Teavivre

So TeaVivre put out some new rooibos and of the 3 I tried (chocolate, toffee, and strawberry rooibos), I liked this TeaVivre Rooibos the best. It’s tart but delicately sweet and creamy, natural, no artificial flavor taste since it’s all-natural ingredients. roasty and earthy. I think some may put want to add a little sweetener and/or milk. I think this would make a really awesome latte so since I bought a bag of it, I’ll try it that way next. :D

Sipdown!

As per usual, I started brewing this cup and then forgot about it because my sister called…. even though it steeped for probably over 10 minutes, it’s still delicious!

Nice and smooth. Once I get to a manageable tea amount, this would be something that I would love to purchase!

This is a tea to savor and let linger in your mouth. Like some, more delicate teas, it’s an acquired taste, but how can you compare a subtle dark chocolate, caramel after taste to other teas that are in your face grassy or earthy or smoky. You have to sip this one quietly and let the best part bloom in your mouth 20 seconds after you swallow. This is not a daily mug or a sip down, but a gift to be savored when you need reminding that the same camellia sinsensis plant can be processed in so many different wonderful ways.

There’s something pleasant in regards to its light and floral flavors, but this is no prized experience. I had hoped that after the first few infusions, the tea would take on new heights, but it remained quite underwhelming to say the least. I tried to consider examples in which I would find myself drawn into this style of tea, but only one came to mind: if there I stood calloused by the mid July heat praying to quench an ungodly thirst. Being that it’s mid November, I am in no need to prepare for such an experience. This one is a pass for me.

I was very curious to try this tuocha. I used the Chinese gongfu method and the recommended steeping times on the Teavivre website (rinse, 20s, 15s, 15s, 30s, 50s, 80s, 150s). After an initial rinse and upon the first steep, I was left with a very pleasant experience. The rose notes leave the taste buds with a light, sweet floral finish.The color is rich, the aroma is earthy, and the mouthfeel is smooth. It was a pleasant experience to say the least.

I thought I had already reviewed all of Teavivre’s Keemun black tea offerings but somehow I missed this one. I’ve purchased their Grade 1 and Grade 2 Keemun teas in the past and enjoyed them both. I was surprised and happy to find this free sample packet from Teavivre when I opened my tea cabinet this morning.

When I opened the small silver foil container, an earthy and fruity aroma emanated from it. I followed the brewing instructions on the packet and steeped the short black leaves for five minutes at 185 degrees.

The finished brew had a dark gold color similar to motor oil. The odor was faintly sweet and fruity.

The taste of the tea was sweet with honey overtones. There also existed slightly floral and undefined fruity flavor characteristics. All of this merged perfectly together to form a sweet and mildly fruity taste experience with no astringency. The aftertaste continued this theme with gentle sweet and fruity attributes briefly floating on my palate.

The disposition of this tea is incredibly smooth. It is one of those fairly rare teas that I have to restrain myself from gulping down quickly. This is truly a tea that should be savored and enjoyed.

I don’t believe I have ever been disappointed with a Teavivre black tea. But, if I were forced to rank them in order of taste and smoothness, this one would be listed in at least my top three.

Purchased from Teavivre on a whim as pu’erh is a variety of tea that’s fairly new to me. I used the gong fu method to brew. To start, I gathered one tuocha, rinsed it, and then proceeded to give it time to open up on the first steep. The toucha is dense with an earthy scent and tones to match. I was reminded of the fragrance of alfalfa. The taste starts surprisingly mellow with a color that quickly resembles caramel. On the second steep, the color was darker and it took on a brothier scent, with a significantly dryer mouthfeel. For the third steep, the liquor was increasingly darker. The fragrance proliferated the gaiwan and the mouthfeel transformed into what I can only consider to be a ‘warm hug’. An interesting progression to say the least. I will spare you the details of every steep, and leave you with one simple note….this is an easy drinking tea, great for a cold day when you may find yourself in an explorative mood.

Now that my nephew is gone, I’m left with lots of flavored tea hehe but I always welcome rooibos because of the health factor too. This particular Chocolate Rooibos tea is creamy, smooth. It has a natural sweetness of cocoa, sweet earthy flavor, and has a gentle nutty taste. It’s also full-bodied and rich. It has a very nice warm cocoa and nuts aroma and some woody notes. I liked this one much better than the toffee. The toffee one was good but came off a little artificial and this one does not at all.

Was fortunate to get a sample of this one.
A bit of mystery here … Tasting results from a 5g sample:
A cat tea for me:
slightly sweet, and most importantly warm and comforting, appropriate for autumn …
Yet I was hoping for more, all in all…

Sipdown. Boy, are my sipdowns super slow. In the beginning, I bought way too much of a tea at a time.

The dry leaf smelled good, sweet caramel aroma. It brewed to a pretty deep red, liquor smells of caramel. To me though, the flavor came off as artificial. I do like that it wasn’t overly sweet, but this caramel/toffee flavor rooibos just wasn’t for me. To be fair, I admit that I’m not a huge fan of rooibos and I drink it for health purposes. The strawberry is by far the best of the three.

Preparation western brew: 12oz, 212 ºF, 5g, 5 mins

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I retired three days ago after working for over 50 years. I am optimisitic and hopeful about the rest of my life. I can’t think of a better way to contemplate the future than while sipping a new black tea sample, compliments of Teavivre.

When I opened the two-cup silver sample package and sniffed the rich earthy aroma of the unbrewed golden-tipped leaves, I knew I was in for a treat.

I followed the instructions on the package and brewed the leaves for five minutes at 185 degrees. The resulting liquor was a bright amber color. The odor was sweet with honey-like undertones.

The flavor of this tea was quietly sweet, with well-blended fruity, bread, and sweet potato attributues. The entire experience was remarkably smooth as silk with no astringency in its orbit. This was one of those teas that was so velvety serene that I had to restrain myself from gulping it down. There was zero astringency and the aftertaste was mild and welcoming.

This is an exceptional black tea that would be a pleasing addition to breakfast or afternoon desserts. It is very easy to see why it is an “award winning” selection.

This white tea steeps into a light amber color with a pleasing sweet hay aroma. It has a hay taste on the front end that makes way into a strong melon flavor. The sweetness and melon flavor is a little overpowering for me. It is a decent tea, but it is not for me.

Such a good white tea. The jasmine is strong, but not overpowering, the white is delicate and sweet, just perfect. And its very affordable.

This is a young raw pu-erh with the aroma to match. It has a nice juicy plum flavor with hints of wood. It’s a little bitter on the front end but sweet and smooth on the back end. I enjoyed the taste of this tea and its complexity.

Sweetness is a bit dilute. I will try to infuse this for a 4 minutes next time. Bold jasmine flavour which combines well with the white tea taste. The white tea has a sugary quality to the flavour. Slight creamy heaviness in the brew. Vegetal note in aftertaste.

The first steep of this tea is quite yummy, malty cocoa goodness in a cup. The dry leaf looks a bit like chocolate gunpowder tea, the wet leaf smells like hay and cocoa. The problem I have with this tea is the amount of leaf I have to use to get that yummy taste and that the second steep is so watered down it’s like a different cup. I guess I expect this quality of tea to steep at least twice. When I have a light fluffy Oolong, green, or black tea, I don’t mind adding an extra scoop if it will give me a stronger brew. But when I have a dense tea like this, I guess I expect it to unfurl into lots of flavor, and I was just disappointed in this one.

This tea has a subtle woody aroma. The taste is sweet and muted with flavors of honey and something else I can’t put my finger on. I am going to let it cool down some to see if it becomes discernible. There we go, it was chocolate powder drink. As it cools, the honey taste fades and it is replaced by chocolate. It is very Nesquikian in its flavor profile at the cooler temp. I liked it and I am glad I tried it, but it is not something that will make it into my rotation.

Eek. Thanks for the sample, Teavivre, but this was not for me. I think I need to make sure I use a lighter hand when brewing pu’erhs, and being a raw one, there was no fishiness, but it was just too much for me. I’ll try it again at half strength or so; perhaps I overleafed.

Cold Brew Sipdown (697)!

I actually had intended to cold brew a different sample from Teavivre – a jasmine scented green tea. So, my first third or so of drinking this cold brew was spent just being completely perplexed as to why my cold brew didn’t taste floral/anything like jasmine at all. Finally I went and fished out the sample bag from the top of my garbage can and that’s when I realized I’d grabbed the wrong sample from my drawer…

This was still fine as a cold brew – just really not what I’d intended. More of a very generic green tea taste, but pretty smooth and delicate. Hints of fresh cut grass and raw green beans. Not my thing, really – and I likely would have enjoyed it more hot.

It is what it is though – mistakes happen.

This is a sample I found last night as I was making supper. We were having Japanese eggplant and red sweet pepper (from our garden) with carrot and onion tossed with Asian noodles and a lightly creamy sauce made with beef broth, soy sauce, and mayo. Since the meal had an Asian vibe even though it wasn’t strictly Asian, I thought I would pair it with a green tea rather than serving the sweet hibiscus tea already iced in the fridge.

Wow. This was amazing with the meal. When a green tea has some astringency or briskness, you can eat a fairly heavy or flavorful food and still REALLY taste the tea. This one came across as super sweet vegetal. Think of ultra sweet sugar snap peas. It also put me in mind of some raw corn on the cob that an old farmer at the state farmer’s market would entice people to try. It was so sweet, some people preferred it uncooked. THAT was what this tea reminded me of.

Once the food was gone, I kept sipping. Now the briskness is apparent, but not unpleasant. The flavor has a real mouth-filling richness.

I told my husband that my affection for this tea has tied it with my love for HuangShan Mao Feng. Alas, it is no longer available. Good thing I just got a big pouch of HuangShan in the mail….