drank Black Léopard by Mariage Frères
1711 tasting notes

Advent Day 22

I’m thrilled to be trying another black tea! This one smells smoky. I was drinking it while eating breakfast and my food totally drowned out the flavor of the tea. When I was able to taste it again it didn’t seem as smoky, but had a smooth flavor. I had to dash off for the day and am now retuning to the last few sips left all day in my cup. There is a light fruitiness to it with just a hint of smoke. It’s still smooth and doesn’t have a hint of bitterness. It’s very nice and I’d like to drink it again someday.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Crowkettle

How does this one compare to Smoky Nara? MF name drops tonka bean notes for both of these and I still haven’t tried tonka :)

Dustin

The Smoky Nara is MUCH heavier on the smoke with a leathery taste and slight umami, almost seaweed like in miso soup. I was sad to realize the tonka was notes and not actual flavoring in the tea, but I can pick out the notes. I like Nara way better than this tea. It’s so much more flavorful and complex.

Crowkettle

Interesting! I don’t always like leather or heavy smoke notes, but definitely want to see something “punchier” from MF after this advent.

Dustin

This advent was not the impression I expected to have from MF. They have teas with more solid flavors, but only a couple seemed to make it into this selection which showed more of their newer blends, not the tried and true classics. Casablanca is a really nice Moroccan mint that is excellent cold steeped on a hot day. They have a very good jasmine mandarin tea. French Breakfast was good, their French EG is pretty solid which I unexpectedly went through rapidly. It took a while for me to warm up to Black Orchid, but once I did no other vanilla tea compared.

Crowkettle

I felt similarly about the bold and well-balanced flavouring of Thé de Lune, the one tea I purchased alongside the advent. I wish I’d taken a chance and bought others, since the advent didn’t deliver, but I wrongly assumed quintessential teas like Thé de Lune or Chandernagor would be included anyways. :|

Dustin

It’s so hard to take a chance with MF when their minimum is 100g. You could have ended up with several 100g bags of tea like the peaflower line and that would have been a huge disappointment!

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Comments

Crowkettle

How does this one compare to Smoky Nara? MF name drops tonka bean notes for both of these and I still haven’t tried tonka :)

Dustin

The Smoky Nara is MUCH heavier on the smoke with a leathery taste and slight umami, almost seaweed like in miso soup. I was sad to realize the tonka was notes and not actual flavoring in the tea, but I can pick out the notes. I like Nara way better than this tea. It’s so much more flavorful and complex.

Crowkettle

Interesting! I don’t always like leather or heavy smoke notes, but definitely want to see something “punchier” from MF after this advent.

Dustin

This advent was not the impression I expected to have from MF. They have teas with more solid flavors, but only a couple seemed to make it into this selection which showed more of their newer blends, not the tried and true classics. Casablanca is a really nice Moroccan mint that is excellent cold steeped on a hot day. They have a very good jasmine mandarin tea. French Breakfast was good, their French EG is pretty solid which I unexpectedly went through rapidly. It took a while for me to warm up to Black Orchid, but once I did no other vanilla tea compared.

Crowkettle

I felt similarly about the bold and well-balanced flavouring of Thé de Lune, the one tea I purchased alongside the advent. I wish I’d taken a chance and bought others, since the advent didn’t deliver, but I wrongly assumed quintessential teas like Thé de Lune or Chandernagor would be included anyways. :|

Dustin

It’s so hard to take a chance with MF when their minimum is 100g. You could have ended up with several 100g bags of tea like the peaflower line and that would have been a huge disappointment!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

My name is Dustin and I like tea.

I’m an added flavor kind of tea fan, but have had a growing appreciation for plain. I want my tea to remind me of cookies and cakes with coconut and almond slices with a hint of chocolate drizzled on top. I want dancing ponies and flying monkeys shooting off fireworks! And no hibiscus. Hibiscus is the devil.

Location

BA, CA, US

Website

https://www.instagram.com/dre...

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