Mariage Frères Advent 2021 – Day 3
Yep, this is a nice one! I think MF uses a broken grade of bai mudan for the sachet (as opposed to the Silver Needles pictured); their website supports the tin/satchet discrepancy too.
The sweet, dusky rose flavour is at a perfect level for me (essence of Turkish Delight). While distinct in profile, it’s delicate enough to allow the lighter white tea notes to shine through – including sour lemon, cucumber, and cream notes (faint but good companions to rose). There’s also a hint of pepper. The tea sachet yields a nice golden broth; I’m hoping it will resteep well. I’d potentially pick up more of this as a “fancy” casual drinker, if it were accessible.
Steep Count: 4 (No.2 @ 5min; No.3 @ 7min with a minor temp increase)
Yep, it did it! The rose has a minty undertone along with the pepper on No.2. Life is good. No.3 is pretty light but the rose is delicately “sweet” and there’s more cucumber in the last sips.
Flavors: Creamy, Cucumber, Floral, Hay, Lemon, Mint, Pepper, Rose
Preparation
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Whoa! I didn’t get any of that, just a really nice rose with a hint of white tea! I’m going to have to go for a second steeping while thinking about the flavors you described and see if I can catch them this time.
It definitely has a second steep in it! But your tasting note sums this tea up extremely well; it’s not complex and it would be nice if there was more too it. Like pepper & mint are more a “mouthfeel” I got from the rose, but it’s still just rose at the end of the day? Or, possible (happy) contamination – and I will never know unless I order more. D:
I wish there was more than one serving worth in this advent; MF teas can be super finicky and inconsistent in my experience.
Also.. I know it’s a tea bag with broken leaf, but playing around with the temperature might get the white tea release more flavour, especially in subsequent steeps; it may respond well to 195F/90C or a tad higher.
Oh, that will be interesting! Some of these seem like they’d do well that way. And I hear you on opening the tea bags and tea grade; with the oolong, the dust hasn’t managed to get past my filter but there is more of it then I’d normally like to see. I’ve been spoiled on loose leaf maybe..
Whoa! I didn’t get any of that, just a really nice rose with a hint of white tea! I’m going to have to go for a second steeping while thinking about the flavors you described and see if I can catch them this time.
It definitely has a second steep in it! But your tasting note sums this tea up extremely well; it’s not complex and it would be nice if there was more too it. Like pepper & mint are more a “mouthfeel” I got from the rose, but it’s still just rose at the end of the day? Or, possible (happy) contamination – and I will never know unless I order more. D:
I wish there was more than one serving worth in this advent; MF teas can be super finicky and inconsistent in my experience.
Also.. I know it’s a tea bag with broken leaf, but playing around with the temperature might get the white tea release more flavour, especially in subsequent steeps; it may respond well to 195F/90C or a tad higher.
Oh, that will be interesting! Some of these seem like they’d do well that way. And I hear you on opening the tea bags and tea grade; with the oolong, the dust hasn’t managed to get past my filter but there is more of it then I’d normally like to see. I’ve been spoiled on loose leaf maybe..