89

This tea is one that I had wanted to try for a while because people always raved about it and said it was a great almond tea. Almond is one of my favorite flavors, so of course I wanted to try it, even with the cherry notes, which I don’t typically care for. Thankfully MissB sent me some!

I tell you that one thing I wasn’t expecting was the spice. I guess I didn’t read the description, or somehow blocked it out? At first I wondered if I had been thinking of the right tea. But yes, I was, and the spices are less prominent in the flavor than they are in the aroma.

First, I have no idea how much water MF recommends for their little muslin sachets, which is what I have. I went for my usual 12oz, but I don’t know if that was proper. I also forgot that I usually steep MF teas at less than boiling to stave off bitterness, although that probably entirely depends on the base tea.

This is without a doubt the smoothest MF tea I’ve ever had. It’s impressively smooth. Not a hint of bitterness, and not too robust for me. It is sweet, even, with a rich lingering almond flavor and light, warm spices. The only thing that is keeping me from rating this into the nineties is the cherry, and that is entirely my personal dislike of cherry flavoring. The subtleness of the cherry and how it meshes with the almond does make it more tasty than most other cherry flavored teas, however. Glad to have tried it.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
cteresa

Cherry?

Yvonne

This sounds absolutely wonderful.

Dinosara

Well at least my brain said cherry, and it wasn’t alone as others have tasted cherry as well. :) They don’t specify the “fruits”.

OMGsrsly

I kind of wish that MF had a mixed tea box available at Holt Renfrew. 2 bags each of a bunch of different teas. That would have been so awesome. I keep reading tasting notes and regretting I didn’t buy the tea. :)

cteresa

They hardly ever say the ingredients of their teas, though the trick is they are much more explicit in the french site than in the english language one – and I think in japan they have to explicitly declare ingredients.

The french site says “un thé noir, des fruits exotiques, des agrumes, des épices rares autour de clous de girofle, des amandes et le goût sucré du miel.” so black tea with exotic (tropical?) fruits, citrus, rare spices (rare? IMO clove), almond and honey. They don´t say but I think there is some vanilla there

Cherry interesting, must check – they have a vanilla tea called Black Orchid in which indeed there is a cherry note, but which I had never noticed before somebody else pointed it. Pleine lune

Dinosara

I wonder if it is because there is something about cherry and almond that is often associated, so people are interpreting a blend of tropical fruits as cherry because of the association. It is kind of weird how our brains can be suggested a flavor that may or may not be present. I wonder if I would have tasted cherry if I hadn’t read tasting notes before saying that they had tasted cherry?

cteresa

I was sniffing it just now (though not tasted it), just to see if I could pick up some cherry and to be honest, no. But will try again – like I said with Black Orchid there is a cherry note I never tried.

There might also be a cultural thing. Americans use (artificial I think) cherry flavour a lot more than europeans – I think it is a default flavouring for medication right? (here is strawberry or apricot, eurgh). Cherry coke, cherry candy. In mainland europe cherry flavour is more unusual, I remember how exotic I thought my first cherry coke was (in Sweden, I think). Maybe americans are more used to associating a fruity note with cherry?

I can think of one cherry and almond tea, which is Compagnie Coloniale´s christmas tea, but the cherry is very up-top there and the almond very on the background. But will check, this made me curious, particularly if several people are saying it is there!

Or, if it´s a sample, are you totally sure it is Pleine Lune? Sometimes teas get totally mislabelled accidentally. Pleine Lune is a really pretty black tea, little blue flowers, little bits of almond, the dry leaf smelling mostly of bitter almond, honey and a little bit of cloves….

cteresa

sorry, realized it was a teabag, and of course their muslim teabags got the tag with the name of the tea – I think 12 oz (300 ml right?) is just right for those teabags. They fill them quite well with 2.5 grams, they can stand to even enough water for two middle-sizeish cups.

Ysaurella

Dinosara that’s funny as a drinker of Pleine Lune since ages I never get any cherry note. Next time I’ll go to a MF tea shop I’ll ask if there is cherry in but I need to bet right now I would say no.to me this is more Vanilla (Vanilla is a spice too), cloves, almond and honey blend. I’m happy you found a MF blend you liked :)

Dinosara

Yup I was going to say, initially I thought it might be a different tea but the sachet has the tag right on it. :)

I do wonder if it is a North American vs European thing, as most of the North Americans have ID’d a cherry note but Europeans seem to say nope. Tastebuds are funny things.

Ysaurella

it may be the point, of course, different markets so different products

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Comments

cteresa

Cherry?

Yvonne

This sounds absolutely wonderful.

Dinosara

Well at least my brain said cherry, and it wasn’t alone as others have tasted cherry as well. :) They don’t specify the “fruits”.

OMGsrsly

I kind of wish that MF had a mixed tea box available at Holt Renfrew. 2 bags each of a bunch of different teas. That would have been so awesome. I keep reading tasting notes and regretting I didn’t buy the tea. :)

cteresa

They hardly ever say the ingredients of their teas, though the trick is they are much more explicit in the french site than in the english language one – and I think in japan they have to explicitly declare ingredients.

The french site says “un thé noir, des fruits exotiques, des agrumes, des épices rares autour de clous de girofle, des amandes et le goût sucré du miel.” so black tea with exotic (tropical?) fruits, citrus, rare spices (rare? IMO clove), almond and honey. They don´t say but I think there is some vanilla there

Cherry interesting, must check – they have a vanilla tea called Black Orchid in which indeed there is a cherry note, but which I had never noticed before somebody else pointed it. Pleine lune

Dinosara

I wonder if it is because there is something about cherry and almond that is often associated, so people are interpreting a blend of tropical fruits as cherry because of the association. It is kind of weird how our brains can be suggested a flavor that may or may not be present. I wonder if I would have tasted cherry if I hadn’t read tasting notes before saying that they had tasted cherry?

cteresa

I was sniffing it just now (though not tasted it), just to see if I could pick up some cherry and to be honest, no. But will try again – like I said with Black Orchid there is a cherry note I never tried.

There might also be a cultural thing. Americans use (artificial I think) cherry flavour a lot more than europeans – I think it is a default flavouring for medication right? (here is strawberry or apricot, eurgh). Cherry coke, cherry candy. In mainland europe cherry flavour is more unusual, I remember how exotic I thought my first cherry coke was (in Sweden, I think). Maybe americans are more used to associating a fruity note with cherry?

I can think of one cherry and almond tea, which is Compagnie Coloniale´s christmas tea, but the cherry is very up-top there and the almond very on the background. But will check, this made me curious, particularly if several people are saying it is there!

Or, if it´s a sample, are you totally sure it is Pleine Lune? Sometimes teas get totally mislabelled accidentally. Pleine Lune is a really pretty black tea, little blue flowers, little bits of almond, the dry leaf smelling mostly of bitter almond, honey and a little bit of cloves….

cteresa

sorry, realized it was a teabag, and of course their muslim teabags got the tag with the name of the tea – I think 12 oz (300 ml right?) is just right for those teabags. They fill them quite well with 2.5 grams, they can stand to even enough water for two middle-sizeish cups.

Ysaurella

Dinosara that’s funny as a drinker of Pleine Lune since ages I never get any cherry note. Next time I’ll go to a MF tea shop I’ll ask if there is cherry in but I need to bet right now I would say no.to me this is more Vanilla (Vanilla is a spice too), cloves, almond and honey blend. I’m happy you found a MF blend you liked :)

Dinosara

Yup I was going to say, initially I thought it might be a different tea but the sachet has the tag right on it. :)

I do wonder if it is a North American vs European thing, as most of the North Americans have ID’d a cherry note but Europeans seem to say nope. Tastebuds are funny things.

Ysaurella

it may be the point, of course, different markets so different products

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I am tea obsessed, with the stash to match. I tend to really enjoy green oolongs, Chinese blacks, and flavored teas with high quality bases, especially florals, bergamot-based teas, and chocolate teas.

In my free time I am a birder, baker, and music/movie/tv addict.

Here are my rating categories, FYI:
100-90: Mind-blowingly good, just right for my palate, and teas that just take me to a happy place.
89-86: I really really like these teas and will keep most of them in the permanent collection, but they’re not quite as spectacular as the top category
85-80: Pretty tasty teas that I enjoy well enough, but definitely won’t rebuy when I run out.
79-70: Teas that I would probably drink again, but only if there were no preferrable options.
69-50: Teas that I don’t really enjoy all that much and wouldn’t drink another cup of.
49 and below: Mega yuck. This tea is just disgusting to me.
Unrated: Usually I feel unqualified to rate these teas because they are types of teas that I tend to not like in general. Sometimes user error or tea brewed under poor conditions.

Location

Ohio, US

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer