2351 Tasting Notes
Day 9 of the Mariage Freres Advent 2025.
Earl Grey Rhapsody is at first glance an intriguing one – an earl grey with a white tea base. It brews up a beautiful pink colour, although the ingredients list doesn’t give away why. Hibiscus or beetroot, perhaps, although I don’t taste either. Instead this is just pure bergamot from start to finish, which is fine as far as it goes but ultimately not as interesting as I’d hoped.
Day 9 of the Dammann Freres Advent 2025.
The Noir Aux Epices is a black tea-based chai. Closer inspection of the bag reveals that the base is CTC, which is fine with me just slightly unexpected from DF. It’s robust enough to take milk and is deliciously sweet and malty, which is great. The spices, though, are so subtle they are barely there, even after the recommended 5 minute infusion time. I get a little cardamom and clove if I really slurp in an effort to taste, but none of the promised ginger, cinnamon, or pink pepper at all. On that basis, a bit of a disappointment.
Day 8 of the Dammann Freres Advent 2025.
Mate Clementine is a green mate-based blend with orange blossom and clementine flavouring. It’s quite earthy, as you might expect from a mate, but with a bright, sweet, juicy zip of clementine which lifts the whole thing beautifully. It gives a nice afternoon energy boost also. Mate isn’t generally my thing, but I’m glad I got to try this one as it’s not something I would have picked out for myself.
Day 8 of the Mariage Freres Advent 2025.
The de la Couronne (or “crown tea”) is a British-inspired black tea flavoured with fruits and spices. It’s deliciously sweet and malty, with a hint of juicy fruitiness – maybe blueberry, although it’s not a prominent enough flavour to say for certain. There’s also a subtle background of citrus which is reminiscent of earl grey. There is no “spice” to speak of at all as far as I can discern. The website indicates that this blend works best with milk, although my experience today is that it’s not really strong enough for that; even after the recommended 5 minutes, milk seems to wash out most of the flavour. Definitely glad I tried it black beforehand! On the whole I found this one pleasant enough but not particularly memorable.
Day 7 of the Mariage Freres Advent 2025.
French Afternoon Tea is a green tea flavoured with vanilla. The green tea base is smooth, delicate, and lightly vegetal, and the vanilla soft, sweet, and perfectly creamy. There’s just the barest crystalline hint of rose also. One of the nicest flavoured greens I’ve tried in a while.
Day 7 of the Dammann Freres Advent 2025.
Oolong Chataigne is an oolong flavoured with vanilla, chestnut, almond, and chocolate. The oolong is highly oxidised and so quite roasty, which conjures the impression of chestnuts quite well, and there’s also a soft creaminess from the vanilla that adds sweetness and really helps to round everything out. Almond and chocolate I do not get so much, except perhaps as a bare hint in the initial sip (almond) and aftertaste (chocolate). The chocolate I feel is more of a scent than a flavour here, but it’s quite delicious all the same
Day 6 of the Mariage Freres Advent 2025.
Polo Club Blue Sublime is an oolong tea, not usually my favourite but this one is so juicy and fruity it’s impossible not to like. The delicate strawberry-rhubarb flavours intertwine beautifully with the lightly vegetal, floral, and mineral notes of the oolong, and the whole thing is deliciously smooth and silky. Definitely one I’d have overlooked had it not been in the calendar.
This one does actually taste of gingerbread biscuits, which is a pleasant surprise. I just wish the black tea base was a bit maltier and more robust, because as it stands it’s quite thin-tasting and that’s the only thing that lets this one down. The flavouring is on point.
