77
drank Mélange Ô by THEODOR
1216 tasting notes

French Friday! Pulled this sampler from the sampler bag from Dustin, thank you!

Dry leaf has an odd aroma… I get grape candy, but it also smells sort of like rootbeer to me?! Steeped 2.6g in 350ml 185F water. Smellin my steeped tea, I’m still getting a slight grape candy aroma, but it is waning more towards cherry with a rosy sweetness… the more I sniff the more I’m now getting cherry candy instead. There is still something about the aroma that vaguely makes me think of cola or rootbeer, but I’m not sure what it is… with the sweet cherry scent, I’m getting a “cherry cola” aroma. With a rosy florality to it.

Tasting it… I definitely taste a sweet cherry. The sweetness leans the cherry taste away from anything medicinal and more towards candy. And I get a pop of rose toward the end of the sip. It tastes nothing like cola, but I still get that aroma on my nose. Now looking at the entry, I see it does have cherry flavoring, but other than rose petals, the floral flavoring used is lotus… maybe the two things together are reading very “rose water” to me. There’s citrus and bergamot flavoring in this?! I taste neither, though do wonder if the citrus is popping enough on my nose to remind me of cola.

The flavor for me reminds me of “American sakura” — cherry flavoring and rose as an emulation of sakura petals (which taste quite a bit different than that to me). It’s pleasant though, especially since the cherry is sweet and floral and not reading medicinal in any way.

It’s nice, but I think I prefer Fleur de Geisha just a bit more for this sort of flavor. I’m sure it would read less as a sakura tea if I was actually tasting the citrus elements.

Flavors: Candy, Cherry, Cola, Floral, Fruity, Grapes, Rose, Sweet

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 12 OZ / 350 ML
teepland

Your comment about the aroma of grape candy and/or root beer reminds me of some soap my wife made with sandalwood. One of my children said it smelled like grape candy and the other child said it smelled like root beer! Is it possible that this tea has sandalwood in it? I am not sure if sandalwood is even edible, but the similarities between the aroma of your tea and the aroma of the soap made with sandalwood seems like there could be a connection.

Mastress Alita

It isn’t in the ingredients or flavoring list, so I don’t think so… I know I have had a tea that had sandlewood in it before, long ago, and all I remember is it smelled like men’s cologne to me, hahaha!

derk

Mastress Alita, heck out my interpretation of a lotus-scented green tea: https://steepster.com/derk/posts/406264

Mastress Alita

Grape candy and sassafras! That must be it, then.

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teepland

Your comment about the aroma of grape candy and/or root beer reminds me of some soap my wife made with sandalwood. One of my children said it smelled like grape candy and the other child said it smelled like root beer! Is it possible that this tea has sandalwood in it? I am not sure if sandalwood is even edible, but the similarities between the aroma of your tea and the aroma of the soap made with sandalwood seems like there could be a connection.

Mastress Alita

It isn’t in the ingredients or flavoring list, so I don’t think so… I know I have had a tea that had sandlewood in it before, long ago, and all I remember is it smelled like men’s cologne to me, hahaha!

derk

Mastress Alita, heck out my interpretation of a lotus-scented green tea: https://steepster.com/derk/posts/406264

Mastress Alita

Grape candy and sassafras! That must be it, then.

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Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

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