Thé de Lune

FYI, this tea is pretty good cold. I did not intend on having it that way but as I brewed a cup, my mom suggest we go shopping to buy a tea thermos of all things so this got left behind on the counter. Now I have a tea thermos so I can take it with me but today it was cold and not bad at all. It is a little more floral this way but still pleasant. Thank you again, JustJames!

i will never be the same. i will NOT list the beautiful sample that Ysaurella sent me among my teas and no one can make me! because if i did someone might ask me to share and i would look like a selfish jerk when i replied ‘no’.

this blend makes me feel very north american. the finesse of taste carried the weight of years in history before canada was colonized. this tea was not just a continent apart but an entire world.

if you’re asking yourself whether tea from paris would taste better the answer is a hearty HELL YES!

i taste blackberries and smell a gentle unnamed flower. i taste blue and watercolour heather purple. i see peacock feathers drifting in the basket…. this is a dreamer’s tea. i have never had a tea in which i tasted colour.

ysaurella, i must admit, at several points i didn’t want to drink it. i was completely entranced by the dry blend smell…. i sniffed it so much i’m surprised there was any scent or taste left. i was stopped again as it steeped with beautifully scented vapour roiling.

comme c’est beau….. les gens qui dites ‘ca ne vaux pa la peine d’etre beau’ ne connaissent pas cette the.

We went to the zoo today and I rushed out the door without any tea and while we had a great AWESOME day, (especially because no one was there!) I’m totally drained and in need of tea.

I wanted something fantastic, and this is it.

I can’t believe JustJames sent a sample of this as I would totally be tempted to hoard it. :P OTOH, when you have something fantastic it’s exciting to see how others like it too. Either way, THANK YOU. :P

And so, how to describe this? I wish I hadn’t drank all of this today in a way because my head isn’t quite able to describe this.

It’s liquid moonlight. Vanilla dancing with cornflowers. Soft perfume floating in the air and a touch of sweet blackberry fruit to give it some weight.

I had Adagio’s Jane Austen Mafia yesterday, and this is the grown-up version of that. Superb.

Thank you very much JustJames for sharing this fabulous tea with me. It’s scent brings a lot of distinct memories forward while I sip it, ranging from hiking in the bush in the Carolinian forests of Southern Ontario, my friends mother’s cherry torte, and a cream I loved and can no longer get. I love it’s mix of cream, cherries and spice.

The dry leaf contains pieces of what appear to be cinnamon, fruit and cornflowers. After
3.5 min I was left with a fragrant maple blended with copper coloured brew.

The tea smells of vanilla cream, cherries, and white cake. It is a light cherry cream scent, not sharp, closer to maraschino with cinnamon underneath, with a scent that reminds me a little bit of sassafras or spice bush.

The flavour reminds me a little bit of cream soda. Cream tinted with spice bush, cinnamon and cherry almond note. An undertone in the taste, leaves a feeling like cola at the back of the throat. There is a hint of a light almond flavoured fluffy biscuit, almost like ladies fingers.

The aftertaste is of cinnamon, a cherry like fruit note and cream soda/ cola note that lingers.

The base is pretty smooth and rich, mostly hidden by the flavouring but It seems to be contributing a sweet and faintly tart note and enough tannins to give this tea some body.

Thanks again James! I can see why you love it.

One of the tea I absolutely wanted to taste- I bought a full bag today.

The dry leaves scent is amazing, opulent & floral more than fruity, very promising.

The liquor is less amazing than the dry leaves scent but the notes are very well balanced between floral and fruity ones.
It’s so well balanced that it is complicated to get the ingredients identified clearly.
Even if I know there are vanilla, red & black berries, citrus and cornflowers and mallows, none is overpowering.

Warm, it becomes even better than very hot.

I’ll need to taste it more to see if the experience is different. To be continued so !

Still more awesome elegant and unusual tea from JustJames! He is a wonderful Steepster friend, not for these amazing swaps only of course but for messaging me when I sound blue in my notes, all kinds of reaching out. Friends on Steepster warm me emotionally, not just physically with tea!

This tea is something else. It’s got that trademark French tea quality of being immediately heady thanks to the layered perfume of it. What sets it apart though is after that initial hit of haunting floral fragrance there’s a peppery note! I am really digging that part; I seem to love when teas have some lurking aspect that’s highly unexpected but works (like say, the green chile and masa harina qualities in Mandala’s Morning Sun, or the cooling mint in their Loose and Luscious Lincang, or the mint in Taiwan Tea Crafts’ Red Jade). As the copy notes, the pepper gives the entire blend a modern edge that sharpens the more classic/vintage powdery femmy floral softness of the rest of the blend. That striking balance reminds me of the best of my favorite modern perfumes. Wonderful stuff. Visually beautiful too!

To JustJames, thank you so incredibly unbelievably much for sharing this with me. I was able to identify which tea this was right away, and that alone made it all the more special. Thank you!

In the bag, this tea smells like a conglomerate of fruit and something else unidentifiable but sweet, although I suspect I was likely smelling several other teas, as the entire sample package smells delicious, and I almost wish I could make a tea that just smells like the whole package.

I steeped this up keychange style, so I added in my requisite rock sugar and cream, and gave it about four and a half minutes, heaping tsp for about 8 oz of water.

The taste is indeed exquisite and refined, and I could tell immediately that the tea was of high quality. I didn’t have quite the revelation JustJames had while drinking this tea, and for that I am sorry, but it was delightful nonetheless. It tasted sort of reminiscent of H and S’s Parris, although the base is more pronounced, and if you let it steep too long, you almost, and I really do mean almost encounter a slightly medicinal note that actually isn’t entirely off-putting. The bergamot in this is also detectable, although I can’t quite recall if bergamot is even listed in the admittedly intriguing description.

I’m glad I have 100 more g of this tea though, because I really did enjoy it! thanks again, JustJames!

How lucky I am to have received this tea in a swap with JustJames!

This tea is downright enchanting! It is all sweet citrus and berries with creamy floral overtones. Lovely stuff. Thank you so much for sharing JustJames :)

Ugh, my throat is so sore. I love my sister, niece and nephew, but every time I see them this happens (they are adorable little plagues, and now I’m a not so adorable big plague and must act accordingly. sigh).

This tea has citric snap from assorted berries and citrus (and maybe the bright black base), with a hint of indulgent pepper and vanilla. It tastes great with or without milk, despite having what I suspect is a bergamot inclination.

There’s a lot going on here but it’s pleasingly well-balanced and round; it also feels like a “everyday” drinker, despite the pretenses it gives off. Unlike some teas from this company, I fell in love with it right away too. I’m trying to savour my 100g because I don’t know when I’d order from Mariage Freres again, but it’s likely in vain. I reach for this one a lot.

When I went on a shopping spree with Mariage Freres, this was the tea I drank through first. I am addicted to their flagship Marco Polo (presently have 1 pound left). This one, I would put up as being a co-star to their Marco.

It’s fruity, full of lush vanilla, and just so tasty iced. If you love Marco Polo like I do, I would totally recommend you try this one for variety!