Ilse Wouters Send Message

I don´t know a lot about Darjeeling teas, but I do like the (Assam) teas I bought at All About Tea in Southsea last year (a discovery when out during a Bank Holiday WE), and I appreciate a lot the information given (on the website, through the videos on facebook) about tea-related subjects. Check it out : https://allabouttea.co.uk
So, I decided to take advantage of the special offer buying a 250g pouch …and I´m not disappointed! Friends tealovers may expect a sample ;-) This 1st flush is of high quality (looking at the leaves after steeping the tea), it tastes light and sofisticated, and doesn´t turn bitter when overdoing the brewing time a bit (which happens to me more often than I would like). I truly understand why they call this the “Champagne of teas”. One of the better teas I have ever drunk… and it can be drunk at anytime of the day really. So glad I decided to buy this much in one go, before having tasted it.

About a month ago, I tried this tea in the convential way and I really liked it. Summer has arrived and from the beginning, temperatures are high, very high even (up to 40ºC), and then I want my water to be a little bit less tasteless. I had already picked this tea to make home made ice tea, and I have started to make batches of it daily this week : what a lovely iced tea this Jardin à la française makes! Basically the same aroma´s as the hot brewed tea, and the sweetness of the pear works very well in this iced tea. I already know I´ll have to plan a visit to the shop when returning to Belgium (or France) in August, as I´m sure this pack will have gone.

When I visited the Palais des thés shop in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), I got a sample of this Thé des Lords (tea bag). It is basically an Earl Grey black tea, so I was looking forward to tasting this one. Very fragrant in a typical citrusy way, but with a floral touch to it (due to the safflower petals added to this tea?). But the aroma´s after steeping are too floral and too little bergamot-like, as far as I am concerned… resulting in a “light” tea I am not too fond of. A bit of a disappointment therefore.

Last week I was in my home country (Belgium), and I travelled around quite a bit. It´s amazing how often a tea shop now makes part of those nice little shops one can find in a city´s centre, and Louvain-la-Neuve is not an exception. Near the Grand Place is a wonderful tea shop from the French Palais des Thés chain. As soon as I stepped in, I was offered a taster (I could choose between a black tea and a herbal tea, I opted for the first) and I got an explanation about the way they present the teas here (you can experience the fragrances of the tea by picking up a bell glass), before I started my discovery tour of the shop and the teas they offered. The packaging is really well taken care of, also the design I think is really nice, and the choice offered of tea is alright (not too many “off the beaten track” teas though). As I find it particularly difficult to find a nice fruit based tea (on the real stuff, not on aroma´s!) I can easily cold brew, I finally bought this Jardin à la française tea, which is a herbal tea dominated by a very natural pear fragrance. Back at home, I tried the tea today…preparing it the “normal” way, i.e. hot : the very elegant pear fragrance is present in the loose tea, in the steeping tea, in the final brew, until the last sip, which is definitely a big plus! After 4-5 minutes of steeping, the colour is still very light, but the taste is well developed (and the pear taste always comes over naturally), so I can only imagine this giving a wonderful result cold as well. I only hope I´ll still be having tea when the hot days arrive and I really need a cold brew ;-)

2nd tea by The Capsoul I tried. A lovely tin, a fresh and coulourful label, which already makes you feel good…and then you open the tin (it must be said that it´s a good thing to have not only the lid to close the tin, also a plastic lid to squeeze on top of the container) : the tea smells very nice, the fruity fragrances seem natural (honestly a lot more than the bergamot in the case of the Earl Grey of The Capsoul), a bit underwhelmingly if you like the big aromatised fruit teas, but fortunately, this is not the case for me.
After 3 minutes of steeping (as recommended on the label), the tea is light, but subtly fruity and easy to drink. While the aroma´s are definitely more mango-like, the flavour is dominated (still w/o topping the base pu erh) by the passion fruit. A summer-y tea according to me, and I´m curious what this can give when iced.

My latest arrival in my tea cupboard : 3 teas from The Capsoul. I must say the fresh colourful look of the tins are half of the pleasure, and the major reason for buying the brand w/o having tried anything from them before. I started with their Earl Grey which smells really very nice, maybe not the typical bergamot scent you find with most of the Earl Grey on the market, but strong and powerful none the less. It also looks wonderful.
But so far I´m not that overwhelmed after steeping it, this time about 5 minutes. I guess this is too long for this blend, as most of the fragrance is gone. The taste I love so much with Earl Grey blends is not present either, so I definitely need to drink it again, and steep it less time.

2nd tea I´m having on my birthday is a little treat. Guilt free, as it clearly and wisely says on the pouch. The loose tea mainly smells of custard, while the rhubarb comes through when steeping the tea. Nothing too aggressive, nothing too sweet (only the loose tea aroma´s, I guess), and all is maintained very well until the final sip. Wonderful, and definitely solid enough to replace dessert!

It´s my birthday today, and I started the day with a mug of Southsea Grey. After almost a year in my cupboard, the tea is still very aromatic, and not only can you tell by opening the pack, it also shows when steeping the tea. Tastewise I have a similar experience : it is as tasty as on day one, and it doesn´t turn bitter so you enjoy it until the final sip. A wonderful earl grey I can recommend to every fan of the style.

One of the teas of my first (and only) tea subscription pack of Cha Tale (they closed their activities shortly afterwards), I hadn´t tried yet. I honestly must say I´m not a huge fan of teas that are described as “slimming tea” without further explanation, and maybe that´s why I hadn´t opened this tea yet. I´m not sure whether I had to use the entire trial size (and whether I could use it again a couple of times?), so I split the pack up in 2 units, trying to have a bit of every ingredient in both units. I checked the ingredients, and no notion is made of (candy) sugar crystals, but I´m quite sure they are part of the tea. For the rest, it seems a flower tea, with the small chrysanthemum flowers. Well, the resulting tea is nice enough, but the only flavour I can appreciate is the sweetness of the sugar, nothing really related to the other ingredients… a shame, I reckon. Further more, should a tea which is supposed to be slimming contain sugar crystals??? Summary : nice and sweet, but of little significance.

Months have passed and the tea in the handy pouch is still very aromatic. Not only that, when steeping the tea, the aroma´s are present from the first moment until the last sip, even if the temperature of the cup has decreased quite a lot. Moreover, also in mouth the bergamot flavour is present the entire time. Described as the ideal afternoon tea, I love it for breakfast as well…it really is a pleasure for your senses!