Nina's Paris

Sipdown! 831.

Well… I can taste the muscatel here, and it’s a fairly light black… but eh. I’m not particularly fond of it. I did like the very light moonlight darjeeling I had from Butiki, but I don’t think that darjeelings would fall into the category of teas I like to drink. Just not a flavour profile I care for.

There’s only a bit of astringency, which at least makes this pleasant to drink. I’m sure a darjeeling fan would enjoy this far more than I!

My last sample from Nina’s that I’ve had a while! This seems like it has a ton of fruit flavors in it… just because it isn’t technically tasting like any fruit really. If it really doesn’t taste like any fruit, it could be any of them, right? The steeped tea has a fragrance most resembling raspberries and a hint of strawberries. I think I steeped too long because the base is a bit overpowering…especially over the fruit flavors. It’s a bit astringent and strong after five minutes. The second steep was for three minutes and was a bit better. Not bad but I think I liked the other teas from Nina’s a bit better, even if it was the same black tea base.

Sipdown, 835.

Hrm. Strong rooibos smell upon brewing, and it’s pretty strong in the flavour too. I’m getting nothing really in the way of pineapple or coconut… I would have been more apt to guess that this was a raspberry-flavoured tea. Maybe there’s some creaminess from the coconut…? And maybe that tartness is pineapple, not raspberry? It’s difficult to tell.

Luckily, though this tastes unmistakably of rooibos, it’s not super medicinal, so it is palatable. But, it’s nothing I’d really want to drink again unless I was desperate. I’m getting a bit of the scratchy throat feeling from it, and that’s certainly a feeling I think I should avoid.

Sipdown, 842.

This is a verrrrry smoky example of a lapsang souchong. Definitely much like campfire/ash, more than smoked meat. However, with a 2-minute infusion it’s pretty smooth, which is good as sometimes the black teas can tend towards astringency. I don’t really think I’m in the mood for a straight smoky tea right now though, so I think I’ll dose it with some maple syrup and milk before drinking the rest. Mmm.

The smell of the dry tea had me a bit nervous because I didn’t really smell any bergamot. It smelled much more like Eve by Nina’s Paris.

The brewed tea smelled of delicious malty keemun. The tea taste like smooth malty keemun with a very light bergamot flavour. It tastes like a medium strength black tea. There is also an orange citrus flavour, and a slight natural sweetness to the tea. It tastes like there is a mild fruit flavour underneath the base of the tea.

The is not a bergamot-lovers Earl Grey, but it is a very smooth and delicate Earl Grey. Very delicious. I recommend to anyone unsure of Earl Grey as the bergamot is not too scary.

Sample sipdown! This sample courtesy of Laurent at Nina’s Paris.

The dry leaves are so small they look like fannings. Some time in hot water, though, and the leaves unfurl, showing themselves to be a lovely green leaf. The tea has a delicate minty scent. There is a nice dry mouthfeel to this. As for the flavor, the mint is present but not overwhelming. Actually, it’s a bit light for my taste. I like this better cold – the coolness lends some oomph to the mint.

Overall, glad to have tried it but I wouldn’t buy it myself. It’s a good tea but there are other mint teas I like more.

My evening cup. I used a 6oz Corelle cup and a Finum basket. That seems to work best with their sample sizes. This smells awesome. The strawberry is the strongest scent. The raspberry aroma is easily separated but not as intense. The brew looks like honey. The flavor of the sip is as fruity and natural as the scent but not over the top. You can taste the green tea base – yeah! The base is vegetal with a nice bite at the end. You could probably eliminate the bite with a shorter steep – but why? I used a tiny bit of sweetener to really make the fruit pop. A very nice cup.

Oh boy. This is so much better at 204 F than boiling. I’m not sure how long I steeped – I think it was somewhere between 2 and 3 minutes.

The caramel notes are really prominent and work quite nicely with the savory aspects of the genmaicha. The vanilla only comes out in the aftertaste, but it’s beautiful. Just a natural, lingering, smooth vanilla.

Thanks to Laurent at Nina’s Paris for the sample, and I get to call this a sipdown!

This sample courtesy of Laurent at Nina’s Paris.

I grabbed this out of my cabinet without knowing what it was and simultaneously realized that it’s a genmaicha AND decided to prepare it as a black tea. Not sure what I was(n’t) thinking. So boiling water, 4 minutes.

This stands up just fine to boiling water. It smells lovely, all toasted rice and sweetness. It tastes basically like every other genmaicha I’ve had, except with a touch of sweet that I couldn’t quite place until I read that the ingredients include caramel. That’s definitely what I’m tasting here. Not picking up on the vanilla at all. The black tea is contributing maybe a touch of astringency, though I’m not sure whether that’s actually there or the ingredients list is influencing me.

Overall, this is quite tasty. Still, probably not something that I would actively seek out if other quality green tea is available. I can’t quite say why, except that genmaichas taste pleasant enough but just aren’t my favorite type of tea. Nice, but not a staple.

I love peach tea. This is an oolong peach. I think I could stop there and it would be enough, but you know I am seldom brief. The wet leaf scent is peach and roasted oolong. The sip begins lightly peach and then the oolong comes in mid sip and is much lighter on the roastiness than expected. If you dislike roasted oolongs, never fear, this is light and more nutty in flavor. Late in the sip it changes back to peach with some citrus notes. The cup is naturally sweet but will take additional sweetener if you are so inclined. The aftertaste lingers nicely.

The cooler the cup gets the stronger the flavors become – especially the peach. Lala said this was delicious cold brewed. Based on a room temperature cup, I totally believe her. This is a very refreshing tea.

Hmmm, so my taste buds must be dead because I don’t get any chocolate or orange from this one. Or cream. All I get is a heavy black base, which is kind of nice actually, but not at all what I was expecting. I can smell the chocolate in my cup, but I don’t taste it at all! And I have no idea where the orange went.

free sample!
(that’s all i feel like saying i guess. … for now)

very orangey at first. but i might have steeped it aggressively? so added a bit hot of water back to the already brewed cup. definitely still orange, but gentle and fun!
i love blood orange in my tea.
whod’a thunk?!
(i mean i have a decadent blood orange puerh in my cupboard and i would have never thought that those go together so well.)

last weekend we filled in the old fire pit in our back yard and built a new one.
this new one is WAY BETTER.
http://instagram.com/p/Yn64JJIc-M/

i am gonna go home and prep some tea swaps. …and can i just say that i’m absurdly giddy about it?!?! it’s not even the getting part, it’s the giving! i find it so exciting!

yesterday my sister asked me what my spirit animal is.
i told her Sherlock.

this tea is total yum.
like eating those raspberry filled godiva chocolate bars.

i keep feeling like it’s friday. (it’s thursday)
i can’t seem to focus and just want to read books all day.

Made this one as a cold brew. Brewed for about 12 hours. It tastes very similar to the hot brewed tea. The green tea base is very light, slightly buttery and nutty. There is a stronger citrous and strawberry flavours. There are undertones of a light rose flavour.

The dry tea smells deliciously of green tea mixed with strawberry scent. The brewed tea smells of vegetal green tea with rose, strawberry and citrous scents. The tea tastes strongly of vegetal green tea, there is a slight buttery-ness to the flavour. There are light tastes of strawberry and citrous. The rose and sunflower are very light. There is a slight candy taste to the tea, most likely from the strawberry and fruit flavours. The fruity flavours become stronger and more dominate over the green tea as the tea cools. It becomes more citrous and lemon vs strawberry as it cools.

Strawberry?! Nooooooo, I taste apple! Tart, juicy, delicious apple.
I suppose it could be tart strawberry??? It has some similarities to a few other strawberry black teas I’ve tried, though I can’t pinpoint what they are exactly. and it still doesn’t carry the essence of “berry”. Definitely apple. No question about that. The aroma, the taste, everything about it was apple. I’m a little confused.
Either way, it was yummy. I’d buy more! My cuppa was very flavourful and smooth. A little astringent. Great with or without milk.
Thanks Nina’s Tea for the sample.

Sadness!! I was so excited to try this, after sniffing the dry tea. Berry goodness oh my!
But then I steeped it up and got mostly caramel and vanilla, with a barely a hint of berry. Sighs.
I’m not a big vanilla tea fan, but the caramel seemed to balance it out somewhat. It was more the aroma that I found offputting, when I think about it. Oh well, it was a smooth cuppa, I have to give it that! Perhaps a little biting towards the bottom of my mug. It was a rather large mug because I wanted to use up the entire sample.
Don’t go by my rating though, since I’m not a vanilla champion heh. And hey, I’d never turn down another free sample of it…

Whoa, apparently everyone on Steepster went mental over this one a few months ago.

Courtney generously sent me a sample of this! I had tried it last year at some point when I got a few samples from Nina’s, but it’s nice to revisit this because I feel as though my taste buds have come a long way.

It’s very tasty, I suspect I would have no interest in drinking a regular genmaicha after trying a flavored one, I’d be missing the sweetness.

I’m not sure I’d call this the greatest tea ever or anything, but I enjoyed it. I resteeped it thrice, but the third one was pretty watery. Just seemed a shame not to try.

If I ever do an order from Nina’s I would definitely include this! However I have priorities in the form of a new Butiki order as well as saving up for a massive MF order that I can’t really afford before I’d get around to ordering from Nina’s. All that just to give you an idea of where I stand. This isn’t a MUST HAVE NOW tea or anything.

I’m very glad I got to try it again, thank you Courtney!

On another note, I rolled my head around awkwardly to look at the alarm clock this morning and effed up my neck something fierce. We are such fragile creatures!
But Baby Girl slept over six hours straight last night so it’s almost worth the stupid neck/back pain!

I had rated this 86 last time and will leave it as such :)

My second last sample from Laurent and Sophie, Merci!

Le Sigh.

Seriously you guys. Banging my head on the counter. I drank this at work today, I was really looking forward to it, I knew it was going to be a crappy busy week and so I thought a nice way to start Monday would include this tea. That sentence was poorly formed but I don’t even care.

It was good, real good, for two steeps. I can’t comment on brewing method because I probably used too hot water, because for some reason i thought it was black tea, but it was still good.

Thing is, I was all proud of myself because I was drinking it and marveling at the really nice, subtle, not-too-sweet chocolate taste, in both steeps. I was all like “look at you, noticing flavor notes!” (of a flavoured tea, mind you)…. I didn’t have time to write this at work, so imagine my surprise (and head+counter reaction) when I read the description….which includes…. NO chocolate.

Ughhhhh back to the drawing board.

I’m not joking, I was tasting an unsweetened version of Cocoa Rice Krispies. What is wrong with my taste buds!? Vanilla? Caramel? Seriously?

It was good though. I’m hoping when their online shop opens up I will be able to afford the shipping fees :)

Made this one as a cold brew and it is delicious. I have discovered that I really like oolongs as a cold brew. This one turned out nice and roasty, slight hints of peach and citrous. This tea reminds me of how instant lipton iced tea mix tastes, but without all of the sugar. I did not need to add any sweetener at all because there was a slight sweetness to it on its own. It would have stood up sweetener though.

Despite the name, this is an oolong tea.

The dry tea smells like a nice roasty oolong with a slight hint of peach. The brewed tea tastes like a nice roasty oolong, almost like roasted nuts. There is a touch of sweetness and a floral taste. It has a similar taste to morrocan orange blossom tea. There is a slight delicate peach taste at the beginning and end of the sip. Even though this is a roasty oolong, it is a light and refreshing tea. It gets sweeter and more peachy as it cools.

So when I was travelling through Italy the coffee, ie. the espresso, was super amazing. And I have no idea why. I like coffee but not as much as tea. It was pointed out to me that the location/experience can have lots to do with the perception of how good food or drink are.

So today is a super foggy day. One of those fogs where you are immediately wet when you go outside but it isn’t raining. So I decided I wanted to go for a walk around the lake. Those days are going to start getting few and far between with winter coming soon. Usually we are deep in winter by this time of year but for some reason we are experiencing a really nice fall. So I am going to enjoy it as much as I can. The walking path was almost deserted, which was nice. Leaves are still falling off of the trees and there are still ducks and geese hanging out. The air was crisp and fresh and I didn’t feel the cold until I got back inside.

I was cold and wet when I got home. So I brewed up something I have posted on.

I used 3/4 tsp of this assam, 3/4 tsp of lapsang souchong, 4 dried rose buds and a few slices of fresh ginger.

It was so delicious. Better than it has ever been. The assam gave depth, boldness and thickness to the tea. And it cut down a bit on the strong smokey, sometimes bitter, flavour of the lapsang. The lapsang had a great balance of smokeyness to it. The rose always mellows the flavours and blends them together, giving just the slightest floral flavour profile. I like using rose buds because it eliminates the chemical flavour of rose scented tea. The ginger added the right amount of spice. The ginger flavours made the smokey of the lapsang really pop. Like that first wood fire of the winter, that scent you get when you first start in the fire in the chimney. It could have been the brand of teas I used. But it may have just been the experience :)