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“The weather has been so bad that somehow I am finding myself buying new teas in April! Picking new teas often is an autumn thing for me. But I was craving vanilla tea which somehow I just did not...” Read full tasting note
“I could not find an English translation of this. I ordered this tea from Mariages Freres in Paris because it is smoky. As a lover of lapsang souchongs, I expected to like this and I love...” Read full tasting note
“This is a sample kindly sent by cteresa. This is clearly not a tea I would have bought by myself because I am not familiar with Lapsang Souchong and was quite afraid of. But I am nicely surprised...” Read full tasting note
“Thanks for the sample of this Rachel! You’re a peach! This has just the right amount of smokiness to still be able to taste the smoothness and the black tea overall. There is a clue of citrus...” Read full tasting note
Our own Russian blend, featuring silver tips, is famous for its grand finesse and slightly smoky fragrance.
This masterpiece by Mariage Frères is named after the Russian czar who introduced Parisians to Russian-style tea in 1814.
Company description not available.
The weather has been so bad that somehow I am finding myself buying new teas in April! Picking new teas often is an autumn thing for me. But I was craving vanilla tea which somehow I just did not have at home, and found myself returning home with 50 grams each of vanilla tea and nothing less than 2 emperors. The vanilla tea, I will get to it because first brew has not been what i wanted, but this Tzar Alexandre, oh my, am sort of in love. Though a warning, this is a very personal love.
I love lapsang souchong but usually prefer the bergamot in earl greys to not be too strong. This is a light lapsang souchong with light bergamot and somehow tea body. It´s awesome, like how did nobody think of this before, where has this concept been all my life? BUT a warning, not sure if this is a tea for those who do not love lapsang.
The brewing details are not a recommendation, just a note. I brewed it slightly too hot and/or slightly too long, will experiment a bit with it. It survived wrong brewing details with honors, but I think it will be better with water some 5 or 10 degrees cooler.
I could not find an English translation of this. I ordered this tea from Mariages Freres in Paris because it is smoky. As a lover of lapsang souchongs, I expected to like this and I love it.
It’s not as purely smoky and peaty as some Russian Caravans can be: there is a touch of a kind of perfumed sweetness which reminds me a bit of Upton Tea’s Black Dragon and which highlights the smoke very nicely. I feel as if I am in a Parisian bistro surrounded by a glamourous smoky atmosphere but the smoke is all sweetness and not the least bit offensive.
I’ll have to place another order with Mariage Freres in France later this year; they have so many delightful blends that I don’t think are available in North America: (Vivaldi, Confucius, Elixir d’amour, etc.) I also ordered their Lapsang Souchong jam which is just extraordinary.
Ah well, yet another one to try next time I can splurge on Mariage Freres…
OOOH, LS jam…
Ah, sounds lovely! If I can’t find this one, maybe I can get some Upton Black Dragon!
Your note just made my day! I’ll definitely save up to go in on a French order for later this year if you do another group order. And LS jam? ::drools::
Is the jam sweet or savory?
I took a stab at the translation, but I’m admittedly an amateur.
The jam is sweet — it tastes quite a bit like an LS loaded with sugar but its weirdly compelling and I find it an excellent excuse for calorie expenditure.
This is a sample kindly sent by cteresa. This is clearly not a tea I would have bought by myself because I am not familiar with Lapsang Souchong and was quite afraid of.
But I am nicely surprised because even if for a LS beginner like I am the smocky taste seems heavy, it is so lovely blended with a light bergamot that I can only love it.
The tea base is really mellow and the bergamot touch is perfect to help to
tame this type of tea.
As it cools the smocky taste seems lighter now.
Thank you so much for permitting me to discover this type of teas cteresa
Thanks for the sample of this Rachel! You’re a peach!
This has just the right amount of smokiness to still be able to taste the smoothness and the black tea overall. There is a clue of citrus likeness to it, too, that makes it really special and the tips are lovely!
This is quite nice, indeed!
It’s a unique Earl Grey that uses Lapsang Souchong.
Has a crisp bergamot aroma with a rich smokiness.
The aftertaste has a definite sweetness that comes from Lapsang Souchong.
As one of the Lapsang Souchong lovers, I’ve been very excited to try this one but was not so stunning.
(I’m pleased to upload a new image for this tea!)
I find that this tea enchants and grows upon the drinker. Its pronounced smoky notes invigorate at first sip, and personally, becomes more calming as the tea cools.
I would describe it as a smooth tea, goes down easily, with a beautifully balanced body and after-taste, and a certain pleasant tang that blooms up at the end of the sip (or gulp!). The scent is ever so slightly floral – though I confess a limited vocabulary at this stage of my tea appreciation journey.
Perhaps influenced by its description and categorisation, I only drink this tea in the late evening. It only seems fitting.
Flavors: Floral, Smoke
They list it as an afternoon tea in their tea chart! I love it as well.
Heya! Could you find a link to the tea chart for me? I had a quick look but had no luck.
Ah, sorry, I do not think it is online. It´s a big sheet of paper, A3 size or larger, covered in plastic at both sides, with the list of tea on both sides (one side is mostly flavoured teas, the other the single origins) with the tea prices, all very close printed, that they have at their Marais shop on the counters. You can´t really see all the tea cannisters they have and they do not have samples out for everything (it will be a good 600 or 700 varieties I think, of which maybe they 200 or 300 samples out) so the list. The flavoured teas, some of it is organized by time of the day, and I noticed Tzar Alexandre was on the afternoon teas!
was hesitant about this one last time I went to have a tea drink at Mariage tea room, finally I took another one (9 € the teapot makes you think about which tea you really want to taste !)
9€ a teapot oh that is enough to buy 100 grams and some left over! Indeed, I might be a miser and prefer to just buy the tea . But do not buy this one, we can swap a bit of this one one of these days?
yes of course – while in a MF tea room you really relax, they prepare the tea perfectly, everything is so cosy…your teapot is a big one, you can get 4 or 5 cups. but yes each I think…oh I can buy a full tea bag and even 2 tea bags of 100g with this amount…
well, that is a good point, sitting in from the weather in a nice set with a properly prepared pot of tea, you are right, it is indeed worth splurging on