Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This Ancient Wild Tree black tea comes from Fengqing, Yunnan. The tea garden is at 2000 meters high, is renowned as a good place of growing good tea.
The local tea tree is Fengqing large leaf species, can produce thick tea leaf. Our Ancient Wild Tree black tea then has large, strong leaves. The dry tea is glossy and dark, covered with thin pekoes. Its full aroma and bold taste can be revealed when brewed, as well as the particular strong taste which brings a characteristic of raw pu-erh to this black tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m always happy to try a tea from Teavivre, because I know that the tea is going to be good. Not just good, but excellent! I can’t recall ever having tried a tea from Teavivre that I’ve been disappointed by, and this Nonpareil Yunnan Dian Hong Ancient Wild Tree Black Tea is no exception. This is lovely.
The flavor is rich and smooth. There is a delightful honeyed flavor to the cup and this honey-like flavor is further highlighted by the thick texture of the tea.
There is no bitterness to this tea and it’s very smooth with very little astringency. By mid-cup, I started to notice a slight dryness to the finish. So there is some astringency and it does develop but even by the end of the cup, the astringency is very slight.
It’s earthy with notes of leather and hints of mushroom. This is a wild tree tea and I can almost taste the ‘wild’ in the tea. It’s beautifully complex, with the sweet notes of raisin and plum, hints of flower in the distance and of course, the aforementioned honey notes. I like the balance between the savory notes – earth, spice notes that develop as I sip and leather – and the sweetness.
Yet another tea from Teavivre that I can enthusiastically recommend to any tea drinker. This is marvelous.
Nonpareil Anxi Qing Xiang TieGuanYin Oolong Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This year, the tea is made of fresh tea leaves in higher quality, and is produced in better place with better crafting method.
When mentioned Anxi County, people will spontaneously think of Anxi Tie Guan Yin, “Iron Goddess”. It is well-known both inland and abroad. This Tie Guan Yin is close to forest green in color, has a pure aroma. Meanwhile the liquid of this Oolong tea is transparent and bright, which truly is a feast to the eyes. In taste, this Tie Guan Yin has sweet flavor, long-last fragrance and comfortable sweet aftertaste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know that I’ve said it before, but it’s something that bears repeating: Teavivre has some of the very finest teas that I’ve ever tasted! There’s a simple reason why it’s one of my favorite tea companies: their teas are top-notch!
And this Nonpareil Anxi Qing Xiang TieGuanYin Oolong is no exception! This is lovely.
Having tried their Nonpareil Anxi Yun Xiang TieGuanYin Oolong a couple of months ago, I found myself wondering how this tea would differ. I was able to spot one big difference immediately upon opening the package and examining the leaves. The dry leaf for this tea is bright, emerald green while the Anxi Yun Xiang TieGuanYin were darker in color: greenish brown!
That’s because the Anxi Yun Xian is a roasted Oolong and this hasn’t been roasted. The roasting process seems to cut some of the floral notes and they become more of a roasty-toasty, nutty flavor. I like both teas.
To brew this tea, I used my gaiwan and measured a bamboo scoop of leaves into the bowl of the gaiwan. Then I added enough water (heated to 180°F) to cover the leaves. I let them steep for 15 seconds and discarded the water (this is the rinse). Then I filled the gaiwan and let the tea steep for 45 seconds for the first infusion. I strained the tea into my cup and then repeated the process, adding 15 seconds onto the next steep. I combine the brewed liquid of two infusions for each cup – so my first cup was infusions 1 and 2. My second cup was infusions 3 and 4. You get the picture, right?
The sweet floral notes here are really nice. They aren’t sharp, they’re soft and sweet. Orchid with notes of vanilla! That’s how I’d describe this first cup. It’s sweet and creamy, but not creamy like a milky type of creamy or a buttery type of creamy. This is distinctly vanilla! So smooth and sweet and yummy!
The second cup has stronger, more defined orchid notes with less of a creamy, vanilla tone. The flavors are a more focused. The description on the Teavivre website says:
Tastes fresh and lovely. The fragrance of orchid will be tasted from first sip. It feels clean and mellow in mouth, has sweet aftertastes and long-lasting flavor.
I think that this is especially true of this second cup. The orchid was immediately identifiable. With the first cup, I noticed the strong, creamy characteristics first. Now, the creaminess has tapered somewhat and I’m tasting the fresh, beautiful flavor of orchid. It’s a strong and forward flavor, but I like that it’s not too sharp tasting.
The third cup was almost identical to the second cup, with a beautifully perfumed cup with notes of orchid, light creamy notes in the background. Sweet and mellow! I am loving the orchid notes in this tea because they never get particularly sharp, they stay mild and lovely. A real pleasure to sip.
This is a really lovely TieGuanYin. If you’re a lover of Oolong teas that is looking for a top notch TieGuanYin – you really should try this one. It’s truly a remarkable tea.
Nonpareil Taiwan Li Shan Oolong Tea from Teavivre
Keep reading for information on how to receive a $5.00 gift card from Teavivre!
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Speaking on Taiwan tea, Li Shan Oolong Tea is the top level Taiwan Gao Leng oolong tea. The special phrase Gao Leng, 高冷(gāo lěng) in Chinese, means high and cold, refers to the environment at high altitudes and in low temperature. Li Shan tea trees are grown in this high and cold environment, making the tea leaf soft, thick with high content of pectin substances. This unique feature cannot be found on the teas grown in low altitude areas. Just as an old Chinese saying that human beings are shaped by the land around them. So are the tea trees.
By this token, growing of the tea trees, picking the fresh tea leaves, as well as processing of the tea all reply on the environment condition. The climate in Lishan Mountain makes Gao Leng Tea in a limited output. It is a remarkable tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’m going to be a happy sipper for the next couple of hours when the first sound that I emit after taking my first sip of this tea is “Mmmmm” and the first words uttered are “Oh my goodness, this is lovely!”
To brew this simply divine Oolong, I used my gaiwan. I first gave the leaves a 15 second rinse and then I steeped the first infusion for 45 seconds, strained the tea into my YiXing Mug, and then steeped the second infusion for 60 seconds and I then strained the tea into my mug … and so on. My first mugful of tea is comprised of the first 5 infusions following the initial rinse.
And it is creamy and smooth. No bitterness. No astringency. No sharpness whatsoever. Only smooth, creamy, decadent flavor that is reminiscent of sweet, warm cream with hints of orchid and whispers of peach, melon and apple. It has the sweetness of the apple, perhaps just a touch of the tart of the apple but I wouldn’t describe the apple-y flavor that I’m tasting as “crisp” the way I often do articulate an apple-y flavor. It’s more of the sweet and a hint of the tart without the crispness.
That’s because this tea is all about soft! It tastes soft, it feels soft to the palate and imparts such a lovely softness of flavors and textures. Don’t mistake that for “subtle” or overly delicate flavors, because I wouldn’t say that this tea is a subtle or delicate tasting tea. Certainly not. But it’s presentation is soft. It isn’t an aggressive tea that assaults the taste buds. It doesn’t have to. Instead, it romances the taste buds with wonderful flavor.
For my second mugful of this beautiful tea, I started the sixth infusion with a 2 minute infusion, and added another 15 seconds onto each subsequent infusion, acquiring five more infusions for the second mug.
This cup has all the flavors of the first cup, however, they’ve become more unified now. The fruit notes become very melded, like a nectar that’s been composed of a medley of fruits. The honey notes are still present, as is the creaminess. The creaminess is a little lighter now, allowing for more of the fruit notes to come though. The combination of the sweet fruit notes and the honey flavors is delightful.
A truly rewarding Li Shan Oolong! I highly recommend this tea to all Oolong lovers and anyone looking for an extraordinary cup of tea!
GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY!
Yep, we’re at it again! Teavivre has offered us several $5. gift cards to give away to our readers! Yay!
Here’s the fine print on the gift cards:
- It can be used to purchase any teas or teawares on the Teavivre website.
- By using this particular gift card, the customer can also get an extra sampler pack which includes 2 kinds of our premium grade flower teas.
- The card can also be used to pay the shipping fee.
- One gift card per order, please.
- It can be applied on international.
- No minimum purchase required.
By now you’re wondering, COOL! What do I have to do to enter? Am I right?
Well, we like to make things easy around here, so, you can earn your first entry by simply commenting on this review/contest announcement post. Just post a comment and be sure to include a way to contact you if you’ve won. If you’re already registered with TeaTra.de – cool! I can contact you via PM on TeaTra.de If you prefer a Steepster PM, that’s fine too, just tell me who you are on Steepster. If you prefer a private email contact, then you need to register when you comment and be sure to include your email with the registration and tell us that’s how you want us to contact you.
Well, that’s the first entry, but, how about bonus entries? You can earn them too! Here are a few easy ways to earn more entries:
- Like Teavivre on Facebook.
- Follow Teavivre on Twitter.
- Post the contest information on Facebook *Be sure to give us a link!*
- Tweet about this contest! *Be sure to give us the link of the tweet!*
See that? That’s five easy ways to get a cool five bucks off your next purchase from Teavivre! How awesome is that?
This contest will run through December 17. On December 18th, I will be contacting the winners of the gift cards with their gift card codes! You can use the gift card immediately and it will be good through November 2015!
Nonpareil Anxi Yun Xiang TieGuanYin Oolong Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Yun Xiang (韵香) means roasted. Roasting is the key for Yunxiang Tie Guan Yin’s feature: sweet and mellow flavor, very bright liquid. Usually, people who want to drink Tie Guan Yin will start with Qingxiang Tie Guan Yin, which is the base of Yunxiang tea. By roasting the Qingxiang tea, we can get the Yunxiang tea. Yunxiang tea has long-lasting aroma, but requires 120% more skill and patience for the makers, especially hand-made tea. During the roasting process, the tea will be roasted for 3 or 4 times, for over 8 hours of each time. The maker must control the temperature carefully, and judge the tea’s quality with his experience. We may say that fine roasted oolong tea is made under a strict “fire” trial.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I enjoy a good TieGuanYin Oolong. And I think I like them even better when they’ve been roasted like this Nonpareil Anxi Yun Xiang TieGuanYin from Teavivre!
The tea becomes sweeter with the roasting process. The vegetal notes become morph into a nutty flavor. The floral notes become sweeter. Sometimes, I notice a “sharp edge” to the floral notes in a TieGuanYin, but with a roasted TieGuanYin, the flavor is soft and toasty and the texture is smooth and creamy without feeling heavy on the palate.
To brew this tea, I grabbed my gaiwan and “eyeballed” about a bamboo scoop’s worth of the tea into the bowl of the gaiwan. I heated the water to 180°F and I performed a 15 second rinse. Then I strained the liquid and discarded it. The first steep was 45 seconds, and with each subsequent infusion, I added 15 seconds. My cute little ceramic “Oolong” teacup holds 2 infusions, so I combined the first two infusions for the first cup of tea.
And the first cup has a really lovely, full flavor. The roasty-toasty flavor is delightful. Warm and comforting, this is just the kind of tea you want to enjoy on a chilly autumn afternoon. The flavor that the roasting imparts evokes thoughts of falling leaves. I taste a strong, roasted nutty flavor with hints of orchid in the background. TieGuanYin Oolong teas can sometimes taste (and feel) buttery, this has more of a toasty, browned butter type of flavor. Notes of honey are also presence as well as a hint of orchid.
My second cup was even lovelier than the first, I think, because I started to pick up on some caramel-y notes this time. Sweet, luscious caramel mingling with the honeyed notes to create a delightful taste. The nutty flavors are starting to meld with these sweet honey caramel notes, the flavors are becoming seamless. I’m noticing a slight astringency toward the tail, but it’s very slight and only really obvious when I am trying to find it. The aftertaste is sweet with hints of fruit. Roasted peach, anyone?
Later infusions became smoother and more unified. The third cup was deliciously toasty and caramel-ish. Delicious nutty tones. The creamy notes have subsided, but the flavor is so smooth and mellow.
A really wonderful Oolong – a perfect autumn drink.
GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY!
PLEASE NOTE: Sorry, this giveaway is now over. Please keep watching our blog for more giveaways to come!
Teavivre has been so kind to offer us a number of $5. gift cards to give away to readers of our blog! Yay! And I’m going to give away FIVE $5.00 gift cards right now! Well, not right now, as in right now as I type this, but right now as you read this, you can register to add your name to the pot and be part of the drawing for one of the $5.00 gift cards from Teavivre. Here’s the fine print on the gift cards:
- It can be used to purchase any teas or teawares on the Teavivre website.
- By using this particular gift card, the customer can also get an extra sampler pack which includes 2 kinds of our premium grade flower teas.
- The card can also be used to pay the shipping fee.
- One gift card per order, please.
- It can be applied on international.
- No minimum purchase required.
By now you’re wondering, COOL! What do I have to do to enter? Am I right?
Well, we like to make things easy around here, so, you can earn your first entry by simply commenting on this review/contest announcement post. Just post a comment and be sure to include a way to contact you if you’ve won. If you’re already registered with TeaTra.de – cool! I can contact you via PM on TeaTra.de If you prefer a Steepster PM, that’s fine too, just tell me who you are on Steepster. If you prefer a private email contact, then you need to register when you comment and be sure to include your email with the registration and tell us that’s how you want us to contact you.
Well, that’s the first entry, but, how about bonus entries? You can earn them too! Here are a few easy ways to earn more entries:
- Like Teavivre on Facebook.
- Follow Teavivre on Twitter.
- Post the contest information on Facebook *Be sure to give us a link!*
- Tweet about this contest! *Be sure to give us the link of the tweet!*
See that? That’s five easy ways to get a cool five bucks off your next purchase from Teavivre! How awesome is that?
This contest will run through November 19th. I’ll be contacting the winner on November 20th. And another contest will be starting shortly thereafter! Woo hoo!
Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
The historic Huang Shan Mao Feng is well-known as one of the ten famous Chinese tea. This Ming Qian Huang Shan Mao Feng is a kind of pre-ming green tea. Pre-ming tea has strict requirement of the picking time and its making standard, thus the bird-tongue appearance could been perfect formed, as well as the brisk flavor. Both of which are favored by tea lovers.
Our Nonpareil Huang Shan Mao Feng Green tea is Te Gong grade. Te Gong refers to two Chinese words: 特(tè) and 贡(gòng). 特 is short for 特级, which means the tea’s grade is nonpareil; while 贡 is short for 贡品, meaning that the tea was used to be paid as tribute to the emperor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a pleasure it has been to try Teavivre’s newest green teas from this spring. They taste so fresh and wonderful!
This Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea – quite a name! – is lovely. I am a fan of Mao Feng Green teas anyway, they’re one of my favorite of the ‘ten famous’ Chinese teas. I enjoyed two infusions from one measurement of this tea, and I found both to be quite good.
The first infusion was delicate in flavor at first, and I found that the flavor developed as I continued to sip. I’m not sure if this is because the tea was cooling slightly or because the flavors developed on the palate after taking a few sips. Either way, this is a tea that requires a patient palate, but don’t worry, that patience will be rewarded soon enough!
It is a beautifully sweet flavor with notes of fruit. I don’t often experience fruity notes with green tea (usually I experience grassy or vegetal notes, but not so much of a fruit note as this Mao Feng offers), and it reminds me of a combination of sweet grapes, melon and apple. There is no tartness to these fruit notes, so think only of the sweetest grapes and apples, with the lush, juicy taste of a sweet honeydew melon. This is a tea you want to slurp to get the most out of these fruit notes! Aerate the tea on the palate and you’ll be happy with the result.
I added thirty seconds onto the steep time for the second infusion. This cup offers a deeper flavor with even more sweetness. You definitely want to take this tea for a second steep! There is a lot of flavor to this second cup. Sweet with nutty flavors, and the fruit notes are still there too. This time, I taste less of the grape and more of the melon. There is a little bit of vegetative taste that comes through now too, but there is more fruit than vegetable to this cup. It’s a very refreshing cuppa!
Of the two infusions, the second is my favorite, but the first was certainly worthwhile too. I enjoyed both and what I liked best is that both were so different from one another – it was like taking two adventures with one tea. An exceptional Mao Feng!