Mariage Frères

Sipdown! 821.

Thanks to momo for this one. I don’t mind this one, but really am not getting anything other than “flavoured black” from it… which could be an age issue. It’s a tea I would like to try again, just because of all the glowing reviews, which mine is not. Ah well!

Scrolled through 11 pages of notes on this tea to find that I haven’t tried this before? Odd, I’d swear I had, although there’s no note, and my tea swaps sheet says I haven’t tried it either (although it’s often unreliable in that respect).

Anyhow, having some Marco Polo courtesy of momo! My recollection, which apparently may have nothing to do with this tea, is that I couldn’t get the flavours out of it that other people were…. which seems to be true. It’s another case of tea that I can tell is flavoured, and find enjoyable, but I can’t really pick out specific flavours, and therefore, am not overly thrilled. Perhaps it’s an age thing, so maybe I’ll try some fresher stuff sometime, but I’m underwhelmed. No astringency with a 2-minute infusion though, so a good cup of tea regardless! (I just had high expectations due to rave reviews!)

It’s by far one of my favorite green teas! So lovely ,mild,and fresh-green,the vanilla 、berries and green tea all together make such a unforgettable and ever-changing dreaming taste!Change steep time or temperature,you get something brand new and exciting,you won’t get tired of it!

Incontestablement une de mes plus belles rencontres d’Assam. Une tasse équilibrée alliant des notes de malt et de cacao, rappelant le tabac frais. Une tasse pleine de caractère.

Shelley_Lorraine was kind enough to send me a sample of this in our (semi)-recent swap – it’s taking me ages to get through those samples (and others I’ve swapped for in the past several months) because more often than not it’s been too hot for me to want tea that is not iced. But it’s really cooled off in the past week, so I’ve been trying to get some quality tea sessions in this weekend.

Anyway, to the tea… I’m not a big eater of macarons, but I wouldn’t say this tea is particularly reminiscent of them. It does taste faintly almondy, but only faintly. This is a relief to me, as I haven’t been too fond of nut- (and especially almond-)flavored teas in the past. Here, the almond is more hinted at than anything else.

I’m struggling to say what this tea does taste like – I see apple is listed as an ingredient, so maybe that? Yes, I think it might be apple – it’s more the way I imagine apple blossoms might taste, if that makes sense; it’s delicate and floral in a way apples themselves usually aren’t, quite.

I have no idea what amaranth (the last ingredient) tastes like, so I can’t say how that might be playing into the flavor. The base is nice and smooth and plays well – no, plays exquisitely – with the other flavors.

I feel like I’m not doing justice to the overall flavor profile – maybe the amaranth is the missing link, or maybe I just lack the requisite tea vocabulary – but it’s just delicious.

This is why swaps are the best. I never would’ve tried this tea otherwise – it doesn’t have the flavor profile I usually go for, while I like macarons okay I’m not crazy about them, I was very disappointed by the only MF tea I’d tried previously, the price to order (not to mention shipping from France) is rather exorbitant, etc. etc. – but I love it. And I want more. Not sure how or when that’s going to happen, but someday this tea will be mine! It’s also gotten me curious about the rest of the Héritage Gourmand line.

For my own future reference: I made this with 1 teaspoon of tea/1 cup boiling water.

It is very good tea. You can smell very subtle, fragrant floral scent when you brew it. Recommended brewing time was 7 min and not bitter at all. Flavor is somewhat weak though but I think I should have put less water.

I liked this tea however considering price… it should be good! (It is definitely pricier one.)

I had Em and M (I did not do that on purpose) over for dinner and we had a pot of this because Em was all ‘no caffeine because sleep no caf no caf hyper’.

And M, who stayed in my apartment while I was away was all, ‘okay so I found your tea stash and are you aware you might possibly have a problem?’

Oh, and Veronica Mars! And that kid on the plane and all the other people, including that guy and all those other things, but I’m too tired for coherence, so I’m off to bed.

Today, I served this for a birthday afternoon tea-esque (cup)cake party. Paired with all that frosting it seemed almost indecent; a kind of Marie Antoinette sumptuousness colliding with the explosive unpredictability of the Mad Hatter. I do adore this tea.

I can’t quite explain this tea. I stumbled over the just-opened Mariage Frères store in London in the fall. I sniffed my way through everything they had. I definitely wasn’t going to buy another rooibos. The only thing I walked away with was this.

What gives, Anna?

I gifted the one I bought to a person who doesn’t really like rooibos at all (but who hilariously hogged it to the extent that the wildest excuses were made to not share any of the tea at all). I then returned in the spring and did EXACTLY THE SAME THING (?!) but kept the tea for myself this time.

It’s nowhere near as pretty as the picture above – forget about seeing even half a rose petal. The scent isn’t particularly strong; there’s a solid, lavender-strewn body with a slight hint of something indistinguishable and vaguely exciting.

It’s not an exceptional tea. It’s an elegant, smooth rooibos that hits a surprisingly bright shade brewed. It tastes… just like it smells.

And yet is has that thing. A wild card, a ghost note, a secret, two pinches of je ne sais quoi.

And I can’t explain it.

And I can’t stop drinking it.

[Purchased at Mariage Frères in London, May 2013.]

A birthday week tea rerun (trearun?). I figured this would pair well both with the chocolate cake and the almond cake in case someone else wanted tea. It was so nice to get to see everyone in the same room for once – we all work very different hours and the building is pretty big. I’m often out and about, too, so there are some people on the staff I adore but don’t get to see more often than once a month or so.

(To make this post a little bit more about tea – the cleaning staff teased me about my tea cupboard. And, uh, rightfully so.)

Anyway, I got everyone caffeinated and sugared up, so let’s hope we all get a lot of work done before we collapse around lunchtime.

Just one more cup before I run off – and as always, this makes for a flawless one.

I have a little more than half of this tin left, which makes me ponder the logistics of tea storage. I mean, I have a lot in my cupboard now, which I assume is typical for this stage of tea obsession – you tend to overbuy once you get completely hooked, because you want to explore certain brands and tea types.

There are definitely numerous new teas I’d like to try now, too, but I’d really prefer to have a cupboard consisting only of teas rated 80+ before I get anything else. However, that’s roughly 1/4 of the 100+ teas currently in my cupboard, which means I’d have to finish 3/4 of all the tea I own before I buy more. I don’t see that happening, even though I have not yet purchased any tea this year, which is quite a feat in itself.

I really like when there’s a system, though. I need a system.

I opened a whole new tin of this today (a celebration in itself) to share with my new friend Y, who turned out to be exactly the person I needed to talk to about a specific thing. If there ever was a time and place for the serendipitea pun, trust me, this is it.

Either way, I made a whole pot of this, albeit a small pot, and then I had to run off to the ‘Possible Encounters’ exhibit by this guy: http://felixdavey.com/ leaving half of the tea behind.

So I decided to experiment a little and ice it; I’ve been curious about how something as desserty as Pleine Lune would fare iced. I poured the remains into a pitcher, but seeing as it was only about 1/3 full, I dropped the rest of the leaves in there, too, and topped it up with cold water. I’ll let it steep like that over night – not ideal conditions and not a very elegant experiment, for sure, but let’s give it a try. It’s more fun this way than not at all, after all.

I’ll update this note later with my (as always, highly scientific) findings.

[Surreptitiously acquired from Mariage Frères in London, August 2013.]

How to decide what tea would go best with the last ever episode of Breaking Bad? There was just no way. I chose the last of this sample purely for symbolic reasons – so the dregs of my first ever batch of Pleine Lune would go down with Mr. White.

I have nothing left to say, except there was some bitterness right at the end.

[Sample acquired at Mariage Frères in London, May 2013.]
[Polished off in Rome, October 2013.]

Some post-party Pleine Lune. (The actual moon is probably just around 90% full, but close enough.)

…and another steep and re-steep. I want to court this tea and love it very tenderly. Forever.

I smelled this in the Selfridge’s (Apostrophe Protection Society 4 lyfe) store and had to try it. Almondy teas all-too-often hit that cheap, artificial bitter almond essence note, but this is much closer to amaretto-drizzled marzipan cake – but without being cloying.

Re-steeping is quite acceptable – but it really brings out the cinnamon in the nose and tones down the almond body of the flavour – it’s still round and warm and pleasant, though.

This is one of those teas that do something to me. The leafy equivalent of shakabuku, maybe; a spiritual kick to the head that alters your reality forever. In this case, the kick is aimed at the taste buds, but it does feel like some small aspect of my tea-related brain chemistry has been adjusted. After just one cup, Pleine Lune already appears familiar and self-evident.

I look forward to living with this tea very much.

[Sample acquired at Mariage Frères in London, May 2013.]

Had this tea at Mariage Frères tea room last Sunday.
I really enjoyed it even if I remember a kind of bitterness(subtile but present)
I suspected an assam…I think I was right !

The citrus are lovely

follow up: 3rd steep was still really good. the 4th steep, a full steep, is still as flowery as the first (the earlier steeps were shorter tho, eastern style) <3

5th is still ok, less tea but still good flower flavor :)

delightful! i made a weak first steep and that was the first adjective that came to mind. subtle and smooth, too..on a 2nd longer steep. i love this! thank you for sharing some with me, Ellyn! hugs all the way from the Philippines! :D

Okay, might have to revise what I said about preferring Marco Polo to the other wonderful Mariage Frères teas sent by ysaurella and cteresa. I drank this before I broke my elbow, but planned to do tasting note on second drinking, and now that my note-making abilities are very limited, I find I need to bump this up mentally! Love the chestnuttiness, (oh, really, Steepster, chestnuttiness should totally be a word if nuttiness is!), and the smooth, gentle tea base, and the vanilla notes. Still have enough for another sample with hope of a better note in the future, but not too much hope.

Thanks, ysaurella!