Mariage Frères

sipdown! (and that makes 160! everything else tonight is just bonus time!) I can see why omgsrsly loves this chai. It’s different than my preferred chais but in a good way with a spicy kick that makes my mouth a little hot. It’s not overly hot, but the blend works well together. There’s not dominating clove or cinnamon presence which makes me happy even though i love both. I have a feeling this will be an order just so that i can play with it more with milk and honey etc… thanks a bunch missb!

soooo much tea, only not nearly as much variety as i normally go through when working from home because i’ve been trying to get through some puerhs today as well and i like to sit with those for longer periods of time even if i don’t track each steeping :)

this one came my way from MissB and i’ve been saving it for a more dreary sort of day. I’ve had this one before, so not much to say about it beyond YAY for revisiting good tea…though this is for sure more a winter tea than summer haha

I purposely brewed this one up with that other tea…knowing full well, i would probably really like this tea. Another one from missB and i was right. I really like this. The spices aren’t overpowering and neither one is the dominant flavour here. Instead this is a pleasantly blended cup of tea that is much like the smell of christmas. I like the added vanilla as well, as i think that it helps take the edge off the clove taste. Not that i mind clove taste but it softens it in a way that i really like.
Thanks so much missb!

So I’ve been remiss in my tasting notes, but I have been working on Operation Sipdown today. I finished off two teas so far, and this one is a sipdown, courtesy of Sil.

I think I’m in agreeent with her that this is a decent tea, but not necessarily mindblowing. I want to add milk to it, and that is never a good sign. But, I’m happy I tried it because I had this impression i my head that Mariage Freres = INCREDIBLE.

I am a big Yunnan fan, and this one is quite nice. Not the best I’ve ever had, but very good.

Today I’m taking a rare day off, and I’m hoping that this is the start of a new normal for me- actually taking my vacation days instead of hoarding them forever.

I almost decided to brew an entire pot of this morning, but then I did the conversion as to how much tea I would need (the entire 20g!) and decided just to brew a small mason jar full of this instead so that I might be able to share some of this. I couldn’t help thinking that the mason jar was such a humble vessel for such a fancy tea!

I am not a big fan of white teas, but when I first caught the aroma of this, I fell in love. It immediately reminded me of the Arya Pearl Darjeeling White from Canton Tea Co. It definitely has Darjeeling characteristics that I recognized (same floral notes), but where many black Darjeelings would strong undertones that are earthy, woody, and muscatel, this has a sweet, creamy, almost vanilla character which I love. The finish on this is wonderfully long and full of fresh florals.

I do the best I can at describing what I smell and taste, but I know my palate isn’t great. I hope to improve it soon, though with a palate training class with a local sommelier.

This one of the teas that I bought from BrewTEAlly Sweet! Thank you so much for the lovely package! I went with this one first since it seems not spicy enough to be stored with my spicy teas, but it lists “spice” as an ingredient, so I didn’t want it around my non-spicy teas. The ingredients list is a little vague. After a 3-4 minute steep a few minutes after boiling, the black tea is lighter in color. The flavors are subtle! Definitely almond/marzipan… there is something a bit sour, maybe cherry and then it seems there is some sort of “spice” flavoring… but since I don’t think it actual spices, it’s also subtle. Subtle deliciousness. Nice to try!

Huh. I can honestly say I’ve never had a tea like this one before.
Fruity, lush, and mellow. You do get the peach and apricot, which is amazing. It tastes like some fancy drink with a little umbrella in it.
Now, I must admit to not being the worlds biggest fan of peaches, but I have enjoyed this so much.
Thank you to JustJames for providing this impressive tea.
Sipdown!

I’m really enjoying this tea. I love vanilla, but most vanilla teas don’t impress me. I don’t know what is different about this one, but I like it. It has the lightest malt to it that works well with the vanilla. I love complexity of multiple flavors in tea working off each other, but this is really just vanilla and for whatever reason that’s all I need it to be.

I think this is the first decent cup I’ve had of this! Most of the time when steeping at my default black settings, I end up with a cup that is just over the edge of bitter. This cup has none of that. The tea is smooth, easy to drink and has a vanilla flavor. I’m starting to realize that I’m not that into vanilla teas. They can be good, but are boring at the same time. I like vanilla especially when added into recipes, but on it’s own it is lacking a bit. Even so, I hope this tea grows on me.

Picked up a bag of this in Paris not remembering that I’ve had it before. I was in a bit of a rush with my family waiting outside for me, which is not how a tea fanatic wants to explore an amazing tea shop! I want to love this tea, but it’s just okay in my book. I taste the vanilla, there is a hint of malt. It’s a decent cup, just not anything that super excites me. I kinda wish that will all the options of MF teas in front of me that I had picked something different. :/

I got this tea in a bulk section of a shop in Berkeley almost a year ago, so I’m not sure how it compares to fresh and better stored samples of this tea. For some reason my brain is telling me I smell chocolate in both the dry and steeped tea. I can smell the rich vanilla, but why chocolate? Maybe the base is the same as a chocolate tea I have had so it is by association that I smell it? When I sip, it is smooth and vanilla like at first, but quickly turns to a burnt caramel taste… almost coffee with a tiny bit of bitter. I read Ysaurella’s notes about wanting to try steeping it at a lower time, so I only did 3 minutes at under boiling water. Considering that, I’m surprised there is any bitterness. Adding sugar knocks out the hint of bitter coffee and brings out a rich vanilla in the aftertaste. On the sip I taste the tea base, which is a nice one, but I don’t get vanilla until after I swallow. As it cools it gets sweeter and I taste the vanilla a little sooner. It is a very nice cup, but it is a little plain for my taste. I might try it cold brewed in the fridge before I totally give up on it tho. I have had some boring teas surprise me when cold brewed.

Holy mother all mighty!!!! This is love! True loves first kiss! Sweet tooth satisfaction! The most indulging of all indulging cups! This needs to find me! Come to me from a far off land please! I wish I could get my hands on a lot of this! Thank you so much Stephanie for adding the rest of your sample into my Christmas gift!!!! I love it! I’m just so sad it was one serving. But don’t you worry… I savored every moment with this tea. It was so spot on. I’m usually very skeptical off teas with apple… But it’s like they aren’t even there! You can smell them but not taste! This is spot on a French macaron! The soft chewy outer pastry shell and delicious buttercream filling! Wow this is like eating one right out of the oven! I am flabbergasted! Wow! Wow! Wow! Loss for words.
I need this. End of story. Period.

just a really short note, because I have just been remembered of this.

I love violets, in perfume and in candy and preferably in the flesh – some of the sweetest, wildest, more perfect of flowers. A perfect flower and a perfect flower scent.

Now I have been lucky enough to try a few violet teas, a strange idea which can be surprisingly good. Two of those teas came from Ysaurella, a Dammann Freres versions and the Mariage Freres version. This might just be the only tea concept ever where I think the Dammann take is better (and pricier!) than the Mariage Freres one. Very good, but somehow only the second best violet tea I ever had – try Dammann´s instead. (Though, do not extrapolate from that to other kinds of tea!)

Almost finished with this tin! I FINALLY cold steeped it. I think it is a little too strong, which is fine if I want to drink it on ice, but I decided to carbonate it instead. It has a faint ginger scent that reminds me of ginger ale, but it lacks any bite that a good ginger ale has. How do they do that? Ginger flavor without the bite, so strange! It is generally pretty smooth and pleasant to drink, but still isn’t striking me as anything amazing. On occasion I will get the urge to have a cup of this tea, but reading over my reviews of not feeling strongly about it, I end up wondering why I will gravitate towards it.

Looks like I have slowly been working my way through this tin because I can see the bottom! I’m still not super thrilled with this tea, but it has been reliable with what it delivers; a mellow ginger that is fairly evenly balanced. It’s strange, because I don’t think I have tried this cold steeped yet and I love cold steeping teas. I’ll have to try that next and if it doesn’t somehow transform into magic that carries me away to mystic flavorful lands, then I’m not likely to seek this one out for a second tin.

I had a nasty run in with some shrimp scampi yesterday that kept me up all night and has left my stomach feeling queasy today. I thought some ginger tea might hit the spot and thankfully I’m getting along better with this tea than I have in the past. I added a little sugar and soy creamer which is rounding this out nicely. The ginger isn’t super strong and dominating, which I wouldn’t have minded especially right now, but it is in there. I’m guessing the cream mellowed it out. I can see enjoying this more when prepared this way when I’m not looking for a strong ginger bite, but I still don’t think this tea warrants the MF price tag.

Having this tea again and coming to the same conclusions as my first tasting note. The tea is nice enough, but kind of mellow and a little boring for the price tag. I do wish they had added something to make this tea spectacular like apricot, honey, cream, mango, chocolate… There is really a lot that pairs well with ginger, so why stop with just ginger?

I tried adding honey, but the honey from my yard was too flavorful and overpowered. Maybe store bought honey? I tried adding powdered goat milk (my go to for cream flavor) and sugar, which was good, but I think it was too much milk. I’m determined to find something to make this tea more exciting. The quest goes on!

I was super excited to see Mariage Freres teas being sold near my hometown on a visit. I decided to buy one black and one green tea to get a feel for the brand since I had never had their teas before. This one smelled really nice and gingery so I decided to give it a go. I have to admit that I was less than thrilled with it the first time I tried it, but I have been giving it another go and found it much nicer this time. When it is hot, the ginger seems a bit harsh and dominating, but as it cools the ginger mellows out and I swear I tasted a carmel like note at one point. I’m now on my third steeping and the ginger is still going strong. It is hard for me to pick out the green tea base, but there is a second or two in the middle of each sip that I can taste it. As the cup cools even more to room temperature, I find the tea less enjoyable again. It seems there is a middle temperature window that I prefer for this one. I like this one, but I feel like I might have picked a different tea to purchase if I had tasted it first.

Thanks Sil for sending some of this my way.

I don’t have much to offer in the way of insight. I think it’s good, but not great. It’s a decent black, but not really special to me. I’ve had a few cups worth today, and while it’s been enjoyable – there are other blacks that I prefer more, and there are other Mariage Freres teas I prefer.
Interesting experience.

A perfect every-day tea for those who can’t live without a cup of black, but who can’t cope with too much caffeine. I have it at night, sometimes with some green cardomom and milk.

First time I had a cup of American Breakfast. Bought it in Paris a couple of days ago and couldn’t wait to try it. Even better with some milk and sugar.

I made up a thermos of this tea this afternoon, packed up a blanket and a book and bundled myself off to King’s Park to lay in the sun and sip tea. The most perfect way to spend an afternoon.