Nuit à Versailles

DF Advent Day 18 (18-Feb 2022)

This one smells lovely steeped. I get kiwi with hints of bergamot and rose. This reminds me of a candy, but it’s not really candy-like. The green tea is a nice base for these flavours. I really liked this tea.

Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 18

Like a cousin to to August Uncommon’s Dark Iris: violets, peach, umm.. other fruits?(definitely citrus) It has the Bellini/ fuzzy peaches vibe to it. Sweet, smooth, aromatic florals, candied fruits…

The tea base is likely a Chinese Sencha but it’s not bugging me too much today. Every once in a while this green base uplifts the kiwi. But for me, this is predominantly citrus/peach fronted for the fruit. I’m enjoying it but wouldn’t go out of my way buy any!

I was a bit worried, steeping this up, that the flavors would be drastically ruined like the other green tea I bought from DF the same time as this one – it tasted like a mix of flavored teas thrown together.  Seriously, I’m debating on just throwing the other tea away, which I have very rarely ever done.  Luckily, this one tastes GREAT.  It’s very floral forward, like a fancy garden, with undertones of something fruity, maybe peach on a buttery green base. This is ACCURATE as the description mentions gardens in Versailles.  Versailles would definitely qualify as a fancy garden.  Two flavorful steeps. I like this tea.  Very glad it’s aging well.    (The muddled aged mess tea was Thé des Marquises. I shudder to think of it.)

Advent day 12! I found this to be another odd choice for an advent calendar. There seems to be a lot of fruity greens. This one was fine but not particularly special. Some mild peach and orange blossom, but generally pretty one-note.

Fruity and floral but nothing earth shattering. At times when the fruity was more intense, I enjoyed it. When the floral was more intense, I was less enthused. It was nice and I would not turn away a cup if someone offered but I also would not pick this over something else…well most things….there are some teas this is better than

Advent Calendar Day 2 ( and repost from correct account). I tend to prefer black teas and I don’t love bergamot so maybe my expectations were low, but I thought this tea was delicious! The combination of bergamot and orange blossom with peach and the violet makes for a wonderful cup of tea. I thought maybe there was some yuzu in there, but I think that might have been the kiwi. It is perfumey but it works beautifully with the fruitiness. I didn’t find it grassy at all which was wonderful. Definitely one that we’re adding to the “Buy List”.

Flavors: Bergamot, Flowers, Orange Blossom, Peach, Violet

Day 2 of my Dammann Freres Advent Calendar

It’s a good thing I didn’t look at the ingredient list before I made this cup. I don’’t care for green tea in general because I don’t like that grassy flavor. And I greatly dislike floral teas. To my mind, lavender, rose, bergamot, jasmine, etc should be reserved for perfumes.

So it is probably no surprise that I didn’t like this one. Not because there was anything wrong with the tea. If floral green teas are your thing, then I heartily recommend this one. I am not rating it because I don’t feel it is fair to rate a tea low simply because I don’t like the ingredients. I am very glad I had a chance to try it, but I don’t see myself ever including this in an order.

The dry leaf smells of perfume and orange. Bergamot is the dominant flavor and it’s not exactly subtle. I add just a pinch of this tea to regular green tea which balances the flavor just right. Along with the bergamot there is lots of violet and citrus. I don’t really taste any of the fruit flavorings, namely peach and kiwi.

This is the best of the DF teas I bought, but I’m not sure whether I would go out of my way to purchase it again from France. I like subtly flavored teas and I’m finding theirs to be too perfumey. The blends are unique for sure, they just need to be toned down a little. Lupicia does this well. I may check them out or maybe Mariage Frères for flavored tea in the future.

Advent Calendar Day Twenty-One

Tragedy has struck, tea friends!

I slept in this morning, so in my rush to get out of the house and catch my bus I didn’t have time to brew my advent tea, so I grabbed the sample and tossed it in my bag. I had intended to drink it at work for lunch. However, when I went to do so the bag of tea was missing! I figured that I’d probably left it on the counter and, in my sleep deprived state, had maybe only imagined I’d tossed it in my bag.

Well, I just got home from my second job and… the tea is no where to be found.

So, this is basically a tasting note to say that I didn’t get to taste the tea. I have absolutely no clue where I lost it; but it’s gone and I’m incredibly bummed out/sad because I feel like my advent experience is incomplete now! Something that’s been a key part of my day for twenty days in a row now is just gone.

So on that notes…

If anyone, perhaps from the group order(?), happens to have any of this on hand I will HAPPILY pay you to send me a sample of it. I don’t need much – just a cup or two worth. It’s really bothering me that there’ll be ONE tea from the advent I wont have tried though so if I can get my hands on some that’d be great!!!

Will review later (taking my comprehensive exams at the moment!) but I am LOVING this tea.