L'Hiver (Winter Tea)

I’m not really sure what possessed me to buy an entire tin of a white tea. But i did. I think i was carried away with that whole FAUCHON! at winners! stupidly cheap prices! GO! so now i have a huge tin of this. And i don’t really like white teas…

but this tea? I like it! so ha! I couldn’t drink this everyday but it’s certainly a tasty tea. Creamy vanilla delicious tea with a splash of “wake up! it’s lemon!” :) Yep…i will enjoy this, though it may take me the whole year to drink it.

We woke up with a little bit of snow outside yesterday, so it seems like the right time to whip out the Winter Tea. I haven’t tried this but when QueenofTarts put it up for sale, I thought I would give it a try, especially when the forums are abuzz with talk of Fauchon and Mariage Freres.

This is such a light and mild tea. It’s creamy, with a nice mixture of lemon and vanilla. I think I detect the white tea in the background, but only when I actively think about it – white tea is so subtle!

I was wondering why this would be called L’Hiver, but I think I get it. It’s just so milk and lightly refreshing that it just hints at Spring and provides a bit warmth through the gloomiest winter.

This is another super generous sample I received from Sil! Thank you so much!

I’m even more excited about this blend because of how much I fell in love with Noël à Venise from Dammann…that has had me craving a vanilla lemon tea. This one doesn’t have a black base, but it’s French and smells heavenly, so I am happy to use it as a substitute in the meantime. (BTW, Sil, I totally sent that shopping link to my boyfriends’ parents so I’m thinking that I will be getting some Christmas tea thanks to you! You really are my Steepster Santa!)

I don’t actually get much scent from the dry leaf, though I think it’s because it’s so delicate that a lot of the fruitier teas it was shipped with have overtaken it. None of that has carried over to the steeped tea, though, which I am drinking sans additives and after steeping at the below parameters.

Whereas Noël à Venise was more lemony, this tea stresses the vanilla first and foremost. That’s a good thing here, as the white tea is very light and needs some heaviness if it’s going to boast of being a winter tea. The vanilla manifests as a heavy sweet cream note with a slight lemon tang on the swallow. This is not a cold dark blizzard kind of tea. It is the liquid equivalent of waking up to a sunny cold morning and seeing the ground blanketed with snow.

I am not a white tea drinker normally but it does work here. This is my first Fauchon tea and I am impressed. Too bad my bank account isn’t going to be with all those foreign transaction fees in my future, haha.

The last wee bit of my sample from Cavocorax.

While this is a white tea, and a bai mu dan rather than a silver needle, if I saw this tea somewhere I’d buy it. There’s this delicate creamy lemon flavour (cream enhanced because I’m eating maple walnut ice cream for dinner), and I really quite like it. If I had a lot of this tea I could see it being great iced or cold brewed.

And while I’m thinking about lemon teas, I can hardly wait to make a Butiki order and get some of the Lemon Macaron tea. Butiki is (funnily enough) more accessible to me, and also it’s a white Indian tea, which tickles my fancy a lot more than bai mu dan. :)

Thanks, Cavo! This is definitely a tea style I need in my cupboard.

I got this from QueenOfTarts Tea Stash Sale. Thank you! I am so glad I picked the last few cups up from you. I am always in search of a good lemon tea.

When I opened the package the overpowering smell of lemon grass hit my nose and I was a bit scared. First taste, the lemon grass is there with the creamy vanilla. I wish the grassyness of the lemongrass was a bit more mellow, but overall this is really good.

I steeped this a second time and the zing of the lemon was a bit less bringing out a bit more of the creamy vanilla. I have never had the creamy lemon combo in tea before. I may have to search Steepster to see what other teas our out there like this. Great bed time tea!

I did not buy this tea when it showed up at the discount stores, but I was curious so I asked MissB for a sample. I knew when I pulled it out today that I would have to drink it today… what a wintery day!

This smells nicely lemony with a bit of white tea and a bit of cream. Yes, this is a relatively lightly flavored tea (which is I guess somewhat unusual for Fauchon), but I enjoy it. It has a nice, creamy texture with a lemony zing. Glad I got to try this one!

The scent of this tea is of white tea, lemongrass and a hint of something creamy. Usually I don’t pick out the individual ingredients just by the scent, but this one puts it right in front of your nose!

Sipping… this tea is so straight-forward… it’s as if every element from the scent has been enhanced and translated right into the flavor. Lemongrass is the most prominent note for me, closely followed by the white tea. I wish there were more of the cream/vanilla, but it hides in the background and isn’t completely missing.

I like this tea, but have to be in the mood for it. It’s not a blend that I can drink anytime, but it’s not one that I would avoid either.

Thanks to RogersCK for a sample of this! I love how creamy and lemon-y this tastes. Despite its delicateness, this blend holds it own without any problem whatsoever. I can definitely envision curling up with cup of this and watching snow fall softly outside. Mmmm… yes, winter suddenly sounds much more appealing.

Cold Brew Sipdown (134)!

Thank you VariaTea for the sample! This has been on and off my wishlist for such a long time…

I think the flavour of this is absolutely divine! Without getting into too much detail, it reminds me of a perfectly baked sugar cooking with the lightest, most airy/fluffy lemon icing on top. It’s perfect, and simple and the flavours are show cased so damn well! At the same time, as I drank it, I had the most striking sense of flavour deja vu and it’s killing me because I know I definitely have not had this tea before and I cannot for the life of myself place what tea I’m being reminded of.

Really want to get my hands on more of this.

I just wanted to note this for myself – “I had this”.

I don’t remember it whatsoever. But I found the empty sample bag, and vaguely recall making it at some point a number of weeks/months ago.

I need to try it again sometime :)

So, to summarize – I guess I had this before.
That is all.