Mariage Frères

This is the first Mariage Frères that I ever tasted and it is amazing. There is a perfect balance of green tea and citrus.

I wish I liked this more! It’s pretty to watch the compressed tea nest unfurl/disintegrate as it steeps, but the flavor… There’s just not enough there for me to appreciate. I’ve tried steeping it longer, and that has just given me a generic oversteeped green tea taste. Not bad, just not at all interesting.

This is a very good red tea – not as powerful as Surabaya, but still very yummy. There is a pervasive but not overpowering citrus, plus hints of sweet spiciness that I haven’t fully identified yet, because they are interwoven with the natural sweetness of the rooibos. I prefer this one without milk and sugar; just my preference for teas with a citrus base.

This is a great tea – I like rooibos to begin with for its honey notes, but Mariage Freres has taken this base and masterfully deepened it to include vanilla and musk. Everyone I’ve served it to has commented on the flavor; it is warming and full-bodied with a long after-taste. It won’t give you a caffeine buzz but it will light up your taste buds!

Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act I scene 6

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough briar,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats, spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In their freckles live our savours.
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II scene 1

I awoke this morning with the thought of Carpe Tea-um! Cheesy, but true. I’d been holding off on this and a few other teas and realized that I should just go for it. Why wait? There’s so much tea and so little time.

I have found my A Midsummer NIght’s Dream. I swear that fairies must have made this tea! I sniffed it and couldn’t tell what was in this tea. I still can’t tell you after reading the description. The description is all about fruits, and my tastebuds don’t see it that way. Is Puck tricking me? Perhaps the most apt description I can come up with is that this tastes like the flowers of a fruit before the fruit is born. It’s this beautiful, subtle, nectarish tea that I adore. I’m on its third and obviously final steep. It’s turned almost completely to a nectar sweetness. For me, this tea is the definition of lovely. TG

My last serve of this until I get a chance to restock sometime in the next few months. It’s warm and spicy, heavy on the clove and ginger and with a strong black tea base that avoids bitterness. It’s got quite a caffeine kick to it as well, which is just right for an otherwise slow Monday morning. Even though I didn’t prepare in the traditional chai manner, with cream and sugar this makes a nice substitute.

I like sorting through the varieties of “chai” themed teas out there – this one centers the flavors more around the ginger and pepper side of the spectrum than the cinnamon and nutmeg. This is a good one to brew strongly and mix with milk and sugar.

Simple: good quality black tea with rose petals – beautiful bouquet and nice flavor too. But you have to like roses to enjoy this one to its fullest, as it is quite a strongly perfumed tea.

I like smoky teas, and this is a good one, though not as great as their Lapsang Souchong. Here I find that the tea leaves themselves do not have as robust a flavor as I’d like to stand up to the smoke – they appear to be Oolong. I’ve learned to be careful with the steeping time and temperature on this one: slightly lower temperature and slightly longer steeping time than I usually employ. This is one I always drink without milk or sugar.

Mariage Freres features a number of different Earl Grey blends, and I find this one to be their best. The bergamot is present without being overwhelming, the black tea base is rich and flavorful, and the blue blossoms, though they may not add any discernible flavor, do make it a beautiful tea to “watch”. Great with milk and sugar too.

Almond is the dominant flavor here, which I have to be in the mood for – otherwise it will taste too sweet, almost cloying, for my palate. Small bits of almond and blue cornflowers are spread evenly throughout the tea. Good with milk and sugar.

Cleaning out the last little bit of yet another Mariage Freres favorite. Although I’ve had this batch for a while and it’s no longer the freshest, I still got a good dose of warm spiciness, with orange, clove and vanilla all still doing their best to make an appearance. With cream and sugar it’s a real treat and makes me feel like I’ve already had my dessert for the day!

No logical reason why I would want Christmas tea on a hot day in August, but there you have it. Drinking it straight, instead of with milk and sugar, for the first time in a long time to see if I notice anything new. Cinnamon, orange, and clove are the main players, but I’m beginning to think there may be a hint of bergamot in there as well. Even with a strong steep, the astringency is not overwhelming, and the aftertaste is warm and delightful. Super yummy tea!

Just had a good pot of this one. I like it because unlike many other Christmas-themed teas, it is not overwhelmed by cinnamon, or orange peel, or some unidentifiable “spice” flavor. It is balanced between the citrus and spice elements and based on good quality black tea. This is another one that does quite well with milk and sugar, and though I haven’t tried it that way, I imagine it would be fine iced as well.

Decupboarding…sniff sniff! I steeped it up extra strong today in an attempt to have it leave a lasting mark on my memory, which is all I’m going to have until I have a chance to get more in a few months. So it’s not really goodbye old friend, simply au revoir -

Next to the last serving of one of my all-time favorite teas from my all-time favorite tea house. It’s vanilla with an overlay of malt and at least one other flavor I have a hard time fully ID’ing – could be brandy or whisky, or even pipe tobacco. Something sweet but sharp, heady and aromatic, and truly irresistible. Excellent with cream and sugar.

I am a great fan of Mariage Freres teas, and having had the great good fortune to have recently spent two years in Paris gave me many opportunities to sample their wares. If I had to pick one favorite of theirs, this would be it. It’s similar to their Vanille des Iles, but with a deeper and slightly sweeter flavor. It stands up to milk and sugar well and leaves a hauntingly beautiful aftertaste. I’m no longer in Paris but see that it may be available via mail order to those of us in the US – this is very good news. If you like vanilla tea which is rich and tasty, give this a try.

Finished up what was left in my stash…yum!!!

Fruity, Juicy, and craving more…and I’m almost out of this in my stash…eeeeeeek!

VERY sweet! Went perfect with my Scone! See my previous review

Doulton has struck again! Thanks D!!!!
I am drinking even more Black and Black Flavors than normal today! usually by now I spring into Greens, Whites, Rooibos, Herbal mixes, etc. I LOVE IT THO!!!!! :)

I wasn’t getting much scent from this one prior to infusion. Once it gets infusing the fruit and citronella scent come out a little.

This is a medium brown color with reddish tinge to it. Very nice color!

It’s quite a bit bolder than I anticipated! YAY!

There is a creamy-semi-fruity-sweet-ness with dessert like after tastes to it. It has a fairly unique flavor…and I must say I am pleasantly surprised by it.

This is from Doulton! Thank you!

Mariage Freres does not provide much in the way of a description for this tea. So it’s up to me to try and figure out what is in this. I love a challenge – bring it on!

The scent is reminiscent of chocolate covered strawberries. Upon tasting, I’m getting something creamy (banana?) and the faintest hint of tart raspberry. This is most interesting. One of the things I’m enjoying about this is that it doesn’t seem to be astringent. It has some creaminess, like vanilla or banana, that calms down the black tea. I think adding some milk to this would put the creamy factor on 12.

I recommend anyone who wants a tea adventure to try this. Since it lacks a description, it doesn’t fill your head with subliminal thoughts of what you’re supposed to taste. And since I’m not sure if all of the notes I detected were truly there, I can conclude that this tea was full just general delicious things.

Elixir d’Amour – Mariage Freires

Finishing up the rest from my stash…also backlogging…this is still good but I can taste the difference in flavor from my last few attempts…it’s aging. Still sweet and pleasant, however.

Very nectar-like…totally yummy…