I definitely wouldn’t mind picking up some of this when I eventually order from DF. Thanks Derk! These DF teas are indulgent.

This was my first time trying a passionfruit tea (well technically Miss Dammann was) Passionfruit seems like a tricky flavor to translate into a tea but I was super impressed with this one.
This tea is SO good. The passionfruit in this one is what I was missing from “Miss Dammann”. I don’t have a lot of experience with passionfruit but I really like the Ellenos yogurt that has a passionfruit curd and some seeds. (been a while since I’ve had it so on the grocery list it goes!) So I would say it’s a pretty spot-on passionfruit flavor. The jasmine and the passion fruit are balanced nicely with each other. As my tea cooled I noticed that the jasmine started to take the spotlight. So the main flavor notes of this one do change once it cools.
I definitely need to buy a bag of this to enjoy at some point, so it goes on the wishlist.
Thank You Derk for sending this sample my way!

Okay, this one deserves some love.

I had it first with breakfast and was really surprised by how much flavor it had. The base was good and strong with a hint of bitterness, and with breakfast I thought it tasted quite nutty with caramel and fruit, in that order. I made another cup to drink later and it was all fruit and caramel, with lots of drippy good caramel flavor. I didn’t get nuttiness that time. As it cooled, the chameleon changed some more. The hint of bitterness up front (a nice, arresting kind not a turn off kind) grew a bit, but was always followed up with a punch of apricot and caramel.

It really does taste different when paired with different things, and I concur that it resteeps well. Definitely worth trying and worth buying if you like apricot, plum, and caramel.

Thank you, derk, for sending some tea love my way!

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 15
&
Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Wednesday, December 15th: International Tea Day

Second time trying this and I like it even more. There’s so much going on in this but all simply works as cohesive whole to create a pretty unique chestnut tea. The anise, chocolate, clementine, and maple are also popping in and out as secondary components today.

I enjoy this one a lot but don’t think I’d be able to work through a large quantity, just because it’s a super heady/rich tea – especially with the anise. Every now and then, around winter time, would be a treat though!

This was included as a free sample. Thank you!

I drank this one last night, and don’t remember too much except being baffled by its full, smooth nose, and a cupful of fruit and sweets. I also tried to resteep it but only got sweet butter which was weird ( but makes sense when you realize this baby is a chestnut tea, with fruity and dessert accents. Chestnut is strange). I did enjoy it and do look forward to revisiting again sometime in December! Apparently it also has a green tea counterpart, which could be interesting.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 8

An example of hibiscus used well as a tisane base (and creatively). I’ve had this one before and still think it tastes like mulled wine spices. Or sangria punch. I want this in jelly form.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 14

Yep, this is like mulled wine. I don’t love the combo of hibiscus and cardamom personally, but it’s an undeniably festive tea.

This was a free sample with my order (thank you!). Should I have used it as someone’s stocking stuffer? Probably. But here we are.

This tea is hibby first, with some complimentary spices and nuts to create that “Christmas feel” (no mistaking it for anything but). I think I’d prefer if the hibiscus was toned down a tad, but also think I’d feel more inclined to this profile in a few weeks – when it’s nippy out or during a ski trip (I miss skiing so much). It has something in common with mulled wine! I’m sure I’ll get to revisit this during the advent calendar though so all is not squandered yet (withholding rating until then!).

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 12

DF originally included this as a sample and now I get to revisit it again! This time I didn’t add milk, and it’s as pleasing without. Apple will never be my favourite fruit but I think fans of it would be pleased with this. There’s ginger and almond here too but they are total supporting characters to the force that is cinnamon apple.

This was included as a sample. Thank you! I’m not quite ready for Christmas/winter blends but I’ll take it.

It’s such a cinnamon apple tea – with the sweet, non-burning kind of ginger that tends to blend well with other spices & ingredients (and my brain likes to pretend it’s not actually ginger). A hint of vanilla and some creamy (almond thin) nuttiness round this out into a lovely seasonal beverage (a fancy, not quite hot apple cider). Not bad!

I’ve a few spiced apple teas right now (I don’t even love apples), and this one is definitely the least “candied”.. but also maybe the most perfume-like. It’s pretty smooth and heady with the milk.

Just me and the dogs for breakfast today as Ashman has gone back to work, so I get to pick whatever I like for tea!

Macarons – yummy. Didn’t know until a few years ago that they were different from macaroons. Now I know and wish we could get really good ones here. Violet – I used to shrink from it in candy as tasting like bubble bath but now eat an entire pack of Chowards (or C. Howards) in one sitting so I don’t often buy them. Blackcurrant – I am a relatively new fan. Never had it until a Harney tea about ten years ago and it took going to Ireland and drinking blackcurrant water to really get the flavor solidly identified to my tastebuds and distinguishable. I am not a supertaster by a long shot! Now I enjoy Czar Nikolas Nostalgia on the reg, and it definitely is a nostalgic taste for me.

So all three on a sencha base? The base could easily have ruined it if it had been the biting sour green used for a lot of green flavored teas. Even the French blenders use one often that just turns me off. But this one was delicate was just right for the flavors. None of the flavors overwhelmed and it definitely was not heavily floral. I was surprised at how light the violet was, actually, because it can really leap out front.

It was absolutely delectable. Sigh. I love Dammann Freres.