Bellocq Tea Atelier

My new breakfast tea. Easy drinking. Not astringent or grassy. Unlike most teas – which I only like piping hot – this is delicious as it cools. Refreshing.

I am seriously eating my words about this tea. Well, changing my mind. I had ordered it because ONE PERSON described it as floral somewhere. The company doesn’t describe it that way, and the ingredients wouldn’t lead you to believe it is. But I love me some floral tea and wanted something I could drink late at night.

The first time I reviewed this I remarked that it is good tea but not what I had hoped. Now I really like it. It is sweet, it is good hot, and it is really super poured over ice even with no sugar added. I like tulsi and anise and cardamom and the rose really adds sweetness. Not rose flavor, just sweetness. Dang it, this stuff is expensive but I think I may have to keep it around.

I bought this because I needed a caffeine free tea that would also help with stress. I hoped it would taste floral to me like it did to another reviewer, because I used to add lavender to plain Tulsi and enjoyed it that way.

I am disappointed to say that this tea tastes exactly like the description from the company says. I get very little floral taste and lots of spice. It could be my mix came out a little different and I got more spices than flowers. Cardamom and anise rule the day here with the savory Tulsi. It isn’t bad, it is just what Bellocq intended to make but it isn’t what I was hoping. I may try adding some of my lavender or purchase Teavivre’s rosebuds and see if that brings this into line with what I was looking for.

If you are looking for Tulsi with exotic Indian spice, you’ll dig it.

ETA: youngest tried it and loved it.

This was a nice morning cup. I did overleaf a bit, but it was a little heavy on the Ceylon for my taste. At last, I feel like I’ve made progress in my palate development when I can identify a note that I do or do not care for by region :) I am hit or miss when it comes to Ceylons, admittedly heavier on the miss side. I haven’t found many that are anything that really stands out to me with the exception of silver tips and Amba estate Ceylon. This was nice to try, thanks, Sil! Bellocq has such a lovely website… makes me want to buy a lot of tea… :)

This is FANTASTIC!!! Deep dark chocolate, malt, some starch. This is exactly what I love in a black tea. Perfect….
Thank you Sil for sharing.

This is really interesting. Sort of like an aged white. It’s not floral, it’s not hay, it’s not grassy – it’s sweet, it’s a bit corn, it’s a bit apricot, maybe just a touch of honey.
The leaves (sticks) are beautiful, such a strange looking tea.
This is why we keep trying all the tea. I would never have run into this one if Sil hadn’t sent me a sample – thank you. You never know what fun and interesting things are out there, so we keep trying – and this was definitely worth trying.

This is one of my all time favorite black teas! Ingredients include ceylon black tea, org. chamomile, org. poppy flowers, org. lavender, org. cornflowers, natural flavorings. I steep with 1 & 1/2 tsp per cup, 195 degrees, and for the minimum of 4 minutes. And I too will re-steep 2×. I like my tea light, you may prefer 2 tsp per cup and/or up to 6 minute steeping time. It is a bright, delicately aromatic tea which satisfies on so many different levels. I always feel like I’m getting away with something, it’s that special for me.

I’m quite liking this one tonight. It’s pretty light and fruity, but has some malt and depth to it. I know I know – I write all the time that I don’t like the lighter fruitier blacks. This one is deeper though, has more going on than just fruit and top notes. More interesting. Dunno I like it.
Thanks Sil for sharing.

Starting my morning off with this blend. Still not a huge fan of black breakfast blends but this still has some enjoyable notes. Oddly enough the leather notes didn’t fully emerge until I started eating my waffle. Perhaps its the malt notes I’m just not a fan of. Even so it has some nice woodsy quality. The dry leaf has almost a smoky smell like a Lapsang with slight sour cherry notes.

sample from crowkettle this one was just…not tasty. Not for the reasons i expected (ie the rose) but because of the weird spice combination. this is just not for me..kinda tastes like licking christmas potpourri…without the flowers? i dunno. very much not for me

“Floral Death” as dubbed by crowkettle who put some nice warnings on a few fun teas she sent my way. I’m going to have to agree with her on this one. I think there are a few people i know who would love this tea but it is not for me. That being said, evaluating this tea, ignoring that i am NOT a floral fan, it’s not bad. It’s actually got a nice medley here of florals and the base tea is quite nice. Thanks for the share crowkettle! tomorrow we sip on blergamot!

This tea is just lovely. It tastes like a bready chocolate Yunnan with the slightest catch in the back of the throat at the tail end of the sip.

http://www.guilinholiday.com/images/Photo/6-day-guilin-zhangjiajie-tour/p574_d20130502153010.jpg

Thank you for the sample, Sil. Very enjoyable cups and memories.

Sil was kind enough to include a sample of this in our tea festival swap. Yum, it’s got that bready-chocolatey Laoshan black-like thing going on, but I may have steeped it too briefly to experience the full flavour components.

Thanks for this, Sil. Enjoyable on this lovely slow morning.

pulled this one out as well. I should try it as a cold brew because this isn’t a lemongrass overpowering things blend. Instead you can actually get the basil notes to come through. Makes for a unique blend versus other stupid lemong grass blends where that’s virtually all you’re tasting.

I wish there was more basil to this one. What sounded like an interesting blend is largely lemongrass. It’s not BAD, just not what i was hoping for. Admittedly though, as it cools there’s a little more to it, so i’ll have to experiment some more :)

Pulled this one out today as i’m a little under the weather. It’s got an interesting flavour that i think would be good to try as a cold brew. and work esloded. bah.

This tea ferments to make a distinctively floral kombucha. Tempered nicely by the subtle tang of the ferment, the brew is supremely drinkable.

I really like floral black teas, so I’m not surprised I really like this. The lavender and blue cornflower dominate for me, in a very good way.

The colour of the steeped tea is such a beautiful pale gold: the first sign that this is no ordinary green tea.

No. 93, Feng Ling Ming Ye makes sense of how highly prized good tea has been in Asian history. This tea is glorious: smooth, so smooth. The most delicate vegetal butter. I detect an ever so slight bit of coconut here. Perhaps that is the sesame hint mentioned though my taste buds are taking it coconut way.

Thank you, Sil, for sharing this with me. This tea is making this day infinitely better.

Farewell delicious tea! you were an enjoyable cup this morning.

Almost done this one and it’s a little sad. I can’t quite explain this one, so hoping that someone i’ve shared it with can figure it out haha. But i really like it…a unique cinnamon? like flavour…or something lol.