Le Thé Blanc Alain Ducasse

The rose is the main thing I taste, and it’s a little strong for me. I ended up watering it down a little. I steeped this properly, but it still got a little bitter/astringent for me. I don’t love the tea base they used, and I would have preferred more complexity here. This one isn’t terrible, just really not my preference.

I was excited to find it in the Kusmi Advent Calendar, as I’ve never had it before. It’s one of the more premium teas Kusmi has to offer. The famous Alain Ducasse has created his first white tea as a collab with the brand. They only sell it in massive tins (and refills), 120g if I remember correctly. One tin costs € 39,50 which significantly (at least three times) more than the usual price for Kusmi. That alone is enough to put some customers off and limit their clientele.
Firstly, the packaging is lovely. White&silver colour palette, looks luxe and fresh, kind of cold and icy almost. It would look great outside, on the worktop, as part of the kitchen decor if someone has a very modern kitchen.
When you smell it, you can instantly smell huge quantities of rose and a hint of red fruit, in this case it’s raspberry. The rose is not artificial or perfume-like, it actually smells quite naturally and makes me think of a home-made marmalade.
The tea itself is light, fresh, airy, non-suffocating. Very elegant. It would make a great gift for someone who has everything and needs nothing. This kind of person would definitely appreciate this tea :-)
In my opinion it’s not wort 40 euros per box, I know very similar teas for a fraction of the price. Nevertheless, I’m happy I gave it a go. Maybe one day, when I want to impress some Michellin star-obsessed foodie / tea snob, I will spoil them happily with this as a gift.

The sachet wrapper says raspberry and rose. Rose is definitely prominent. It has a light perfumy scent and flavor with a bit of fruit. I don’t know that I’d recognize this as raspberry if I hadn’t read it, but I could pick out that there was some sort of fruit which becomes more bold at the end of the sip. This tea is light and airy, which isn’t really my thing.

Kusmi Advent Day 3
The rose and raspberry are very well balanced, with the raspberry being slightly in the forefront. The rose flavoring is like eating a fresh rose petal, and does not come off as perfumey. The floral aspects of the white tea also work really well here. Overall, really enjoy this cup. There is a bit of bitterness in the aftertaste, so I’d probably reduce steep time to 2min45sec or so next time.

Kusmi Advent – Day 3

Ooh, I’ve never tried this one before! Mostly because it only comes in giant-ass tins and it has rose in it, which is not one of my favorite flavors. But I’m glad to get the opportunity to try it once, at least!

I had myself a lovely little fika break on the patio with a pretty teacup full of this tea accompanied by chocolate and cheese. This definitely has a strong rose element, but I feel like at least it tastes like a real rose and not a perfume. The raspberry is also a nice addition, though it’s more of an accent note here. I don’t get a whole lot from the base, some mild hay notes from the white tea perhaps. It has a tinge of bitterness even with the recommended low water temperature. There’s a slight chalkiness that give this a candylike edge, reminding me of powdery candies like Smarties.

Today’s chocolate from my La Maison du Chocolat advent is a mini version of their Tapage Noisettes bar, which is a layer of dark chocolate topped with a layer of milk chocolate mixed with hazelnuts. Simple and delicious, though perhaps without the depth of flavor of the pralinés from previous days.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIWe8YMAnmG/

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIVyyA6gsud/)

First stepping 1:40 and second steeping 2:10, Definitely taste like raspberry with a very slight touch of bitterness. The rose flavour increase over time as you drink the tea. It feel-taste like as if I was walking in a forest — there is a taste that I have difficult to pin point maybe like a rainforest kind of.

A night under a full moon, I feel relaxed and drifting in dreams. A warm gentle breeze on my skin, walking into a forest hearing piano notes. The infinity, I don’t want to wake up.

WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life

Adventaggedon Day 19: Tea 5/8

I’ve gotta be honest and admit that I’m not familiar with the man whom this tea blend is named for at all but, despite that, I am absolutely smitten with this tea. I’ve lost track precisely but this is now the third or fourth flavoured white tea from Kusmi in the advent and once again they’ve completely knocked it out of the park and just fully cemented in my head that Kusmi’s unspoken/neglected strength is in their white teas. It’s like a sweet but still mellow raspberry jelly or jam mixed with a distinct rosewater flavour that, while I know wouldn’t be up everyone’s all because of how floral leaning it is, really hits the spot for me.

I’ve been really thinking about teas from all these advents I would actually want to order larger sizes of and trying to be really particular about it because I don’t want a huge influx of tea coming in following a month where I don’t get in any sipdowns… but a white tea Kusmi order is looking really good right now.