George Cannon

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81
drank Nuit D'hiver by George Cannon
15019 tasting notes

noms. Another tea from Paris. I did my best to try and pick up one or two herbals while i was there since i knew i was short on evening teas for when i didn’t want caffeine. this is a really nice fruity, caramel blend. there’s some hibby in here, which has never bothered me so i’m ok with that :) there are vanilla notes here too…which soften the fruit and make it a really nice summer sort of tea.

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From Sil, this one is an oolong with various fruits. It has a tart & tangy lightly sweet character. There is a vegetal quality to it as well. I’m tea starved, I haven’t had a cup for hours, so at this point I’ll probably drink anything, but luckily this is actually a nice cup.
Not somethings I’d stock, but nice to try.
269

Ysaurella

Sil should have sent the rest of the sample I sent her and I’m very glad she did as you liked this lovely Oolong. This is kind of collector tea as it was made especially for the Musée Cernuschi in Paris and for a very specific temporary exhibition.

Terri HarpLady

That’s cool! What kind of exhibit was it?
Also, I love that we are trading even when we don’t realize it! :)

Ysaurella

it was an exhibition dedicated to the asian paintings from the shanghaï school(1840-1920).The cernuschi museum in the museum of Asian arts in Paris.

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72
drank Après la pluie by George Cannon
1598 tasting notes

Another one from Sil (206)

I only need 6 more sipdowns in the next two days! HOLY MOLY. I’m totally amazed.

And this puerh is rather good. It’s very earthy but I can taste a little bit of sweetness to it. It makes me think of caramel more than vanilla fruitiness, but it’s still good. I wouldn’t crave this often, but it’s a tasty.

Thanks!

Sil

I think I need 15 or something over today/tomorrow ll

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70
drank Après la pluie by George Cannon
15019 tasting notes

Tried this one again tonight and i’m still not sure how i feel about it…on the whole, I probably like it less than i think i should. LOL I really like the puerh, which makes me want to try more teas from GC, but the additions are not up my alley. However, as always, i am super thankful to Ysaurella for sharing with me :)

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70
drank Après la pluie by George Cannon
15019 tasting notes

I opted to try this one tonight as i’m making an attempt to try all my last remaining samples before the next batch gets here. This is a very puerh, puerh. I didn’t really get much of the vanilla or fruit from this one. Ysaurella sent me this one and i’m glad i have more to play with. I enjoyed this, but more as a straight puerh than a flavoured one. haha I’ll have to see if i can coax the flavours out :)

cteresa

I got the flavours out but can not remember what I did – lucky me, maybe beginner´s luck since I am very inexperienced with pu erh. Though I did have it on a rainy day, maybe the magic was in that and the name of the tea!

Sil

i like that as a reason cteresa! :) I’ve got lots to play with and thankfully, it’s a nice puerh so even if i don’t get flavours from it later, i’ll still enjoy it!

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73
drank L'école de Shangaï by George Cannon
15019 tasting notes

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73
drank L'école de Shangaï by George Cannon
15019 tasting notes

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73
drank L'école de Shangaï by George Cannon
15019 tasting notes

Must keep working on my paris teas – especially the ones i don’t LOVE. This isn’t a BAD tea…it’s just not up my alley. Oolong with a little floral but more fruit. it’s a roastier oolong, so that keeps it from being an atypical sort of green fruity oolong tea.

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73
drank L'école de Shangaï by George Cannon
15019 tasting notes

um..you know how sometimes you drink things and forget about them and it’s hours later? yeah that was this one…so i remember enjoying it but that’s about it. more next time haha!

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73
drank L'école de Shangaï by George Cannon
15019 tasting notes

I have to say…this one was a little bizarre :) While i am not a HUGE fan of oolongs, i do enjoy them from time to time. I also really like fruity teas. this tea confuses me though… it’s like LOOK i’m an OOLONG! oh wait.. TRICKED YOU! hahahaha. yeah…

Ysaurella

it is clearly an Oolong, a fruity Oolong :)

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71

Hello hello! I spent part of the summer in France with family, and have just moved into a new flat. Since there was no wi-fi at the house in France I made tasting notes on the teas I tried there.

I picked this tea up at a market stall, the name really grabbed me, and the ingredients list sounded divine. Of course it’s always difficult to flavour black tea so it tastes more like the promised aroma than pure black tea, but I had my hopes. The dry leaves smell enticing and just like apple crumble, and after infusing it fairly lightly, the aroma only got stronger – really apple-y, with lots of cinnamon! That’s the way I make apple crumble too!

…Sadly, black, it didn’t taste anywhere near as strong as it smells. Although the ingredients list states China black tea it gives more of a Ceylon woody kind of tone (perhaps this is just because so many other flavoured teas have a Ceylon base, I’m too used to that?), and the apple becomes more sharp than the soft fruity smell. On the other hand, though, when I’m cooking apples for a crumble they do have a sharp smell because I use lots of spices and citrus… Sadly I couldn’t taste the Speculoos at all! Maybe it was lost in the slightly overpowering black tea flavour.

I’ve also tried this tea brewed much more strongly (a heaped teaspoonful, 5 mins brewing time) and with added milk, and somehow the speculoos and spices come through better that way, with the apple still strong and sharp but not clashing with the milk. It isn’t the most apple crumble-y tea I’ve ever had (Yumchaa’s Wanderlust is the winner there) but the fact that it can take milk and still have a fragrant, sweet flavour will make this one of my favourites this winter, I think!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Ysaurella

maybe keep 205°F but with a longer steep ? Cannon’s teas were ok for me with a 5 mn brewing time.

meliorate

I tried this again using your recommendation, @Ysaurella, and while I think the praline flavour came out a little more, I’d added lemon juice so overall the other flavours were lost… Will have to try again, but I still love it!

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Oh, this is going to be a case of “it´s not you, it´s me”. This tea smells fantastic when dry, citrus with some spices underneath, a very balanced, complex blend of scents.

But these is something here which does not work for me – the wet leaves had a strong sense of something herbal (the little green leaves) which was not working for me, checking the other taste notes, I suspect it is the aniseed. It seems to bring a herby sweetness to the tea, provide some background, which would be more than fine to almost everybody but does not quite work for me. The tea itself has a decently strong base, not rough and not absent, an absolutely lovely blended tea. Thank you very much Ysaurella, for sharing this. I can appreciate how masterfully blended this is, just the aniseed is not a rational thing for me!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Ysaurella

you confirm me it has aniseed …I was pretty sure it has as I mentioned in my note :)
Personally I loved this touch, but I love aniseed. This tea is really a fantastic one, as you mention, it is a very complex tea and very well blended. It’s just a pity you don’t like aniseed :)

Ysaurella

you need to try le petit prince de Kharkov now because the ingredients of this one are really for you, sure !

cteresa

It was something and I suspect the little green leaves – and knowing how I react to aniseed, it all computes!

I will try le petit prince soon! Thank you.

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82

ETA: I had what was left of this sample yesterday and I find myself wanting more tonight, even if I have like a zillion more unexplored teas in the cupboard!! It seems the heart always wants what it cannot have :-(
____________________________________________________________________

I had a crappy Monday and thought nothing would make the day better. That was before I got the mail. Yay, a swap from Ysaurella ! Thank you so much for this generous sample!

After tasting this little marvel, I understand better why it is named this way. This tea is so romantic, it’s a flirt in a cup!

This is the epitome of refinement in terms of essence and aroma. I am not easily seduced by flavoured teas, I’m pretty hard to please!

Ysaurella got me dreaming about this tea when I first read her lovely review. Thanks for introducing me to this little treasure from the old world!

This blend does something not many are able to achieve: it provides a perfect balance between flowery, spicy and fruity notes. Love the pink berries, such a nice peppery addition!

I don’t have a detailed list of ingredients, but something in there reminds me of Turkish Delights! I also appreciate the delicate citrus breeze that circulates around all the other flavours. It’s nothing like bergamot, more of a shy lemon :-)

Rêverie d’un soir sur la Néva is simply dreamy… This is the tea I would choose to have at a Café in Saint-Pétersbourg, waiting and longing for my lover…

JustJames

isn’t it wonderful how odds and sods mixed with tea can turn your day around completely? i’m working my way through a tea shipment that arrived today… very exciting.

glad the tea did the trick…. now i want to your new sample, lol.

Ysaurella

I’m glad you liked this one so much. I am in love with this tea, sometimes I just open the bag to sniff it !
The brand is really a very good quality brand, I need to explore it more.

Sil

This sounds quite lovely!

TheTeaFairy

@JustJames: How right you are! Hope you’re enjoying the new shipment. As for this sample, I’m afraid it’s all gone :-(

@Ysaurella: please don’t nag about it, I for one CAN’T open and sniff it whenever I want, IT’S ALL GONE! But I’m keeping the zip lock, that will do the trick for a while (now I sound like a real tea nerd, hiding and sniffing tea bags, lol!)

@Sil: it is sooo lovely :-)

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63

So… wow, Ysaurella was absolutely right about this one – cloves, cloves, cloves. :) I can pick up a bit of the citrus hiding under the cloves, but not much. I don’t think it is sweet, which is odd, since a lot of the European tea companies’ products seem sweet to me. While it is not something I will seek out for my cupboard, I am quite happy to have tried it. Thank you, Ysaurella!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec
Ysaurella

you’re right,it’s not sweet, it is really a special blend

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69

ok, I’ve been brave and finally have tasted this tea.
I bought it because of its name and because of Bonnie and because of The tea Fairy and because of Tommy the Toad…because the 3 of you are making a lot of gorgeous notes about pu’erh…and I wanted to try.

So I decided to go for a flavoured one…and then I have never brewed it…It’s really scary to begin with a pu’erh !
However, each week since I bought it my daughter asks me : why did you buy this tea ? It stinks…why did you buy rotten tea ? and why don’t you try it now you have bought it ?

Tonight cteresa made a note about it, as I sent her a sample of it, and I felt like it was really the right moment to dare…(however my daughter is with her grandma, she cannot laugh at me !)

I feel stupid now…for have been scared by a tea !
The taste is not horrible, it has a kind of mix of earth taste + mango vanilla taste.
Quite interesting without being exceptional to me.

I maybe won’t wait 3 months now to try another pu’erh…on the other hand I like to sniff the teas I’m going to buy and this is not the case with a pu’erh…so…wait and see

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
TheTeaFairy

Hahaha! Ysaurella, I so love this note and whenever you comment on that very smart and witty daughter of yours :-)
Please don’t feel stupid, if you only knew how many times I got scared by Pu’erh ! (still am occasionaly!) I always end up like you, thinking why did I get scared in the first place… Over time, I realized the only pu’erh that are «fishy» are the ones of lower quality. I persevered cause I find pu’erhs very intriguing, and after a lot of «training», I truly enjoy many pu’erhs now, though my personal likings are more towards the non-flavored ones.
P.S. I will be mailing your teas only wednesday, sorry for the delay…

CHAroma

I was terrified the first time I tried a puer tea too! ;)

Ysaurella

awww good to know I am not alone :)

Ysaurella

@ The Tea Fairy : pas de souci…je suis arrivée à 19h01 à la poste ce soir…et elle ferme à 19h00 dans ma nouvelle ville ! c’était 20h00 à Paris…Je poste tes thés demain matin seulement du coup :)

cteresa

The interesting thing about this and another pu er I liked (sophisticated of me, two pu ers I could tolerate) is not so much the taste, more of the mellowness. Not the main taste but sort how smooth the aftertaste was – though I admit this could have been more intense at just about everything. Very interesting!

Ysaurella

you’re right it was mellow, I was sooooo focused on the fact I could have drank it that I forgot to mention the mellowness

LaFleurBleue

The name is really nice once again, and seem so adequate for a tea with an earthy-like flavor. I’ve never brewed pu-erh, just had a few sips in some tea-shops, so hot it’s more burning than flavorsome. I’d also be scared at this perspective. And even the Lapsang Souchong cteresa shared with me, still scares me a bit, even though I already had a full pot of it.

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74
drank Après la pluie by George Cannon
362 tasting notes

I do not have a lot of experience with Pu´er – and the plain ones I have had were sort of awful to my palate. The flavoured ones I have found easier to drink, but keep in mind, I have very little experience with pu´er teas.

This was kindly sent in a swap with Ysaurella and she had not tried it yet when she sent it to me, so no brewing tips. The Cannon website seems totally useless for anything (and flash should die….) so I have been experimenting with this. My problem with it is trying to make it strong, or better said intense enough.

My first experiment with water round 80-85 and my usual ammount of black tea resulted in a mellow earthy sort of cup, but a definitely too weak one – very intense color and a sort of thick texture to the liquor (there has to be a word for it, but totally escapes me), and a nice mellow yeasty almost type of flavour, with some vague vanilla and peach-mango hints, but very watery somehow. I amped up the temperature to 95 degrees, and steeping time to 4 or 5 degrees and used 50% more leaf than I would think to use and it was much better. A nice cup of tea. But still not particularly fruity. And my brain finds the different tea-ness of pu-er baffling.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 15 sec
Hallieod

Hah, just said something exactly like that about puehr to Stacy of Butiki Teas about teas I might be interested in sampling. She seems determined to make a convert out of me. Thick texture and yeasty flavour isn’t making it sound like an easier job though.

Ysaurella

you know…I haven’t tasted it yet !!! I bought it because of its name (I know…I am crazy)and because I wanted to taste a Pu’erh (due to fantastic reviews done by Bonnie, The tea Fairy and Tommy the toad about pu’erh) and wanted to try something flavoured first because…I am afraid of Pu’erh !!! you know what, because you had it today, I’ll try it tonight…mais j’ai un peu peur quand même…
this website (Cannon related mentions to steep it 5 min at 90°c)

cteresa

Hallie, it is not very thick texture nor particularly yeasty, it was just me trying to find a metaphor. It´s like a dark ale sort of , as compared to lager sort of think.

It is very interesting and for some reason, it´s deeper, more earthy. It´s still a bit strange to my palate, but I can not help comparing it a bit to rooibos which so many people seem to dislike ;) but which I so love…

A word of warning, I have only had cheap plain pu-ers which have been awful, and a couple flavoured decent-at-least quality ones which have been very nice indeed. I suspect it´s not worth it to spend money on the cheap ones!

Ysaurella, thank you and for this as well. 5 minutes and 90 seems indeed a good idea – and I think also add a little bit more than you would have added if it was a plain black!

Hallieod

Ah, gotcha. Stacy said the sample she was sending wasn’t at all fishy or too earthy, which made me gulp a bit, but I’m also excited to try what should be a really good one! (Internet connection is still very patchy, sorry I’m dropping conversations!)

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83

I’m so happy I received a big tin of this tea as present !
My mom visited the museum Cernuschi in Paris (dedicated to the Asian Arts) and this tea is a special creation from the tea company George Cannon for one of the exhibition so she bought me a tin !

The tea base is an high quality oolong.
The leaves are so beautiful with all these wonderful berries and flowers.
The scent is more fruity than floral to me, same for the taste of the liquor.
To me the leading role goes to goji berries and citrus in a second role.
A very pleasant tea for an afternoon.
Saying this, this is not my favorite Cannon tea but I only had 4 and all were very impressive :)
I must say I am more and more impressed and interested by this brand and I need to continue tasting their creations.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
cteresa

Cannon does seem to have amazing names for teas….

Ysaurella

you’re right, the name of their teas are often amazing but you know it’s almost the case of all the French tea brands…it’s really on our DNA to use references to literature and history …even for marketing ! In Portugal it may be the same ? You have really an amazing list of great poets and writers in your country.

cteresa

We do not really have any tea blenders ( a couple of tea plantations though. Most famous one has a name I do not know what it means, other two have generic “harbor” names, one is pretty harbor which is even our name for Taiwan and a bunch or other names. ). I guess the chance to be fancier might be with wine names. So maybe !

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87

This is my second George Cannon Tea and I should recognize I am quite impressed by this brand.
Le Petit prince de Kharkov is a marvel : everything is so well balanced, so perfectly blended, it is really amazing.
The tea base is a very good quality one, robust without being strong.
If you don’t like cloves, try this tea, because you may change your mind.
It is a very cloying tea but citrus work perfectly with, on a very special way, unique to my opinion.
It is clearly an holiday tea, but not another one,not an additional one to the long existing list of spiced teas.
It is really a very very good surprise.

The tea name made me dream as well when I bought it…who is the little Prince of Kharkov (Kharkiv in English) ? No real nor official answer but to me, it may be Alexander Siloti, the famous Pianist as this tea is a perfect spiced symphony.

I may be wrong because a lot of famous people were from Kharkiv (Chess masters especially) if someone has the answer…I’ll be happy to know it.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 30 sec
Sil

Interesting, I’ve never heard of this company before. Ill have to check it out.

Ysaurella

the company seems to be quite old, here is their website :http://www.georgecannon.fr/

TheTeaFairy

I love the mystery behind the name Ysaurella! I also like your interpretation of it :-)

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99

I really have not much vocabulary to express how much I love this one !
Really this is a dreamy cup : sure I get orange blossom and aniseed and a light lemon…hummmmm and the base is a mix of black tea and Oolong…that’s it ! that’s why I love it so much for sure…awwwwww Oolongs…

Sil

oooh this sounds really interesting.

Flowery

Jealous…this review had me trying to figure out where to find it here in the states. I guess I have to make a tea run to Paris!

Ysaurella

I’m afraid Flowery but if you come to Paris you’ll have a huge tea run :)

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99

I have to confess I bought this tea because of its romantic name.
I found it (along with 2 other teas I’ve never heard about) in a small independent tea shop rue de la Convention in Paris.

I smelled it and was seduced – The good thing with independent shops is we can buy small weights of teas (50g and even 25g)- I know for USA and Canada it seems absolutely logical to be allowed to buy 1/2 oz or 1 or 2 oz but here in France we often need to buy 100g because the brands (Mariage Frères, Dammann Frères, Betjeman & Barton, Palais des thés, Kusmi teas…) doesn’t allow to buy less so when you enter one of these brand shops and want to buy loose leaf this is 100g minimum. Complicated when you don’t know the tea and want to taste it.

Rêverie sur la Néva is really a very good surprise – this is my first George Cannon tea (good quality teas). I struggled to found some information on the web about this tea so I did my own pic to show you the dry leaves.Beautiful with pink berries and probably aniseed.
It is really a surprising tea, I’ve never had such a tea. The tea base is a medium bodied one, very smart.
The aromas are incredible : citrus are just a perfection, spices are not hot spices but mild and very original ones.
If I had knew there was some aniseed inside I probably wouldn’t have bought this tea – for stupid prejudice – I like aniseed in candies and cooking but never thought it could be a good idea in a tea- I was wrong.

It is really mellow and soft with a hint of something incredible which wakes you up to pay attention to the beverage.

Really a successful tea.

And this is my 101th tasting note ! As I rarely write twice about a tea this means I tasted around 90 95 different teas since I am on Steepster, I want to carry on :)

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 30 sec
TheTeaFairy

Lovely review Ysaurella:-) I can’t picture myself buying 100gr of a tea I don’t even know I’m going to like! That must be a problem indeed, I understand why the idea of independent shops must be appealing… I’m sure Mr. Cannon will be very pleased with the good publicity and exposure you are giving him :-)
P.S. I have aniseed specially made for infusion, the ingredients are just that: aniseed! I understand why you would be hesitant to have it in your cup, I was too. But it turned out to be one of my favorite! Of course, you have to like that licorice distinctive taste. If you do, you’re in for a treat, it’s very sweet and soothing and has so many healt benefits attached to it, I have a cup everyday!

JacquelineM

Mmmmm- anise :)

ashmanra

Great review! Some tea shops here have the same requirement of buying 100 grams, but if you buy four teas you can get just 50 grams of each. It is nice when you can buy just a sample or a small amount, isn’t it?

Nicole

What a lovely name for a tea! And a good review. :)

Bonnie

So proud of you! You bring romance to our lives!

Ysaurella

thank you girls !
for those of you who are planning a visit to Paris here is the shop : http://www.themerrymonk.fr/
and here is the Tea brand website :http://www.georgecannon.fr/

Shmiracles

i’m going to paris in 2 weeks :) and i’ve added the address to my list of potential destinations. thank you!!

Nicole

I wish. :) We had a chance for a 20 hour layover in Paris on our June vacation, but since my husband had already been to Paris he wanted to layover somewhere else. Sigh. Nairobi just isn’t the same as Paris. :)

Sil

I really need to get back to Paris lesigh

Ysaurella

Nairobi ? you’ll get exotic teas to review so :) Kenyan teas are reputed too

Hallieod

Just to prove that obsessive, er, perseverance can pay off, I found a company that sells the teas online: Tea Boutique at Home. I know I won’t get to Paris anytime soon, so this helps a bit. :)

They should definitely provide you with free tea for these amazingly enticing reviews, Ysaurella!

Ysaurella

yes Tea Boutique at home is a kind of spin off of Cannon teas, it was a former employee who created this website. Unfortunately they don’t have this Rêverie d’un soir sur le Néva !

Ysaurella

LA Néva…. I’m typing like a penguin today :S

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