Nina's Paris

I love Assam teas!

My absolute favourite is a CTC Assam, I don’t know why, but they are the best. This one is not a CTC, the leaves are very small and delicately curled.

The dry tea has a nice, sweet, fruit and slightly spicey flavour. The brewed tea smells malty, slight cocoa-beany, with a lot of sweetness. My taste buds were salivating over the smell.

The brewed tea is bold and malty but with no astringency or bitterness. There is a slight natural sweetness to the tea. I want to say it is a stone fruit sweetness. Reminds me of the pits of an apricot or peach. There is a slight spice to the tea. But it is like a fruit-spice if that makes sense to anyone else.

Very delicious Assam. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a multi-faceted black tea.

In a side note: I lost some of this tea due to dropping the open package on the floor. I bet it was only about a TBSP but I still shed a tear over it.

This was a free sample with my Nina’s Paris order.

Assam is my favorite straight black tea, so I was super happy to get this as a free sample.

The dry tea is super fragant, smells sweet and flowery, slightly fruity. The brewed tea is moderately thick and heavy. It tastes sweet, fruity, flowery. It is also malty and reminds me of a heavy sweet bread.

I think this is one of the best straight assam teas that I have tried! I did not have to add any milk or sugar at all.

1 tablespoon for 247 ml

A touch of excessive astringency. Good caramel and vanilla flavour blend which are very well balanced.

Finished off the sample today – thanks to Nina’s Teas for it! Today, the dry leaves have a pleasantly flowery smell. I really shouldn’t have black tea because it hurts me, so I brewed the tea fairly light – 1 tsp for 8 oz at approx. 180 degrees for 3 mins 15 secs. Tasty! Mildly astringent, with a touch of citrus – lemon, maybe? I’m not great at evaluating black teas (what with the fact that I rarely drink them), but this is nice. Glad to have tried it.

This is a solid tea. It’s fairly mild all around – slightly astringent and slightly dry with a slight honey flavor. It brews up a light amber color. I’m not picking up much of a scent, so I can’t comment on that. I can say that it goes well with eggs and toast. Not bad as a breakfast tea.

It also resteeps nicely. Sweeter, less dry. About the same astringency. I got distracted for a while and the second cup got cold (after I had removed the leaves). This is actually lovely as an iced tea. The dryness is somehow more pleasant when it’s cold.

Full review at 5 central on http://sororiteasisters.com/ but here are snippets:

When I opened by sample bag of Nina’s Japon from Nina’s Paris the first aroma that struck me was the genmaicha. That fresh popcorn smell was captivating as it always is for me when I smell Genmaicha. This was different though. A sweet caramel aroma wafted up into my nasal cavities seducing me! I could only hope the flavor was as wonderful as the scent!

It was!

The after taste is that of caramel popcorn and really so very good. I can’t believe I have taken so long to review this tea. I have had it waiting on me to try for over a month or two. This is a definite reorder once I let myself off tea buying hiatus.

Now I admit, I failed to look up brewing instructions before making this tea. I steeped it in 195 degree water for 3 minutes. I did not realize before steeping that it had green teas in the blend. Yet, not one bit of bitterness, nor astringency in this cup. Amazing, it is idiot proof!

I am really very impressed here! A big thanks to Nina’s for this sample. Request your samples too! Nina’s Paris has been more than accommodating to new customers who would like to sample their teas. You can request three samples at a time and trust me, you will want to order once you try them!

I had a dream last night of a kettle corn vending machine that would make fresh popcorn and add toppings to it like chocolate or caramel and then a bucket of kettle corn would fall out the bottom however you ordered it. I was reminded of this dream when I realized I wanted this tea this morning. It seems like it would be the tea most like kettle corn! (Though I realize that this is popped rice in genmaicha and not popped corn — still tastes like kettle corn, anyway!)

I REALLY wanted to try this one when I saw someone’s tasting note for it, and then I noticed that Nina’s was sending out samples. I love the elements here: black tea, genmaicha, vanilla, caramel. I don’t think the black tea will really show through if you have to steep it like a genmaicha, since genmaicha can be bitter if steeped for too hot or too long. So I waited for the water to cool a while and then steeped for two minutes. It’s scrumptious and I love it! It’s a toasty genmaicha with added sweetness. Just what I was hoping for. There isn’t a ton of flavor, but what is there is great. I don’t really see much black tea flavor, since you’d have to burn the green to find it, so the black tea seems obsolete, but that’s okay! I really don’t see many genmaichas mixed with other ingredients, maybe because they are so good on their own. I’d order this one if my tea stash wasn’t ridiculous right now.

My package just said “Nina’s” on it, but judging by its smell, I think it’s Nina’s Paris.

It’s a very subtle blend where I mostly taste citrus fruit, sweetness and then a bit of tartness. Interesting, but so far je t’aime is my favorite of their teas.

Another free sample!

Sad to say, this one isn’t for me. It tastes so much like perfume that I can’t even imagine there’s apples in it. I guess there’s only a few teas with rose in it that I truly can handle/enjoy.

Decided to have a cup of this after having a cup of Harney’s Paris. Both teas have the same name but are totally different. And I love both teas.

Nina’s Paris feels like it is a bit lighter of a tea, the black bases differ between the two teas. Both teas are fruity, but Nina’s is more citrus fruity vs Harney’s is more black current. Nina’s also has a bit of a citrus peppery taste.

I love both teas, no matter if they taste different from eachother, I still want to go to Paris!

This dry tea smells very fruity and delicate, slightly flowery. There is no distinct fruit standing out, but just a generic sweet fruity smell. There is black tea leaves with yellow and purple flowers mixed throughout.

After the tea was done steeping, I took a long sniff and it smelled exactly like blood orange. Mmmmm. I love blood orange, so I am happy that this one lived up to its description. There is also a flowery scent.

The base of the tea is soft and delicate and works well with the blend. It is not overly bold which I like. There is a slight blood orange flavour, but is not tart at all. I can also taste the peach and cherry notes. I get a slight taste of the sunflower petals.

The recommendation was for a 3 minute brew, but I only did 2 minutes, as I have found that works the best for Nina’s Paris teas.

I have not been disappointed by Nina’s Paris tea yet!

I couldn’t wait to have this again, and now it’s gone.

Ahh.. C’est la vie. :P

Ahh.. C’est la vie. :P(Also, this sorta reminds me of Butiki’s Caramel Vanilla Assam. Except it doesn’t re-steep as nicely).

I had a sample of this before, direct from Nina’s Paris, but JustJames surprised me with just a little more. And I’m happy he did. I still think this is my favourite from Nina’s Paris. I just love the caramel and vanilla.

I may have to pick up some for myself. :)

This is my first sample from Nina’s tea – I chose it randomly from the envelope it came in.

Before I looked at the ingredients in this I thought it was a chocolate tea – wishful thinking perhaps? This tea has a smooth base, and the caramel and vanilla add a bit of character to the profile. It’s simple. It’s sweet without being artificial. Like the girl-next-door of teas?

I’m pretty happy with it!

I love coconut. The dry leaf scent is coconut. The brew smells of pineapple. I hate pineapple. Going to be interesting seeing how this turns out. For as intense as the aroma is, the sip is much more refined and extremely tasty. Why did I doubt? I am pretty sure this is not what Nina’s was shooting for but this makes me think cotton candy at the fair. I love cotton candy at the fair, so that is high praise I think. I guess we all sense refined differently.

Sipdown, 782. Thanks to Nina’s Paris for a sample of this tea :)

I couldn’t remember what the flavouring was supposed to be in this tea, and a sniff of it made me think apple… but apparently I’m wrong, as it’s strawberry. Knowing that and sniffing, however, makes it clear that it is strawberry (even though I’m pretty sure you could still convince me that it’s sweet apple!)

Anyhow, this isn’t too bad of a tea. A 2-minute infusion kept the base in check, and there’s a good dose of apple (strawberry) flavouring, which is quite nice. Overall, a fairly tasty fruity black, not my first choice of tea type but better than some I’ve tried!

Merci beaucoup Sophie et Laurent for this sample! (My French only goes so far, also I live in New Brunswick where it’s perfectly acceptable to speak a mash of both languages, haha)

I was so happy to receive these samples because I had wanted to try this ever since reading other reviews on it. I am also still on the hunt for the ‘perfect for me caramel tea’, so this was on the list to try.

My first impression was that it reminds me a bit of DavidsTea Salted Caramel, which is more burnt toffee and less creamy than I’m still hoping to find. On second sip I can tell it isn’t as burnt tasting as SC, must be the vanilla toning it down a bit. That’s the only real hint of vanilla I’m getting though.

All in all I did like this more than the SC, but not sure yet if I would order it. Maybe my idea of what caramel should taste like is just wrong?? Or doesn’t exist as tea? Kraft caramel cubes, that’s what I want. Brown sugar mixed with butter and eagle brand sweetened condensed milk!

Incidentally, today my third….ummm maybe fourth? (haha) Della Terra order arrived, and I got a custom sample pack including Caramel Creme which I’ve been wanting to try. I opened the bag up for a sniff and it totally reminded me of this!

Anyway i still have two Nina’s samples to try and I am excited. They’ve gotta be better than Grand Amour! (go check my review :))

Made this at boiling for 2.5 min

The smell of this tea is intoxicating to me. It is like sweet dried apples, but not too tart.

The smell of the brewed tea is amazing. I can’t quite put my finger on what it smells like. It is almost like those sprinkles that you put on hard sugar cookies, the ones that look like glitter. I can smell apples, peach, vanilla, white chocolate, very sweet but not overpowering. Almost like icing.

The taste of the tea is similar to the smell, but not as complex. You can taste the strong black base, the apples and possibly the apricot, or it might be peach. You can also taste the vanilla.

I think I like this one better than Marie Antionette.

I find that Nina’s Paris teas taste best when brewed for shorter periods of time, around 2 min. Otherwise the black base gets too strong.

Sipdown! 790. Thanks to Nina’s Paris for the free sample :)

I think this may have been the best-smelling tea I’ve had from Nina’s yet (yeah, I have a soft spot for caramel/vanilla)! And… the flavour is actually really good too! I’m getting both vanilla and caramel quite strongly, and with keeping the infusion time to 2 minutes, I’ve avoided any possible astringency from the base, so instead it’s just hanging out nicely behind the strong desserty notes. Yum!! I’d certainly think of purchasing this one in the future, assuming I could get it to taste the same as this cup does. Delicious!

Thank you to Nina’s Tea for the sample of this!

I had tried it once before but wanted to give it another go. The description is certainly enticing. Vanilla, caramel and berries. Sounds like other teas I love, for example Harney and Sons Paris, except that one has the bergamot in it.

I’ve reached the conclusion that perhaps red berry black teas are not really for me. I can tell that this is a well done tea. It’s very smooth and the flavours mingle well together. The vanilla and caramel tone down the red berry taste, but there still is a bitterness for me, which I imagine must be the fruit.

Ultimately it is a soft and enjoyable tea, if red berry black teas are your sort of thing.

It is safe to say at this juncture that they’re not my thing, though I’m very glad I got to try this!

My previous rating was 69 but I removed that because I can tell this is a nice tea, just not one for me.

Received this as a sample from Sophie and Laurent, merci!

Decided to try this one first.
It’s VERY fruity! I think it may be a bit too fruity for me, though it is tasty for sure, I find the fruitiness is so extreme it borders slightly on cough syrup territory. I am enjoying it though, I might like it a bit more if there was more caramel/vanilla taste in it to balance off the extreme fruitiness.

Not sure what red currants taste like but I am noticing the raspberry for sure!
Overall a pleasant tea, my own tastes just stop me from loving it.

So glad to have tried this, and I am looking forward to digging into my other samples from Nina’s Tea!

(3 min @ boiling)

ETA

I was going to resteep the remnants of this and then I went upstairs and got distracted on Facebook (Weird, right? That never happens!) and forgot it was steeping. Came down like half an hour later and I took a sip anyway, because I figured it would be a bit weaker and maybe more forgiving since it was the second steep. Silly me, it was disgusting! Everything I didn’t like about the first steep was highlighted and multiplied by 1 million. Straight up cough syrup. First tea I’ve actually spit out! As soon as it touched my tongue. I mean obviously no sane person would ever drink tea steeped for 30 min but I thought it was worth noting. The extreme cough syrupiness, that is. Blech. I want to lower the rating because this legitimately left a bad taste in my mouth, but I know that wouldn’t be fair. So I won’t.

My last sample from laurent of nina’s paris once again i’m thanking you to be able to try this!

I’m noticing puffed rice and black and green tea leafs in this blend. The dry leaf smell a bit like a caramel toffee. I’m brewing this with near boiling water for about 3min and the result is a nice dark amber brown liquor that still smells like a toffee!

I’m hoping my tasting buds are not going to mess up my sample because i woke up today having a terrible cold and i’ve been coughing almost whole day now… anyway here we go!

With my first few marginal sips (because its to hot!) i’m noticing light vanilla taste but i’m going to led it cool down a bit more first… ok its cooled enough now and i’m tasting caramel with a hint off vanilla its a light blend with a very soft taste probably because the green leafs mixed in. I’m not really noticing the rice but hey i’m having a cold so i’m not functioning correct!

once again a tea that i would buy in the future!

Sipdown! 797. Thanks to Nina’s Paris for a sample of this tea!

The aroma is absolutely delicious. Juicy red fruits/berries; I can’t quite pick everything out, but there’s tartness and fruity deliciousness in abundance. Flavourwise, however? Ooooh, a bit bitter. I only gave it 2.5 minutes, but should have only given it 2, I think. The fruity flavours are still there, but muted a bit by the strength of the base. My bad – I should have learned by now that French teas seem to require a light touch in terms of steeping time, especially since I’m not a black tea person to begin with.

Ooh. I’ve been sitting here about 30 seconds post-sip, and I’m getting a glorious raspberry flavour lingering. Yum!! And on the sip, if I concentrate on ignoring the black tea, I’m tasting red apple?! and raspberry. I actually rather like the flavouring in this tea, to be honest… perhaps I should go doctor up this cup with a bit of milk and sweetener (or maybe just sweetener) and see if that helps at all. I actually am wondering whether I perhaps used too little water for my cup, instead of oversteeping, as it’s occurring to me that the base isn’t really all that astringent/bitter, just strong. Hrrrrrrm.

Welp. Anyways, I’ll update if/when I do anything to this tea. I’m up super early this morning because I was totally wiped out yesterday (still experiencing pain/muscle spasms from tetanus shot, and MMR injection site is red and swollen) and crashed absurdly early, yeah, we’re talking like 6pm… and therefore I woke up at 4:30am. Long day ahead! I’m still convinced that it’s Saturday already… rambles

ETA: Mixed in some diluted honey to sweeten this, and… meh. Didn’t improve it as I had hoped. I’d be willing to give this one another shot in the future though, because I did enjoy the fruit flavouring! Didn’t try re-steeping this one (I didn’t recall deciding 100% not to, but I’m down to two infusers sitting with used tea leaves in them, and one is Laoshan Bilochun Green, and I’m not entirely certain what the other is…)