Dammann Frères

I made it a point to delay enjoying my second sample bag of Jardin Bleu from Lexie Aleah until I had time to sip it slowly and enjoy it fully. This time, I added milk, which toned down the strawberry a little and made the slightly sharper rhubarb stand out. Fruity goodness without unpleasant tartness makes me happy. Cup’s been empty for 20 minutes and I’m still smiling at it.

Damman Freres knows how to liquefy elegance and put it in a lovely china cup. Strawberry is the feature in this blend, framed nicely by the rhubarb and other floral elements. Without any sweetener or dairy, it still tastes like a fancy little strawberry pastry. Another reviewer mentioned adding milk…I intend to do so with the next cup to see if I get strawberry cheesecake. Lexie Aleah, your samples are winners!

This is one of those perfect fall teas. I ignore it all year only to come back to it every October as soon as the weather turns colder.

It’s very smooth and clean to me, as if Dammann had managed to bottle up the exact taste of street-roasted chestnuts —definitely not candied chestnuts. I only get the faintest hint of vanilla and the gentle nuttiness of the oolong. It’s lovely!

This made a good cold brew tea for the summer. Now that it’s fall, I see myself picking it up as a hot tea.

The gentle and sweet strawberry offers a glance into the fruity flavors of summer, but right now the mild nutty flavor combined with that to-me signature toasty note of Chinese sencha, has me feeling the coziness of baked goods and fall. It’s more like a macaron than a pastry.

The pistachio comes through as such in the aroma but turns something closer to sweet almond in the mouth. Some light tang from the green tea and another Dammann Frères tea with a juicy swallow. Smooth while sipping and leaves a tingly, salty-astringent afterfeel.

Overall, the flavoring is pretty mild, which I enjoy, but if you like strong flavors, this might not be the tea for you.

This one doesn’t steep as well a second time compared to most DF teas I’ve tried.

Listen: Idée Fixe by Methyl Ethyl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY8Oa02PkIU

Prior to this one, I’d never tried a kiwi tea or even spotted one. I don’t get kiwi in taste but what I am tasting is delicious. The sencha base is really good! It’s buttery and grassy and rich with perhaps a hint of fruit beneath all of that. It’s smooth and wasn’t finicky to brew.
Flavored green teas often disappoint me when it comes to the base. This one is base forward and really good. This tea also brews up a beautiful shade of green. and I was able to re-steep it. This one is going back on the wishlist as I’d love to have more of this in my cupboard.
Thank You Derk!

I never thought I was a fan of jasmine tea, but having been gifted samples of the really good stuff from friends, it’s beginning to grow on me. Damman Freres does a fine job with the proportions here, lightly scented instead of obnoxiously perfumed, and I’m getting a hint of fruit (plummy? grapey?) at the back end of each sip. Very pleasant to relax with after a long day.

Sipdown!
I forgot to do a comparison between this and Lupicia’s Strawberry Vanilla green. Going off my memory I believe that I do prefer the Lupicia one perhaps due to the addition of the vanilla.

this sample came from Derk
I’ll have to write more on this one later and do a comparison. I remember thinking this one reminded me of Lupicia’s Strawberry Vanilla Green. I have an unopened bag of that one and should do a comparison. I didn’t taste any pistachio but the strawberry was nice.

I was a bit worried, steeping this up, that the flavors would be drastically ruined like the other green tea I bought from DF the same time as this one – it tasted like a mix of flavored teas thrown together.  Seriously, I’m debating on just throwing the other tea away, which I have very rarely ever done.  Luckily, this one tastes GREAT.  It’s very floral forward, like a fancy garden, with undertones of something fruity, maybe peach on a buttery green base. This is ACCURATE as the description mentions gardens in Versailles.  Versailles would definitely qualify as a fancy garden.  Two flavorful steeps. I like this tea.  Very glad it’s aging well.    (The muddled aged mess tea was Thé des Marquises. I shudder to think of it.)

Final freebie sachet. Glad to get these little gifts with orders :)

This one is full of flavor for me. The aroma does come through in taste even if it seems a little divorced from the tea taste. So the tea is woody and a little muddier tasting than other flavored DF blacks. I get syrupy cherry and tangy strawberry smashed between a dominant blood orange top note that’s almost like the powdered drink Tang and a lesser tart peach note on the bottom. I don’t think it’s so much a Mélange Mystérieux as much as a mouth-punch of fruity taste. Maybe the element of mystery is the way the fruit flavors feel like they morph in and out while still feeling like they’re stacked. It’s like the way a PB&J mixes together a little bit. But that’s a crap analogy.

Good for 2 steeps as usual.

Another freebie sachet and WOOF, that’s hibiscus. It smells like raspberry jello and tastes like… I’m thinking those gummy red raspberries with little balls on them but supremely tart. If I hadn’t known there was passionfruit flavoring here, I’d never guess. There is kind of a tropical undertone to this whole red deal, though. The raspberry gummy candy makes me feel this is a European profile through and through.

It’s not bad, it’s just hibiscus – in other words, something I wouldn’t pay for but I’m happy to drink it.

Freebie sachet from my order. Should’ve saved this for my upcoming road trip when I’m going to need bagged tea but the weather this week has had me in the mood for fall flavors.

The aroma is lovely – a mix of what seems like baked apples with dark caramel or maybe brittle? There’s also a maraschino cherry vibe but it underpins the rest of the aroma rather then standing alone.

Unfortunately, the aroma doesn’t translate too strongly to taste. The base black tea seems like a mix of Ceylon and maybe a Yunnan black. It has that trademark to me thick and glassy mouthfeel of many DF teas. The taste is clean, woody and mineral with tones of banana and yam. I enjoyed the second steep more than the first but I’m not sure why.

Too bad there’s such a discrepancy between nose and tongue. It did make me happy, however, and fit well the cooler weather we’ve been having. The fog blows in in the evening and blows out in the morning, leaving a mist in the air and some much needed moisture. Summer has barely started and I’m already longing for autumn.

Interesting, and very good. I’m wondering if the sodium level in our tap water has increased because many of my teas have been tasting salty lately.

I couldn’t figure out what the heck I was tasting and smelling. I’m still not sure. There was a popcorn shop called What’s Poppin’ in the indoor strip mall in my hometown. This was like 25 years ago. Is it still there? There was a flavor called Tutti Frutti. That is this, tucked away in a tiny $2 sample bag in my quarter-century memory vessel.

In reality, Kiwi Fukuyu probably doesn’t taste anything like Tutti Frutti popcorn, but the light butter aftertaste only reinforces this notion. The sencha is very dark green. It’s very grassy-vegetal. It’s thick, it’s clean and mouthwatering, good astringency and bitterness, salty. Fruity of course. Kiwifruit? notsomuch. Candykiwiflavoring? yzyzyz. It all works quite well, the flavoring is in great balance with the tea flavor. Next time I go back to Ohio, I know what I have to do.

Like all DF I’ve steeped twice, this too is worthy of a second infusion.

I did a thing. I bought a kilogram of French tea. It’s actually pretty affordable when bought in bulk loose leaf. Those sachets are for royalty!

The aroma of this is absolutely intoxicating!! The exclamation marks coming from a normally reserved derk should give you a clue. It’s such a sweet and tangy, ringing golden yellow plum aroma! With a swirl of soft milky-creamy caramel! A golden bell glinting in the sun, a golden yellow tapestry made of the finest silk. It reminds me of my friend who came by the other night, how strange.

Guessing the base green tea is Chun Mee or maybe a Ceylon green. Those types of tea never wow but whatever it is, it’s a great delivery vehicle for this luxuriously fruity and floral, golden cherry plum note to evaporate ever so slowly in the aftertaste. There’s also this natural apricot in the aftertaste that I do think is from the green tea itself. The body is fairly thick and brisk, very mineral-salty and does have some bitterness to it which lingers for a while on the tongue. I like this part, since it gives the experience some more depth. Caramel flavor enhances the impression of deep sweetness and gently contrasts the sun-blushed redder tones of that beautiful mirabelle plum flavor.

It tastes like a gift from the sun.

Steep twice!

Not my cup of tea, literally.
I prefer stronger Earl Grey, this one is rather light, with a very mild base, and a hint of bergamot, which is perceivable mainly as scent rather than taste. I’m sure other people will like it, but it doesn’t suit me at all.

The scent on the dry leaf is strong enough, but it becomes significantly lighter when brewed. The taste reflects this. The base tea is rather light, and so is the flavouring. I favour stronger bases with a stronger bergamot presence, so I’ll pass on this one.

Pretty stressed out today and, once again, had no time before work to brew a tea for French Friday (I may have to permanently move working on these samplers to the weekends). Quickly brewed up this cup on my lunchbreak, sample courtesy of Cameron (thanks Cameron!)

No time for fussing, whole packet steeped in 350ml 205F water for as long as it took me to scoop the cat boxes. No measuring, no steep timer, just taking what I get. Smells and tastes floral and grapey. * looks at description * Huh, not tasting anything biscuity/caramelly. It is fruity with that floral undertone, mainly muscatel grapes but I can sorta taste apple and a hint of citrus.

Thanks Cameron!

I’m back home! Kiki won’t make tea for herself haha. Here we go.

Kiki:

“Maybe it’s got a little lemongrass in there. I’m just jumping right in, aren’t I? hehehe I can smell the spiciness. It’s got a little fruity, some kinda fruity like cherry. Is that what it is, cherries? It’s good, I like it. Got a little hibiscus maybe? because it’s got a little of that because lip smacking. It goes down easy. What is it?”

I read the short description: Vegetal and fruity, combining the tang of melon and wild strawberry and the refreshing taste of mint with the sweetness of green tea. An irresistible blend of summer scents.

“Huh. Very nice. That’s exactly it.”

derk:

I maybe have oversteeped it because it’s too drying. Otherwise, it’s tangy-fruity and juicy, thick and glassy. The green tea seems both spicy and subtly grassy-vegetal and sweet. Subtle fruit flavor, I can see how it’s melon and strawberry, both candylike. The mint I wouldn’t have known was in it. It’s very quiet. Thanks for sharing, Cameron B.! This one’s very good but not standout enough keep in my current doomcart (40 teas haha – it’s going to be torture paring it down).

Sipdown (227)

Thanks Roswell Strange for sending this my way! Age hasn’t been kind here and so this tastes like not much. Touch of grass maybe but nothing else