Nuit à Versailles

The teas that Doulton so graciously ordered from France have arrived in my mailbox!! I am so excited! The minute I opened the package this one started to call to me. Violets! I ate a nice big breakfast that reminded me of a lunch so I could make pretend I was having this in the afternoon :)

Ooooooh so delicate! I’m drinking green tea Choward’s Violet candies!!! I am swooning. Where is my fainting couch?!?! I am IN LOVE! I am finding subtle supportive other sweet floral flavors, but this one is nothing like an Earl Grey and the other flowers do not stand out. This one is a lovely slightly vegetal green tea with violet, violet, violet. I erred on the side of caution and steeped it for 3 minutes, but the next time I make it I’m going to go for a 3:30 first steep. I think it can take it.

Steep 2: 4 min – Could it be that this steep is even more delicious?!!? Why I think it is!!! It’s a little more rounded but equally as violet and wonderful. I wish you could see me – I’m freaking out. You have no idea how much I love violet and I was so afraid this tea would be the equivalent of a toiletry – and it IS NOT!!!!

I’m completely intoxicated and am seeing violet elephants, but I think this could even go another steep. I’m going to save my leaves and see if I may want some this afternoon!

I am so happy right now! I love Doulton, I love the French, and I love Steepster!!!!!!!

EDIT: I just did a third steep (4 min) and it’s great!!!

Also – this sounds a little strange but I totally want to take a bath with this tea!! Green tea bathing is supposed to be good for health:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1141970/the_health_benefits_of_a_green_tea.html?cat=68

and this fragrance – ahh!! It would be the most amazing soak ever.

This is one of the most popular Dammann Frères blends, it seems – both in terms of ratings and sales. It makes sense – if DF’s overall concept appealed to me, I’d be really excited about this tea, too. Smelling the dry leaf is interesting – at first, it’s a rich, dreamy bouquet with all the different scent strands weaving into each other. After a while, though, it’s possible to identify individual fruits and florals. There’s peach, and violet, some orange… and even what smells like DF’s passion fruit to me.

Steeped, it retains much of the same complexity – the beginning of the sip and the aftertaste leave very different impressions. But it’s just very, very delicate. Too delicate for me, and with a dominant presence of that perfumey note DF are so fond of. It’s a little bit like drinking someone’s grandmother – don’t get me wrong, it’s a grandmother of the Parisian variety, all old Chanel and pearls and dignity, but still. Too perfumey.

[From my epic Instant-Thé order to Rome, October 2013.]

I will always take the opportunity to try Dammann blends I haven’t tried yet. This one has even been on my list, but it wasn’t a high priorty for ordering. But now thanks again to Ellen I have a sample yay!

Ok there is for sure something weird going on with some element here, but I don’t know if it is my brewing setup (recently cleaned, but not too recently), water (maybe?) or the samples. This does not have the same powerful salty flavor as the Nirvana tea earlier today, but it does have kind of an odd savory note. Fortunately for me, there’s plenty of lovely bergamot, orange blossom and violet as well. The savory note is fading as the tea cools as well. This is a very violetty tea blend, though it doesn’t assult you with violets. More just provides you with enough to roll around in. Don’t think I would restock this one (and I’m glad I don’t have 100g of it), although I am very glad that I got a chance to try it.

Oh. My. Lordy.

I want to marry this tea company. I want to marry someone who works at this tea company. I would seriously consider dropping everything and moving to France in order to have easier access to this tea. This is the best floral green tea that I’ve ever had!!!!!

How can a tea be so complex, delicate, and beyond yummy? Dammann Freres? They really must be fairies masquerading as tea blenders creating rare, precious, and joyful nectar.

Violets? I never really gave much thought to this flower. Violets in this tea are a revelation! Bergamot? I didn’t even realize that there was bergamot in this until I looked at this tea’s description (on my 3rd yummy steep). This is the most delicate and lovely unassuming bergamot!

Okay, I’ll stop rambling. But this is an awesome floral green tea! Thank you so very very very very very very very very much JacquelineM for the sample of this tea!!!!!

ETA: Ummm…TG

A big thank you goes to Doulton for my opportunity to try this tea.

This tea smells beautiful. The dry leaf possesses a strong fruit and floral aroma with hints of fresh grass. When brewed, the liquor has a stronger grassy aroma but still has notes of flower and fruit.

The flavor is so wonderful. Delicate notes of fruit and flower united with a soft, smooth, buttery green tea. Lovely.

Thank you to Meghann for this one! I don’t usually drink tea this late at night unless it is decaf, but I couldn’t wait to try one of my new teas that arrived today.

First on my list was Nuit A Versailles. The aroma is heavenly. This is a lovely green tea, lightly buttery-flavored and oh! the goodies they have blended with it! I don’t taste the bergamot as bergamot – this tea is far too delicate for that. And having had lavender tea that tried to hurt me, and Parma Violets candy from Ireland that tasted like I was eating a WHOLE field of flowers, I could have been afraid to try this. But I know the French do flavored teas so well, and they didn’t let us down here.

Want to feel rich and pampered? Get out your favorite pretty cup, make this tea, and sniff sniff sniff. Then slowly sip and enjoy, but don’t stop letting this aroma work its wonders on you. This is a five star flavored green.

Tastes like a typical flavored green tea. It was very pleasant, but not anything totally different from what I’ve had before. I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy this from France =P

Wrote this up a couple of months ago but never posted it!

Day 19 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar. One nice thing about finishing this advent calendar so late is that I feel like a lot of these fruity teas are better suited for hot weather. This one, for example, begs to be tried iced, but I wouldn’t have done that in December. The dry leaf smells like fruit salad! Kiwi, apricot (or possibly the combo of mango and bergamot if experience with DF’s Bella Blanca is any guide), and something else I can’t place. Looking at the ingredients list, it’s kiwi, orange blossom, violet, bergamot, and peach. So my sense of smell clearly still isn’t 100% where it was before this latest bout of covid, and/or has trouble distinguishing between their yellow/orange stone fruit flavorings. Nonetheless, onwards to the tasting!

Mostly I taste kiwi, stone fruit, and bergamot. As it cools, the bergamot gets even stronger, which… why?! Either the bergamot is too heavy-handed or I’m really sensitive to it. I keep thinking the base tea is chun mee, but I don’t really know that or have any specific basis for believing it, just some little signal in my brain that keeps wanting to label it that – even though I haven’t had chun mee in years!

Sipdown. Was a purchase at the Midwest Tea fest through Emilie’s French Teas in KC MO.

Too much bergamot in this for me, plus it’s a green tea. I’ve had some okay cups of this but for the most part very cloying with an aftertaste I did not care for. Finishing this off today probably overleafed, probably too high a temp, but glad to be through it. Smells pretty good – bergamot, violet, floral. Just tastes like you’ve walked into a floral perfume cloud…bleh.

DF Advent Day 18 (18-Feb 2022)

This one smells lovely steeped. I get kiwi with hints of bergamot and rose. This reminds me of a candy, but it’s not really candy-like. The green tea is a nice base for these flavours. I really liked this tea.