Nina's Paris

Sipdown!! (132)

I tried Grand Amour last time I went to Nina’s and the Red Currant was too strong for my liking, which made me hesitant about trying this one. Luckily, a teabag of this was slipped into my box of teas which gave me a chance to try it and I really like it. It is reminiscent of a strawberry or cherry hard candy. Delicious and not at all medicinal like Red Currant teas can tend to be. Thank you Laurent and Sophie for the opportunity to try this tea. I think this will be one I get again :)

Another spring tea flavor to try.
Hmm. Strawberry flavor is very strong in this cup. I think someone else once said almost jam like, and I must say I agree. Its almost thick, in the flavor.
I think its a very good strawberry tea, refreshing and fun. Would be good for the warmer months.
Good! I’m thankful to JustJames, who sent this my way a few months ago to help me when I was feeling blue.
Yum. Now, off for a walk, to soak up the spring-time feel. Its going to rain here again tomorrow, so is should take advantage while I can.

(a steepster note. I find it funny that “asparagus” is listed as a flavor in the drop-down menu, but strawberry is not. Huh? Also “roasted chicken”. Please tell me there are not chicken flavored teas out there….)

I don’t usually reach for straight mint teas but if I did, this is the one I would grab first. The mint is mellow but very prominent nonetheless. It is a tasty, tasty cup. Thank you Laurent and Sophie at Nina’s Paris for slipping a sample of this into my big box of tea :).

Sipdown (198/200)!

I had an odd time drinking this. I didn’t have an ingredients list, so the two cups I had were blind and I struggled a lot to place the flavour.

Overall, I thought both cups had a taste reminiscent of the 52Teas black base, which I’m not the biggest fan of. So, that bugged me a little and was distracting. The first cup had a slightly fruity aftertaste – but in a really mellow way. Knowing now that there’s papaya in this, I guess that makes sense. I could probably place it as papaya if I knew that’s what I was looking for. It’s not even something I’d remotely considered though – it’s just not that common a flavour in tea.

The second cup wasn’t fruity at all – and it was a touch bitter. Which I found funny, personally, because I steeped it for a shorter amount of time and both times were with boiling water. Welp. Neither cups tasted like “melon” or “peach”, though.

Overall, it was neat to try and I’d be up for having another cup with the knowledge of what’s in it but I doubt that’d change my mind about not wanting to stock up. Thanks anyway Lala. Maybe I should have waited until I knew what I was getting in to?

This smelled so amazing, as most orange teas do but like all other orange teas, I am not a fan. It is warm and cozy thanks to the cinnamon but I just don’t really like citrus teas. For those who do like orange teas, this is worth a try but it is not for me. Nonetheless, thank you Laurent and Sophie at Nina’s Paris for the chance to try this tea.

Sipdown!! (174)

Though I am enjoying the green base quite a bit – smooth and buttery – I am finding he cherry flavor lacking in this cup. Perhaps that is a result of underleafing? All in all, it is pleasant enough but there are so many other teas from Nina’s that I prefer that I don’t think this will be a restock.

This. I like this. It is just a nice, sweet, buttery, smooth cherry tea. Delicious through and through and that is even with my completely careless steeping. Thank you so much to laurent and Sophie at Nina’s Paris for a sample of this awesome tea.

I thought maybe just a small teacup would bring out the flavor in this but instead it had the opposite effect and I am getting 6 oz of a pretty vegetal base with a hint of raspberry at the end of the sip. Once again, I don’t know what temperature this was brewed at and that may have something to do with it but I think there is a chance that me and this tea just don’t get along.

Thank you Laurent and Sophie at Nina’s Paris for a sample of this. It is a very good green tea. Delicious berry flavors with a hint of grass from the base. However, I have no clue what temperature this steeped at and I am not sure for how long so I will hold off on rating this until I can try it brewed properly.

Thank you Laurent and Sophie at Nina’s Paris for yet another sample to try. Once again, this is just not for me. It is not bad but I am just not a lover of citrus heavy teas. And honestly, I think as far as grapefruit teas go, I prefer The de Vendome.

Thank you Laurent and Sophie for the generous sample. However, I am just not a lover of bergamot and this cup has lots of it. It is smooth and floral but just not for me. Though I can see this being enjoyable for those who like Earl Grey.

Another sample from my joint order with Cavo I keep mentioning her name in my tasting notes so that she’ll come pick up the THIRTY TEAS of her that are at my house. lol sadly this is another one that i forgot to track last night. I seem to recall this one being more of that woodsy sort of rooibos that has a tendency to overpower the flavours that are blended with it. That being said, I’d gladly try this again so i can make sure.

Final Count from yesterday: 153

Thank you Laurent and Sophie for a sample of this tea. Unfortunately, I am finding it a bit disappointing. It is a pleasant enough rooibos but I was expecting far more cherry flavor than what I am getting.

This tastes like another tea I had not too long ago and I can’t quite put my finger on which one which is driving me crazy.

Tastewise, I am getting papaya and a hint of both melon and peach. It is smooth and sweet and definitely something I would drink again if offered a cup. Though, for my tastes, this isn’t something I would reach for all too often just because there are so many other flavors I would reach for first.

Sipdown!! (146)

So long tasty mango tea. Hopefully we will meet again next time I am in Florida. Until then, I will cherish the memory if your rich base and true-to-the-fruit flavor. Mmmm…

Thank you Laurent and Sophie at Nina’s Paris for this amazing tea!

When I was first handed the box to smell, I was immediately reminded of dried mango slices and that is 100% reflected in the taste. This is a juicy mango tea for sure. Sweet and ripe with just a hint of black base. Yum!

Thank you Laurent, Sophie, and everyone else at Nina’s Paris for making my mother and I feel so welcome and at home!!

Before I talk about the tea, I would just like to say that I had yet another amazing experience at Nina’s Paris offices. I was made three different cups of tea (Pour Maman, The Sur La Lune, and this one) and I walked out with a whole box of delicious teas. I mean, when I walked in i had 91 and now I am back up to 115 and I cannot be happier because Nina’s teas are AMAZING!!

Many of you know I am neither a cacao fan nor a lover of chocolate mint so this is one of the last teas I would have ever asked to try. However, before I even knew what was happening, a mug of this was placed in front of me and since they went to the trouble of making it, I figured I should at least have a sip. I am glad I did because this was actually a really good tea. The cacao gave it a nice, smooth chocolate flavor, and the mint was mellow but refreshing. I was actually shocked at how enjoyable it was and ended up guzzling it down quite quickly.

another surprise sample from Nina’s in my joint order with cavo. While this one is quite lovely, it IS a green tea, which i am always less inclined to purchase than a black/honeybush/rooibos simply because of my tastes. I do like the raspberry and strawberry flavour in this one though, so i wouldn’t hesitate to have small amounts of this in future :)

Joint order with Cavocorax resulted in Nina’s throwing in a few samples for us. Since they were largely teabags, i tossed them into a bag and randomly divided them between the two of us after giving cavo the “extra” earl grey bleeeergamot! be gone!

This one was rather pleasant. I’m not sure i’d go out of my way to buy it, but it really is a lovely, smooth blend of apple and vanilla…i don’t get much in the way of peach but that’s alright with me since i am all “peached” out lately.

Thanks for Sophie and Laurent for their awesome customer service and excellent teas!

A surprise sample from Marcel Duchamp to go with my other samples! thanks so much! I’ve enjoyed the few Nina’s Paris teas I’ve tried before. Another nice one here. Apple with their nice black tea. Sometimes the apple seems like it’s on the verge of being fake, but there are many more worse apple teas out there. If this is Ceylon, it’s one of my favorites. But I didn’t taste much rose here. I think I may have been using too much tea with the other samples from Nina’s (the entire package). This cup seemed to have half the tiny sample package but it seemed to be the perfect amount of tea (probably because Nina’s base is usually brisk!) I feel like I ruined the other samples now! I can only imagine they would have better then. :D

Ahhh, today very much feels like spring. I woke up to birds chirping outside and it’s nice and sunny outside. This is a perfect spring-like tea for this beautiful morning. It’s much lighter than I originally thought, which is a good thing. Somehow when I think of citrus fruits (especially grapefruit) I immediately think of a harsh, tart flavor. This is so not that. It’s almost creamy flavored in it’s citrusy softness. Thank you, VariaTEA, for this one!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with small yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell lightly citrusy. Tea liquor aroma is of creamy citrus fruits.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium yellow brown color.
-Light sweet orange flavor and finish. Muted citrus grapefruit aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Good tea. A lightly zesty and almost creamy cup. Very soft citrus flavors of orange and grapefruit.

This is one of the teas I got in my latest Nina’s Tea order. (To tell the story again, I was in Florida, and Laurent and Sophie from Nina’s Paris USA shipped my order to my hotel. This saved me a whole lot on shipping. Laurent stayed in contact with me the whole time until I received and was satisfied with my order). I had been wanting to try this one for a long time. It was only available in a tin but the tin is beautiful.

The dry tea is beautiful. The black tea leaves look nice, dried orange peel and bright blue and red flower petals are mixed in with the tea leaves. It smells super delicious. Like sweet candied orange peel. Almost has a bubble gum quality to the smell.

The smell of the brewed tea smells a little bit flat. Still candied orange but not as strong or as sweet and with a bit more pepper.

The brewed tea, like I find most Nina’s Paris Teas, is delicious. The tea base is just bordering on bold. There is a sweet, candied orange peel flavour, it is delicate and not overpowering. There is a slight pepper from the orange rind but it is very light. It almost tastes like there is a bit of orange juice in this tea. There is a slight sweetness, I would maybe add a bit of sweetener next time I have this tea. The flower petals give a thickness to the tea with a bit of a bread-y flavour.

The sweet orange flavours become much more prominent and bright as the tea starts to cool.

I am really glad I picked this up. I would like to know if there is a story behind the flavour of this tea and the name.

Sipdown (194/196)!

I admit that this was a totally unexpected sipdown as I thought I had more leaf of this than there really was, so it was a sort of pleasant surprise. Thanks Lala for the sample, it seems like today I’m just going through a bunch of the teas you’ve given me.

I’m not really sure if I get the namesake for this one. Basically, it’s “White Tiger” – right? That’d make sense if the tea was either A) A white base – though it’s an oolong, or B) Was simply “tiger” because that’d maybe fit in with the oranges in the mix? Except since this tiger is white the orange tie in doesn’t seem too strong to me…

It’s nice enough though in taste. The base is very nice, maybe a teeny bit floral. And then the other flavours – the orange and the peach – are very well balanced and pretty refreshing. I think I’m maybe picking up the peach a little bit more, though only slightly. Super yummy and pleasant!

Overall, I wont seek this one out again. I’m too finicky about peach flavored things and it’s too difficult to acquire to make a fuss about when I likely wouldn’t want it on anywhere close to a regular basis, but it was really cool to try it out! Super tasty.

EDIT: Oh! Has anyone else seen this? I haven’t seen in mentioned in anyone’s tasting notes or on the DB. Thoughts?

http://www.davidstea.com/blue-aladdin-tumbler?&TF=D36B1B50DFA0&DEID=

Thanks Lala for the sample! I threw it into my mix of green teas last night while all snuggled up watching Princess Jellyfish last night/early morning (no, I’m not going to shut up about it; it was a beautiful anime).

I was a little cautious about this one because I’m not a big green tea drinker, but it smelled really nice so that made me a little less anxious about trying it out. Overall, I though it was pleasant enough though maybe too vegetal for my tastes. I really got raspberry out of this one though, a little less so the strawberry. And funnily enough, near the end of the mug I was tasting banana!?

What’s up with that!?

But yeah, this was good but not breathtakingly so. I may try cold brewing the last little bit, though…