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When I was in Barcelona last week I couldn’t help myself to see which local and national tea-stores I could found. On my last trips, I haven’t been shopping anything else than tea . hehe

I found the tea-store on Argenteria 59, when me and my friend was passing by and I couldn’t resist to go in. After smelling plenty of different teas the girl behind the desk show me De Londres. When I saw the name I got very touched. I have been missing London like crazy during the last weeks, but haven’t found the time to travel back to the city yet. But I wanted a little piece of London at home, even if it was in chocolate tea.

When I smell the dry leaf its a heavy scent of caramel, dark chocolate and honey. It smells kind of bittersweet and the cacao is a dominant after-scent. Sans & Sans recommends the tea drinker to steep it in 95 C for 5 minutes but I think it’s too long. And the cacao bitterness gets so strong and makes the tea barely drinkable. I have been steeping this tea in boiling water for 2 -3 minutes. So if you try this, don’t follow my recommendations. When I drink the tea, the caramel and chocolate favors are rolling on the tongue and the honey makes the tea soft and smooth. Sometimes it reminds me of the Lupica Cookie tea. For someone how likes that one I think this one is worth a try, if you get your hands on it. I like this tea a lot. It’s like drinking a piece of dark chocolate. Yummy.

I hadn’t heard about Tazo tea before my adorable A.C gave me some samples for my trip back to Sweden. This is my first try of Peachy Green and my feelings are mixed.
For someone that doesn’t like strong tea or perhaps want something light to combine with milk and sugar, I think this one would be a quite good suggestion. But for someone who loves tea with lots of flavors and strong scents and tastes, this is nothing to recommend.
This one is light in its taste. I can’t smell so much scents when you smell it either. Just a small scent of peach and grass.
Perhaps this is a good ice tea or good to combine with ginger cookies? hmm. This one is difficult… I have tree samples left so I have a few more times to experiment. Let’s see if I can make this one work in some way.

I have been drinking this tea for a couple of weeks, during my late study-evenings in Oslo. This tea has been a pleasant and regular company which I will not replace under any condition.
While i smell the dry tea leaves, the vanilla scent is dominant but in the background its like a bittersweet scent of almond.
I’ve mostly drunk this tea hot and I think it’s great mix between a sweet vanilla taste and bitter almond. Sometimes I think it’s a bit buttery and all the flavors is rolling on my tongue.

If i drink this one before I go to bed I feel relaxed and sleep very well.

I bought this tea a couple of hours ago. I was on my way to the apartment when I passed the Le Palais des Thés on Hedgehaugveien in Oslo. I haven’t been there for a couple of month, but it is a nice little shop with a several mix of Le Palais des Thés products and tastes. Today it was Fleur de Geisha that caught me. The intense scent of cherry, reminded me so much of my own childhood and the nordic summers that I couldn’t resist buying it. When I got home I made myself a cup, excited to try it. While the water got heated I took a long breath to really feel the scent flying through me. Still it was the cherry that caught me and something else, a grassy after-scent which was strong and a bit bittersweet.

This time I took two teaspones and let it steep for 3,5 minutes in 90 degrees. On the package it says 70 C, but I always try it almost boiled the first time, especially during winter when it’s cold outside. Even if I steeped it warmer than they recommend the cherry flavour is sharp and dominante. I love the intensity in this tea and for someone that loves cherry I think this one is worth a try.
After the first try I like it. It’s not in the top 20, but still really good and tasty. Looking forward to try it again.

I got some samples from my lovely A.C when I met her for a weekend in Venice to discover this year Venice Biennale which was very exciting. So arriving to Aarhus, Denmark deathly early yesterday morning and got some beauty sleep after a 18 h trip back, I’m back on my internship. So what can be better than to try a new tea from the large box from A.C before dealing with some paperwork and meetings?
Today I chose Three Friends from Butiki. The dry tea has a strong flavor of chocolate and orange which I associate with the Christmas Eves from my childhood. When I was sitting in grandmas knee while she were eating orange chocolate which in Sweden is called Roman Bows. I still remember the smell from those nights so well. The chocolate with orange flavor and my grandma’s sweet perfumed from Dior. Just an anecdote… Anyway, I steeped it for three minutes as A.C said with boiled water. As usual I closed my eye to recognize the scent of the boiled tea and it smelled almost the same boiled as dry. But the Orange was much stronger this time. More intense. On my first sip the Orange was rolling on my tongue. I couldn’t taste the chocolate so much, but after I swallowed the chocolate came as an aftertaste as a soft emulsion in my mouth. I liked it a lot. It’s a perfect “after-autumn” or beginning of winter tea. Next time I try this one I will have a Christmas muffin beside me on the table. I’m looking forward to it.