Thé à l'Opéra

Having this one tonight but I am not in the mood for it apparently.
I brew it the right way and time but get a slight astringency, very very very little BUT present…
This is what I dislike with green teas, this sourness, this almost hidden sourness, on the aftertaste…spoiling your tea joy…
Green teas can be perverse…
Sourness here is the Phantom of my Thé à l’Opéra…

I’m not in a good mood for tea tonight : Hugs from France for America tonight – We are crying with you tonight.

My second tea from this company – and so far, they have really impressed me. This produces a light green liqour that smells like cherries and maybe strawberries. Vanilla is there – although I cannot say it is a very prominent note, it sort of binds the notes in the scent together and makes it very smooth.

This really is a fabulous tea. It is very smooth and the berry flavour is very natural-tasting (there is nothing worse than berry flavours that taste artificial). On the sip, the taste is mostly the sencha, but with creaminess from the vanilla and berries coming through ever so slightly. The aftertaste is where the berries really shine – sweet, not tart but not cloying.

SIPDOWN!(224) I tried cold brewing this one to see if the flavours would be more to my liking. Turns out as a cold brew this is a very green tea. The flavours get a little lost in the cold brew. Overall, this isn’t my favourite tea – but that’s not surprising given that it’s a green tea and my preferences lean towards black/puerh. Still glad to have tried it so thank you shmiracles!

This was just as beautiful as the last time around – a light, elegant, floral pick-me-up.

It’s struck me on several occasions that many of these greens from Mariage Frères would probably be excellent iced, but somehow they appeal to me more brewed hot. I think back at chilly winters in Paris, I guess, whereas Lupicia’s greens are all Hawaii to me and hence my favourites to ice.

I wish it were possible to redrink all these teas for the first time, entirely without the shackles of mnemonic, emotional and spatial attachments; to crumble and toss away the madeleine, if you will.

But, then again, that would lessen the experience. Beauty lies all in the context, after all.

They may say subtle, but when I opened the sample packet Shmiracles sent me, I was thinking the berry was anything but! I don’t say that in a bad way, though. It’s sweet and jammy smelling and reminds me a lot of homemade raspberry jam!

The better news is that the Sencha offers a butteriness and herbaceousness that keeps this from being candy-like or overdone, and the berry was balanced very well with the tea itself so I could taste both each sip.

Thanks Shmiracles!

http://instagram.com/p/gTyeVAinFP/

Clue No. 2

(See my tasting note for this tea:

http://steepster.com/teas/todd-and-holland/3917-german-breakfast-tea

for an explanation of the game.)

This is my first Mariage Freres green tea and I’m excited. In the can, it looks like sencha and it smells really dreamy. I can smell the greenness, but also a really delicious fruity aroma that is strong but at the same time (to me anyway) avoids the medicinal.

The tea steeps rather more yellow than I’d expected if this is in fact sencha. It smells lovely. I’m not sure what is in here, exactly, but to me it smells like cherries, raspberries, strawberries and maybe some apple. On the spice front I’m not so sure, though I could be persuaded there is a hint of vanilla in here.

I have had so many disappointing flavored greens, I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of taste on this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. First, the tea is absolutely present in the taste, and it isn’t bitter in the least. It’s a somewhat buttery, somewhat vegetal, somewhat herbaceous taste. And the fruit stands up to it without taking it over entirely. It is very well balanced compared to other flavored greens I’ve had.

Maybe I’m just really excited to find a flavored green besides the Samovar Moorish Mint that I’d like to drink again, but I have to give this one a fairly high rating for being in such a (so far, anyway) limited club.

Woke up with my back still a wreck. Had breakfast and then started stretching since that is what works best. Went to get a drink only to discover that the 18 year old had served popcorn and bacon for breakfast. Stale popcorn. Decided not to mention it when I realized no one asked for breakfast and that it wasn’t that different from my bowl of grits.

After that, I really wanted a tea that would make me feel human again! This is the last of a sample from Quiltguppy. I used my tetsubin on a warmer and I resteeped the leaves, adding the resteep to the full strength brew already in the pot.

The kids have not gotten into green teas yet but youngest agreed to taste it. I was about to tell her how heavenly the aroma is on this one – it smells like cherries to me – when she exclaimed, “it smells like someone melted Lifesavers in a cup!”

The great thing is that even though the taste is much more subtle than the aroma, she liked it. Although she is still a black tea girl, she said she would definitely drink this whenever it is made.

Next up – Rat Lunch!

Confession : this is about the teabags. They had no tin of this in stock and I wanted and wanted it now, so the teabags. Muslin teabags in a gold foil box, probably wrapped up by french ladies wearing Chanel couture. Hmph. Yes, it´s like that.

But giving it to them, the teabags are gloriously well filled. The box is 30 teabags, each with 2.5 grams, for a total of 75 grams of tea, unlike most teabags box which have 40, 30 grams of tea usually. These are generously proportioned teabags. They are not skimping on tea here. They are not skimping on the quality of the base tea or anything else. No gimmicky stuff for all the preciousness, there is substance. It costs what it costs, but gosh, I do believe they do care about their tea.

And it´s just lovely. Silky smooth green tea, and red fruits (raspberry? strawberry? cherry?) and vanilla. And a really nice green tea underneath.

I am doing several one cup steeps with each teabag (seriously, it´s a crime to throw one of these tea bags away after just one steep. And good chinese green tea is not at its best on first steep, it is more sublime at the second or third time. seriously. Though maybe my palate is just weird that way, but seriously, do not throw good chinese tea away after one dip. ) and like the best chinese green teas, it can hold up to a number of steeps. The best IMO is the second steep.

When I bought my tin of Full Moon Party at the cafe in Pittsburgh, the owner came out a few minutes later (while we were eating our crepe) and gave me a few sample tea bags of some other MF teas they carried. How nice! I’ve had this tea before, a long time ago, but it’s always nice to revisit.

I wasn’t sure how much I would like this one because I have been iffy on flavored greens of late, and it smelled like it would be not quite up my alley. But I actually quite enjoyed the cup anyway. I had rated it pretty low (for me), and I think I had adjusted it at some point when I went on a lark about lowering my ratings across the board, but I’ve come to terms that most teas I will rate in the 70–99 range. Anyway, this was fruity with a touch of vanilla and an ok sencha base (they’re not my favorite). The berries are a bit candyish for me, and I think it’s kind of brought out by the vanilla. Not my fave, but I wouldn’t refuse a cup if offered.

Mariage Freres has made up for their Lipton-eques blunder with this one. Having not yet tried Marco Polo I can only image this tea to follow in the same vein. It is berry berry Berry smelling. Like something akin to Smuckers strawberry filling or jam.

As a kid there was a breakfast treat that came with a packet of strawberry jam. You could use it to decorate whatever it was it came with… I think is was a pop-tart or something similar. This is spot on.

Out of the bag it is strawberry shortcake’s best friend but when steeped becomes buttery and almost hints at its pound cake or angel food beginnings. So far, I am in love. However I don’t know when I would especially crave this tea but I will get back to you while on deployment on that. I can see this sweet berry tea as having great annoyance properties that could come in handy. Perfume free office spaces be warned with this brew!

Oh and since this is a green tea, go easy on the brewing time less it provide you with a karate chop to the palate. For all the berry in the world can’t hide a bitterly neglected (western brewed) tea. :)