cteresa Send Message

oh my goodness, this for me smellls exactly like dulce de leche icecream – now it would not be on a personal list of flavours i knew i wanted, or go in a list of my utmost favorites but dulce de leche, awww, how can anyone not love it? so love at first sniff.

but regardless of the wonderfulness of the scent, the weakness is a familisr one with Dammann´s teas – the base tea is their usual one, and while adequate for so many of their other flavoured teas, here it is just not up to the task. Too wimpy.

But am going to enjoy very much the rest of the sample (thanks Ysaurella!), though I confess this is making me very curious instead about Dammann´s caramel toffee rooibos, or what other tea companies whose bases vary more often would do with the idea of a caramel tea.

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.

This was a restock, a sharper scent than the older tea I got my first time, and oh this is still so nice. It is so smooth, which does not always happen with rooibos, unfortunately, but is so essential for the rooibos to be drinkable. Almond underneath, loud strawberry and raspberry on top, and the rooibos making it all stand up. A staple.

And a tip, if the bit of loose leaf you used has one of those little cubes of crystallized almond, oh that is too good to throw away. Rescue it, rinse it, and eat it!

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.

Had a dozen roasted chestnuts a couple hours ago which made me crave this tea- And no, it does not really taste like roasted chestnuts on the street ( those taste tougher, smokier, more tough guy chestnut taste), not even Istanbul chestnuts which are presented like jewels and not scorched at all (and a bit too raw for my tastes).

But this tea does taste of chestnuts, maybe oven-roasted or even the famous marrons glacés. Just not street chestnuts. And it is a lovely delicate tea, a more subtle take than Mariage Freres´s one, but a lovely very well done tea.

Lupicia definetely now on my list of places to try. Does their Paris store ship within Europe?

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).

A new tea, since I have been very good at finishing old teas, and wow what an indulgence this tea is.

First it is very pretty, filled with huge petals and tiny tiny perfect little rose buds, an incredibly beautiful tea. I used more leaf than normally and am glad I did, this deserves to be intense!

I am somewhat baffled by the other taste notes here on steepster, I get very strong coconut and chocolate notes, with some pistacchio and almond in the background. A very smooth base, as expected (and I think I should have gone a bit hotter and shorter, though no harm was done) and if I did not quite get before this the concept of dessert tea, I get it now. It is totally dessert in a cup, a not too sweet, not filling but a very pleasant intense taste. A very indulgent lovely tea!

(not sure if I prefer this or Tribute. Will selflessly test it!)

KittyLovesTea sent me this tea in a swap a while ago and while I had had it before, this is the first time I am doing it with patience and a computer nearby.

Not that I got much to say, this is lovely and making me realize how little I know of japanese tea and that i really should get to know it better (but please no seaweed notes, please, no. I fear the sea notes). This is a very smooth but somehow strong japanese tea, that grassy-vegetal note and is just what i was craving.

Must explore more japanese teas.

And thanks kitty, am enjoying this very much!

This was a sample, kindly sent by Toitoi in a swap we did in Spring. The package toitoi used, the foil hermetically sealed was so awesome and seemed so safe I had no qualms at saving this to try it in Autumn. Because chestnut tea is surely an autumn thing!

I love roasted chestnuts, but it´s such an impossible flavour to replicate. I am not crazy for marrons glacés, it always tastes a bit like jam, too sweet somehow. But somehow Mariage Fréres made it work in Rouge d´ Automne. And here it is a different kind of chestnut, more like plain roasted chestnuts, but somehow different. No smoke notes here, though that for me is part of the flavour of the autumn roasted chestnut. There is a caramel note, I think.

This tea is frankly delicious. I think I prefer Rouge d´Automne, but I am usually biased for the first of a kind that I try. But still got some of the sample to experiment some more.