Nina's Paris

Brewed this up as my last cup of the evening yesterday.
This is very smooth, and the fruit flavoring is blended really well. The red tea is hardly noticable under the fruit flavor, which makes it seem like the fruit might be overpowering, but its not at all.
I like it, but am not compleatly overwhelmed by it. Will happily have another cup if it ever comes my way again.
Thanks to Sophie and Laurent!

Thank you Laurent for this free sample with my last order.

The dry tea smells like rooibos, a bit nutty.

The tea while brewing, smells very creamy, nutty – almost like hazlenut, hints of vanilla.

The hot tea tastes like sweet, nutty, creamy rooibos. As it starts to cool, I get the taste similar to Sakura Japanese cherry blossom tea. I do not get any sour cherry taste until the aftertaste. The aftertaste is very much like the pucker you get after eating a sour cherry. As it cools to a luke-warm temperature, it retains the sweet cherry blossom taste but looses the sour cherry aftertaste. It stays creamy-tasting. I do not get any metallic taste often associated with rooibos.

I was pleasantly surprised by this rooibos blend.

My co-workers were talking about signs all morning, so Taurus seemed the way to go for my afternoon teatime.

I do like this blend! I’m very glad the rooibos is not muddy. It really does have a nice creaminess to it and the strawberries are very fresh tasting.

MMMMmmmmm! You know what this reminds me of? Strawberry licorice ropes! SPECIFICALLY the good ones that taste like fresh, real strawberries and sugar, NOT waxy ropes or twizzlers or red vines.

On second thought it also reminds me of strawberry shortcake with tons and tons of sugar on the strawberries and pound cake as the cake- like my Dad makes it. There are lots of pleasant associations with this tea flavor.

The red rooibos in this is quite nice- not overpoweringly earthy and just enough menthol taste to add to the candy sensation without making it seem too artificial.

Oh and thanks, SOPHIE AND LAURENT for this sample! :-)

I was thrilled to see this in my most recent package of samples from Nina’s since I’m such a big fan of jasmine teas! I don’t believe I’ve ever tasted lotus in a tea before. I’m not sure I can pick it out over the jasmine flavor/scent. This is a particularly flowery jasmine! The base tea is a little richer and heavier and less sweet than my beloved jasmine pearl teas. Nice if you are in the mood for something with a little more body to it! This is basically a fancier version of the basic jasmine tea they serve at my favorite Chinese restaurant. Classic and sophisticated :)

Ah. This is the only one of the teas that JustJames sent to me that I had tried before, and I was eager to brew it up again.
This is so complex, so many glorious layers to it, with the caramel lurking under the lush currant flavor. Its a beautiful tea.
Its going to be a busy day. I’ve got an interview with the lady who runs the local arts center (not a job interview, but an informational meeting), so Ineed to be ready and sharp.
This tea is putting me into a delightful zen-ness, which will help in my morning preparations.
Thank you James, for letting me try this again!

Thanks to Sophie and Laurent for this sample!
Mmm. Its caramel tea day here, it seems.
Of course, the caramel and vanilla notes are secondary to the currant flavor, which is very nice indeed. Fruity without being too fruity. Balanced very well. I sipped this while I had a plate of fresh figs, drizzled in honey. Yum! A lovely paring.
My sample was just enough for one cup, but this is something I’ll hunt down more of in the future.

Sencha is one of my favorites! Thank you Laurent for this sample :)

This Sencha Yame is particularly spinachy. Sweet and bright and GREEN with a light smokey/grainy undertone. I love it!

Sip down of my sample from Laurent an Sophie!

I like this even better with a really, really short steep. I steeped it less than a minute. It pairs really well with these caramel sea salt coconut macaroons I’m eating because it’s nice and plain in contrast to the sweet.

Thank you, Sophie and Laurent, for sending this to me as a sample! :-)

This is a lovely, dark breakfast tea. The dry leaf scent is fragrant and malty. The smell of the liquor is like dark green beans, sweetly vegetal and slightly earthy. It has a soft, satin-y mouthfeel. As it cools, the malt and fruitiness becomes more prominent. I can

What sets this apart from other ceylons (or just a lot of breakfast teas) is that it is amazingly smooth. I kept bracing myself for a gritty mouthfeel and drymouth after drinking because my brain associates that type of taste with those sensations, but the bad stuff never came at all. It was lovely!

Oh, this one is wonderful! Plain teas usually aren’t what I reach for, but I was happy to see a sample of this from Sophie and Laurent in the mail nonetheless. My expectations were that it would be a somewhat standard black tea. It is so much more than that! There is a sweetness to it, and pops of fresh fruit. The maltiness comes through in the aftertaste and it is nice and strong. There is a smoothness to it also. This tea reminds me a little of Kusmi’s St. Petersburg, with all of the sweet, malty and fruity flavors. Very big thank you to Sophie and Laurent for this wonderful little sample! Onto the wish list it goes!

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves.
-Dry leaves smell lightly earthy and malty. Tea liquor aroma is malty with sweet fruit notes.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color.
-Smooth and sweet flavor and finish with fruity notes. Deep malty aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Sweet flavor with a deep maltiness and hints of fruit.

Thank you Nina’s Paris for this sample tea!

The morning sun was very bright, one of those days when the news reports ‘sun glare’ for drivers and a caution to wear dark glasses to prevent accidents. I laughed when I moved to high altitude Colorado from sea level California and heard traffic news reports of ‘sun glare’. I don’t scoff anymore!

I decided to try a tea that I consider perky.

Earl Grey is one of those tea’s that has a citrus edge reminding one of Summer any time of the year. It’s not too fru-fru for a deep black tea lover like me.

This Earl is light and fresh, almost too light for my taste…but I can imagine that many are looking for just such a lighter bergamot tea. There is no astringency, just fresh, light flavor.

I had issues with Steepster yesterday (when I first tried to log this review) and got the dreaded black screen announcing that I had left the kettle on so I retreated to my blog and wrote some thoughts that had long been brewing in my mind about the meaning of tea in my life.

If you would like to read my latest blog entry… www.teaandincense.com

I’m off today to the Rocky Mountain Tea Festival in Boulder and will write about the adventure with some pictures. Sometimes vendors that we post reviews about are at the festival, and that’s always exciting.

I was expecting a mint tea with a hint of lemon, but this turned out to be a lemon tea with the faintest hint of spearmint. To be fair, this was made from a sample, so it’s entirely possible that a lot of lemon peel ended up in my infuser. That said this was a very nice cuppa. It was very clean and bright with the lemon tasting perfectly natural. This is a tea I’d like to try again and will consider ordering at some point in the future. I’d like to see if the mint, which was such a slight flavor in my cup, is as good as the lemon. If it is then I’d love to have this in my cupboard on a regular basis.

I’m basing this off the fact that wheezybee said Laurent had indicated Belier was Aries. I’m not sure if thta’s true, but the result is this is getting filed here. It’s been a few days of waiting to find out from Nina’s Paris if Belier was it’s own tea, such that i’ve forgotten much of how the tea tasted. I know that i enjoyed it a bunch but i can’t speak as to whether it was cherry flavoured. i don’t recall seeing and flower petals, as that’s more often a NO for me instead of a yay! I’d be willing to try this again when i can track immediately the taste. But i know i enjoyed drinking it, so yay!

Thank you to Laurent of Nina’s for this sample tea!

As I often do, I took my Nina’s sample to share with my friends at the Happy Lucky’s Tea House.

Today, Andi (who just finished her degree in art at the University) was working behind the tea bar along with Sam and Diana.

Business was busy off and on. An ebb and flow of thirsty patrons buying iced tea, loose tea from the ‘GREAT WALL’ of metal storage bins, or pots of tea for languishing over with a book, laptop or conversation with friends.

During a quiet spot, Andi took my small packet of Nina’s tea and steeped much of it in a tasting cup gongfu style. She then poured the liquor into a larger sharing cup for group tasting. (We’ve been group tasting for quite some time by sipping from different parts of the rim on a larger bowl style cup)

At first Andi and Diana were convinced the tea was black current tea even when I told them that the flavors were a blend of orange, strawberry and cherry.

It took me some time to think about what I was tasting, because there was a peculiar ‘other’ flavor. Something that reminded me of Greek Mountain Tea. (A sage-like herb flavor that I like but didn’t expect.)

For me, the tea was a cross between orange and peach, with not a hint of strawberry or cherry…and medium body.

I imagine cold brewing would suit the blend best.

Andi was determined to compare Nina’s with Happy Lucky’s Black Current Tea, so she brewed a sample taster side-by-side and the result was interesting.
Nina’s sample smelled milder than the current and had a richer more layered flavor profile. The current was pungent smelling but mild tasting.

Side-by-side tastings are fun to do and are helpful in learning to polish the skills needed for detecting aroma and flavor differences.

I think this is an above average flavored tea, although a little different because of the herb flavor.

Another Sample from the wonderful Nina’s Tea! Seriously folks, take them up on their generous offer and try a few of their samples! because i have a number of teas on their way and because of Bonnie’s tasting not today, i was inspired to try this one out. I don’t usually drink mint teas unless they’re chocolate mint teas but i can say that this tea here is a good one! The mint in this isn’t overly intense but it’s still obviously a mint tea. I really find this to be a smooth, refreshing tea! Thank you Laurent!

Thank you to Nina’s for this lovely sample tea!

Many of the friends that I had to leave behind in California when I moved to Colorado are from the Middle East and North Africa. They taught me to make (and love) gunpowder green tea with fresh mint and LOTS of sugar! (I am not exaggerating at all about the sugar!)

One of my favorite memories was sitting with my friend Randa in an Arabic Tea House in San Francisco, sipping mint tea and eating pastries. We talked for hours as our tall teapot of mint leaves was filled and refilled many times with boiling water. The tea tray had a large bowl of sugar on it to suppliment the sweetened tea in the pot.

It was wonderful!

I always grow mint just so that I can recreate that tea experience when the mood is right and the day is hot enough. (The tea is best on a hot day!)

Prepackaged mint tea’s are usually not strong enough. Mint has a way of losing it’s punch when dry.

I decided to brew the tea in my Verdant glass beaker steeper, which holds 7oz water because the leaves are rolled and I wanted to watch the tea expand.
1TB dry tea soon filled the beaker with green leaves and golden tea, which when drained was half filled with expanded leaves.

The golden liquor tasted stronger than I had expected, with mint and slight smokiness from the gunpowder tea.

Right away, I heavily sweetened the tea as my friends do.

Although I much prefer the fresh leaves (and who wouldn’t), this is pretty good. I’ve only had one other mint tea of this kind that had enough body to drink in the traditional manner.

(Now my mind is beginning to wonder about culinary applications…)

The minute I opened the sample, I knew this one would be good. Sometimes you just have that feeling. Je t’aime had this almost custard-like vanilla and caramel type smell. It was almost overpowering in the best way possible.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well that amazing dry tea translated into a delicious cup of tea. The vanilla and caramel didn’t weaken all that much and was pleasantly creamy not cloying and over-sweet. I also love this black base quite a lot. It’s sort of smoky and has a bit of astringency to it. The sweetness of the vanilla and caramel and the kick of the base play very well together—in harmony if you will. The only negative I have, is that this tea is pretty much a one shot deal. The resteep was too weak and I just tossed it. But based on how amazing this one was on the first steep, the lack of resteep-ability can be overlooked.

Thanks to Laurent for the sample.

This is the second of the samples I received from Laurent of Nina’s. Since I tend to bounce off the walls half the night if I have too much caffeine, I’m always interested in new caffeine-free alternatives.

This packet was labeled “Bélier”, and when I couldn’t find that on the website I emailed Laurent, who told me it was this blend. I was a little surprised, because it smells more like a fruity caramel to me and lacks the colorful petals, but that may be due to the small sample size.

I used two teaspoons of tea in my 16oz infuser mug and added my usual tablespoon of raw sugar. I wanted to make sure I didn’t over-steep, so I paused at six minutes. It was still a little light, so I went the full eight.

Now that it’s steeped, I’m having an easier time picking out the cherry. I guess I was expecting something more… potent, since the last cherry tea I tried tasted like cough syrup. This is wonderfully light and fresh. It’s just slightly woodsy and pleasantly sweet, and it makes me think about the tiny chips of wood that would fall from grandpa’s carving knife, and how wonderful it was when he taught me to whittle too.

Overall, this was pretty enjoyable – and even more so because I can have it without going into super-hyper mode!

Thank you so much, Laurent of Nina’s, for giving me the opportunity to try this tea!

When I smelled the dry blend, my senses were overwhelmed with peach. The summer sun outside seems like a wonderful counterpoint, and I couldn’t wait to make it up. I used my 16oz infuser mug and added 2 teaspoons of tea with my customary tablespoon of raw sugar.

Because some of the other people who’ve written about this said they had better luck with a two minute steep, I briefly paused there. After a tentative sip, I decided to go for the full three minute steep and I’m glad I did. The first sip had been a very light fruity flavor, but now it tastes like its come into its own.

I still taste the fruit blend, especially the peach, but now it’s much stronger and the strawberry and cherry appear in the aftertaste. I can’t pick out the blood orange, but when my husband stole a sip he told me he could identify it in the aftertaste.

This tastes wonderfully summery, and perfect for a day like today. Out of curiosity, I’m going to put the rest of my cup into the refrigerator to chill, and I’ll let you know how that goes.

Update: When this is chilled, the cherry picks up speed and actually comes close to the prominence of the peach. It’s tasty, but I think I prefer it hot. For now, I’m going to go cut up some fruit, because this has me craving the real thing!

First, thanks to Nina’s for the sample!

My first thought after sipping this tea was, “Confound it, cat, would you QUIT scratching the doorpost? I have to sand and repaint!” My second thought was, “This reminds me of Marco Polo and Tower of London a little bit.”

Further thoughts confirmed that this is a little bit like an Everlasting Gobstopper—give it a few moments, and you’ll catch something else. What I took for lemon after it cooled was the orange; now that it’s nearly gone, there’s the cherry. Good cherry, not cough syrup. Lots of wonderful and subtly sneaky flavor changes.

I suspect this would be nice chilled, too, if the cold temp doesn’t completely overpower all the gentle fruitiness. Fruit tea fans should give this a try, for sure.

Much as I have tried to make it so, this is not a whap-you-in-the face fruity tea. However, it is an excellent, subtle tea with multiple delicate fruit flavors and a luscious scent. Let it be what it is and you will enjoy what you have.

First, many thanks to the really friendly people at Nina’s Paris for the cute Emily Littella sample bags (itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, tiny). Just perfect for two teaspoonsful.

After reading the description and other reviews, I expected a full frontal Froot Loops assault. Also, based on other reviews, I kept steep time short (2 minutes with another minute-ish re-dump after deciding it wasn’t done yet).

Needed more. I’m getting fruity, especially a wonderfully natural-tasting cherry (so many cherry teas taste like candy flavorings), but it’s very pale and subtle. In this case, the sample size may work against it—not enough to get a good scoop of all the “goodies.” The tea base is good; smooth.

Just enough for one more cup, in which we’ll go longer and stronger in a smaller cup. This has the potential to be superb, just wish I’d had more to play with. (Then again—that’s the point of a sample, eh? To interest you enough to want repeats!)

It is unfortunate that I am the first one to review this tea. I really do not like rooibos! I did try it anyway, and I can appreciate the black tea in this blend, and the vanilla/orange flavor, but that is about it. I think a rooibos lover might really dig this tea.

Sorry Laurent! Thanks for the samples though :)