Dammann Frères

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80

Another acquisition from Paris.

This definitely benefits from a shorter steep time, as it starts to get bitter right around the 2 minute mark. Not quite pancake, but definitely banana and maple. But not gross, cloying maple that is so often found in maple flavoring. This is quite pleasant- more of a brown sugar, caramelized flavor. The banana flavor is quite mild.
This would probably be really nice with some sweetener and milk.

Flavors: Banana, Brown Sugar, Caramelized Sugar, Maple Syrup

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drank Pecan Pie by Dammann Frères
1789 tasting notes

Bought this is Paris and just now getting around to trying it. I don’t know if I’d describe the flavor as pecan pie necessarily, but it’s definitely some kind of nutty baked good. Maybe more almond/marzipan in a pastry crust. I like it, but I got a touch of a medicinal aftertaste that wasn’t great.

Flavors: Almond, Marzipan, Pastries

Martin Bednář

Definitely it’s more almond than pecan.

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81
drank My Panettone by Dammann Frères
78 tasting notes

I hesitate to even leave a tasting note for this one because I don’t think I am adding much to the conversation. I have to agree with everyone else, this tea is spot on :) It tastes just like you hope it would taste: buttery and very light. It’s lovely and it makes me think of Christmas.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 4 min, 30 sec

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drank Cacao Menthe by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 18

Serviceable, but I can’t help but compare it unfavourably to my favourite chocolate mint tisane (that one contained anise and vanilla and I miss it dearly). This kind of of tea makes an enjoyable evening aperitif; I appreciate how it’s not sweet too.

Flavors: Bittersweet, Cacao, Dark Chocolate, Earthy, Fresh, Herbaceous, Mint

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drank Canissoun by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 23

I’ve never heard of this dessert but this flavoured rooibos makes me want to try it! This caffeine-free beverage tastes like nougat or a marzipan candy – with bits of melon and orange. It’s unique, round, and works surprisingly well enough with the base that it almost tempts me to give rooibos blends another shot at life in my stash. I can actually envision myself drinking this in the evening…

Flavors: Almond, Candied Fruit, Citrus, Floral, Fruity, Marzipan, Melon, Nutty, Orange, Sweet

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drank My Tiramisu by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 22

I tend to side-eye coffee teas but I ended up enjoying this one! The coffee is light, fluffy, chocolate-y and dusted with cinnamon. It’s the brunt of a profile that’s cake-like, topped with a boozy-sweet maraschino. It’s tasty and I essentially inhaled it.

Flavors: Biscuit, Cake, Cinnamon, Coffee, Creamy, Dark Chocolate, Fruity, Malt, Maraschino, Smooth, Sweet

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drank L'Oriental by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 20

The dominant note for me is the peach. It’s a juicy, dynamic peach though – with citrusy elements from the strawberry, passion fruit, and pineapple. Dammann Frères does fruit flavours well but this isn’t my favourite by them.

Flavors: Citrusy, Fruity, Passion Fruit, Peach, Pineapple, Stonefruit, Strawberry, Tropical Fruit, Vegetal

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drank Chaï by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 19

I steeped this directly in hot, frothy milk. It’s not as bold as my favourite chai (should’ve steeped it a little longer), but its still velvety, rich, and warming. I wasn’t paying enough attention to determine which spice was dominant; none of the spices really popped, and it generally tasted well balanced.

Flavors: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Malt, Peppercorn, Silky, Smooth, Spicy, Woody

Preparation
5 min, 0 sec

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March Sipdown Prompt – International Day of Happiness: drink a tea that makes you happy!

I need a happy tea today, as frustrations over a very necessary construction project were getting to me and putting me in a bad mood as we are having difficulty making decisions on how to best do things.

When you love drinking tea, a lot of teas make you feel happy. I decided to choose by scrolling through my cupboard rather than picking randomly or choosing from the sipdown list. As I scrolled through, I saw tea after tea that made me go, “That’s a good one, and this one is really good…” but when I got to this tea my heart leapt so I knew it was the one.

I first had this flavor as a Dammann Freres jelly that Superanna gave me, and as soon as I tasted the jelly I knew I wanted the tea. It was scrumptiously floral as a jelly so I knew I would love the tea.

Night before last the March winds blew cold weather back to us (cold for here) and yesterday was chillier than we have been having lately, but today is supposed to hit really nice spring temps again with sunny skies, so I am starting my day with a cup of tea that tastes of nearly every lovely flower of spring and summer that you can think of.

The green oolong base carries the flavors well, and even though the floral aspect is aromatic and powerful, you can still taste the oolong very well. It is a very well blended tea and is my first ray of sunshine for today.

I think I will go stare at the project with another cup in hand and see if inspiration hits. I am looking forward to this project being done so I can sit with a future cup of admire the finished project with satisfaction. (I hope.)

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I enjoy floral teas. Very much.

A couple of years ago, Superanna gave me a jelly calked Jardin du Luxembourg from Dammann Freres. It was soooo floral. I really enjoyed with cheese and crackers, or cheese and toast.

I had never heard of tea flavored jellies at that time and it took me a minute (okay, a lot more than a minute) to realize that if they had a jelly by that name then they must also have a tea by that name. I looked it up and immediately added it to my wishlist.

When I opened my gift and sniffed this, it was absolutely identical to the scent of the jelly. This is rich, decadent, heady perfume. I am delighted to have this on shelf.

Thank you, Superanna! <3

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Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 16

I got everything I love in my tea for Day 16 adventing: a tea that is the epitome of tea, a tea that tastes like cheesecake and citrus, and now this beautiful super green oolong with rose and passion fruit.

This is what I wanted “Oolong Exotic” to be – a more floral green oolong (almost buttery), less mid-roast oolong (I don’t like that with fruit)… a more subtle, breezy profile. Both the Rose oil and Apricot flavour are not heavy-handed (how can they be when passion fruit is such a lively flavour); they serve as lovely accents to this blend. The prominent floral and fruity notes trick my brain into picking up delicate cherry and/or plum blossom too. It’s ethereal and charming.

Oh, well! Now I know that this is the passion fruit oolong tea for me when it comes time to order more Dammann Frères.

Resteep reminds me of Superfine Momo Oolong from Lupicia, of all things. Very tasty.

Flavors: Apricot, Bright, Cherry Blossom, Floral, Fruity, Mineral, Passion Fruit, Rose, Silky, Smooth, Stonefruit, Sweet, Tangy, Tropical Fruit, Vegetal

Leafhopper

This sounds lovely! :)

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drank Mûre Sauvage by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 13

Simple but full-bodied and tasty. Always a pleasant to come across a black currant tasting tea! It’s an offering that I’d like to spend more time with when I have my nose back.

Steep Count: 2

Flavors: Berries, Black Currant, Blackberry, Fruity, Juicy, Malt, Smooth, Sweet, Tart

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Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 14

I love this as a concept so much. Also smells delicious, even through my stuffed up sinuses. However, I wish it was more toasty and less grassy in profile (maybe that’s the congestion talking). I had it along with cold buckwheat noodles though, and that was a fine pairing! I’d love to try a sample of this again under better conditions.

Flavors: Buckwheat, Floral, Fruity, Grassy, Pear, Sweet, Toasty, Vanilla

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drank Californie by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 10

The combination of banana, orange and strawberry once again happily remind me of Orange Julius (because apparently child-me always had half/half). Coconut isn’t too distinctive; just makes it a more convincing creamy smoothie thing. Also, a little bit of a grapefruit dimension to the citrus, but it’s the super sweet kind and not blatant (which, too bad because I love unabashedly grapefruit teas).

Flavors: Banana, Candy, Citrus, Coconut, Fruity, Grapefruit, Orange, Strawberry, Sweet, Tropical Fruit, Vegetal

Martin Bednář

I have a pretty good grapefruit tea in my office cupboard (with strawberry and it is a fruit tea), HMU if you want to try it.

Crowkettle

Sorry, Martin! I thought I replied already. I’ll probably follow up with you after the holidays, when I’m not so out of it. Grapefruit is one of my absolute favourite flavours in tea :)

Martin Bednář

Okay, I will save a few bags for you :)

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Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 11

I have a sore throat and sniffles (again, sigh). The citrus and honey-malt flavours of this tea are exactly what I crave atm. It’s so soothing, like a particularly fancy version of the “lemon slice and honey in black tea” treatment.

The choice to blend black tea with a few Silver Needle leaves is… interesting. But I think it actually works out alright. Not sure why. Makes me crave a dian hong though.

Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Floral, Hay, Honey, Malt, Muscatel, Smooth, Sugarcane, Sweet, Tannic

ashmanra

Harney and Sons has several blends of black tea and silver needles. I have enjoyed the ones I have tried but I wonder what the silver needles are bringing to the blend.

Crowkettle

This is the first one I’ve tried and, yeah… I guess some silver needle can add or accentuate an element of sweetness and/or fruitiness/citrus? But I find both of those qualities vary greatly by plantation and harvest. Or maybe it’s purely ornamental (silver needle is pretty)! Someone who knows more about tea blending would have a clue, maybe :)

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drank Paï Mu Tan by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 9

We got our first snow of the season today. It was charming, but also kind of hilarious, because our area was seems to be one of the only parts of the lower mainland that saw serious snow accumulation and sticking. Vancouver was spared, but experienced the joys of sleet (everyone’s favourite form of precipitation).

It therefore seemed fitting to have an unflavoured snow-white tea to rally around this afternoon. I like this type of tea best when it hasn’t been flavoured.. or at least I’ve encountered very few flavourings that I like (maybe cantaloupe & cream?). Deceivingly full bodied.

Today was a good day for the advents.

Steep Count: 3

Flavors: Cucumber, Floral, Melon, Smooth

Preparation
4 min, 0 sec
Tiffany :)

White tea for first snow, sounds like a good idea! :)

And ooh, who makes a cantaloupe & cream white tea? I love cantaloupe but it is rare to see in tea!

Crowkettle

Unfortunately, the only one I’ve ever come across is from Butiki. Lupicia has a few “melon” white and oolong teas, but it’s not cantaloupe.

I’m surprised there aren’t more around; many white teas have distinctive melon fruit notes that could be played with to create a specific kind of melon profile (ex- cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew..).

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Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 7

While not what I consider to be the most exciting kind of tea, green mint blends are a classic for a reason. They’re perfect if you’re stuffed up or need something to settle your stomach after a heavy meal.

This particular blend looks like it employs spearmint and gunpowder (could be wrong on the mint). It also steeps up quieter than the dry leaf aroma implies and is quite smooth.

Flavors: Herbaceous, Mint, Smooth, Spearmint, Vegetal

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Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 4

This is one rich tea – full of roasted chestnut, almond, and chocolate malt goodness. It also smells like marzipan which is my kryptonite. The profile has a lot in common with my seasonal favourite from Mariage Frères: Rouge d’Automne (but this oolong would be cheaper to order, so that’s a thought…).

Steep Count: 3

Flavors: Almond, Chestnut, Chocolate, Cocoa, Malt, Marzipan, Roasted, Vanilla

blueeyedsurprise

Sounds delicious! I will have to check this one out.

gmathis

Someone shared a packet with me a long time ago, and even after years, it was still delicious. Fresh, it must be stellar.

Inkling

Ooo, this sounds amazing!

Leafhopper

Agreed, this sounds lovely! It seems like the Dammann Frères advent has some nice teas this year.

Crowkettle

Yeah, I’m a fan of this tea and the Dammann Frères advent. I find them extremely consistent despite not particularly loving their “Christmas” blends :P

Leafhopper

A lot of the French teas you’re writing about sound like things I’d enjoy. I’m also having advent FOMO from everyone’s notes! :)

Crowkettle

Even though I have advents, I feel a bit of FOMO about some of the other selections I see lol (the B&B and the green tea-centric ones. Ahhh)!

I heartily recommend the Dammann Frères ones if you’ve never tried their teas before; I’ve always found it to be a good way to sample what they carry.

The Mariage Frères one though… that company carries some amazing teas that rarely, if ever, seem to make their way into the advents. Instead, MF usually over-highlights their “In Love” or “Rainbow” teabag series. I keep going for it because flavoured oolong and floral teas still feature a lot and, once in a blue moon, a unique tea will make its way in there.

After the holiday season, I should send out samples of some of the MF teas (I can’t promise anyone will like them as much as me, but they’re usually interesting).

Cameron B.

Dammann Frères does such a nice advent! I’m always a bit sad when I don’t get it ha ha. I’ve still never tried the Mariage Frères one, every time I see someone else doing it, it seems like a weird selection of teas, like all butterfly pea flower or something. I wish they would do a more classic selection, as I would like to try some of their core teas…

Leafhopper

Crowkettle, many of the Dammann teas sound nice, and I’d actually be happy to get only a single teabag given the size of my tea museum.

I’ve wanted to try Mariage Frères for a while, but they provide absolutely no info about their shipping other than that it’s via DHL or something and the Canadian resellers have very high markups. And I agree, I’ve seen some weird teas in their advents.

Shipping to Canada is another issue. I already pay exorbitant amounts to ship my fancy unflavoured teas, and I’m not sure I could justify spending a lot on something I’m not sure I’d enjoy (and they always seem to come in 100 g packages, too!).

Maybe we could do a swap in the new year if you like unflavoured tea. I have a lot of oolong at the moment. :)

Crowkettle

Yeah, unless you or a friend can visit a physical store, or are withing their free shipping range, Mariage Frères is pretty expensive and inaccesible. I’m in Canada too, and buying their advent (plus extra teas) is such self-indulgent splurge that I can barely justify it, honestly (Christmas gift to self). Even though it’s not consistently wonderful, I do believe that the advent has helped me form a better idea of what I do like, and what to look for, in their teas though. This in turn makes me feel more comfortable taking a chance on 100g…

The more I see of the blue pea-flower oolong the more I don’t understand it as a choice. It’s mentally jarring to drink a nut, brioche, or chocolate flavoured tea that some shade of murky blue/green/grey. Luckily, the special colour disappears on the second or third steep, which is personally when I think their oolong blends tend to peak. XD

Yes, I love unflavoured tea, especially the greener spectrum! Whenever I buy oolong for myself it tends not to last long. :)

Leafhopper

Christmas gifts to yourself are sometimes the best gifts because you know what you like. :) I’ve definitely splurged on tea gifts to myself this year as well.

I didn’t realize MF had a free shipping threshold. I’m guessing it’s pretty high.

I’d be happy to message you next year if you have some French teas you’d like to trade for some greener oolongs!

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Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 3

It’s lovely to see an orange flavoured white tea that’s balanced to compliment, not overpower the base tea or be particularly sweet. It leans towards aromatic citrus blossoms and a tranquil floral palette, rather than a lively, juicy-sweet citrus. Notes of cucumber, unripe melon, and other green things, make this tea feel like a day at the spa.

Imo, flavoured white tea blends often have chemistry problems — where the flavour pairings either diminish or clash with the original tea’s subtle but distinctive profile. This is gladly not the case here. Judging by taste and appearance, DF also made the decadent choice to use a silver needle variety. It pays off.

Steep Count: 3

Flavors: Citrus, Cucumber, Floral, Hay, Melon, Orange Blossom

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drank Bali by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 2

Backlog: Both of my advent calendars gave floral green teas for day two. This one also has fruity notes, including a decadent lychee, canned peaches, and mellow but refreshing grapefruit. A perfect, bright tropical tea, for a bright sunny day (we are currently between atmospheric river episodes; it stormed last night and is supposed to pour most of the week starting tonight. So, I’m counting my blessings).

Steep Count: 2

Flavors: Citrus, Floral, Fruity, Grapefruit, Jasmine, Lychee, Peach, Rose, Sweet, Tropical

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drank Altitude by Dammann Frères
1429 tasting notes

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 1

Maybe I’m not mentally ready to start the December countdown yet. Luckily, DF decided to throw me a nice, neutral black tea blend on the first day. It’s not particularly exciting, but it’s makes for a solid breakfast or a late evening tea (hindsight: I drank this late in the evening and then was up all night lol). It was tasty without milk too!

Not something I’d go out of my way to purchase more of, but still nice. My dad would probably enjoy it the most.

Flavors: Fruity, Hay, Malt, Raisins, Smooth, Tannic

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 15 sec

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65
drank Tourbillon by Dammann Frères
961 tasting notes

AJRimmer Advent Day 5

If the packet didn’t say this was a black tea, I would have thought it was an oolong. The base tea is super smooth and has a bit of a floral note. The flavor came across a bit muddy to me. Maybe a bit of caramel and a bit of fruit? But overall, just a muddled jumble of sweetish flavor.

Flavors: Caramel, Fruity, Smooth, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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82

A sample from ashmanra to share with my dad, and we did that this morning before I go off traveling again. This tea is quite smooth and not terribly smoky as Lapsang scan get. A very pleasant and lingering aftertaste that would go well with a leftover piece of pie or even a spicy taco. Hmmm I must be hungry for lunch. It’s an enjoyable cup, thanks for sharing!

Flavors: Smoke, Smooth

ashmanra

Glad you enjoyed it!

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73

Tea mail from ashmanra! The flavor is light to start then lingers a while. This cup is more berry zinger to me than almond cookie but is a good distraction from the commercialism of Black Friday with everyone trying to get attention and sales. I did get some H&S for presents and am working on a Maya shopping cart.
Thanks for sending this my way ashmanra, I’m not sure I’ve ever tried Damian Freres!

Flavors: Almond, Berries

ashmanra

You are very welcome!

gmathis

I’ve sampled this one courtesy of ashmanra, too. Love it!

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