Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Tie Guan Yin tea is a type of Oolong tea, and is – deservedly – one of the most revered and sought after type tea in China. Sometimes also written as Ti Kuan Yin or Iron Goddess Oolong Tea. With a delightfully fresh floral taste. It is well-known both inland and abroad. You will certainly be surprised with the distinct orchid fragrance of this Organic Superfine Tie Guan Yin. Meanwhile the liquid of this Oolong tea is transparent and bright, which truly is a feast to the eyes. In taste, this Organic Tie Guan Yin has sweet flavor, long-last fragrance and comfortable sweet aftertaste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Organic Superfine Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea from Teavivre (also known as Iron Goddess), is lovely – really lovely indeed. Sweet, crisp in flavor, with delightful floral overtones.
The dry leaves look very much like other Tie Guan Yin teas I’ve encountered – the leaves have been tightly wound into pellets. These pellets seem smaller than a typical Tie Guan Yin, and the color is a very vivid, dark forest green. Beautiful! The aroma is vegetative, reminding me of springtime when the air is filled with the scent of new, green growth and notes of flower.
Ordinarily, I combine the first two infusions for my first cup, but today, I wanted to try the first infusion on its own. So, after a quick fifteen second rinse, I infused the leaves for 45 seconds and enjoyed the tea. My first infusion was quite light in flavor. Sweet, with delicate floral tones and a hint of creaminess to the taste and texture.
The second cup – the combination of the second and third infusions – is much creamier, sweeter and has a heady floral essence that says “orchid!” I can taste a vanilla-esque note to this. There isn’t a strong vegetative taste to this cup, but I do notice some vegetation off in the background. Beautifully sweet, this cup!
The third cup – which is the combination of the fourth and fifth infusions – is a bit lighter in texture than the second, but not quite as crisp as the first. There is a certain brightness to this cup, I can almost taste a hint of citrus to this. Not quite a “fruit-like” flavor, but the acidic nature of the citrus is what I notice, and this offers a nice contrast to the sweet, floral tones. Still quite sweet, the flavors are beginning to meld here, becoming more unified and less distinct.
This is really a lovely Tie Guan Yin … if you’ve only room on your tea shelf for one Tie Guan Yin, this should definitely be one that you consider for that coveted spot! This one is top-notch!
Mengku Arbor Tree Ripened Puerh Cake Tea ZhenMu LingYa 2007 from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
With a century-old history, abundant rainfall and sunlight, Yunnan owns a reputation as “South of the Colorful Clouds”. She feeds her people and the land they live on with her own stream. This time TeaVivre brings you Pu-erh lovers the ZhenMu LingYa, within which the passion of Yunnan Pu-erh people you can feel. This Ripened Puerh Cake Tea ZhenMu LingYa uses fresh leaves of Mengku arbor tree as material. The tea workers have years of experience in making Pu-erh tea. With their hands and professional experience, they made the fresh tea leaves into this beautiful ripened Pu-erh cake. Using the Mengku arbor tree of high quality as material, this ZhenMu LingYa has the pure and mellow flavor of ripened tea. You could see the golden pekoe covering on the dry leaves. As the cake was suppressed just fine in tension, you could enjoy breaking the cake.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Like I do with most Pu-erh … I put off trying this Mengku Arbor Tree Ripened Puerh Cake Tea ZhenMu LingYa 2007 from Teavivre for a little while, but, I’m glad to be sipping on it today.
I brewed a chunk of this cake in my gaiwan, and I managed quite a few infusions from one small chunk. The first infusion was earthy (most Pu-erh teas are!) but I liked that the earthy notes were subdued. The flavor is deep, rich and mellow. Really smooth without any astringency. The sweetness is reminiscent of molasses!
My second infusion was a little more earthy than the first, but it was still very sweet and smooth. By the third infusion, I found that the earthiness had really subsided to the point where I really found myself enjoying this Pu-erh. Sure, I liked the first and second infusions just fine, but, my palate was much fonder of the third infusion!
The fourth infusion produced a slightly smoother taste – the taste was still very smooth in the first three infusions, but here I notice that the flavors tend to meld and become more unified. It becomes a very smooth drinking kind of tea, with lovely sweet notes, hints of earth, and a sweet, caramel-y, molasses-y kind of taste all coming together in a seamless flavor. It was really nice and mellow – the kind of cup that you like to enjoy after a meal.
I could have very easily taken this tea through even more infusions … although it was getting late. My personal tea time had come to an end before this tea was ready to quit! A really enjoyable Pu-erh … not my favorite, perhaps, but, certainly one I’d be happy to enjoy again!
Bi Luo Chun Green Tea (Pi Lo Chun) from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Made only from tea leaf tips in an involved process that results in it having a tight rolled up shape, Bi Luo Chun is renowned for its strong fruity aroma and mellow flavour. A plantation growing Bi Luo Chun is amazing to visit, with the tea plants mixed in with a variety of fragrant fruit trees to give the tea its aroma and taste. TeaVivre’s Bi Luo Chun is premium grade direct from the slopes of Dong Ting mountain, has a bright green color and strong almost citrus aroma to it. An amazing tea!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I do enjoy a good Bi Luo Chun (or Pi Lo Chun) and this Bi Luo Chun Green Tea from Teavivre is as good as it gets!
The aroma of the dry leaf is absolutely lovely. It reminds me of Orange County, California when I was young – back when orange groves were still everywhere. When the orange trees were blossoming, I would love to visit the orange groves and experience the fragrance of the air. So beautifully aromatic – just like this tea!
The flavor is superb. The taste is fresh … like sweet, freshly steamed veggies that have been accented with fruit. The fruit tones are not quite as acidic as a citrus fruit would be … I’m getting more of a sweet, fruity note here and less of a tangy one, although there is a tangy note that comes forward right at the tail. Almost like a cross between an orange and a melon. Yummy!
There is a creaminess to the texture as well, but, not so much a buttery taste or texture … it’s a very light creamy texture that melds well with the light vegetal tones.
This is one of those teas that I could drink happily every day. It is so refreshing and delicious hot or iced, but I prefer it hot simply because more of the nuances come forward with the hot tea. As it cools, some of those lighter notes seem to mute.
Another EXCEPTIONAL tea from a company that continually delivers exceptional products – Teavivre!
Liu An Gua Pian Green Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
A great find for those looking for a more green tea with more character! Like several of our other teas, Liu’an Guapian is deservedly in the list of China’s top ten teas. Made only from larger, mature leaves that are rolled up during processing, the dry leaves have a distinctively plump shape to them – giving rise to its Chinese name of “melon seeds”. Very uncharacteristic for a green tea, it has a quite sweet taste and strong aroma, that is also overlaid with an almost smoky, spicy tang.
From Qiyun Mountain(齐云山), Liu’an, Anhui province
Harvest Time: April 2, 2013
Round shaped, vibrant leaves without any bud or stems
Produces a bright emerald coloured tea
A distinctive taste – sweet with a rich, slightly spicy taste
Low caffeine (less than 10% of a cup of coffee)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Liu An Gua Pian Green Tea from Teavivre has the mouth watering aroma of milk and honey. When I opened the dry leaf packet I let out an audible ahhhhhh. When I steeped it the moist leaf let off that sticky sweet smell of milk and honey and I was in love. The beautiful hand rolled leaf look like tiny unicorn horns. Yes this tea is what dreams are made of!
The flavor of this tea is like none other. Seriously this is not your average green tea! Yes there is a note of vegetation and unlike my SororiTea Sister I do get a bit of a grassy note, but it is so much more complex than that and I am in agreement with my SororiTea Sister Anne, that it is a stellar green tea to covet! Like her, I think my new favorite.
I too get that kick of a spicy note and a deep earthiness for a green. Something like peat moss perhaps. This is easily a tea that I could get all flowery with the words about but rather I want to just sit back and relax into this sublime cup. It is sweet, a tiny bit tangy and tart, a kick of spicy, a whole lot of grounding earthiness, vegetal, subtly grassy, with a touch of fruit flavor very much like that of a melon yet I also detect something perhaps like lychee with a light floral undertone to it.
Regardless of what verbiage I could use to persuade you to try this tea, I will restrain myself, if you don’t buy it then that just means more for me, and for my SoroitTea Sister Anne too I suppose. Seriously if you are not a fan of green tea you must try this. You will be changed for life. If you do enjoy green tea, you have to experience this one, and if you are a green tea lover you simply can NOT be without this in your stash!
Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This Organic Dragon Well Long Jing tea origins in organic tea base of Tianmu Mountain in Lin’an, Hangzhou. The organic tea base of Tianmu Mountain, has passed the organic certification of European, USA and Japan, is a significant base of planting organic dragon well and green tea. This dragon well long jing tea persists a high level in picking and producing while meeting the standard of organic certification. The tea should be picked as one bud and two leaves or three leaves in order to reach the standard. Tea workers also have excellent skills, which help keep the natural features of fresh tea leaves. Combined with the advantages of organic tea and high grade tea, this dragon well long jing tea is suitable for tea lovers of organic tea as well as dragon well green tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh how I love Teavivre! Why? Because they never fail to impress me with their high quality teas. This Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea is absolutely stunning!
It tastes so deliciously sweet, smooth, and there isn’t even the slightest hint of bitterness. It is sweet from start to finish. It is vaguely reminiscent of tender, freshly roasted chestnuts. The buttery smooth, sweet flavor of chestnut! YUM! There are also notes of savory vegetation in there too … not really grassy, or even like steamed veggies … but just that subtle touch of “green” to it. This is the way a Dragon Well should taste!
I love the freshness of this Dragon Well and this is typical of all the teas that Teavivre offers – their teas are just so very fresh and delicious. (Except for their pu-erhs which are aged and delicious.) I also love that this particular selection is an organic offering. Without having compared a conventionally grown Dragon Well versus an organically grown Dragon Well, I can’t say that there is a difference in taste between the two. But, I know that I feel better knowing that this tea is organic.
This tea is delicious served hot, but, it’s also quite nice when chilled – which is how I’m drinking it now. I had brewed a teapot of the tea this afternoon, and drank one cup of it hot, and then refrigerated the rest of it, and am able to enjoy a frosty glass of tasty iced tea. While I do prefer MOST teas served hot versus iced … since the warm weather is upon us now, it’s nice to be able to enjoy this one iced. It’s very refreshing!