Nina's Paris

this tea is grand, i mean truly exceptional.

dry it reminds me of ripe strawberries and raspberry jello, but once the water goes in there is a premeditated tartness from the green base that negates any thoughts of jello whatsoever.

my unsolicited advice (as someone who thoroughly messed up their first attempt), believe the 3 minute recommendation on the bag. nina’s has been doing this long enough that they don’t recommend halfheartedly.

the green they have chosen is very smart indeed…. it has a sharp tang that is absolutely timed to the minute. the berries are balanced against a three minute time…. like a smartypants i figured more was better and went for 4 the first time and got no berries whatsoever. when correctly timed you get a perfect equation with perfectly (not over) ripe berries with a medium strength green tea. this is a flavoured green, there is never any doubt that it is a tea. with some flavoured blends the tea essence is lost, but not here.

very nice. little doubt i will buy again!

i was curious, so i looked up the history: nina’s paris, (named after the founder’s wife mme nina diaz) was founded in 1672 as the furbishers of fragrance to versailles. it shows.

this tea is red, and round. it actually creates a spherical shape in my mouth. i am not referring to the natural process of swallowing here, i feel the flavour in a spherical shape, over my tongue and against my cheeks.

this blend is an exercise in just enough and not too much; had the raspberry been stonger it may have evolved from a balanced tart to sharp or bitter, but it did not. the red currant adds the round component i think, as well a classic element. the caramel is very quiet… three fingers brushing one time lightly between your shoulder blades after a long day. soothing.

this tea is lovely. i was surprised at first when i learned that the french tea apothecaries were also frequently parfumeries, but it makes perfect sense now. how the two vocations could ever be separate is a foreign thought to me now because it is. so. logical.

while she did not send me this tea, i really must thank ysaurella for playing the part of brilliant catalyst for this part of my tea journey. our swap caught me so offguard i think my heart may continue to dwell in parisien tea houses.

Thank you Nina’s Paris (Sophie and Laurent for the tea sample. This tea smells mildly fruity, citrusy with a hint of floral. Very mild black tea with a good mix of fruits with the blood orange slightly in the forefront and the a floral note in the background.

I’m really enjoying this cup tonight! I’m picking up more spearmint, but my mother swears she smells the lemon from across the room. There is a lovely lemon tang to this. The whole thing reminds me of summer lemonade with mint thrown in. Yummy!

Made this one again this morning. This time I added two smallish pieces of brown rock sugar. I am finding the black base still strong. Almost malty. Reminding me of an assam. There is still an orange rind, peppery, spicey taste but it is blunted by a more citrus flavour. The rock sugar has seem to bring out a much more grapefruit flavour vs the citrus rind flavour. This one is very much reminding me of a citrus Earl Grey but there is no bergamot. Its making a great breakfast tea. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone! Today I give thanks for awesome family, great friends, and of course delicious tea!

This one definitely has a taste of grapefruit and orange rind. It is peppery and spicey. It tastes very natural. The black tea base tastes stronger than what I find most of Nina’s Paris teas taste. I think this one is lacking a bit of sweetness. Overall it is a good tea, but I would like there to have been more of an actual citrus taste.
This one tastes better once it starts to cool. I think next time I will be adding a but of sweetener to see what happens.

Thank you Nina’s Paris (Laurent and Sophie) for this sample. This is the first of the three samples they sent me that I’ve tried. Actually, this is the first Nina’s Paris tea I’ve ever tried and wow! This tea is sooo good. Hot steeped, it’s like sweet and tart strawberry jam with rooibos in the background. Cold steeped the rest of the packet, and this truly makes a great iced tea. This tea is definitely going to be on my buy list!

I was trying to make some room in my spice cabinet for a newly bought jar of paprika, and saw an envelope in the back of the cupboard. Hmm. What’s this?

I opened it and saw that it was tea from ashmanra! Gasp! I must have been in one of my crazyrush flurries and put it in the general place it was supposed to go and never put it with my actual tea things. Bad, bad JacquelineM.

I sniffed the leaves and they smelled like apples and cloves and almonds and something floral. Ohmygosh. Could there be a more perfect tea for the beginning of autumn?

I’m enjoying my first cup, sans additions, and loving it (I took a raw sugar packet out, but sipped the tea first and decided it needs nothing). I read some tasting notes saying it was strong in flavor, so I steeped it for two minutes — perfect.

I’m tasting just what I smelled — an apple cider flavor, almonds, and a floral-ness — it doesn’t scream rose to me, but floral, and it’s just on the end of the sip. I love it. I must procure some!

What other lovelies should I try from Nina’s? :)

My very last pot of this. Yay!
I like the idea of this tea much better than I like the reality. Green apple tea sounds good, and I like rose, but nothing really gelled in this whole tin, and nothing turned out quite as I wanted it to.
Goodbye, Marie-Antoinette. I will have all my notes and the very pretty tin to remember it by.
Sipdown!

Its my steepster anniversary! I’ve been a member of this lovely community for a whole year, and honestly I have no interest in slowing down at all.
This place is easily one of my favorite things on line. Its wonderful here, and I’ve met so many cool, supportive people, and learned so much about tea!
Here is to Steepster, long may it reign!

I have entered into a phase where I am determinedly drinking this tea. I’ve got maybe two pots of this left, and I’d like it to be all drunk up, and quite soon. So I’m including this in the rotation more than I normally would.
Its gonna be a long day, and I’m already running late this morning. (Well, running behind. I’m not late actually yet).
Time to apply the sunscreen and head out into the world!

I saw the bottom of the tin today while I was parcing this out! I cant believe it. Its amazing. I’ve only got a few pots of this left.
I’ve got mixed feelings about Marie-Antoinette. I love that is a sour apple tea, but I’m not completely sold. Something has just never set perfectly. Well, oh well.
Its hot! Argh. We have entered into my summer season, my least favorite. Argh.

I woke up convinced it was Saturday. Argh! I want this week to be over.
Its going to be 100 degrees around here today, which means I need to drink my tea while I can. And I can right now.
Short steeps! Thats the magic combo of this, to make it enjoyable. And I am enjoying it. I still think I’m not going to buy more, after its done, but hey, I’ll sip it down without too much trouble.

Light steep. Thats whats key about this one. Light steep to make this the best it can be.
How is it Monday? How is it Monday already? Argh!

So the commotion last night that kept waking me up turned out to be someone being shot to death across the street. I left my house to a swarm of police.
Yesterday was a very surreal day, with me sort of floating through things, unsure as to what was going on, and, when I turned the news on, seeing my house as the backdrop of police activity.
Eeeesh. I’m unsettled. Last night was calm, but I think the whole neighborhood feels a little off right now.
But life keeps going. I have tea to drink, and to go to work, and see a friend, and generally feel odd all day long.
Not my most cheerful steepster post.

I woke up exsausted. Dont you just hate that? Well, fortunatly, there is tea for this!
So I brewed up some of this.
I know that a short steep is important and makes this shine its best. I did it a little too long today. Bah.
Going to be a fun day. I’ve got to do my morning shift at work, but there will be a play tonight! I love the theatre.

This is a good tea, but the balance is critical. I think I steeped it just a hair too long this morning, but its still enjoyable.
Its an interesting combo, the green apple and the rose. I like it.
The storm yesterday has gone as quicky as it came, and now its going to be very warm all day.
Well, onwards.

The weather is not fair. Its going to be 93 degrees today. This is absurd. So, so absurd. Its May! It shoud not be nearly so warm.
I am not good in very hot weather. Its just so uncomfortable, I dont sleep well, and my usual delight in a cup of tea is tempered by the discomfort of drinking it.
Nope. Go away hot weather. I am not ready for you.
I thought a “lighter” tea, with its green apple note, would be the best thing for this morning. And it is working pretty well. But I do wish it was cooler, so I could be cozy with my cuppa, instead of being rather miserable.

I had a dream about going to work and working with difficult clients. Not cool, subconcious. I want to do awesome things while I’m dreaming, like flying, or going on adventures, or, as happened the night before, setting up a moon colony (we were trying to figure out how to get gardeners and chocolate makers to come up and set up shop). I dont wanna work in my sleep!
Oh well, on to the tea.
I really like that this is a green apple tea, and not a red apple tea. I like green apple the best. Light steeping is key.
I like it, but I dont love it. Still, I’m not about to dump it out anywhere.

Its an interesting balance, this tea. Its a delicate dance between the apple and the rose, and a light steep is really whats needed for the most harmonious blending.
A light tea, and it acted as my morning writers fuel. Sip sip.

What an interesting combination in this tea. Rose and apple. Huh.
A light steep is key here. Its mildly and pleasantly perfumy with a two to three minute steep, but it gets to be a little much if you go much longer than that. Good to know.
Its a very refreshing cup. I think this will probably be very good in the summertime, when refreshing is the watch word.

All the tasting notes of this say that its a delicate tea, so I’ve been somewhat nevously avoiding it, because I do not have the gentlest steeping hand.
Hmm. The apple taste is a somewhat more sour apple taste, which I actually like. I’m a fan of crisp apples.
The rose is the factor thats a little puzzling to me. Its a nice rose, but at least in this steeping, I’m not seeing an immediet relation between the two flavors.
Further experimentation is needed!

I’m so glad I bought this tea on Sunday! It’s decadent, sweet, and roasty. It makes me feel warm and cosy all over! My co-worker, who I am sharing it with, feels the same way. It’s our moment of calm in a very busy week of switching over to a new scheduling/billing system at the hospital where we work.

I have to say that I’m really liking the teas I’ve had from Nina’s. They are probably some of the best blends I’ve had that come from a company that markets themselves as traditional tea blenders. Not only is each tea great on its own, but each tea is very different from the other blends. For example, Kusmi and Le Palais Des Thes are both companies that market themselves as traditional “fancy” tea blenders. The teas from each company all seem to taste the same to me. The bases are of all the kusmi teas seem similar and the flavors don’t seem very different. Palais des Thes has this kind of awful flowery green base for most of their teas. Nina’s blends are different from one another.