Nina's Paris

very orangey at first. but i might have steeped it aggressively? so added a bit hot of water back to the already brewed cup. definitely still orange, but gentle and fun!
i love blood orange in my tea.
whod’a thunk?!
(i mean i have a decadent blood orange puerh in my cupboard and i would have never thought that those go together so well.)

last weekend we filled in the old fire pit in our back yard and built a new one.
this new one is WAY BETTER.
http://instagram.com/p/Yn64JJIc-M/

i am gonna go home and prep some tea swaps. …and can i just say that i’m absurdly giddy about it?!?! it’s not even the getting part, it’s the giving! i find it so exciting!

yesterday my sister asked me what my spirit animal is.
i told her Sherlock.

this tea is total yum.
like eating those raspberry filled godiva chocolate bars.

i keep feeling like it’s friday. (it’s thursday)
i can’t seem to focus and just want to read books all day.

Made this one as a cold brew. Brewed for about 12 hours. It tastes very similar to the hot brewed tea. The green tea base is very light, slightly buttery and nutty. There is a stronger citrous and strawberry flavours. There are undertones of a light rose flavour.

The dry tea smells deliciously of green tea mixed with strawberry scent. The brewed tea smells of vegetal green tea with rose, strawberry and citrous scents. The tea tastes strongly of vegetal green tea, there is a slight buttery-ness to the flavour. There are light tastes of strawberry and citrous. The rose and sunflower are very light. There is a slight candy taste to the tea, most likely from the strawberry and fruit flavours. The fruity flavours become stronger and more dominate over the green tea as the tea cools. It becomes more citrous and lemon vs strawberry as it cools.

Strawberry?! Nooooooo, I taste apple! Tart, juicy, delicious apple.
I suppose it could be tart strawberry??? It has some similarities to a few other strawberry black teas I’ve tried, though I can’t pinpoint what they are exactly. and it still doesn’t carry the essence of “berry”. Definitely apple. No question about that. The aroma, the taste, everything about it was apple. I’m a little confused.
Either way, it was yummy. I’d buy more! My cuppa was very flavourful and smooth. A little astringent. Great with or without milk.
Thanks Nina’s Tea for the sample.

Sadness!! I was so excited to try this, after sniffing the dry tea. Berry goodness oh my!
But then I steeped it up and got mostly caramel and vanilla, with a barely a hint of berry. Sighs.
I’m not a big vanilla tea fan, but the caramel seemed to balance it out somewhat. It was more the aroma that I found offputting, when I think about it. Oh well, it was a smooth cuppa, I have to give it that! Perhaps a little biting towards the bottom of my mug. It was a rather large mug because I wanted to use up the entire sample.
Don’t go by my rating though, since I’m not a vanilla champion heh. And hey, I’d never turn down another free sample of it…

Whoa, apparently everyone on Steepster went mental over this one a few months ago.

Courtney generously sent me a sample of this! I had tried it last year at some point when I got a few samples from Nina’s, but it’s nice to revisit this because I feel as though my taste buds have come a long way.

It’s very tasty, I suspect I would have no interest in drinking a regular genmaicha after trying a flavored one, I’d be missing the sweetness.

I’m not sure I’d call this the greatest tea ever or anything, but I enjoyed it. I resteeped it thrice, but the third one was pretty watery. Just seemed a shame not to try.

If I ever do an order from Nina’s I would definitely include this! However I have priorities in the form of a new Butiki order as well as saving up for a massive MF order that I can’t really afford before I’d get around to ordering from Nina’s. All that just to give you an idea of where I stand. This isn’t a MUST HAVE NOW tea or anything.

I’m very glad I got to try it again, thank you Courtney!

On another note, I rolled my head around awkwardly to look at the alarm clock this morning and effed up my neck something fierce. We are such fragile creatures!
But Baby Girl slept over six hours straight last night so it’s almost worth the stupid neck/back pain!

I had rated this 86 last time and will leave it as such :)

My second last sample from Laurent and Sophie, Merci!

Le Sigh.

Seriously you guys. Banging my head on the counter. I drank this at work today, I was really looking forward to it, I knew it was going to be a crappy busy week and so I thought a nice way to start Monday would include this tea. That sentence was poorly formed but I don’t even care.

It was good, real good, for two steeps. I can’t comment on brewing method because I probably used too hot water, because for some reason i thought it was black tea, but it was still good.

Thing is, I was all proud of myself because I was drinking it and marveling at the really nice, subtle, not-too-sweet chocolate taste, in both steeps. I was all like “look at you, noticing flavor notes!” (of a flavoured tea, mind you)…. I didn’t have time to write this at work, so imagine my surprise (and head+counter reaction) when I read the description….which includes…. NO chocolate.

Ughhhhh back to the drawing board.

I’m not joking, I was tasting an unsweetened version of Cocoa Rice Krispies. What is wrong with my taste buds!? Vanilla? Caramel? Seriously?

It was good though. I’m hoping when their online shop opens up I will be able to afford the shipping fees :)

Made this one as a cold brew and it is delicious. I have discovered that I really like oolongs as a cold brew. This one turned out nice and roasty, slight hints of peach and citrous. This tea reminds me of how instant lipton iced tea mix tastes, but without all of the sugar. I did not need to add any sweetener at all because there was a slight sweetness to it on its own. It would have stood up sweetener though.

Despite the name, this is an oolong tea.

The dry tea smells like a nice roasty oolong with a slight hint of peach. The brewed tea tastes like a nice roasty oolong, almost like roasted nuts. There is a touch of sweetness and a floral taste. It has a similar taste to morrocan orange blossom tea. There is a slight delicate peach taste at the beginning and end of the sip. Even though this is a roasty oolong, it is a light and refreshing tea. It gets sweeter and more peachy as it cools.

So when I was travelling through Italy the coffee, ie. the espresso, was super amazing. And I have no idea why. I like coffee but not as much as tea. It was pointed out to me that the location/experience can have lots to do with the perception of how good food or drink are.

So today is a super foggy day. One of those fogs where you are immediately wet when you go outside but it isn’t raining. So I decided I wanted to go for a walk around the lake. Those days are going to start getting few and far between with winter coming soon. Usually we are deep in winter by this time of year but for some reason we are experiencing a really nice fall. So I am going to enjoy it as much as I can. The walking path was almost deserted, which was nice. Leaves are still falling off of the trees and there are still ducks and geese hanging out. The air was crisp and fresh and I didn’t feel the cold until I got back inside.

I was cold and wet when I got home. So I brewed up something I have posted on.

I used 3/4 tsp of this assam, 3/4 tsp of lapsang souchong, 4 dried rose buds and a few slices of fresh ginger.

It was so delicious. Better than it has ever been. The assam gave depth, boldness and thickness to the tea. And it cut down a bit on the strong smokey, sometimes bitter, flavour of the lapsang. The lapsang had a great balance of smokeyness to it. The rose always mellows the flavours and blends them together, giving just the slightest floral flavour profile. I like using rose buds because it eliminates the chemical flavour of rose scented tea. The ginger added the right amount of spice. The ginger flavours made the smokey of the lapsang really pop. Like that first wood fire of the winter, that scent you get when you first start in the fire in the chimney. It could have been the brand of teas I used. But it may have just been the experience :)

I love Assam teas!

My absolute favourite is a CTC Assam, I don’t know why, but they are the best. This one is not a CTC, the leaves are very small and delicately curled.

The dry tea has a nice, sweet, fruit and slightly spicey flavour. The brewed tea smells malty, slight cocoa-beany, with a lot of sweetness. My taste buds were salivating over the smell.

The brewed tea is bold and malty but with no astringency or bitterness. There is a slight natural sweetness to the tea. I want to say it is a stone fruit sweetness. Reminds me of the pits of an apricot or peach. There is a slight spice to the tea. But it is like a fruit-spice if that makes sense to anyone else.

Very delicious Assam. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a multi-faceted black tea.

In a side note: I lost some of this tea due to dropping the open package on the floor. I bet it was only about a TBSP but I still shed a tear over it.

This was a free sample with my Nina’s Paris order.

Assam is my favorite straight black tea, so I was super happy to get this as a free sample.

The dry tea is super fragant, smells sweet and flowery, slightly fruity. The brewed tea is moderately thick and heavy. It tastes sweet, fruity, flowery. It is also malty and reminds me of a heavy sweet bread.

I think this is one of the best straight assam teas that I have tried! I did not have to add any milk or sugar at all.

1 tablespoon for 247 ml

A touch of excessive astringency. Good caramel and vanilla flavour blend which are very well balanced.

Finished off the sample today – thanks to Nina’s Teas for it! Today, the dry leaves have a pleasantly flowery smell. I really shouldn’t have black tea because it hurts me, so I brewed the tea fairly light – 1 tsp for 8 oz at approx. 180 degrees for 3 mins 15 secs. Tasty! Mildly astringent, with a touch of citrus – lemon, maybe? I’m not great at evaluating black teas (what with the fact that I rarely drink them), but this is nice. Glad to have tried it.

This is a solid tea. It’s fairly mild all around – slightly astringent and slightly dry with a slight honey flavor. It brews up a light amber color. I’m not picking up much of a scent, so I can’t comment on that. I can say that it goes well with eggs and toast. Not bad as a breakfast tea.

It also resteeps nicely. Sweeter, less dry. About the same astringency. I got distracted for a while and the second cup got cold (after I had removed the leaves). This is actually lovely as an iced tea. The dryness is somehow more pleasant when it’s cold.

Full review at 5 central on http://sororiteasisters.com/ but here are snippets:

When I opened by sample bag of Nina’s Japon from Nina’s Paris the first aroma that struck me was the genmaicha. That fresh popcorn smell was captivating as it always is for me when I smell Genmaicha. This was different though. A sweet caramel aroma wafted up into my nasal cavities seducing me! I could only hope the flavor was as wonderful as the scent!

It was!

The after taste is that of caramel popcorn and really so very good. I can’t believe I have taken so long to review this tea. I have had it waiting on me to try for over a month or two. This is a definite reorder once I let myself off tea buying hiatus.

Now I admit, I failed to look up brewing instructions before making this tea. I steeped it in 195 degree water for 3 minutes. I did not realize before steeping that it had green teas in the blend. Yet, not one bit of bitterness, nor astringency in this cup. Amazing, it is idiot proof!

I am really very impressed here! A big thanks to Nina’s for this sample. Request your samples too! Nina’s Paris has been more than accommodating to new customers who would like to sample their teas. You can request three samples at a time and trust me, you will want to order once you try them!

I had a dream last night of a kettle corn vending machine that would make fresh popcorn and add toppings to it like chocolate or caramel and then a bucket of kettle corn would fall out the bottom however you ordered it. I was reminded of this dream when I realized I wanted this tea this morning. It seems like it would be the tea most like kettle corn! (Though I realize that this is popped rice in genmaicha and not popped corn — still tastes like kettle corn, anyway!)

I REALLY wanted to try this one when I saw someone’s tasting note for it, and then I noticed that Nina’s was sending out samples. I love the elements here: black tea, genmaicha, vanilla, caramel. I don’t think the black tea will really show through if you have to steep it like a genmaicha, since genmaicha can be bitter if steeped for too hot or too long. So I waited for the water to cool a while and then steeped for two minutes. It’s scrumptious and I love it! It’s a toasty genmaicha with added sweetness. Just what I was hoping for. There isn’t a ton of flavor, but what is there is great. I don’t really see much black tea flavor, since you’d have to burn the green to find it, so the black tea seems obsolete, but that’s okay! I really don’t see many genmaichas mixed with other ingredients, maybe because they are so good on their own. I’d order this one if my tea stash wasn’t ridiculous right now.

My package just said “Nina’s” on it, but judging by its smell, I think it’s Nina’s Paris.

It’s a very subtle blend where I mostly taste citrus fruit, sweetness and then a bit of tartness. Interesting, but so far je t’aime is my favorite of their teas.

Another free sample!

Sad to say, this one isn’t for me. It tastes so much like perfume that I can’t even imagine there’s apples in it. I guess there’s only a few teas with rose in it that I truly can handle/enjoy.

Decided to have a cup of this after having a cup of Harney’s Paris. Both teas have the same name but are totally different. And I love both teas.

Nina’s Paris feels like it is a bit lighter of a tea, the black bases differ between the two teas. Both teas are fruity, but Nina’s is more citrus fruity vs Harney’s is more black current. Nina’s also has a bit of a citrus peppery taste.

I love both teas, no matter if they taste different from eachother, I still want to go to Paris!

This dry tea smells very fruity and delicate, slightly flowery. There is no distinct fruit standing out, but just a generic sweet fruity smell. There is black tea leaves with yellow and purple flowers mixed throughout.

After the tea was done steeping, I took a long sniff and it smelled exactly like blood orange. Mmmmm. I love blood orange, so I am happy that this one lived up to its description. There is also a flowery scent.

The base of the tea is soft and delicate and works well with the blend. It is not overly bold which I like. There is a slight blood orange flavour, but is not tart at all. I can also taste the peach and cherry notes. I get a slight taste of the sunflower petals.

The recommendation was for a 3 minute brew, but I only did 2 minutes, as I have found that works the best for Nina’s Paris teas.

I have not been disappointed by Nina’s Paris tea yet!