Compagnie & Co (formerly Compagnie Coloniale)

Happy holidays! Every year, I promise myself I’ll get a festive tea, and this time, I got two! I found this tea at a little shop that sells French chocolates, cookies, and other treats, and the other one, Christmas in Paris by Stash, was a gift from my mom. I steeped about 1.5 teaspoons of leaf in 355 ml of 185F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of vibrant cherry and almond. The first steep has notes of cherry, almond, amaretto, caramel, ginger, and faint malt. The cherry is a little artificial tasting, but also fresh and distinct. Combined with the cherry, the almond leans toward amaretto, and shorter, cooler steeps bring it out. The next steep has a bit more ginger and malt, though the cherry and almond are still prominent. Not surprisingly, this tea is sweet, though not as sweet as it could be. The final steep is less strongly flavoured and I can taste the black tea base a bit more, but the tea is still pleasant and not bitter.

This meets all my expectations for a French tea! I enjoy almond things (amaretto, marzipan, those hickory smoked almonds), and this very much falls into that category. Though it probably won’t convert me into a flavoured tea drinker, it made my Christmas a little brighter.

Advent Day 23

Almost…. done…. with the…. holidaze…. So close and I’m ready to get back to normal life pace.
Ooooo! Cardamon and orange! It has chocolate too that appears a few sips in. I think all the chocolate orange teas I’ve had have been on a black base, so it’s interesting to try this on a green. If I sip frequently the cardamon fades to the back as the choco-orange takes center. It says there are red berries in here and spices other than cardamon. I can tell there is something extra, but I can’t pick it out.
I think I really like this one! If or when I place another order I’d pick some of this up.

Advent Day 22

Green and fruity. I don’t know that I get plum specifically. It was an alright cup to sip on while I pondered other things.

Advent Day 21

I didn’t think I was going to like this one! I saw hibiscus in the ingredients and groaned, but figured I’d be a good sport and try it anyway. It has an apple cider scent. The taste is a mix between apple pie and apple cider. The hibiscus was actually used in an appropriate amount to make the flavor of the apple slightly tart! It looses a little something as it cools and has a slightly dry mouthfeel in the finish. Another one I wish I could try cold steeped. I would be willing to drink this again, which is a rare sentiment for something that has hibiscus!

Advent Day 20

I kept thinking this was red fruit as I absent mindedly sipped while messing up a baking recipe. Migraine meds were kicking in at the same time and I was distantly puzzled why it felt like a sunburn on the roof of my mouth each time I took a sip of tea. It was the triptans. When I looked at the wrapper for this tea and saw peach I had an immediate “duh” moment. Of course it’s peach! It’s totally peach. It’s similar to Lupicia’s peach flavors that I have had in green teas, but it’s on a black base so there is more depth. It looses a little magic once totally cooled, but is still a lovely cup.

Advent Day 19

It’s a rooibos. A fruity one. I get the red fruit flavors and the citrus that brightens it a touch, but I’m just not into rooibos.

Advent Day 24!!!

We made it to the end of another advent season! And I’m only a couple of teas behind.
This is one of the teas that I bought in my advent purchase order. I wanted to try nearly every almond tea they had. This has almonds and cherry. Unfortunately I stepped away from my cup a few sips in and came back to it cooled. It’s still pretty good, but I think I prefer it hot. The candied scent of cherry hits hard as I bring the cup to my face. I can taste it in the sip with almond coming in seconds later. A little bitter in the finish and I can’t recall if that was the case when it was hot. Either way, I have more to experiment with!

I’m a sucker for almond in my tea, so I bought just about every tea that Co&Co had. This one has cherries in it and the candied scent comes through in the cup. It smells like maraschino cherries. There is a tinge of bitter in the front of the sip, then some spices. The finish starts out slow and then shifts to cherry. Cherry and almond flavoring have a weird overlap in my brain, so it’s hard to pick out the almond. This tea is weird. There are parts of the sip I enjoy and parts I don’t. There are moments I’m finding very artificial notes. Adding milk tones it down a bit. Adding sugar makes the cherry jump out a little. I’m not sure about this one. More experimenting is called for!

Advent Day 18

I’m tasting some bergamot in here, but there is something else that is making it brighter. It is almost a candy citrus taste. It’s smooth and easy to drink. I think if I had a few more cups of this I’d be tempted to buy it. This is a tea that could easily grow on me.

Advent Day 17

I don’t know what to make of this. I seem to feel different with every sip. The first few sips were surprisingly nice for a rooibos with the mandarin flavors dominating. A few more sips tasted a little flat, a few more and I could taste the red fruit and rooibos part. I did just finish a fishy dinner and that complicates things. I’m very confused. I do know that I don’t like red rooibos much and that this is better than most rr blends, but the dry mouth feeling is something I don’t love. Eh is my conclusion.

Advent Day 16

Woooo this is minty! I poured the hot water, placed the teabag in my cup and then the phone rang, but I had my headphones on so the sound was coming through them and couldn’t track down where my phone was. I went into a panic because I didn’t want to miss the return call from the company who installed the gutters on my new house in ’21. We have had two storms come through and the gutters have overflowed into the attic which then leaks down through two stories of 140 year old Victorian house and a scramble to manage the leak ensues. The result of the call was they are sending someone out tomorrow to look at them and WAIT…. I HAD A CUP OF TEA STEEPING!!!! That was what it was like in my brain minus the other five things spinning in it at the same time.

Minty cup, but not bad at all for having been oversteeped. The green base of the tea comes out a little more as it cools, but I mostly just get mint. I feel like a lot of the teas in this advent would be better cold steeped in the summer. Can someone put out a mid summer advent for just that purpose, please?

Advent Day 15

Hmmmm…. strawberries and pears? It tastes like strawberries and pears, but red fruit and baked apple is what the bag says. The base is very light and airy, a little hard to pick out over the fruit. It has a hint of tartness, but it’s very subtle. Another one I wish I could try cold steeped.

Advent Day 14

This smells SO buttery and caramel like! I get a little bit of that flavor on the sip, but it lingers for some time in the finish. Oolongs are tricky for me. I often get a flat cardboard flavor in them, but I’m not getting that past the first initial sips. As I sip further into this cup I do get more of the soft caramel flavors coming out and a lingering sensation of sweetness. There is something slightly irritating my throat, especially when I sip frequently. All in all, it’s a good tea and someone who loves oolongs would probably really like this.

Advent Day 13

Eh. I’m feeling eh about this blend. It’s a light lemongrass mix with a few other things in it that don’t steep together to form an exciting cup. A little bit of licorice to add some sweetness, cardamon apparently just for show. Not my thing.

Holy hell, this tea is minty! It may have been a case of oversteeping. I have had so many chocolate mint teas that were weak, so I decided to start my journey with this tea with a 4m steep instead of my usual start of 3. It was so minty I could feel it in my sinuses and I’m not complaining! I had to add some creamer to take the edge off the mint, which happens to be one of my favorite ways to have mint choco teas. It helped, but I feel like the chocolate is muted because of how bold the mint is. I’m happily drinking this cup and look forward to trying it again!

Advent Day 12

Well this is interesting! Kumquat and finger lime?! I have had a kumquat tea from Lupicia once, but I’ve never come across a tea with finger lime! I am partial to finger lime and have had two small trees in pots for years. The larger one that has not been a good producer of fruit is now covered in blossoms at the moment, so I have hope it may be catching up with my prolific tree. We moved in the fall, so perhaps it likes the new yard better. I also grew up with my grandma having a kumquat tree in the back yard and often snacked on those as a kid.

This has a light juicy citrus taste. The first couple of sips were powerful and then the tea mellowed out or maybe it was my tastebuds that did. I think I can pick out the sweetness and flavor of the kumquat peel mixed with the flesh of the fruit, but it lacks the tang the flesh has. The finger lime flavor would be hard to differentiate with a regular lime. The difference is the fruit filled sacs inside the fruit are round balls instead of tubes with tapered ends. I had to look up what marula is… a fruit from Africa. Finger lime from Australia, kumquats are native to China… that is three continents. Not sure where the lemon peel and green tea are from to make the namesake five continents, but I like the concept. This is a nice enough cup that I’d try again, although I’d love to try it cold steeped if I came across it again.

Advent Day 11

I didn’t follow the steeping instructions (3-5m steep) and instead did a little over a minute, afraid to oversteep this. I think I understeeped it instead. It does have a nice jasmine flavor, but it isn’t as strong as I prefer my jasmines. I do get a little green behind the jasmine flavor, but not a strong grassy green that would overpower the flower. Another tea that I’d happily drink another cup of, but am not moved to buy.

Advent Day 9

This is the only assam on the company’s website, but the teabag I got doesn’t say GFOP. I over steeped this. Set my timer and walked away to where I couldn’t hear it. Luckily this tea handled it well. The cup smells a more malty than I’m tasting. It seems slightly sweet. Solid tea, but I’m not finding it super exciting. Adding a plunk of creamer just turned it into a mostly cream flavored cup of warmth and took out the flavors of the tea.

Advent Day 10

This smells great. I get the bergamot scent, but there is something behind it that I can’t pick out and seems familiar. It has a strong berg flavor too, but it is smooth at the same time. That unidentified scent comes out in the finish too. This is a solid EG that is way too easy to sip through without realizing it!

Advent Day 8

Anise, yuzu and apple?! That is an interesting sounding combo! The star anise dominates the scent when steeped. It dominates the start of the sip too, but it’s not overwhelming. There is something behind the flavor, but I’m having a hard time recognizing it as either fruit. Whatever it is, I like it! This is another tea in this advent that I wish I had also had a chance to cold steep. If only there were two bags for each day like my other advent! This is the first tea in this advent that I’d be tempted to purchase.

Advent Day 7

I’m playing advent catch up today. This is good. I love a good Lapsang. It’s strong, but somehow still light. The smoke is really prominent at the start of the sip and then fades out nicely in the finish. It has a bit of that leather taste to it, which I like. It is super easy to sip on. If I didn’t have two other top lapsang loves, I’d consider this as a cupboard staple.

Advent Day 7

Wow! Lots of hazelnut in this! This is the most hazelnutty tea I think I’ve had. The start of the sip is a little confusing, but mid sip the hazelnut flavor comes through loud and clear. I’m getting beet at the back of the sip, which I think is a user error since I just finished off a beet drink ten minutes before having this tea. The description on the bag includes hazel leaves. No clue what those taste like or how they are contributing to this cup. It also says there is some vanilla in here, but it must be merging so much that I can’t pick it out. I do wish that they had chosen to mix another flavor in here to make it more complex, like a fruit or something else that pairs well with it. It’s good as is and I’d drink it again, but wouldn’t put it on my shopping list.

ALSO…. How are we already a week into December?! I’m not ready!

Advent Day 5

Orange is the first thing that hits my senses when going to sip this tea. I get a little artificial honey flavor in the back of the sip, merging with the orange which makes the orange seem more candy like. The finish is all honey scent, the kind of honey scent that people who make scents and flavorings think honey tastes like. I’m a bee keeper and I’m a wee bit snoody about my honey. This flavoring doesn’t pass. What it does remind me of is this “honey” scented luxury bubble bath we got once when I was a kid that left us smelling faintly like this for a day. Soap isn’t a great association with tea! I like the idea of honey and orange for a tea, but the honey could use improvement. It is an interesting cup of tea that I would drink more of, but not buy.

I took my 1x steeped tea bag and put it in a mason jar in the fridge, cold steeping it for a week. Trying it now to find a delicious fruity scent. The flavor it very fruity, reminding me of Lupicia blends (Momoko, specifically), but it has a flatness to it that is slightly alkaline. Could be due to the leaves having been steeped previously or not. I won’t know unless I get my hands on another sample of this tea, but I think the potential is there to be a fantastic cold steeped beverage.