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Hey, I forgot I sipped this one down yesterday as a cold brew!

Anyway, it was decent and fruity. I’m not sad it’s gone, but at least I was able to drink it.

This month’s blends club has one tea that I can drink; unfortunately they felt a need to add rooibos to the Laoshan black blend. BLECH.

Yay, 2000th tasting note!!

I decided to celebrate with this, which has got to be the most milk-chocolatey tea I’ve ever tried. No hint of bitter dark chocolate here, no sir. All sweet and creamy chocolate. It really was eclair-like. Definitely sweet as well, not sure if the “vanilla pieces” listed in the ingredients are really sugary pieces. I didn’t really notice the oolong base too much to be honest (it is a dark, but not very roasty variety), but that’s ok. I may try steeping this at a higher temp next time to see how it behaves. This is a dessert tea to be sure. Not sure how often I will really crave it, but I do very much enjoy it.

This is the third tea I bought at MF in Berlin. I decided to take a chance on it because of the bergamot and rose combo. I am not disappointed in my purchase! (Side note: I know I have rated all of these new teas the same, but it’s hard for me to really pinpoint my feelings on them right now. I really really like all of them, but I don’t know if I loooove them. Anyway, probably jet lag brain).

I enjoy this tea quite a bit. The base is smooth and pleasant, the bergamot is relatively stong, the florals (mallow, rose & lotus) add a nice counterpoint to the bright citrusy bergamot. It’s kind of like Amore from DF, but slightly simplified (without the chocolate and almond notes). It may (like that tea) become a regular rotation of my morning tea; an Earl Grey with interest. Another winner.

I drank this one yesterday late afternoon, but never got around to making a note for it (bleh, jet lag).

I ordered this one despite the fact that I just received 100g of Caramel-Toffee from Dammann, and I also just bought 80g of Caramel Rose tea from Mariage, and I recently ordered Caramel au Beurre Salé from Dammann as well. All of the caramel teas!! I was worried this one might be too similar to the Caramel-Toffee because I have heard that Dammann blends Fauchon’s teas, but it’s not!

This one really reminds me of Creme Brulee from Bayswater. It is totally burnt-sugar creme brulee more than straight up caramel. Creamy and buttery and burnt sugary. Works for me. I just have to remember this one is my creme brulee-style tea, and Caramel-Toffee is my straight up caramel tea.

I had not planned on buying this tea, but one sniff of the caramel and rose blend and I had to have it. I was again crossing my fingers on the base tea for this one.

And yay, it’s one I like. This is also pretty delicious. Base tea is smooth, caramel is on the burnt toffee type flavor to it (not so buttery or creamy), rose is light but adds a nice sweet note.

Neither of these special edition teas are quite special enough for me to justify ever purchasing them again (since they only come in pricey tins), but they are special enough that I will be happy to have them in my cupboard.

I have historically not purchased a lot of MF tea because the bases vary so much and I never know whether I am going to like them or not, which is problematic when you are buying 100g of tea at a time. But I’ve had a couple of recent successes so I decided to take a chance again when I went to the MF shop in Galeries Lafayette Berlin; this one was on my list of get, with almond and rose (my faves). I closed my eyes to the steep price and bought this one and another limited edition tea in a tin, as well as a loose tea in a bag.

I was hoping that the base on this would be similar to Full Moon Party, and it is… smooth and tasty. I will have to pay attention to this one more the next time I have it, but it was overall very nice. Neither the almond nor the rose is super strong, but both are present. It’s not quite as good as La Naissance (my fave almond and rose blend), but it is good. I should remember to drink it while it’s at least warm because once it got cold an earthy note came out of the base tea that wasn’t my favorite, but I didn’t taste it when it was hot.

I am off for three weeks in Europe! I didn’t pack any tea, so I guess that just means I will have to buy tea there (as if I wasn’t going to!). Brussels, Berlin, and Prague here I come.

But I am currently stuck for 4 hrs in an airport. I did find this in one of the shops, so I grabbed one. I have never tried Harney’s bottle teas, but I love their black currant loose leaf, so I figured I would give it a shot. It’s a reasonably good option if you are stuck without your own tea. It’s slightly sweetened but not overly so, with nice flavor. It also has that tartness that all bottled teas seem to have from the ascorbic/citric acid they put in them. I actually think I expected it to be sweeter since so many bottle teas are, but once my expectations were adjusted I definitely enjoyed it.

I read a note from Cameron about figgy teas and it made me think of this one, which I haven’t had in a while and which I love profusely. Fig is one of the more prominent of the seven flavors here, among a variety of florals and citrus. It’s just so nicely balanced, and I really need to remember to reach for it more often.

The answer is no, this did not get better in a cold steep. It was still almost tasteless and yet also somehow bitter. Nope. Sorry BRLB, I apologize for not drinking you up sooner.

I made a cup of this tea, which is also old (I forget how old, but it’s one of the older ones in my cupboard, probably 2 years?) to mainly convince me that not all rose teas age poorly. This one certainly hasn’t. Still intensely rosey, and the base is still smooth but robust. I do think it has probably faded a little, but since this tea was already intense at the beginning, it still packs a punch.