Teavivre

This was another of my Adagio mini tin residents. I find those tiny tins useful for storing opened sample packets without worrying about taping them or something. It doesn’t say what year the harvest was, but the “best by” date is in late 2018, so I’m guessing it was a 2017 harvest? This was the end of the sample, so I only steeped it for 2 minutes because of the more broken leaves.

Such a yummy and comforting green tea! It has a very creamy, sweet, and smooth flavor with corn and edamame notes. There’s also a lovely grainy quality that makes me think of raw oats. At the end of the sip, a little apricot pokes its head out, and there’s a very slight astringency that accentuates it with a feeling of fuzzy skin on my tongue.

This is a great green tea to keep around, and I’m sure it was that much tastier when it was fresh. I’ll be sure to add it to my wishlist to be restocked at a later date! I’m being a bit conservative on the rating for now, since I’m just coming back to tea and this isn’t fresh.

While I’m not disappointed in this tea I will say that both the dry leaf and the brewed cup smell better than the actual taste of the tea. The first steep was stronger than the second, and I was quite generous with the leaf. I should probably try and gongfu or grandpa this next time and pay more attention to the flavors. It’s just a yummy chocolate caramel cup, without a whole lot of sweetness. A very good example of a golden monkey, but I think I prefer Happy Lucky’s for repurchase.

How have I not reviewed this yet haha I definitely have had it, as my sample pack is opened lol. Anyways, this is today’s #SeptemberSipdown tea, as we had to choose one to drink all day and this one fits the bill. Note that all day for me may end up only being 3-4 steeps since I’m so bad with caffeine haha, but shengs or shu are my go-to for all-day teas, and a sheng from Teavivre never disappoints!

This one is quite mellow and nice. I combined my first two gaiwan steeps (after a 15s rinse) into my little mug so I don’t have to get up to steep as much during the work day. Smells woodsy, has a nice woodsy flavor with some sweetness at the end. I always get apricot from Teavivre shengs it seems, my favorite note in a sheng I think. Getting a bit more bitter as it cools, but nothing unmanageable. Excited to get in at least a few more steeps this afternoon, but will not drink too late in the day or I’ll be up all night!

Overall an enjoyable sheng. Can’t believe this tea is already 7 years old!

A sample of 7 grams I received from ashmanra. Thank you!
Yesterday I was playing in my thoughts all the day with my travel to US. When I decided to go sleep, I was sad it won’t happen anytime soon because it goes quite pricey. I would love to see you all in real life; but studies first and then I don’t know. We want to visit Balcans with my friends; but who knows how situation will look like. I went so obsessed with it, I thouht even for a moment it will be possible somehow soon (flight tickets to US are quite cheap nowdays, which makes sense as, who the hell would fly there, nowdays).

The tea I prepared is though, dismal. For some reason I thought it will be some high end black tea (no hurt feelings, ashmanra!), it even looked so nice! But the tea is, ehm, quite basic. The brewed tea after four minutes steeps is quite astringent, way too malty and very drying! I don’t think I have overbrewed it (suggested was 3-5 minutes), or overleafed, but… It just was so strong and quite one-dimensional. LuckyMe said that it reminds Lipton and I have to agree. It is bit like coated with some tea essence making it strong and malty, but that’s all.

Thanks so much for the try on this one, AJ Rimmer!  Can’t say I’m a fan though.. it might be the nightmare Hawaii tea rather than “dreamy” because there is SO MUCH HIBISCUS HERE.  And I can’t say I want coconut with my hibiscus?  Luckily there isn’t much coconut here.  It’s a couple pieces of other fruit with hibiscus, and the bright red cup just tastes like sour hibiscus. The description doesn’t even mention hibiscus, only roselle.  The photo shows much less roselle/hibiscus than my sample contained, so maybe it’s just my sample. I guess I don’t need to stock up on so many of these Teavivre herbals if so many of them are mostly hibiscus.   Without the roselle, I would have liked this blend. I did notice that Teavivre has a new hibiscus-less fruit blend though.
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 15 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  3 minute steep
2020 sipdowns: 68 (What-cha – Anxi Tie Guan Yin)

Well I drank this yesterday, but I’ll try to remember and post today.
Ancient Tree seems like it should have a more complex taste structure, but I’m not sure I prefer this to the Premium Golden Monkey or the regular Dian Hong Yunnan. It was quite smooth, with dark chocolate and malty notes that one would expect, but I only got a sample of this and I don’t think I’d be tempted to get a whole bag. I did get two good western style steeps out of the 10g sample, but the third was rather weak.

Sipdown (260)

Thank you Sil for sharing this with me!!

I was completely surprised by the fact that upon my first sip this had such amazing vanilla flavor. Vanilla and a touch of smoke.

When I get past the vanilla, which I don’t even think is supposed to be there, I get some floral orchid notes. Maybe it’s the orchid that’s evoking vanilla in my mind since my familiarity with orchid is from DAVIDsTEA’s Vanilla Orchid, which has both flavours.

Aside from the vanilla and orchid, this has a whole bunch of stone fruit to it. Plum, especially. Plum and also raisins. This is really good. I am a fan and while I didn’t really know what to expect from this, I’d get it again for sure if I were placing a teavivre order.

More like a white tea than a green. Beans and corn and much better than I thought it would be as someone who is not a fan of green teas. Thank you for sharing, Angel from TeaVivre!

Check out my full review here: http://www.sororiteasisters.com/2019/04/25/organic-nonpareil-ming-qian-dragon-well-long-jing-green-tea-teavivre-2/

Samurai Travelling Tea Box – Tea #18

Gongfu!

Trying to try a selection of traditional teas from the TTB and not just flavoured tea. There’s nothing wrong with flavoured tea, but y’all know I like variety in my life and if I focus on TTB blends the next week or so and only drinking flavoured teas then there’s gonna be a Gongfu shape hole in my heart…

I’ve had so many teas from Teavivre over the year that it’s almost hard to believe I haven’t had this one!! This was a nice late morning session; the oolong was so smooth and forgiving with my sloppier brewing today and the jasmine leaned quite sweet and sticky on the palate! Aside from the fragrant florals, the tea also had notes of green grapes, fresh linens, and fresh cut summer grass! Six steeps total.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCyds-1gE3s/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uEKJg1WHS0

Looks like no one else has written up this one yet on Steepster! I bought samples of this quite a while ago now, so please consider this is not a fresh harvest I’m reviewing.  It does taste the same as it did a while ago when I tried it though.  The jasmine is lovely, as almost always with Teavivre’s jasmine teas.  It’s also very hard to taste anything of the tea itself.  These are larger green pearls that are slow to unravel.  I’m really only tasting jasmine, but that is why I drink these types of tea anyway: JASMINE.  Jasmine is divine in summer.  If I had to choose one Teavivre jasmine tea, it probably wouldn’t be this one, as I notice more of the tea fuzzies in the cup.  I’d rather have a smooth jasmine tea, without that aspect.  But possibly others wouldn’t notice that as much.
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 35 minutes after boiling  // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 28 minutes after boiling //  2 1/2 minute steep
Harvest: 2018
2020 Sipdowns: 56 (Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe – Green Cucumber Melon + Lupicia’s Assam Calcutta Auction)

Aroma of dried dates and figs from the dry leaf.
Strong apricot flavour and sweetness in the brewed tea. Hint of spices.

Amazing floral bouquet on the lingering aftertaste on the second infusion at 4 minutes.

From the swap with AJRimmer!  These samples are easy to get around to, since there are typically two servings til sipdown. :D  I was very intrigued by this fruity blend from Teavivre without hibiscus!  The ingredients here: apple, mango, dried coconut, chrysanthemum, and flavoring.  I would say the flavor is mostly sweetness with a hint of coconut.  Not so much mango, but also not really chrysanthemum or apple. I’d rather just be tasting mango and coconut anyway, so I think this is mostly what I wanted?  I just prefer the flavor to be much stronger.  I didn’t think there was enough flavor with a teaspoon and half for a mug so I would definitely at least use three teaspoons.   Had a really long second steep and the flavor was almost the same as the first steep.
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 10 minutes after boiling  // 3 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  40 min steep

A perfectly average raw pu’erh. Nice to have on hand, but nothing I’m going to be scrambling to repurchase.

This is yet another review from either July or August of 2019. It’s also probably going to be the last review I post today. I recall this tea being just a little past its prime when I got around to reviewing it, but it was still a very nice offering.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After rinsing 6 grams of the rolled tea leaves, I steeped them in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of apricot, peach, orchid, orange blossom, golden raisin, straw, and honey. After the rinse, I picked up new aromas of roasted almond, cream, vanilla, pastry, sesame, and custard. The first infusion introduced aromas of plum, violet, rose, lilac, and baked bread. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of apricot, peach, rose, orchid, honey, roasted almond, plum, vanilla, and orange blossom that were balanced by hints of lilac, baked bread, cream, straw, golden raisin, violet, butter, and tangerine. The subsequent infusions coaxed out aromas of tangerine, dandelion, grass, and orange zest. Stronger and more immediately detectable notes of tangerine, cream, baked bread, violet, and butter appeared in the mouth alongside impressions of minerals, Asian pear, white grape, orange zest, grass, watercress, and dandelion. There were also some pleasant hints of sesame, mint, pastry, and custard. As the tea faded, the liquor settled and emphasized notes of minerals, butter, cream, grass, baked bread, and orange zest that gave way to delicate impressions of vanilla, violet, apricot, dandelion, sesame, honey, peach, tangerine, and orchid before a cooling mint note kicked in and filled the mouth after each swallow.

This was a very unique and approachable Tieguanyin that also displayed tremendous depth and complexity. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what I was detecting with each sniff and swallow. I can only imagine how much more powerful and enjoyable this tea would have been had I tried it while it was fresher.

Pretty standard ripe pu’erh. Not something I need to purchase again, but perfectly fine.

Flavor is almost undetectable. No strong odor when brewed, despite odor of dried blossoms. Mild yellow green color tisane.

Thanks again for the swap, AJRimmer!  I’ve always wanted to try these Teavivre herbals, so I really appreciate this sample swap to try quite a few of them.  I think the name here hypes this one up a bit.  Overall, I’m tasting roselles that aren’t TOO tart, but with an underlying berry flavor and also something that tastes quite like herbs – though which herbs, I can’t tell.  The flavor could have been hints of cherry, but maybe I’m just imagining what a “Paris” tea might taste like.  The second steep was incredibly weak – hardly any flavor at all, but at least the roselles weren’t overwhelming?   I avoided looking at the ingredients list until finishing the second steep and was surprised to find some odd ingredients that didn’t match up with what I was tasting: Apple, Pineapple, Orange Peel, Grapes, Peppermint?  I definitely didn’t notice those.  But I suppose that slight herbal flavor could have been the peppermint.  Nothing special, but I’m happy to try it.
Steep #1  // 1 3/4 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling  // 3 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  3 min steep

This brews up bright red. The flavor is somewhat tart. It tastes like ripe peaches more than anything else. When given a short steep and sweetened enough, it tastes pretty decent, but not spectacular. I wish it weren’t quite so tart. I do find myself liking it enough to hang on to. I find the peachiness enjoyable.

I haven’t been too impressed with Teavivre’s fruit tea options. They all taste pretty generically fruity and almost indistinguishable from each other. This one has the same red fruits flavor. It’s a little weak also, so I recommend overleafing. But I really can’t recommend this tea in general. It’s boring and not very tasty.

It’s a very relaxing cup of tea with nice toasted rice and a seaweed-marine aroma. The liquor was a somewhat cloudy, golden yellow with green hues. The taste is delightful. A tasty genmaicha with very light bitterness and light astringency, delicately sweet but nothing artificial. Strong notes of toasted popped rice, popcorn, umami, vegetal, a delicate subtle sencha.

I’ve had it hot and cold brew. The cold brew has no bitterness. I prefer it hot.

Hope you are all doing well. :D

Tea with breakfast today, courtesy of Sil. Thank you!

This is nice and bready but also the slightest bit Smokey which was unexpected. It also has a cocoa quality to it. It’s nice but with a name like it has, I expected more.

Sipdown 2020! 30/365

Was this from Sil? I’m not sure. I’ve had it for a while, and sipped it down last night – what a surprise! I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it reminded me a lot of roasted barley(?) teas I’ve had previously – really tasty, with lots of toasty, hay-y flavours. Kind of similar to hojicha or a rice-heavy genmaicha, but nuttier and toastier. All of a sudden, this is on my to-buy list…

Oversteeped the second infusion a touch, but it’s still totally drinkable, with lots of flavour. Not sure it will last for a third infusion, though.