thé ô dor

In a Japanese foodie magazine that I subscribe to, I recently came across this coffret (box) of teas.

Thé ô dor (tea-o-door), is a relatively new brand of French teas. (I wanted to make sure that the French markings were included in this post so that no one would confuse it with the word odor.)

Anyway, they have an online shop in Japan, but instead of paying for shipping, I found the coffret that I wanted at the Quatre Saison shop inside of the Umeda Hanshin department store, a shop that sells houseware items.

The reason I wanted to get the coffret was so that I could try 5 different teas (20 grams each) rather than spend a lot of money on 1 (100 gram) flavor.

The red tin was called October Revelation, a black tea with bergamot, grapefruit and orange. This was disappointing, no citrus flavor at all. Though the aroma of the tea before it was brewed was nice and fruity.

The pink tin was called Bollywood Chaipur, a black tea with pink peppercorn and cardamom. With a splash of milk this made a nice chai.

The white tin was called Histoire Tibetaine, a black and green tea blend with bergamot and vanilla. The vanilla flavor was faint but the bergamot non-existent.

The green tin was called Hanami Imperial, a green tea with pearl rose and sakura (cherry blossom). This was my favorite. A delicate cherry flavor.

The orange tin was called Marabout, a red rooibos with caramel and apple chips. It was supposed to be reminiscent of a tarte tartin, but the rooibos was more prominent than the caramel or apple.

The tins are very shallow which makes it hard to scoop the tea out for brewing. Also, there is a warning slip inside the box which says that if you don't keep the tins straight, you may spill the tea. I think the tins aren't airtight which makes the tea lose its flavorings. While I wouldn't want the tea to be perfumy or overpowered with flavor, I would expect it to have some aroma after brewing.

I'm glad I tried this, but I don't think I would buy it again.