Nina's Paris

Thank you Ninas Paris for this sample!
mmm it smells just like peachy rings! This brewed up much darker than I expected given the name, but it’s not really an issue. This is a very smooth tea. I love the peach flavor! I think I would rather drink this than actually eat a peachy ring (all that sugar!). Very excellent midday pick-me up too!

I decided I had time for one more cup of tea before I have to spend all afternoon working in the hood and I am super glad I threw this in my bag to bring to work with me. Nina’s Paris is batting 1000 with me so far! This tea is just delightful. I like it even better than the Nina’s Japon. The raspberry and the red currant are fantastic together and then caramel and vanilla mellow out the tartness. I’m glad I split my sample in two and risked underleafing it because I definitely want to have this again soon. Thanks for sharing your Nina’s with me, Ost!

Wow this is a dynamic blend!
Hot, it tasted of super sweet and fragrant tangerine. I think the pineapple really brought that out because it didn’t taste so much like pineapple, but it had that same sweetness.
Then as it cooled, it kindof reminded me of cherry!! Odd because I don’t think it’s an ingredient. Anyhow, now that my cup has entirely cooled, I get more of a citrus melange.
Overall, a very light, refreshing tea that I didn’t need to add anything to, though I think it’d go superbly with a touch of lemon! I would consider adding this one to my cupboard, no question.
Also, I agree with Sil, this is pretty much a lighter, more vibrant version of Hepburn.
Thank you Nina’s Paris for the sample!!

I’m having an experience y’all and that experience is Nina’s Japon. This is my first Nina’s tea and also my first tea with crispy rice. It’s so toasty and roasted nutty with a little bit of sweetness with the caramel somehow hitting as I exhale after the sip. To me, this is a really well done, subtle tea that I am loving. It’s scrumptious and comforting. Thanks Ost for hooking me up with my first Nina’s Paris tea!

Thank you for the sample Ninas Paris!
This was very aromatic. Strawberries and vanilla were the main flavors. Very smooth and has a really great base tea. I would love to have this one in my cupboard!

Yum, I quite liked this tea – probably as I love tropical blends and pina coladas! It’s a delicate vegetal green tea with smooth coconut. Magicienne has a fresh juicy pineapple finish with a hint of tang. The pineapple is quite flavorful and works well with the buttery green tea. I wish I had more, I’d love to try this iced!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl – featuring a Magician in Training Tea Owl! http://oolongowl.com/magicienne-tea-ninas-paris-oolong-owl-tea-review/

Thank you to Laurent @ Nina’s Paris USA for this sample. I have been curious about these teas for a a while now.

At first I wanted to write that I liked Ma Passion better than this. This is strong at first, punchy base. Seeing this and realizing it isn’t what I had in mind I combined the two steeps in a 16 oz mug and added a touch of raw sugar. I also started goofing around on the iPad and the tea had a chance to cool. The end result is that I like this tea better than the other now.

I can’t taste any of the fruits individually, nor can I tell there’s pu’erh leaves in here, which is fine by me. The smell of the dry leaf reminds me a lot of H&S Fruits D’Alsace. And something in the taste also reminds me of it but a little less so.

I do have one comment to make and it has not to do with the tea but with the length of time it took for the samples to reach me. More than 3 weeks. In case I want to order some, three weeks is more than I like to wait for my stash. Anyone in Ontario ordered from Nina’s USA? How long did it take, do you remember?

Thank you for this sample, Nina’s Paris! I had it iced and have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit. Resteeps well too, which is always a bonus.

I’m writing this from memory, had it yesterday. I loved the base and flavour balance, it was not a “juice” tea, it was definitely black tea with some passionfruit throughout. The wet leaf as it cools is all fruity goodness in smell, which is what made me resteep. I mean, if it smells so good still it has to have more to give. And that it did :)

The colour was what I would expect of a black tea, a deep brown and there was not a lot of aroma at first. Good lingering fruit aftertaste. Purchasing this would be considered for sure, it makes a good summertime beverage!

I had forgotten why I requested a sample of Je t’aime—until the scent began to waft off the pot, and I was reminded of Florence, Vanilla Comoro, and some of the other delicious Harney & Sons flavored blacks.

Je t’aime is scented with caramel and vanilla, but it possesses the rich voluptuousness of creamy chocolate as well. The liquor is reddish amber, and I took a couple of sips before adding a bit of half and half. It definitely seemed potable au naturel, but I love to add cream to flavored black teas.

My impression is that the base black tea is of somewhat higher quality in this blend than in the Caramel tea from Kusmi, but I’d have to do a steep-off to be sure…

(Blazing New Rating #63)

Thank you Nina’s Paris for this free sample. I really enjoyed this tea. Dry it smelled delicious. I think it was the strawberry I was picking up. Brewed up, I could taste rooibos, strawberry & vanilla notes. I didn’t really pick up the grapefruit but maybe because it was brewed with boiling water. I wonder if the grapefruit would come through if it was brewed cold. There was only enough for one cup so I guess I won’t find out.

The dry tea scent reminds me of sweet tarts, tart and sugary with that tone that separates them from rockets. Brewed on the other hand this smells like my grapefruit puerh that I got from big-active ( a polish company). It has dry tangy scent from dried orange rind, something that’s a little bit earthy and gamey and a spicy sharp citrus tone underneath. The base tea smells fruity, with malt and biscuit. The fact that I can usually discern the base tea underneath the flavouring is one thing I’ve always appreciated about Nina’s teas.

After a three minute brew, there is a nice balance between the base and the flavouring and the tea is a deep orangey red.

I taste dried grapefruit rind over top a warmer sweeter fruitier tone that ranges towards the red grapefruit flavour mixed with a plum note from the base. A biscuit note from the base binds the fruit note to the malt lying underneath. Despite the citrus tones the tea remains smooth and mellow when steeped around 92°C, with only a mild astringent note. Altogether a pleasant tea that was warmer and richer than I was expecting. Thanks ’Laurent and Nina’s for the sample!

I received a sample of this from Nina’s. Thank you!

This is a light tea that has hints of citrus and floral. The description says pineapple, but I did not get any pineapple. This is seems to be a mood tea for me. The first cup I had didn’t work for me, but I am enjoying a breakfast of fruit this morning and it seems to go nicely with this. Thanks for allowing me to try this one.

Thanks to Nina’s for this awesome sample!

This little sample was pretty amazing. Caramel, vanilla, all blended well with a very nice base. This one will go on the wish list. I drank, err I mean gulped the last of this down today and will definitely miss it. Thank you!

Received this in a swap from Stephanie. Thanks!! :D

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while. A very good coconut green tea. The dry leaf smells great, a nice balance between the flavors, a light aroma. The liquor is medium-bodied, flavorful, and a little creamy. Unfortunately, the pineapple is somewhat overwhelmed by the coconut.

Sipdown (164/170)!

Getting close to finishing off the backlog. Now I just have the teas from yesterday and today; and I didn’t do a whole ton of tea drinking yesterday anyway so that should be fast enough to catch up on. May have to log today’s teas tomorrow though; I’m pretty damn exhausted right now.

This is a long time ago sample sent from the delightful Rosehips that I sadly just recently got to. I made it up as a cold brew, and actually did set aside enough leaf for a hot cup but I ended up giving that portion of the leaf to Tyrell (the guy I’m dating) to give to Lucas. Lucas is one of his two friends who worked/works at DAVIDsTEA – in tasting notes he has been referred to as “Hot DT Guy” but given that I now know and am dating someone who knows him pretty personally I think we’re gonna transition to referring to him by his actual name. Also, he no longer works for DT so the previous moniker isn’t super accurate anyway.

But yeah; it’s sorta a longish story why I sent teas to Lucas/his girlfriend (who does work at DT) Gwyn – and I was gonna share it in my tasting notes for teas from today/my date when I picked out selective info to share with you all; but might as well share it here right? Sure. Yeah.

So while we were at my place, I somehow ended up getting in a fight with Lucas over our apparently drastically varying tea tastes though text message via Tyrell. Lucas was making some pretty wild claims and I sorta (ok, pretty much flat out) called him an idiot who didn’t know good tea. But in an endearing way? He pretty much said that he had never had a DAVIDsTEA blend he disliked; and I know he worked for the company but I call MAJOR BULLSHIT on that. Even his girlfriend, Gwyn, admitted to me today that she didn’t like the newest Chocolate Macaroon tea because it was too sweet. Like come on; don’t bullshit a tea drinker. It’s one thing to push things/promote DT blends to the inexperienced shoppers who come in the store and don’t know better – but I clearly know better.

But then, he said that he LOVES hibiscus; so I went on this spiel that result in me feeding my kinda sorta boyfriend straight hibiscus to prove to him his friend is an idiot (Tyrell thought it was nasty so point accomplished) and on top of that I put together a small sampler of really nice teas for Tyrell to bring to Lucas/Gwyn to show them fancy, super awesome quality shit. That included my hot cup’s worth of this, some Yunnan Sourching, Butiki, Mandala, Dammann Freres, and a few flavoured matchas from Red Leaf.

Take that Lucas!

But yeah; back to the point of this tea and my cold brew and what I thought of it. Honestly, in smell it reminded me a ton of Des Roses et Des Bonbons from Camellia Sinensis – but that’s obviously from the rose. I really wanted gentle rose water and apples from the taste; but let me tell you the rose in this was not subtle.

This was definitely too floral for my liking and I really, really wanted more apple – no, scratch that – any apple flavour from this but it just wasn’t happening.

So, maybe this was a bad one to pick to prove my point to Lucas (at the point I’m not even sure what that point was?) but regardless much thanks again to Rosehips for the kind sample. I was happy to get to try this even if I didn’t totally love it.

I almost wouldn’t have believed this was an oolong, it was so full bodied. It was like a lighter black tea, and looked like a black tea in the dry leaves actually. It was delicious, which did not surprise me in the least given my love for peach tea. I took a few sips when it was still hot, but I prefer it cool I think because it gets even peachier.

People: don’t give up on this till you try it iced.

It was just nice as a hot cup, with the berry flavor predominant and tasting natural, but it seemed a little flat overall.

For the 2nd steep I inadvertently let it cool and by that time it was in the 80’s outside so I decided to pop in some cubes and it was delicious. The flavors seemed to blend much better – though maybe this was due to its being a 2nd infusion – and it was smooooth and refreshing, tasted like happiness feels, if that makes sense. Kaylee caught the same wave on this one. Thanks for the sample, Christine!

Nina’s does fruit flavors well and properly! This one is so finely tuned it is difficult to tell where the apple stops and the apricot starts—-it’s just a soft, sweet compendium of flavors, with soft vanilla that makes its presence known, but doesn’t interfere. Just pretty close to perfect.

Saturday Sipdown #1!

In anticipation of my incoming RiverTea order (10 teas!) I plan to finish off 8 teas in my cupboard this weekend. Wish me luck!

I overleafed this a tad, I think, but it’s not too bad. Very jasminy, though the lotus flavour shifts from being sweet/creamy to a bit more floral/musky. I’m not sure if I’d consider restocking this, but it was interesting to try. Thanks for the sample, Laurent!

I finally got around to trying this, about 2 months after I received it.

I can taste the jasmine, but there’s also a sweeter, sort of creamy base underneath it which I assume is the lotus – it reminds me of some of the Butiki blends I’ve had where lotus stamens were an ingredient.

I’m not quite sure if I’d want to restock this after trying a sample, but it is distinctive.

From the Teeny Tiny TTB.

The dry leaf – medium brown, twisty – smells smokey. I didn’t read this tea’s description until after I finished my cup, so I thought I was tasting some lemon/lime flavoring as well as peach the whole time. Very nice flavoring – strong yet light. It lingers long in the mouth after each sip. I let the liquor cool towards the end. This one tastes good both as hot and cold.

Yum! Toasted rice and caramelly goodness.

Thanks so much for the sample, VariaTEA. :)

(Sipdown! But IDK how much tea I have because I haven’t finished adding what I bought on the weekend. Actually, I haven’t started. :) )

Thanks for the sample VariaTEA!

Whoops! This is a black-green blend, and I didn’t actually realize it. Good thing I like caffeine, right? Especially considering the amount of tea I’ve had over the last few hours. (I escaped work early.)

This is yummy! I love genmaicha, but generally don’t care for the green tea versions as they’re too green. The toastiness mixed with the different tea flavours and the caramel are just. Yum.

Would get again. (Although a green tea only version would be nice because it would be less caffeinated for evening. For some reason, toasted tea = comforting after dinner drink for me!)

Sipdown (178/184)!

Another Nina’s Paris sample from VariaTEA. I made it this morning in my giant Adeline poppy mug and that used up the whole sample. It was good timing really because I woke up with a killer headache and the mint was very soothing and nice and made me feel better. Like, I probably would have reached for this because of the mint even if it hadn’t been in my morning line up already.

Admittedly, I wasn’t really excited about this blend because it was a green one until I stupidly realized, weeks after getting it, that it was pretty much just a fancy Moroccan Mint. Ok, I can get behind that! I love MM.

And yeah, that’s pretty much what this one was: fancy Moroccan Mint. It was tasty and pleasant and soothing with a really smooth spearmint flavour, but not something I’d stock over other MM blends especially when it is so hard for me to get a hold of. The name is really cool though, I’ll give it that!