Orange and Sweet Almond Tea 2013

Pass the Stash TTB 2
Finally a winner for me today! This is a very subtle tea. It’s very lightly sweet with a hint of almond and orange. I quite enjoyed it. This would be a great tea while reading a light summer read :)

I finally after a month or more of searching TJMaxx and Homegoods stores finally found some Fauchon! I was so excited I bought two of these, but I think I may be suffering from a little buyers remorse. I didn’t look up the tea before steeping, so I steeped it as a black. I’ll have to try it as an oolong next and I’m hoping it will be better because this is just blah. I can taste a little orange and a little almond, but it is just flat and dull. The level of flavor that I have come to expect from this brand just isn’t there in this one. Is Fauchon just pawning off old stock on discount US stores? It is a huge disappointment after how excited I was to try it and how hard I searched for it. :(

From the Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I should be heading out the door right now, but I wanted to make a quick note about my morning cuppa. This is nice, and it reminds me a lot of the orange almond cookies that my favorite Chinese restaurant offers. A very fun first cup of the day!

I really wasn’t sure about this tea, but I quite like it! I get so used to drinking only heavy black teas that sometimes I have to back up and appreciate something else for what it is.

First off, this is an oolong. Secondly, most of the oolongs I drink are heavily oxidized and I’d put this somewhere in the middle. Third, I usually do oolongs Gong Fu but the tin said 5 minute steep (really?) and nothing else. No temperature, no proportions, nothing. But I figured 5 minutes really needed to be western style, so I did that.

I admit that after a couple of minutes I started to get antsy, but I made myself go with their suggestion.

It’s nice! Not so green, not bitter at all, full flavor (more delicate than I’m used to but still nice). I get more almond than orange, but there were orange peels in the mix so I get it a little bit around the edges. I’m surprised how nice this is.

Thanks again to Cookie for going out of her way to get these Fauchon teas to me.

I purchased this tea from Hapatite in her stash sale! Any time I see anything Fauchon, I have to jump on it. This was definitely the one I was most excited about, as I love almond. However, I did not realize that it’s an oolong base… For some reason I guess I assumed it was black like the others. I don’t know enough about oolongs to tell you what kind this is… It’s loosely rolled and still somewhat green, but seems partially oxidized, so I guess maybe tieguanyin? I don’t know! There are also flower petals, orange peel, and almonds, along with some stems. The dry scent is very sweet almond, which got me excited! There’s definitely some orange there too. I didn’t really know how to steep it, so I just went with my general French flavored/scented tea method – 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

I didn’t write any notes while I was having this tea, so I don’t really remember much about the aroma besides that it was citrusy and I could smell the greenness of the oolong underneath. I was pleasantly surprised by this tea! . The orange in it is quite nice. I’m not sure that I would call it completely authentic, but I find it does taste similar to real orange with a little extra tartness and a touch of candy flavor. The best of all worlds! :) Unfortunately for me, I didn’t find much of the almond in here, which is a shame. But I find that it doesn’t necessarily need it (although it would be nice). The base is very mild, I don’t really get any vegetal or overly floral taste like I do with green oolongs. It just kind of adds a nice mild autumn leafy, slightly toasty sort of flavor. There is a bit of floral here, but it’s very light and serves only to accent the orange.

This is a very lovely tea, and another win from Fauchon. I did drink it with a bit of sugar added, as I almost always do with flavored teas. I will definitely be keeping this tea in mind as an afternoon or early evening option (I’m unsure how much caffeine this type of oolong contains…). Thanks again, Hapatite, for giving me the opportunity to try this delightful tea! :)

I wanted to end the evening with something sweet. I hadn’t tried this yet, so I decided that this would be my “adventure tea” of the day. It’s supposed to taste of a combination of oolong, oranges and almonds. The base is some kind of lightly roasted oolong, judging be its looks, and by its non-floral, non-perfumy flavor. The tea brews lightly, with a very delicate flavor profile – don’t have this after a curry or a highly flavorful meal.
It tastes of a good, roasted oolong, and has a slight aftertaste of almonds. If you patiently wait long enough after each sip, you will get a hint of tanginess of oranges. But nothing overpowering. Nothing that announces itself loud and clear. A very subtle tea.
It’s sweet enough to not need sugar, it could never take milk (it’s very, very light bodied), and if you are used to strong or artificially flavored teas, walk away. You will be disappointed. If you, like me, don’t like flavored teas, you’ll likely love this.