I was so impressed by The de Paques that I decided to stay and have another pot of something new. One of my original choices for the day was Bal Masques, decribed as a black tea of lavender and vanilla 'masked' by fruit.
The first cup was a rush of fragrance; a beautiful bouquet of lavender and vanilla. It wasn't so strongly lavender that it seemed artifical or perfumy. However, the fruit smell was a bit lacking, and in no way covered the base aromas.
Unfortunatly, my opinion of the tea dropped with the first taste. The lavender flavor and smell overpowered everything else, even the taste of tea. While it had no dryness or bitterness, it also had no other spice or fruit to combate the omnipresent lavender. The very very bottom of the first cup exploded with vanilla, but with the second cup's sugar it was gone. The sugar, increadably, made the tea bitter and so strong I had to hold my nose to finish it. I would definatly call this tea cloying, after a few minutes all I could smell were flowers. Huge, gigantic lavender flowers.
In the end, I didn't finish the pot; the lavender was so stong I couldnt help but think of perfumed soap. After The de Paques, this was a huge disappointment. Perhap it was made too strongly, but I think the lavender is a powerful base of the tea, and a part of its true character. Not a tea I would recommend, except maybe as use for Potpurri.
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