Je t'Aime

This is a favorite of mine. It embraces all the best characteristics of a pistachio macaron – without tasting artificial or overdone (as is the case for many other teas that seek to capture the flavor a of a specific dessert item). The black tea is subtle and doesn’t overpower the strong notes of almond, pistachio, vanilla, chocolate, and merengue. I often serve this to guests and so far it has received universal approval. Really a great desert-flavored tea.

This is a tea I really wanted to try (pistachio and marzipan was the original description on The O Dor’s site), but the shop was out when I was in Brussels. Fortunately MissB had some to send along!

I feel like there are some weird translation issues here. Is it a macaroon, or macaron? Actually I think the answer is both? (Side note: The O Dor updated their website and it is a million billion times easier to use, plus they give ingredients now). It does have both “macaron” flavors, and coconut, which is more macaroon. What I taste is a lot of pistachio, a hint of almond, some creamy coconut, and an underlying base of chocolate. It’s not exactly what I was expecting, but it is delicious. I think I would prefer it without the coconut, but I don’t really care for coconut in my black tea. Regardless, I am happy to have tried this one (but I don’t think I will be ordering 100g any time soon).

Another gem from MissB! I’m skeptical of all these French teas, probably because going into it I haven’t a clue what’s in them… but so far, everything’s been tasting pretty great. With this tea, I correctly identified it as a rose/chocolate black, which tastes fairly good – add some bergamot and you’d have DT’s The Earl’s Valentine! (Not quite). Anyhow, I’m not overly fond of floral notes, but I’d happily drink it again. Which I will, because I only drank half my sample today.

ETA: Ok, I also taste the coconut, and I can be convinced that there’s marzipan flavouring in here, though it’s not overly strong (otherwise I’d find it very cloying). Pistachio though? Not so much.

Marzipan. I get lots of marzipan. And a nutty liqueur. Plus a nice dose of coconut. It’s not what I expected but it’s tasty nonetheless. Thank you MissB!

Sipdown (117)!

Tasting note time! I haven’t posted anything here on Steepster in a little while because I just finished a six day streak at work, and I haven’t had any energy (or time, really) to write anything before or after work. Today’s my day off though so lets see what I can write today!

This sample comes from MissB – I saw the coconut shreds in it and automatically assumed it’d make a nice cold brew, so that’s how I prepared my sample. After it was strained this smelled distinctly chocolatey and nutty; no actual coconut notes which is what made me go for a cold brew in the first place.

The taste is reminiscent of DAVIDsTEA’s Choconut Oolong to me – they both share a very similar sweet chocolate flavour with a syrupy sweetness at the end of the sip. In the latter’s case it was caused by licorice root – for this one, while it does remind me a little of licorice root, it’s more so because of the marzipan. And that’s another key difference; Choconut was hazelnut while this is much more distinctly almond. It’s supposed to have pistachio too – but I’m not getting any of those notes.

And, I actually didn’t taste the coconut at all throughout…

It’s good; but I just put Choconut Oolong to rest after finishing off like 200g of it so I think I’m trying this one a little too soon – all I can think of as I sip on it is Choconut Oolong and I made myself so sick of that one just because of the sheer volume of it that I went through.

Pulled this one of the box Sil sent to me – I think this might have originated from MissB

I didn’t look up what this was “suppose” to be, and I’m now really confused. Without looking I was thinking chocolate, coconut, and something fruity – raspberry. That’s what I was getting. Marzipan, macaroon, pistachio? Hmmmmm ok if you say so..
Whatever it is, I’ve had a few cups of this tonight and was really happy with it. Reminds me a little of H&S Soho but definitely has that scented European thing going on. Thanks so much guys for sharing this – have enjoyed my evening with it.

Good mix of coconut and chocolate flavouring. Nice nuttiness notes. Black tea base is smooth with a savoury sweetness and just a hint of a bitter note. This would be a great tea to pair with afternoon tea sandwiches and treats!

Thanks to Miss B for sharing with me!

Another tea from MissB and while it’s a nice tea with a great base, I’m just not feeling the macaroon/chocolate/coconut flavour going on today. I wouldn’t ever turn down a cup of this, but it doesn’t get me going like some of the other teodor teas :) Love the share though, since this likely would have been one i’d have tried to get! Thanks missb!

I know this is Je T’aime, even though I bought it from a supplier… all the bags/boxes/tins were Thé O Dor. The tea also looks exactly like the picture. Yet, this tea, the tea that I’m drinking, is melted milk chocolate amazingness. I kinda sorta get the marzipan macaroon, but more so that it’s a CHOCOLATE macaroon with marzipan in it. It’s delicious, it’s definitely fantastic at slightly less than boiling, and I want this as a permanent fixture in my cupboard just as I’ve managed to brew it today.

Also thought it was a fitting tea as I head out to a silent walk in Grenoble, France, to honor those who died in the recent atrocities in Paris, and to stand united. It’s been a somber time here the past few days, I’ve run into military with machine guns, and so this is my way of injecting a tiny bit of love into the sadness.

I also seem to have just jumped over my 1200th review (funny, because I’ve likely drank double than during my time on Steepster, but for a while there forgot to log things). So, because it’s so fitting (for me and my line of work) I dub this my 1200th tea! :)

Oh, okay, wow. So I’m having quite the The O Dor sample party today, courtesy of Ysaurella, cteresa and the EU swap box. Before yesterday, I was a The O Dor virgin, but things are getting pretty depraved pretty fast over here.

All these preconceived notions of what I’m going to like are so often completely turned on their heads when I try out a brand new company. I thought Lupicia’s blacks would be insufferable (but it turns out they’re just as amazing as their greens and oolongs) and I thought Butiki’s flavoured teas would be right up my alley (turns out I prefer the plain ones) and I thought I’d like Damman Frères far more than Comptoir des Thés et des Epices (a million times no).

And here I was, convinced this tea would be just average, and that Celebration would have to be the most desirable in the entire The O Dor kingdom.

As it turns out, I realized chocolate teas don’t really do it for me, even if there’s hazelnut and vanilla involved… and that this tea is gorgeous. Seriously, the last time I had a tea experience like this was with Lupicia’s Cookie. (And you all know how I feel about Cookie.)

I did a double take smelling the sample, because it was so rich and lovely. I always talk about the wild card, that inexplicable something, and there it was, in the dry tea already. And this teal is solid and reliable, because that something stays there all the way, both scent wise and flavour wise. There’s a perfect, creamy intermingling of coconut and pistachio, with an aftertaste that is all smooth vanilla with this slight floral hint that literally makes me smile.

My mnemonic analogy (there always seems to be one hard-wired into some part of my brain, after all) emanates from memories of love, suitably. When you’ve been in love, and you’ve loved, and you think you’ve got it all figured out, and then you meet that goddamn person who just turns everything upside down and shows you what all those stupid songs and books and movies were really about.

Je T’aime – the evolution of love, in a tea cup.

(You will be my special coconut and pistachio tea forever.)

[Sample from the second round of the EU Travelling Box, spring 2014.]