Nina's Paris

Backlog from yesterday morning—yum! This is a deep apple, and I could swear there’s some traditional baking spice (cinnamon, clove, etc.) in here but I guess it’s my imagination doing things to the vanilla. The apricot is subtle but rounds out the apple well; this is a really solid apple tea, where apple is undoubtedly the star and the other ingredients are along for the ride. Delicious!

Well, it appears that Steepster (fingers crossed) might be back up and running. The dashboard is at least. The discussions and search functions are still all screwy. le sigh.

I am well aware I am very late to the party with this one. I have no excuse – well really I have lots of excuses, but no good one. Other than I have way too much tea!!

This one smells so delicious. A nice sweet, smooth, popcorn-ey scent with caramel drizzled on top. I can’t help but crave caramel corn, the kind you get at the fair, and its probably been sitting there forever so its got that crunchy outside and kind of chewy inside, but oh so good :)

The base tea is interesting because it is a black/green blend, I would say I think I am getting a bit more green tea taste than I am black, but the black tea pretty much covers up any of the vegetal type green tea flavours. It is very smooth. The base seems to be very light and lingers in the background. The flavours are what are predominate. I feel like I am drinking a caramel latte. There is that genmaicha/toasted rice/popcorn kernel flavour, the caramel is sweet over top. It adds depth to the flavour without making the liquor feel too thick. One of the first thoughts that came to my brain on the first sip was ice cream float (not sure why, but I think that pretty much covers the taste for me).

Very delicious. I am sure now that I have uncovered this one in my vast tea cupboard(s), it won’t last too long.

It’s Sunday Tea and Books time, people! Here we go.

The Tea

I got this as a sample from Laurent back at the end of February/ beginning of March, and have been holding onto it then – it’s been almost 6 months, and tonight was the first time I tried it.

I was expecting a blast of citrus and flowers, but the flavour in this is very subdued. I’m getting a little bit of citrus, and I can sense that it’s grapefruit, but it’s not knocking my socks off here.

I brewed this at 87C for about 2-3 minutes, using 2 tsp for 16 oz of liquid. I’ve found that those parameters have worked out pretty well for my other green tea from Nina’s, Demain, but the leaf between the two looks quite different. The leaf in The Des Muses is much longer and spindlier, looking more like a sencha.

The Book

Well, this is probably a bit of a cheat, but what can I say? If this tea is called “The Des Muses”, then I’m definitely going to compare it to one of the Greek Muses, the nine women seen as the embodiment of culture and artistic achievement in Ancient Greece. So which one will it be?

Well, since it appears that I’m not too fond of this tea, I’m going to go with Erato, the muse of lyric/love poetry. I’ve got a bit of a grudge against Erato, so why not?

Let me explain.

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Greek myths. I read about the stories of Perseus and Theseus and Atalanta, and I was old enough to watch the “Hercules” and “Xena” shows when they were on TV, but young enough to watch them and take them at face value – I had no inkling of their camp value at the time.

As a result, I became a trove of trivia about figures in Greek mythology.

Now, fast-forward to an event about 4.5 years ago. At that point, I was part of a trivia league that met in pubs across the city every week on Monday nights. The scoring worked like this: each round of trivia questions had a theme, and during a round, every person on both teams had the chance to answer a single question. If the person who was asked the question answered it correctly, their team scored 2 points. If they couldn’t answer it correctly but their teammates could, the team scored 1 point. However, if nobody on one team could answer the question, the opposing team had the chance to get a “steal” and earn 1 point for themselves if they could answer the question correctly instead.

(Does this make any sense? I hope it does.)

Anyways, this one night, the round of trivia in question was about….the muses! And it appeared that among all of the people on BOTH teams, I was the only one who knew the names of the muses. So I continually saved my team by earning 1 point when each individual lost the chance to earn 2, and kept stealing points from the other team when they couldn’t answer their questions.

However, I didn’t remember the names of ALL 9 muses – I could only remember 8: Calliope, Urania, Polyhymnia, Terpischore, Melpomene, Thalia, Clio, and Euterpe. I was struggling and struggling to remember the name of the 9th muse.

And guess what happened? The ONE muse I couldn’t name was the answer of the ONE question that was posed to me specifically, thus the ONE opportunity I had to score 2 points for my team instead of a succession of 1-pointers.

That one muse I couldn’t name? You guessed it: fuckin’ Erato.

So I couldn’t answer that particular question, and NO ONE ELSE could either. Thus, that question earned a big round goose egg for all involved.

You know what the kicker was?

I gave the correct answer to every other trivia question that was posed specifically to me that night. Out of 10 rounds, I got 9 2-point questions right – my highest result ever in that particular trivia league – and the only one I got wrong was that damned question about Erato.

(Can you tell I still haven’t gotten over it yet? Fuck you, Erato. Seriously.)

First sample from the GCTTB3!

I have read so many positive reviews on this tea, so I was excited to try it! At first sip, I found it quite bitter. The tea looked black to me, so I used boiling water which I think might have burnt it. I immediately thought, okay, this is a pina colada flavoured gen mai cha, so I went strait on the computer to read what it’s actually supposed to taste like. Hmmmm. Caramel and vanilla, nope, not getting either of those. Not sure where that pineapple flavour I am getting is coming from.

I’m not loving this right now, but I think it is totally my fault. I am going to pull this from the box and steep it differently next time. I think I will leave it unrated for now.

Strawberries, vanilla, and rose? What could go wrong? :D
Apparently nothing, except for my steeping the tea until it’s astringent. Bleh.
I don’t get much rose, but I do get floral. Besides that, this is very tasty. Soft vanilla and fun fruitiness. A very and tasty accessible tea. :)

Which reminds me, a work friend asked me to help her stop relying on sweet drinks so I showed up in her office with a bunch of tea samples. Her eyes got all big when she saw the various packets and brew basket. “Omg, you’re serious about tea!” Umm… Yeah. :)
She really enjoyed the genmaicha we started with. That’s another very accessible tea.

Thanks for sharing this precious tea with me Ashmanra!

Lazy day so it’s this tea in my DT cup shaped filter tonight!
Thank you VariaTEA for sending this tea to me! I love rooibos so much, and this definitely had that woodsy smell to it. Don’t really smell the strawberries and cream so much dry, but once I poured the water in, the other non woodsy flavours came out :)
Right now it just tastes like water but SOOOON, I had a slight hint of strawberry so I’m excited for this tea!

Mmmm a very lovely tea. I can definitely taste the strawberries and cream, with a slight hint of wood coming from the rooibos!

I bought this from someone’s stash sale (VariaTEA I think?). I’ve been sitting on it for a while now. The first time I tried to make some, it came out inexplicably bitter, and I was sort of afraid to try it again. So I tried it today with the same parameters and it came out with only a tiny bit of bitterness. Go figure. Anyway, the leaves are rather small and dark, and there are rose petals mixed in with them. It smells very strong and perfumey, with a sweet fruit element. I added some sugar to help tone done that little bit of bitterness.

This tea isn’t bad, considering I’m not the biggest fan of rose. The rose is definitely the most present flavor here, unfortunately. There’s some apple there too, and it’s a kind of tart green apple flavor. And there’s a bit of black tea taste, but it’s overall very submissive and mellow in the background. I thought this would be more similar to Fauchon’s apple tea, but this is more of a rose tea with a bit of apple, while that one is all apple.

Not going to rate this since I don’t like rose, but I would definitely recommend it for people who do. Into the rehoming box it goes.

A lovely Jasmine tea from VariaTEA!
This lasted me through two steepings, and one for my roommate. This is a great jasmine, and not at all bitter :)

Backlog:

So, I’m gemini so I wanted to try this. I’m not sure exactly what grapefruit, strawberries and vanilla have to do with the sign of the twins, but … I still liked this.

Nutty, woody, notes of fruit, the grapefruit is uplifting and bright, the strawberries are sweet and tart and the vanilla softens it with a beautiful creamy note. Very enjoyable.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/05/24/gemini-rooibos-blend-from-ninas-paris/

From the Round 3 Here’s Hoping Tea Box

Tea of the morning. I have to admit that this tea caught me off guard. I didn’t read about it before I steeped it, but for some reason I thought it was a cherry flavored tea. Needless to say, the first sip was quite a surprise. It was a good surprise though! This tea is full of caramel and vanilla flavors along with some yummy roasty, toasty notes from the rice. This would make a better evening/dessert tea than a morning tea, but it was still very tasty.

Dry leaf aroma: Strong and pleasant orange scent.

Dry leaf appearance: http://instagram.com/p/rv49b7FcKV

Preparation: Brewed in an infuser mug.

First/only steeping: 3 minutes at 210 degrees. The aroma is fruity with hints of blackcurrant; as the cup cools I detect a bit of orange. While the tea is still quite hot the fruit flavors are muddled together with a subtle bitterness and I get a slightly tart aftertaste. After the cup cools I can pick out the orange but I do not taste the pineapple at all; the bitterness remains.

I have to confess that I dumped out my first cup as I thought I messed up the steep due to the bitterness. Unfortunately, the second cup was still bitter, though less so (I used less leaf for the second brewing).

I might try this iced to see if it makes a difference in the flavor and bitterness.

Second Nina’s sample of the day! Thank you again Laurent for the opportunity to try your teas! So far they have not disappointed!

The dry smell of this was caramelly and good, with a hint of toast. I steeped for 3 mins with 175 degree water, the whole sample again, and the steeped scent is caramel genmaicha. I love genmaicha and haven’t had any in AGES, so this is a nice change and now I want to order some plain genmaicha too lol.

As for the flavor, this is quite good, although I admit, my expectations were VERY high after reading the reviews. It mostly tastes like genmaicha, a good quality one, and then the caramel flavor comes in at the end of the sip. YUM! It’s roasty, popcorn like, nutty and caramel. Probably closest in flavor to a toffee, good stuff.

Overall, this is a tasty toffee like tea, but it is fairly sweet, and I do find it interesting that genmaicha, generally a savory tea to me, is paired with the sweet flavors of caramel and vanilla. It is tasty and good, but I am still a bit undecided on whether I would order more of it in the future. It definitely is sweet and delicious, but not an everyday tea, more of a treat one haha. Caramel popcorn reminiscent! Thanks again Laurent and everyone at Nina’s Tea for the free sample of this tea!

First of all, a big thank you to Laurent at Nina’s Tea for the free samples! I am finally getting to them :) this is the first one I had to try due to the great reviews and the fact I have a migraine today and thought some caffeine would help. The dry smell is very fruity, definitely a red fruit scent, slightly tart, with some strawberries in there too. I steeped the entire sample (not sure how much tea, probably a TBSP, give or take) with 175 degree water for 3 minutes. The resulting scent is lovely strawberries, fruit and creamy vanilla. Yum!

As for the flavor, this is very similar to the strawberry cream black tea from Zen Tea, but with a stronger vanilla aftertaste and it’s a much smoother tea. The red fruit flavor also adds a punch of fruity flavor. First taste is strawberry, and the aftertaste of sweet, soft vanilla lingers on the palate in a wonderful way. This is a soothing and delicious tea!

Overall, this is a very nicely flavored tea. The fruits and vanilla meld together in a lovely way. As the cup cools a bit of a floral flavor comes out. I like how the cup has changed but has stayed very smooth. Brewing at the low temperature definitely was a good choice! Ooh, a tiny touch of green tea flavor coming out in the far aftertaste as well. I am very pleased that I chose this as a free sample, and once again, thanks to Laurent at Nina’s Tea for the opportunity to sample his teas! :D great start to the day!

Thank you Nina’s for the samples! This one sounded very intriguing – rhubarb and violet with a keemun base. For some reason this sample was an individually wrapped pyramid tea bag. Nina’s suggests 1-2 minutes for this one, so I went with about 70 seconds. I probably should have steeped for two minutes, as the base wasn’t tough enough for me. The flavor is good but I wouldn’t say it was rhubarb. The something extra reminds me more of lychee. There is something sweet and floral to it as well, but I’m not sure what violet tastes like! I’ve tried the keemun base on its own and it’s a standard delicious keemun but I could swear this is the other base that they have. This doesn’t taste like the keemun to me. I would have liked the rhubarb to be more rhubarb-like but this is an interesting and unique idea for a blend. The same keemun that I tried before would have made this blend better though.
Steep #1 // 7 min after boiling // 70 second steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

Home – 6:30 PM

I got my Nina’s Paris order from Amazon! I figured I would order a variety of teas to try out, so I got one black tea, one green tea, and one rooibos. There are a ton of blends that I want to try from them, but I hope this is a good starting point. I’m so happy that all of their teas are available on Amazon in the US, for $9-10 for 50g with free shipping.

I feel like the name is half of the reason I chose this tea (it means magician, and specifically the feminine form). I find it charming for some reason, and it makes me picture a cutesy anime girl magician with a top hat and fluffy rabbit. I have no idea why, it’s a strange association for me to have… I’m not even really that into anime. :P

Anyway, this is a piña colada green tea. Coconut is not generally one of my favorite flavors, but I do enjoy it occasionally, and it’s tasty with pineapple.

This is yummy! I’m glad I have a reason to like it other than the name, heh! The coconut is definitely the stronger of the two flavors, but it’s lovely and creamy. I do taste the pineapple as well, and it’s not tart but it does have a nice refreshing and juicy pineapple flavor that complements the smoother coconut well. The base tea is extremely mild, just adding a subtle and sweet grassy note to the blend, as well as a bit of body.

I’m very happy with my green tea choice! I see myself ordering more Nina’s teas in the near future. :)

Another sample from Stephanie! I generally like to jump on any chance I get to try one of the famous French brands (Nina’s, Mariage Freres, Fauchon, etc) because they tend to be a pain in the ass to get ahold of. Although this is not true with Nina’s anymore, since they have a lovely new store website (http://www.ninasteastore.com). Flavored green teas aren’t generally something I ever consider when purchasing tea, just because I usually only drink green tea as a digestive or palate cleanser. But I love pina colada, so I had to try this one! The leaf appears to be sencha. It smells quite sweet and vaguely coconutty.

Brewed aroma is mostly coconut. I added a little bit of sugar (and noticed there was still golden Yunnan fairy dust on my teaspoon, cute!) just because I almost always end up adding it anything with flavored teas. Hmm… I’m finding the flavoring to be fairly light, which I suppose I should expect from French teas. The coconut is very present at the front of the sip, and then I start to get pineapple near the end. The base tea itself tastes grassy and has a slight autumn leaf element.

Overall, quite lovely and light for a coconut tea, and I do enjoy that little hint of pineapple near the end, but I wish there was more pineapple in general!

I got a sample of this from NayLynn the other day, and since I’m feeling under the weather I thought it would be a good time to have a tea called “I love you”! This is a deep, rich caramel, almost like the burnt sugar on top of a creme brulee. It’s not actually as sweet as I was expecting from the smell, but it’s delicious. Definitely a great pick-me-up for today!

Sipdown (110)!

Well, finished this one off. I have to say, this wasn’t the best cup to end on but it’s totally my fault. I was steeping it alongside two herbals, and because of that I got sloppy with the steep time and this oversteeped. As a result, it was fairly astringent and bitter – though I felt that was less exaggerated as it cooled so I was able to actually finish the cup. It’s a shame, though.

And now I’ve got this super cute, teeny tiny little lime green Nina’s Paris tin since VariaTEA was so generous and sent this to me in the tin. I cleaned out the tin, but I’m not sure what I should be putting inside of it. It doesn’t have the room for anything in large quantity, but it feels like it’d be a waste to just shove it back in the closet and forget about it, or just keep it on display in the living room with nothing in it.

Tins are meant to hold things!

Prepped a round of four teas to enjoy while catching up on Australian Big Brother; a mix of new things, old things and sipdowns. This falls somewhere in between all of those categories; it’s new but not among my newest teas and I thought it was a sipdown but I actually have enough left for one more cup.

I’ve had this a couple times and not written about it; oops. Although prior to now I had logged it once, so good for me for at least doing that. Past times, like now, I’ve found this to be more floral that other EGs with a kinda of mid level strength of Bergamot and then fruit notes like plums. Stone Fruits for sure, but definitely sorta more plummy than otherwise. It’s also very, very smooth.

I really like the EG and I’ll be sad when it’s gone; though I know I wont try and replace it because EG, while something I enjoy, is not a staple tea for me like it is for others and not something I often crave. But as far as EG goes, this is definitely a good one.

Thank you again VariaTEA for the sample of this! The cute little tin has been hanging out in my kitchen most of the week while I’ve been trying this one out; and I have to say that I actually really liked it, not that I didn’t expect to. It just feel’s like there’s a little “extra” to this EG over others.

This note specifically is for a batch I made in my timolino with milk. It was very smooth with a really nice black base, with strong notes of lavendar and jasmine in addition to a somewhat milder bergamot flavour and a sort of plum-y fruitiness to it. Honestly, it was just so good and it had some many unexpected flavours in it.

I enjoyed sipping on it at home while curled up on the couch munching out on pizza and stuff. I also met a new person; Tre’s friend Kaitlyn (I may have spelled it wrong; there are so many variations) came over to watch movies with him and stuff and it was the first time I’ve actually met her, though I’ve heard a lot about her. The two of them have a weird relationship; he was (maybe still is sorta?) super infatuated with her but she has a boyfriend – still they’re super flirty with each other. They had a bit of a falling out when he called her out on it and said he couldn’t just be friends with her if she was going to continue to treat him like she does Nigel (her boyfriend), but they’re working past it now and are back on track to being friends again.

It’s complicated, and a source of great entertainment for me – but I honestly feel bad for them both too. He’s right; she can be sorta aggressively flirty with him, but on the other hand he can also be one of those guys who does the whole “friend zoned” thing where he acts super charming/like an awesome friend, but has sorta “ulterior motives”. Bleck.

(174)
Yes. I still like this one! It’s fruity and sweet and delicious, but not quite as magical as I remembered it. Perhaps I didn’t steep it in exactly the same way. Perhaps it’s a tea for sipping in the light of the moon.

Before today I had not been enjoying this as much as I would have liked. It reminds me of strawberry/cherry chapstick. Today it is wonderfully uplifting iced in this hot humid weather with a wonky AC. I added a little sugar today hoping it would be more pleasant. So perfect I’m about to make another glass and sadly it will be gone.

Thank you to Laurent/Nina’s for this sample!

Dry: Small tightly rolled black tea leaves. The dry leaves smell divine to me- I was really excited to try it! A touch of caramel, stone fruits, vanilla, and almost a cocoa note as well in the little ziploc baggie. I didn’t have enough for a full teapot, but I was still in great anticipation.

Steeped: Clear brown liquor. This reminds me a LOT of Harney’s Paris and the scent is very similar. I think the aroma on this one is more raspberry though- very fruity and pleasant.

Taste: I wanted to have a true love forever affair with this one from the dry scent, but the taste is a little bit less than I hoped for. It is still a good cup of tea, but I didn’t really get any caramel notes from it as described. Red fruits are the most prominent along with a nice maltiness, a touch of vanilla, and a somewhat unusual perfume aftertaste. The samples arrived in an opened enveloped that USPS had taped back together and one of the 3 was missing entirely. Maybe the tea was in the truck next to perfume samples? I don’t really know what to make of the perfume aspect, but I am glad I was able to try it. I have one other tea from the company to try another time, so I will keep my fingers crossed!