Rouge d'Automne

I’ve never had a tea with chestnuts before, so this one intrigued me in a swap with KittyLovesTea.

I can only guess the chestnuts are the main flavour here, and the vanilla lightens it up a bit. However, I’m getting something that’s coming through as floral that ins’t working out so well for me.

Thanks for sharing KittyLovesTea!

I already had one pot of this tea, kindly sent by Ysaurella. It was one of those days when other issues derailed my concentration from the experience.
Today, as part of my grand mission to empty all received samples, I decided to try it again.
When looking at the tea, it looked more like a normal MF blend, than to the picture used. Sure there are some small yellow and brown pieces, but in less quantity and with much smaller sizes than on the picture. It does not matter so much, MF usually does not care much about the look of the tea, just the taste, so I cannot hold that against this tea.
After brewing, my first impressions were quite similar to what I remembered: a mellow, strongly blended with no flavors really striking me out, though it indeed is flavorsome. A very pleasant blend, especially for the afternoon.
Then I got busy and forgot the remaining half of the teapot. When I came back to it, it was more cool than lukewarm, which does not bother me much, as I definitely do not need warming. Vanilla is there at the beginning of the sip, a nice very natural tasting vanilla. Then there’s a long lasting after taste staying all over my mouth and lips, that indeed is marron glacé: super creamy, sweet, really decadent tasting. My lips especially feel like I’ve just eaten some. Amazing!
Real marron glacé are not a favorite treat of mine and I usually cannot eat one entire. However it turns out that as a beverage flavor, I really like it and it makes for an unusual brew.
In my opinion, this is better at “room temperature” than hot.
I’ll most probably buy some, both for myself and for my in-laws who are completely in love with real marrons glacés.

A sample from Cteresa. I’ve tried this once before, and I remember liking it but not having a particularly strong memory of it going forward. Hence, I’m really pleased to have another chance to reacquaint myself with this one. I used 1 tsp of leaf, and gave it 4 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor was quite dark, so I added a splash of milk.

For me, this is a pretty perfect autumn tea. I love the chestnutty taste this one has — almost like a cross between a sweet potato and a hazelnut, to my mind. It’s not particularly strong here (nothing like Adagio’s Chestnut, for example), but that’s okay as it can be quite a rich, overbearing taste. Here, it’s fairly delicate, and rounded out with the smooth, sweet flavour of vanilla and the maltiness of the base tea.

I tend to gravitate towards pumpkin teas in autumn, but this makes a very pleasant change. It’s a sophisticated cup — light, classy, perfectly balanced flavours. As I try more MF teas, I’m realising how accomplished their blends are. Particularly when compared to other flavoured teas. They have a lightness of touch that I’m really beginning to appreciate.

Anyway, chestnut teas are clearly something I can get behind. I’m encouraged to seek out more of these in the future, and possibly to give this one a home in my cupboard when the opportunity arises.

First of all, this is primarily a black tea. Not a rooibos.
Secondly, well, that was good! I’m not usually a black tea person, I don’t like them, I don’t buy them… I can’t appreciate them for ‘’what they are’’. Failed romance much?

Candied marrons, with a spicy aftertaste, making it automnal, changed my mind. It’s very round, but tolerable. Reminds me of David’s Pumpkin Chai, which is also my sort of thing. Someday I will understand…

ce the est tres bon quand on le goute on a l impressions d etre en automne c’ est a dire qu’ il porte bien son nom .

I should really branch out with what Christmas advents I get – try new teas, cheaper companies… However, I’ve desperately wanted to stock up on this no fuss, Nutella-scented, fall-in-a-cup blend since I ran out 9-10 months ago. The price on its own is not actually terrible either (before shipping, and all the other indulgences I added). Maybe next year I will switch it up and say no to more Nutella chestnut tea in my life (the thought makes me so sad).

What I most appreciate about this tea is that I can delude it with milk for an evening dessert latte, or steep it up strong and bold in the morning (or in the evening because who needs sleep). It’s not super complex but it accomplishes the objective it sets for itself. I respect that.

High quality, mild black with a dominant chestnut note. I feel it needs something else to balance it- this is too sweet and one-dimensional for my personal tastes. A solid but not particularly inspired option if you just want a basic cuppa. For adult me, it’s a little too basic, but I would’ve loved this at a tea party when I was a kid!

After all the Dammann Freres teas I have been tasting lately, I wanted to have a familiar cup this afternoon and I had not had a cup of this delightful candied chestnut tea in forever, so it was fun to taste it with new eyes sort of speak.

I think maybe the adage of absence makes the heart grow fonder applies here. I liked it when I first bought it but as I bought more teas, it got pushed back to the back of the drawer and was almost forgotten. This time around I thought it tasted delicious. I was very generous with my scoops which helped I think and I let it cool a bit more than I usually do which also gave me a chance to enjoy the flavors more.

The mix of the smooth vanilla and the candied chestnuts is really a great combination. It’s sweet and nutty, but it’s also unusual and so very fall-ish. I just wish I could buy it in 50 g increments so I could have a few cups in the fall and cherish it as a special tea that it is.

This was a super tasty tea. I overleafed a bit based on my sample size (from the amazing MissB of course), and tried to compensate on brewing, and it mostly worked. There is a hint of bitterness, but not enough to dampen my enjoyment of this tea.

I have my ups and downs with chestnut teas, but this one is definitely an up. Sweet candied chestnuts without a hint of smoke or roasting, which I am loving. The vanilla really works here too; it’s like Fleurilège (DF) but with chestnuts instead of hazelnuts. I would absolutely buy more of this tea if the opportunity ever arose. Really really tasty.

Queued post, written April 30th 2014

I got this one out fo the EU TTB round 2, because it was something to do with vanilla. Might as well be honest here. Vanilla lures me in every time. (Except when it’s in rooibos with no other flavour than vanilla. That vanilla rooibos from Simpson & Vail that tasted like a mouthful of shampoo is quite unforgettable). I’m also attracted to autumn blends for some reason. Much more than I am to blends related to any other season.

Looking at the description, though, I’m not sure how autumnal I find it. Chestnut, yes, that’s pretty autumnal, but vanilla? Not really. If vanilla is anything at all it’s winter-y for me. This is a subjective matter, though, and it’s not so winter-y that I won’t happily consume all the vanilla-related things all the year round.

I’ve had roasted chestnuts before and thought they were… well, frankly, quite strange. Not unpleasant, but certainly not my idea of a treat either. Sort of a mix between a sweet potato and a nut. I have also had them cooked in food where I find them far more appealing, but I’ve never had them in tea before.

I used all the leaf in the sample, sharing a pot with Husband when he came home from work, and wish I could give you a complete description of it, but it was had while we were having our bit of a chat about our days and such and then later I was… distracted.

I do remember, however, that I found it a pleasant cup. Not super chestnut-y as I’ve got to know them in my limited experience, but there was definitely something nutty in there. And also a fair bit of quite sweet vanilla. It felt a little bit sugared really, which was a little too much for me.