THEODOR

So my day today has been less than stellar. I ended up making this tea and putting whipping cream in it (33%) instead of either coffee cream or milk. You know you’re going to have a rough day when…
Anyways it still remains delicious and an amazing comfort on a day that needs to end!!!

Wow – hello spiffy changed Steepster. I decided to drink this in the morning. I have the late shift today and needed something that felt homey and comforting. This was the choice. Served with cream and stevia!

So I had a little giggle over this tea… partially because the owner/master blender at The O Dor, originally worked at Mariages Freres. I find the description of this tea on their website to be a bit cheeky:
“It reminds you something? You think you know it? Nothing of the kind …Your jealousy is out of bound…How to say? This one is much better, deeper, more balanced and somehow far more subtle. You speak ill of it because you know much too well… It is only a coincidence if you pretend loving a similar one. Anyway, this one is mine and I don’t like sharing.”

Now, I can only speculate, BUT I sense he’s talking about Marco Polo, Mariages most famous flavoured black tea. Very very cheeky Parisian, that master blender.

I brewed this at 95C for 6 mins, as I feel I need a little more robustness in my black teas. The instructions call for 85 for 3-5 mins, as it seems with most of the The O Dor flavoured black blends.

At first sniff: This tea smells very fruity with subtle hints of vanilla and reminds me very much of Marco Polo… with the information above, I wonder why. Fruity, vanilla goodness.

At first taste: This tea again mirrors Marco Polo but with some other subtle notes. The O Dor is good a subtle hints of other flavours. I’m tasting nutty of some sort, but nothing strong like hazelnut though. Might be almond (almond extract maybe?)

I love this tea with milk and sugar (or stevia as of late.) I guess I personally appreciate the more subtle and delicate flavours, as some people knock The O Dor for their “weak” tastes. Depending on the day, I like in your face teas, but usually I like more elegant and refined flavours that have depth to them.

I’m forcing myself to go through my tea stash and pay attention to some of the ones that have been sitting there waiting for me to drink them and much of my The O Dor collection is sitting very pretty, like a well dressed Parisian woman waiting.

At first sniff: I can picture in my head the meringue peaks with toasted caps and how the sugar smells mixed with the egg whites. It literally smells like that to a T. The lemon notes wrap around this smell and then develop the more complex (ha ha, it’s without complexity though right?) smells and aromas. Some days I love it and some days I think it smells almost like soured baked goods.

At first steep: I’ve been following The O Dor’s instructions on brewing lately, to see if I’ve been doing something wrong with every other cup I’ve brewed with them. They seem finicky with black flavoured teas. I brewed at 85C and for 6 mins, because I’ve found the 3-5 it says just isn’t bold enough for this girl first thing in the morning. The lemon comes out much stronger after it has been brewed and that lovely meringue taste fades to the background slightly. I added milk and stevia to it and the stevia brings the meringue back into play, but the lemon is definitely taking a stroll on my taste buds. Although not my favourite The O Dor blend, I do like it when I’m in the mood for a light dessert.

Side note: I tried to do a re-order of some of my favourites on their website… the shipping is upwards of 50Euros…. for a few 100g of tea. Sigh… why must stores in Vancouver bring in high end French things and then change companies (I’m looking at you TWG.) Well, might just be worth it to make a trip there, vs paying that ridiculous charge. With the exchange rate, I’m paying 1.5 to 1 basically. Yeeesh…. I’ll just sip my sans complexe nicely… and lovingly.

There was a point in time, where this was my hands down favourite tea by The O Dor. I got a bit tired of it for a while, but after making myself a cup of it this morning, it’s like an old friend smiling back at me.

At first sniff: My mother cannot stand the smell of this tea. I personally smell the chocolate at first and then a nutty after smell comes through. I wouldn’t say it’s the nicest smell considering it’s suppose to be Chocolate and hazelnut, but what it lacks in smell dry, it makes up for in…

At first steep: Today I actually brewed it to the instruction on my tin. 80C at 5 mins. It’s a bit on the weak side to my liking, so I think I would brew it longer next time. The hazelnut and chocolate come out way more in the aroma of the tea once brewed. There’s a reason it was a number one contender at one point. And it doesn’t disappoint like say… Choconut Oolong from DT. No licorice here, no fake smells or tastes, just pure ingredients. I’ve been thinking more and more this is why I don’t appreciate DT as much… I’m use to high class French tea. The French do it right, it seems and they are my favourite cup of tea, if I had to choose a country. I take this tea with milk and sugar (today it was stevia because I’m trying to cut down on the sugar I ingest) and it’s just delicious. A dessert in a tea. I use to have this at high tea all the time and it goes well with both savory and sweet. I’m glad I decided to brew this tea today, made me appreciate it again.

Simply: wow.

This is my first Oolong, so I did not have any expectations. I took it because I am discovering Theodor teas, and this one was on my random shopping list.

The smell in the box is weird, I felt milk and caramel (although there is no caramel at all). It is not the most exciting smell, I almost gave up buying the tea. I stuck with it mainly because I was already about to pay :-).

I find that this tea marries extremely well with the cake and / or cookies.

I steeped at 75C for 5 minutes and at 80C for 3 minutes. I prefer shorter steep at the higher temperature, as I perceive it has more smoothness and character. But in any case this is a rich, voluminous and profound tea.

Okay – now this is the official sipdown

I had some left in the Breville from yesterday so I resteeped the tea leaves with some added water and the left overs for 8 mins at boiling. Maybe a little tacky but I like to think its more thrifty.

I’m going to miss this tea, doing this didn’t even wreck it. Good-bye friend! Until we meet again (or I have the courage to bear the shipping charges.)

A very sad sipdown

Well the last of my Melange do Galice is gone. This is probably one of my favourite The O Dor teas, other than Place St Marc, which was a sipdown very very long ago.

I brewed this tea to the instructions this time (85C), rather than at boiling like I use to do. I honestly didn’t know that this tea was suppose to be brewed at lower, as it is a black tea. The O Dor seems to do this with a lot of their black teas. I didn’t find it any different than any other time I’ve had it.

At first sniff: This is a fruit lovers dream, read: a orchard peach lovers dream. Combined with the vanilla, it smells heavenly. I grew up in the Okanagan, during my summers as a kid and this takes me right back to it. The vanilla undertones are lovely and compliment the black tea and the peaches.

At first steep: This tea brews up a lovely rich colour and the smells waft even more. I take it with cream and sugar and it just tastes like a peach dreamsicle. I’m so sad it’s gone and probably won’t be able to stock up on it for a while. C’est dommage. It wraps itself around your tongue and feels like you’re biting into a very ripe delicious peach. No fake peach taste and no fake smells. So refine. This is apparently the laziness tea according to The O Dor and I would say it does take me to a lazy summer day sitting on the porch eating a fresh local peach with some ice cream. Yum yum!

I thought it would be the perfect tea to compliment the cupcakes I was icing this morning for a baby shower. Aw yeah, pink cupcakes, peach tea and my doggie best friend makes for a lovely Saturday morning.

This is a lovely chai tea to which my supply is dwindling. I had it with milk and sugar and enjoy every sip of it. It’s so fragrant and one of my favourites.

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus, but with fall around the corner, I’m back!!

Another morning with this tea. Today I had it with almond milk and stevia. The almond milk brought a different quality to the chai, but it was very pleasant. This is still my favourite chai. It’s spicy, warm, comforting and tastes quite authentic to me.

An excellent decision for me this morning!

I wanted something spicy this morning and this Chai is lovely.

At first sniff: This chai does not smell sweet like a lot of the other chai I’ve smelled. It’s a bit more savory because of the cardamom pods and the chilli pieces in it. It’s lacking cinnamon and has more complex flavours with the spices that are chosen. I haven’t been exposed to many “authentic” chais before, but this one seems pretty close. I have made this on stovetop before as well

At first steep: It’s a lovely brown colour and smells slightly medicinal, but with a spicy quality. I took it with cream and stevia today because I feel chai should include sweet as it enhances the spices in it.

It’s probably my favourite chai I have on my shelf, but I am a sucker for Tazo chai lattes from Starbucks. Hands down the best chai lattes are from there. I don’t care what anyone says. I’ve tried from other chains and independent chains and I guess I go back to what I’m most familiar with.

I’ll be sad when this one leaves my cupboard. Might have to bite the bullet and do a The O Dor order. Maybe we can all combine to save on shipping.

Sipdown

I originally bought this tea a couple years ago because of the ridiculously cute tea tin it came in. It was pink and had fairies on it. I didn’t realize it was a tisane (makes sense as it was marketed as a tea to give for a baby shower. They had a boy version too.)

I have never had this tea hot. I have always iced it. I steep for a long time hot and then chill in the fridge in a rubbermaid pitcher.
Smell: The smell of this tea takes you off in to a tropical wonderland. You instantly smell the cherries and pineapple and then the banana is there to end off the note. I really like the smell of this.

Taste: Again, I have only had this iced, can’t comment on it warm, but I find fruit teas taste really sour when they are hot, so prefer them chilled. This tea looks like fruit punch Kool-aid. Its a dark red-pink. The taste has a tropical cherry taste with a hint of banana at the end. It’s probably one of my favourite to make iced, which means I might have to bite the bullet and order more from The O Dor, even though I’m sure I will pay large for the shipping from France. The local store I bought this at no longer carries the line.

J’adore Je M’appelle Dorothee!

I am slowly drinking the remains of my The O Dor teas that I had from Urban Tea Merchant. I have probably 10 – 15g left of this one, so I brewed some yesterday. I always liked that The O Dor was not artificially flavoured and am becoming increasingly irritated with other companies that do, as I don’t think it’s necessary. I have become more and more of a tea snob in that sense.

Side note: Kind of like how I am now a sushi snob. Before I could stomach the all you can eat variety, now… it tastes like garbage.

I digress back to the tea…

Dry: It smells citrus-y and the notes of raspberry come out right away, it’s a comfort to me.

Steeped: I am pretty much consistent in adding some sort of milk or milk alternative to my tea, along with some sugar or stevia, especially with black tea. Herbals I find I don’t need to do this with, but there’s something special about black tea. I catch onto the berry flavour immediately and the sugar brings out the vanilla that’s in it, it feel thick and in my mouth, probably because of the cream.

Overall, this never was my favourite black tea, but it was one that I did like when I was looking for something that was more tart and fruity instead of sweet and fruity.

Thank you so much cteresa for sending me some of this tea. I wanted to taste it for ages but each time it was out of stock on the internet website.
Now I’m recovering from pneumonia I can find some courage to prepare a tea.
The blend itself is so lovely with these rose petals and it smells delicious and I decided to strictly stick to Theodor’s brewing instructions. I may have been wrong because I think 90°C may have been better.
As cteresa I find more chocolate and coconut in this tea than almond and pistachio…and this is not what I was looking for.
The tea base is too weak for my taste and I will continue to try this tea with different steeping times and temperatures.
Pistachio comes more when the beverage is cooling.

I am not in love with this Theodor creation even if of course it is more than correct and decent.
There a lack of explosion in this tea, something I miss. Exactly when you have an appointment with a sexy guy to have dinner and …meh…there is no electricity between you and him, you begin to look at your watch…
I may have put too much expectations in Je t’Aime…but I’ll continue to have some dinners with because I think something may happen.

Lately I’ve been craving coffee. The strength of taste, the bitterness, the ‘kick’… My normally preferred whites, greens, greenish oolongs and mellow (Chinese) blacks just weren’t it. Trying to get off this coffee bing, I decided to try Britisch Breakfast. And what a happy choice that turned out to be! This tea is a ‘real’ black tea with lots of character. It’s strong, it has a slight bitter-ish note and it definitely packs a punch. It probably won’t become a real favorite as I usually like something a bit sweater and ‘kinder’ in taste, but I won’t automatically pass up on breakfast teas anymore either.

There aren’t many teas from Theodor I don’t like, but this is one of them. In my opinion the fruity flavoring and the oolongy characteristics don’t really mesh well. It’s not awful, but nothing special either. Not my cup of tea…

This is by far the sweetest Theodor tea I know. I believe it’s a white peony with tropical fruits. As a result it tastes sweet and syrupy in that particular way tropical fruit juice mixes tend to taste. If you’re in for something new that doesn’t emphasize the tea but rather the flavoring this would be a good choice.

Brewing: anything from 3 minutes and up.

This was a sample, very kindly provided by the Theodor shop when I was not quite sure about the scent of this. And after dividing the sample in two and having it twice I am still a bit unsure about this but sort of glad I did not get 100 grams of this – in most shops it would have indeed been the best choice, but not in that particular one.

My first attempt at this failed, I used too much water. This my second and final attempt worked much better. It is a chinese dark oolong, with a definite personality. It is wonderfully complex and very smooth. There is this richness to its flavours, which OK yes reminds me of chocolate, dark (not malty) chocolate. And there is a note as well which reminds me of tobacco, raw tobacco (I do not mean smoke!), and this is where it baffles me. Like seaweed notes, I do not like tobacco notes.

I can not really rate this properly, it is a wonderful high quality tea, which I am drinking with pleasure but which just escapes being a tea I love, because of my own personal likes and dislikes.

Just a short note to up the rating once more. Wow, this was not love at first sip, but the cup I am drinking right now seems some kind of perfect to me. And yes hazelnuts, they were right.

But while making this tea, I keep saying to myself, this is not a black tea, not a black tea. It does even not look like one, green and silver like olive leaves, not sure why i insisted on scalding it. But water not too hot, not too long and then this is amazing.

To do proper justice to this tea I had to clear myself of the misconception this is a black tea. Seller makes pointed references to Darjeeling, but I did not take enough notice, for some reason was expecting and treating this as a chinese black tea or say an assam. Nope. Not at all. But I have very little experiences with Darjeelings as well, some of this tea has been spoiled so far while I tried to figure it out. And for me it´s not too much leaf, cautiously hot water (80 to 85 would be my estimate) and some 4 minutes.

If you do that, it´s quite unlike all other teas (except you know, those famous darjeelings which I do not know well enough) and really quite extraordinarily lovely. Light, very light color, delicate flavour (seller mentions hazelnuts and cacao. Me nope, raisins, wine, maybe wine must), a bit of astringency underneath – I usually dislike all astringency but here is no flaw but part of the loveliness.

My first sip of this and not quite sure what to make of it.

I certainly love it better than the first Nepal black tea I ever had (from david´s tea, a Angrboda sample). This is just smoother, more elegant. But either Nepalese black tea is so different from the teas I usually have I am a bit baffled by them and can´t really judge yet. But will drink my cup with pleasure! And finish that David´s Tea sample (but for once, the one I had before is not the winner. This Shangri La is just better even to newbies like me).

I get the woody and hazelnut notes from the official description – as well as something raisin-esque. Very smooth with just a hint of astringency which IMO is part of the charm.

This was a sample kindly provided at The-o-dor´s shop and duh, should have bought it. Yep. Luggage would probably not have burst.

A warning, this is a smoked tea – a subtle one, a very subtle one, but smoked tea haters might want to avoid this. On the other it is perhaps the most subtle, more ready for for smoke-curious smoked tea I ever tried.

It is a light smoke tea with red berries. I was stupidly careless when brewing it (a sample! a precious sample, careless indeed) and I overbrew it, longer than 5 minutes for sure, let´s say on its way to 10 minutes for sure. It did not really matter, it was wonderful just the same with that particular mellowness which I associate with lapsang souchong (a confession, I love lapsang souchong not because of the smell, but because of that mellow taste).

I am liking this more and more each time I have it (good thing because I got 100 grams). The trick to brew it is IMO to use more leaf that you would normally use – this is a very pretty tea, filled with petals and things, but you need to compensate for those pretty things by adding more real tea.

It´s sweet (macaroon tea! Parisian macaroon tea!) and feels like a total indulgence, but somehow perfect for this post Christmas season where I am totally tired of food particularly rich food (clementines, rucula and tomato and sushi are somehow OK. Chinese hot and sour soup as well). The coconut and pistachio in this tea are somehow just perfect for this mood of mine.