/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Finished my tasting and journal entry on a strange French blend I have kept on hand for a while. It's the "Thé roi soleil" from Ladurée, found in a small plastic bag within a yellow board mini tub. It has a best by date of a few months past, but still tastes and looks fine. The one they show on their site is slightly different, with the same ingredients but 91% "China green tea" in my tub, and 92.5% in the new version according to the labels. Also different colorway tubs, and their leaves seem to be brown instead of green for some reason. Here's the store link:
https://www.laduree.fr/the-roi-soleil.html
Pray the French don't kill me. My notes:
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4.3g/175F/12s

Dry leaf somehow reminds me of a soft classic bubblegum outright, followed by brisk garden flowers (the marigold flowers, bergamot) and a touch of the caramel. Wet leaf lifts the caramel, becoming sweeter and smoothening the bergamot, but otherwise remaining the same.

Low bitterness, medium thickness, and medium-high astringency. Intro flavor is a sweet bergamot which goes into the caramel comes up from below, somehow ending up with that peculiar (but pleasant) bubblegum note on the end. Aftertaste stays as such for several seconds after sipping, balling up just a touch in the mouth. Responds well to temps around 190-195F so far in subsequent infusions.

The alleged lemon pieces are not particularly noticeable in isolation, but they may be quietly lifting the vibrancy of the tea otherwise. I'm also starting to consider if the bubblegum aftertaste flavor may be related to the rhubarb somehow. Somewhat alarmingly, I may possess some form of allergy to something within it. It "remains" in the throat, and is slowly affecting my body (some building inflammation and nausea I am ignoring for my notes), but I am unsure if it's the cause of outside influences such as the sweltering heat, placebo, etc. Regardless, the flavor itself is pleasant. Curious how a cold infusion may go.