Mariage Frères

I was right – this is awesome iced. Really awesome. I was not too crazy about it hot, but brewed a pot to chill and it is even better than I hoped. A totally different experience from the hot drink, chilled you get the balance between the green tea underneath, the sharpness of the mint and feel the bergamot just adding some oomph.

I did not brew it exactly right, I should have been much more generous with the tea quantity, it is a bit waterybut awesome.

Upping the rating on this a lot ;)

I think I got it right this time, not too hot water, plenty of tea, and not letting it oversteep. And it is very refreshing, strong mint, hint of bergamot to just amplify the mint. The tea, well not feeling the tea strongly.

Very nice if you like this sort of thing – right now, not quite my thing, but maybe I will like it better as I use the rest of the sample. Or when the weather gets hotter and refreshing will be more valued than right now. We shall see.

I don´t know. My first cup of this, and it´s good, it seems like it might be awesome iced with fruits on it, but maybe it is not going to be my cup of tea. We shall see!

Had a pot of this at a quiet deli yesterday afternoon. I absolutely loved the honey aroma! :D Just as MF claims, it is a great afternoon tea because it’s smooth, mild and sweet. I had tried it straight and with milk, and it was lovely either way. :)

My two hundredth tasting note! And to celebrate, I’ve saved my most eagerly anticipated sample from Indigobloom! I’ve wanted to try this one since I first read its description, and the tea didn’t disappoint me at all.

I added just a small amount of sugar and just sat back and delighted in the fruit flavours that I got. I know most of you reading this have already tried this tea already so I won’t bore you, but just . . . yeah. Definitely worthy of being my 200th tasting note. Yum.

I have been really anxious lately and I think it all revolves around the fact that a couple weeks ago basically out of nowhere my grandma had to be moved into a nursing home and this weekend will be the first time I see her and it completely terrifies me. Nothing has really made me feel better but with my nose over a cup of Marco Polo I actually felt like I could breathe well for once between this and pollenmania. I have not been getting anything done like I should and I can’t bring myself to do it. So now I have a microeconomics test tomorrow and really no idea what it is on.

It’s not that it reminds me of anything, it just smells right. Malty and fruity, a bit like chocolate, a bit floral. I think the first time I had it I put in milk and sugar immediately but I think I may like it better without. It’s a bit astringent, but so creamy. And then there’s the berry taste, and the floral finish. It’s really relaxing right now, yet you have to keep on thinking about it because it’s so complex.

On an indifference curve, there would be no substitute for Marco Polo, and your budget line is just going to have to deal with the fact you actually need to have this tea. That should be good for tomorrow, right?

I have been angry with myself for months because I did not buy this tea. I went all the way to the Mariage Freres tea room, freaked out, and left. The tin I did purchase I got at La Grande Epicerie De Paris, and while I stared at all of them for a good 10 minutes, I didn’t know the whole story of Marco Polo.

So for months I have wanted it and wished I had gotten it. At least it’s easy to acquire in the United States, so thanks Williams Sonoma. And thankfully this is the only tea they stock at the one by me, so there wasn’t a chance to buy more.

Oh I am so glad to finally have it. With milk and sugar it is so fruity and creamy, it really is like strawberry shortcake. Nothing tastes fake about it. I figured this would be good since Vanille des Iles is the best tasting vanilla tea I’ve ever had.

A packaged arrived just today of which I asked a friend of mine to send me any tea straight from Paris. Being quite the tea addict as I am, he picked out probably what I consider to be the best blend made by Mariage! oh so sweet shanghai! The blossoming lotus of the Yangtze! The aromas when I first pop the tin open was the smell of spring and a distinct tea very much close to a japanese greens. The floral and fruity aspects gives a crisp, clean and bountiful tastes if not eerily similar to other blends made by Mariage. The green tea tasted a bit vegetal with a hint of nuts that compliments a fruity floral finish that always linger on the start and finish. It maybe a bit astringent and tannic after a couple sips, but still great hot or cold.

Sipdown!
I will have finished this off today, it’s been a long time coming. This says it’s a blend of first flush teas but I always thought it was a second flush blend, oh well. It’s been a nice blend but I don’t think I will miss it too much. It’s good with a touch of sugar too.

Just a note that I brewed some of this up in my Teavana glass tumbler and poured it over ice this afternoon. The weather here is gorgeous and it’s perfect iced tea weather! This makes for quite a lovely glass of iced tea. Eat your heart out, Snapple…

After lunch tea here…. this is the only tea I own by Mariage Freres and it’s nothing extraordinary, but I felt like enjoying some darjeeling today and I’d also like to get this tin finished off so I don’t feel guilty about buying more darjeeling later in the season. ;-)

I just got back from a late lunch of Burmese food and a short tea tasting, boy am I STUFFED! It was all so good.

This is the tea of the evening/last afternoon. I am a little sad after reading my previous tasting notes that my BF had bought this for me. The word for impermanence in Pali is anicca, recognizing that all things are fleeting. Enjoy the love while you have it, people.

we had this for breakfast today – I definitely recommend it plain and not with soymilk. Not the best darjeeling I’ve ever had but still very nice. See previous notes. :)

My sweetie got this one for me from a Williams Sonoma store in San Francisco. They also had the Marco Polo but I wanted to try this instead.

I steeped it at 212F for 2 minutes – might try a bit longer next time but I wanted to err on the side of caution. This is a very nice blend of first flush teas. Lightly floral, slighty fruity, woodsy but not really astringent or pungent. It’s gentle and great for the afternoon. Interesting how the other tasters thought it was slightly bitter since I’m not really picking up on much bitterness. Perhaps the shorter steeping time helped. I liked this one but I am thinking it could be a bit more aromatic. It might be interesting to try it also at a lower temp for longer period of time…

I got several teabags from a friend of mine who ordered it straight from paris. I personally have not been to well acquainted with Mariage Fieres teas as its quite rare outside the US or elsewhere without ordering online. Its certainly a fine treat as the tea itself is quite in harmony with the bergamont and mint which really complemented each other well. The first sip was like a rush of cool breeze in my mouth and a citrus finish, the gunpowder definitely gave it a nice calm feeling. I feel an urge to hug my friend for this generosity and certainly shake the hand of the Mariage’s tea master!

The citric tartness of Yuzu Rind, complement the drink, it’s not a tea for those who don’t like tart teas, but its a good tea if you are wanting an inbetween from an herbal fruity tea and a pure green tea.

Seven samples finished in seven days? Yeah, I’m behind because this is number three! O.o

I have already covered how Cteresa sent me Brave Tea and Interesting Tea. She also sent me Coveted Tea. I’ve had this on my shopping list for just about forever, but never really got around to making an MF order. It’s the New Shop Syndrome. It’s really difficult to shop in a new place for the first time. I tend to have to decide to do so well in advance of actual shopping, otherwise I just end up stocking up of old favourites instead. So MF is one of those places that I never got around to. I don’t think I’ve ever even tried anything from them before, which doesn’t make it easier to shop there for the first time.

So Cteresa is hitting two birds with one stone for me here. If this one comes out well for me, MF is going on the list of the next shopping spree along with Yumchaa. (That just leaves one space open. I’m still undecided about that one, but I do have a few potentials to check out. Three orders at a time seems to be what I’m comfortable with. I probably ought to make it one order per month instead, really.)

Anyway, so let’s see about this much coveted tea. Strangely enough, I’m not actually concerned about disappointment should I turn out to not like it.

The aroma is very sweet and pleasant. It’s quite chocolate-y and also kind of cake-y and vanilla-y. There’s a vague hint of something fruity if you really look for it and knows about it beforehand, but it’s not noticable and it’s not directly recognisable as strawberry. I really enjoy this aroma. It’s like liquid sweets, only not as cloying as one might have feared. It’s very pleasant indeed.

The flavour, however, is strongly strawberry. I’m really surprised at how strawberry-y this is! I can’t remember ever having met such a very strawberry-y strawberry flavoured tea before. It’s amazing! I’m getting a little chocolate underneath, but mostly it’s just the berries. There’s something creamy about it too, and it reminds me of fresh strawberries served with cream or a fat milk and sprinkled with sugar, a very classic summer dessert in Denmark.

Yeah, MF is definitely in the next order group. No doubt about that. I knew there was a reason I’ve been wanting to try this one for so long!