Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Nina’s Paris
Tea Description:
Blood orange, peach, strawberry, cherry,
This tasty blend will fill you with its exquisite fruity flavour. Orange, peach, strawberry and cherry brightened with sunflowers to please all tastes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Nina’s Paris from Nina’s Paris tea company is their signature tea.
Upon steeping Nina’s Paris provides a lovely colored cup of an amber burnt orange hue.
The aroma is delightfully fruity with orange essence being most prominent.
The initial sip evokes the cherry flavors in such a pleasant way. Nothing like a medicinal cheery or artificial cherry flavor. As a matter of fact the flavors in this tea are delicious and quite natural with no residual “oily” look or texture floating on top of the cup. In fact the tea is so clear that I am highly pleased as I anticipated some type of oils from all the varied flavorings.
The best way to describe the flavor of this tea is sunny. It will bring a smile to your face. With all the different flavors one may think it is very powerful or strong on the palate but it truly is not. Its flavorful without being overwhelming and has a graceful subtlety.
It is wonderful how lovely the flavors meld, I can distinctly pick up all flavors of peach, strawberry, and cherry, and they blend in harmony.
I do believe this would make a scrumptious iced tea although you would want to use plenty of extra leaf to get it strong enough. It is a cheery, bright, sunny, yummy cup of fruity goodness!
Premium Taiwanese Assam from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Assam
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Premium Taiwanese Assam is sourced from Yuchih Township in Nantou County, Taiwan. Assam bushes were brought to Taiwan in the early twentieth century but have since been refined by the Taiwan Research and Extension Station. The long dark chocolate-colored leaves produce a sweet fruity aroma. This malty tea has rich chocolate notes with notes of cinnamon, clove, and raisins.
Ingredients: Taiwanese Black Tea
Recommended Brew Time: 3 minutes
Recommended Amount: 2 teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 212 F (boiling)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Premium Taiwanese Assam from Butiki Teas is one of my favorite black teas. The leaves of this tea are stunning! Twisty and wirey with almost a blue tone hue to them.
Some of you who read my updates on steepster may have already read a portion of this as I am using a part of my review from there.
The steeped cup is a lovely deep golden amber tone and smells of sweet potato and chocolate. This cup is DELICIOUS! If you are not used to really high quality amazing tea like this just understand – this is not your mother’s or grandmother’s Lipton tea! Haha, my grandmother, bless her heart would drink that instant powdered tea daily, you know the stuff that came in the glass jar with the green lid. Today it is probably in plastic but regardless – this is a true delight and anyone who is even considering trying a different black tea should give this one a go!
There is a very sweet aspect to the tea, it has notes of sweet potato pie, even a bake-y element to it but it is not that sweet – not like as if someone spooned sugar into the cup – just a very natural sweetness. There are strong notes of chocolate and also notes of honey. A very rich cup yet the mouthfeel is bright and cheery. It is not too heavy or syrupy.
The only regret I have is that I did not try this tea sooner. It has become one of my stash favorites. It has a permanent home in my tea cabinet.
There is a slight very light note of cinnamon or some kick of spiciness here but nothing that would cause those who are spice shy to shy away from. There is also a bit of a saffron note!
As the tea cools a bit it does become slightly thicker with a heavier mouthfeel and notes of maple syrup begin to peek through.
I know it sounds like I am talking about a dessert not a tea yet this is not a dessert tea but rather a wonderful black tea that anyone would love!
The only downside I have found to this tea is that when steeping western style, it does not re-steep very well. However if you opt for gong fu style steeping it holds up to many steeps giving you layers of wonderful notes to discover cup by cup.
Bailin Gongfu Black Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Bailin Gongfu is the highest quality Fujian black tea. This Bailin Gonfu is a premium quality tea produced at Mt. Taimu in Fujian, and is crafted from Fuding DaBai and Da Hao trees. This delicious tea has a great refreshing sweet taste and fragrance.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Bailin Gongfu Black Tea from Teavivre is one of my black tea staples. I always have plenty of this on hand. Sure I enjoy other black teas, and have plenty of them for variety, but this black tea, this is my “go to” tea in the morning. It is always spot on for the flavors I crave to wake up to.
Some mornings I have more time to get motivated, and I may go for something different in a black tea but in most cases, I just need what I know will really do the trick.
Bailin Gongfu Black Tea from Teavivre has every element in a black tea that I would want. Malty notes, hints of a cocoa flavor, caramel notes, depth, and complexity, robust, and strong without any bitterness or astringency.
This is one of Teavivre’s most popular teas. There is good reason for this! This tea is warm and toasty with a taste reminiscent of boutique beer, malty and chocolatey. This is THE black tea that made me realize not all black teas are created equal. Sipping this outstanding tea is like sitting back at a campfire with a good friend. It just makes you feel comfy! The flavors are simply decadent yet is so easy to sip with a bright cheery feel!
What is really interesting about this black tea is that within all these flavors, on the after taste, is this wonderful vegetal note! It may not be really noticeable to everyone, but I get a green bean note in the lingering of the after taste that is quite surprising! A black tea with a green bean note? Yes, its in here! Add to that a full, creamy mouthfeel, what more could one ask for in their morning wake up tea?
Perhaps this tea sounds confusing to some, cheery and bright, yet also robust and full? Creamy cocoa, caramel, malty notes with vegetal? Well what we can’t disagree on is that it is interesting! To add to that all of these notes are present in one steeping, and hold up through a second steep. After that you will enjoy several more infusions of the same leaf but the layers begin to slowly ween themselves out leaving behind a lovely black with more attention on the caramel, cocoa, and base tea notes which are equally lovely.
I think, but please don’t hold me to any decisions on this, if I could only have one black unadulterated (unflavored / flavored by nature only) tea for the rest of my life, this would be the one. Granted I would never, ever, want that to happen!
Gui Fei Cha from Stone Leaf Teahouse
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Stone Leaf Teahouse
Tea Description:
Taiwan, Summer 2012
Medium Roast
贵妃茶
A medium bodied, roasted oolong from the famous mountains of San Lin Ci, near the traditional tea producing region of Lugu. This is a unique and hard to find variety of rolled Dong Feng Mei Ren, or Eastern Beauty. Yields a slightly earthy, sweet, and savory rose aroma with a smooth woody-bamboo body and a delightful lingering honey aftertaste. Energizing and strong with a bit of a bite.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Gui Fei Cha from Stone Leaf Teahouse is a more earthy tea but the honey note is one of the first things I tasted and the note that tends to linger along with the rose. I do pick up on the floral aspect of this tea and it is reminiscent of rose but I would not really consider this a floral tea. This may sound strange to some, but the taste of the rose in this tea is more like the way a fresh rose scent lingers in the nostrils. It is clean, crisp, refreshing, but subtle. There is a very green leafy aspect to the rose note, but then rose has always been one of those aromas that is quite clean and refreshing so it comes over very well in the flavor note here. So okay I am one of those people who will try eating their tea leaves, and I am no different when it comes to flowers. I tend to want to taste them. Before you think I am a total freak consider please that I am very much into natural medicine, herbs, and natural perfumery, therefore really being one with the herbs, flowers, and plants I use is essential. Regardless, and aside from all my weirdisms, this tea is quite lovely in its floral nature, however I don’t want anyone to pass this tea up for its floral nature if you are not inclined to enjoy a floral tea – as there is so much more to this tea than its rose accent.
Gui Fei Cha has a wonderful note of bamboo, tropical rain soaked trees and plants, notes of honey and a slight spice note. And as for that bite as mentioned in the description, think of it like an astringency type of bite. Not bitter, but just this kick at the end of the sip.
The mouthfeel is on the heavier side but the finish of this tea on the palate is bright and cherry. It is truly a tea you can’t be in a crabby mood while sipping as it will lift you right up out of your funk and place you on a fluffy cloud and leave you floating gleefully. So if you are in a crabby mood and want to stay there – don’t sip this tea!
With each sip I feel a little smile creeping over my face and by the time I am tasting the lingering notes that are left behind the sip, I am beaming.
Now there is a darker side to this tea interestingly enough … some of these heavier notes of wood, of spice, the savory notes of fresh herbs from the garden, they tend to be very calming and grounding. So the after effect is a tea that brings you up and makes you feel joyful but keeps your core essence firm and secure. This could make it a very nice meditative tea perhaps, or a tea for those days you need a little boost of confidence, say before a presentation, or before a big date night because the tea is a little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance, and a little bit of strength and confidence all rolled into one.
Of course I always try to assign personalities to teas but that is how I feel about this one from Stone Leaf Teahouse and again, as always, they have a winner in this tea!
Four Leaves Ripe Pu’er from Mandala Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu’er
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
We are proud to offer our very own blend of ripe pu’er tea! We (and our customers) are very happy with the finished product. While we love this tea now, we can hardly wait to see what 2 or 3 more years of aging will bring to the flavor of this tea!
Also available in a 250gram cake!
The four leaves used in our ripe tea are from the Jinggu Tea Factory in Simao. The Jinggu tea factory used to be part of the CNNP state-owned tea factories. They started fermenting Pu’er in the mid-70’s and was the third factory ever to produce ripe pu’er!
The leaf used was spring picked and processed in 2009 and is quite ready for enjoying now. We chose the material and pressed the blend in April of 2010.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
One thing I love about Mandala, other than their excellent quality of tea, is their 5.00 shipping! Its just something note worthy as I know when I am considering trying a new tea company their shipping rates do matter. Also Garret at Mandala is one of the most guanine people I have ever spoken with. He takes time with people. That is something we need more of these days.
Four Leaves Ripe Pu’er is a loose leaf pu’er which for those of you starting your pu’er journey may find a little less intimidating. However you can also get it in a cake as well, which is a condensed version of the tea. Steeping instructions are right on the packaging.
I always give my pu’er an initial rise, okay not always but most always anyway. With this tea I did do an initial rinse.
The initial aromas from this tea when steeped are fruity, and leather. There is a sweetness lurking behind these initial aroma notes.
This tea has a crisp bright mouthful, which surprised me as I was expecting something more rich and earthier from the aroma of leather. The flavor of leather is there but the sip is thinner than I anticipated, thin but not lacking flavor!
The sweet berry note is also noticeable.
One note that jumped out at me that took me completely by surprise was a buttered toast flavor! I swoon at anything buttery!
Now don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely an earthy tea, pu’er as a rule is earthy but the other notes bring forth a delightful cheery cup.
I really feel this would make for a good starer pu’er although maybe not a for your very first pu’er. This would be like a level 2 pu’er. Perhaps starting with something flavored first then working up to this.
On the flip side it is not as complex or mature as many pu’er so for the more advanced pu’er drinkers this may not be as exciting.
There is room for growth in this tea but it is young and as much time yet to develop. It does however have a wonderful starting point and if you are one to buy and store pu’er for later drinking I would absolutely recommend grabbing a cake of this!