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Cheryl drank TE94: Mélange de Chamonix by Upton Tea Imports

136 tasting notes

The appeal for me with this tea was the mention of chocolate and cinnamon. It took me until the 3rd order from Upton to add a sample to the cart though, because cardamom appears to be the star. I like cardamom, but don’t love it like I do cinnamon or clove.

The brewed aroma is of cocoa and spices. First sip though, the cardamom is indeed the dominant flavor. Having added a T. of honey, it’s sweet and on the mild side…maybe mild to medium on the spice level scale. The cinnamon does get notice here too, not pushed out (good thing). What I’m not getting is the cocoa/chocolate in a noticeable way. I think it’s hanging out in the background, playing as the mellower (is that word?) of the spices because I still smell it when sipping.

I think what would bring out the chocolate is a little bit of cream, but need to get back to being calorie conscious, so skipping that for now. This will go into my “finish sample, but probably not order more” pile, but only because of personal taste (cardamom).

Preparation

Boiling 4 min, 15 sec

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Originally started testing teas, to replace a lifelong Coke (Coca-Cola) habit. Now I’m just amazed at all the choices. Still in beginner stage of tea education. Until I get really good at iced/cold tea, the Coke habit remains, but is down to a minimum.

My cupboard here on Steepster was ridiculous, containing each and every sample size that I have been accumulating. It now only contains non-sample size teas. Loose leaf outweighs the bagged teas, but it doesn’t look that way by the list (over 100 samples).

I started my tea journey testing flavored teas. My favorites are chai and mint flavored teas, along with Earl Grey. Also like chocolate, caramel, coconut, almond, vanilla, cinnamon, clove and some others. Most flavors are better with a nice black tea base. The mint ones seem best paired with greens. I’m branching out now to unflavored teas and it is way more overwhelming then the flavored category. Phew.

My (grown) son has decided that he wants to try to find tea that he likes too, so I’ll be passing along the ones I don’t care for to him (with instructions to then pass them on to his sister…evil plot? yes!). So I’ve removed my shopping list from Steepster and moved it to a spreadsheet (swaps are out for now). My shopping list had grown to 197! By going through each one, I was able to split that in half (since many were added in beginning, before I knew what I like/don’t like).

While not swapping, if there’s something in my cupboard that you’d like a sample of, please feel free to ask : )

Ratings (for now):
90s: Must have in personal rotation. Crave it.
80s: Makes me a happy tea drinker. Very good. Unsure of long term relationship.
70s: Like this. Will drink what I have (sample/tin/box), but unsure of whether I’d buy again.
60s: Probably a good tea for what it is. Just not to my personal liking.
50s and below: Do not like…at all. Either poor quality, yuck flavor or … (see tealog).

Old (and still current) obsessions: books, music and fragrances. Hopefully my tea collection stays much more “normal” then those. (too late)