Nina's Paris

Sipdown! (7/202)

Thanks to VariaTEA for the chance to try this sample.

This was the first Nina’s tea I ever tried, and I was definitely impressed. There was enough leaf in the sample for two lovely cups, but I will seriously consider procuring more of this to try cold steeping at some point.

In dry form, I couldn’t specify any scents I noticed, possibly as it’s been in my sipdown box for a while now. Brewing, however, I could pick out both the pineapple and coconut scents. It smelled super tropical, and I could barely wait to drink it.

I wasn’t actually expecting to enjoy this as much as I did – I’m not that big on green teas usually, and I’ve only found one pineapple tea I’ve enjoyed (Bluebird Tea Co.‘s ’Retro Ted’) although I love anything else pineapple. Having said that, I am obsessed with coconut teas, and can’t think of one I’ve disliked. In this tea, the coconut flavour is prominent at the beginning of the sip, and then as a creamy background note with the pineapple taking over. There is a slight grassiness from the green tea but it actually works well in conjunction with the flavours and isn’t as offputting as I usually find it. Everything works really well together, and I’m sad to see this tea go. Thanks again for the sample, VariaTEA!

I’m not sure I got the best out of this cup. It was a little bitter and unbalanced before I added some creamer. This might be one that I have to fuss with the steeping parameters on. Once the cream was added the flavors improved. The sip is brighter. Light butterscotch comes to mind. The finish has more depth, a little malt and the butterscotch becomes heavier, almost caramel like. It has an aftertaste similar to MF’s Wedding Imperial. I’m liking this cup, but I’m not crazy about it as is. I’ll have to look up the Wedding Imperial steeping parameters I favored and try it on this one next time I have it.

I made the mistake of leaving the house today and trying to adult (while hungry) in a world full of inconsiderate a-holes. It’s one of the downsides to living in a heavily populated area. People feel cramped by each other and take out their frustrations on whoever is nearby. To top it off it’s a sad anniversary for my family, so now I’m back at home hiding and trying to find comfort in a cup of tea.

I made this cup first thing this morning, put it in a thermos, wasn’t very impressed with it and moved on to two other mediocre cups of tea. I opened one of the Fauchon teas I recently bought and it isn’t what I thought it was. The samples they had out to smell weren’t labeled and someone must have switched the placement, leading me to buy a black tea with chamomile. Not my thing.
Much later in the day I find myself picking up my thermos and trying this tea again. Not bad. Much better than this morning. Maybe it just needed to cool a little? It smells like caramel and butterscotch candies and has a soft flavor of them too. The finish is nice as well. I imagine this would be good sweetened and maybe with some creamer to amp up the flavors. I’ll have to try to remember that for the next cup.

HHTTB

Caramel. Niiiice. This tea has that same delicious caramel taste that MF’s Wedding Imperial has, but seems much more forgiving on the steeping parameters. It is a little similar to Japon minus the genmacha too. It is very evenly flavored and is a very enjoyable cup!

Okay so I’m definitely going to need to order from Nina’s Paris one day. This is the second tea I’ve tried from them, courtesy of Ost who sent me sample, and it is delicious! I mostly taste peach, but something about this seemed more special than your run-of-the-mill peach black tea. Perhaps it was just the quality that made it better? It smelled fantastic, too! I got two good steeps before it started to weaken (just like the first tea I had from this company). Anyone have any other suggestions for teas I should try from Nina’s Paris??

100th TASTING NOTE!!!! WOO HOO!!!

I’m feeling pretty accomplished right now :) In the 2 months I’ve been on Steepster, I’ve tried 100 new teas (although that’s not exactly true since I’ve logged one or two teas twice). My cupboard has grown exponentially, it seems. My tastes have already begun to define themselves and I know soooo much more about tea. I’ve been blessed to find some really good tea people to swap with, and I’ve tried to make sure to be extra generous with those newer than me since others did the same for me at first.

I purposely saved this tea for my 100th note for that very reason. NayLynn was so generous as to send me this tea a couple of weeks ago as a birthday present even though we hadn’t even talked about my birthday coming up. I couldn’t believe it when I opened my swap package with her to find the bag of swap teas and a neatly wrapped and decorated tin with this inside. I cannot believe the amount of goodness I’ve seen in people here on Steepster :)

Anyway, 100th TASTING NOTE!! WOO HOO!! This is my first Nina’s Paris tea, so I was very excited to try it this morning. It was so perfect for a first cup! It is spot-on vanilla and caramel with a hearty black base. I got two really good steeps with a third steep that was weaker but still good. I’m going to be drinking this a lot on crisp fall mornings. It’s perfect. I’m glad I’ve got a sample of another Nina’s Paris tea to try from another swap, too. Perhaps I’ll have to place an order when I run out of this!

Thank you so much, NayLynn :)

Backlog:

The bergamot aroma was very faint and I found that to be a tad disappointing because that’s one of the things that I love about Earl Grey … that immediate recognition of the strong bergamot aroma.

Fortunately, the bergamot is present in the taste! And this is a really, really good Earl Grey!

I love the Keemun base. Strong black tea with a zesty bergamot flavor shining through. I love the way the wine-like notes meld with the bergamot.

A top-notch Earl Grey. Read more about my tasting of this tea here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/07/23/earl-grey-black-tea-from-ninas-paris/

Sipdown (112)!

This tea is fucking magical.

For those “not in the loop” or whatever, I’ve been having some bad problems with my teeth as of late, and in particular my wisdom teeth are causing a lot of issues. One of the bigger ones is this feeling of “pressure” in my head from them pressing against my back molars, or something like that. It’s resulted in fairly non-stop headaches for weeks. Yesterday, they were really bad.

Well, I steeped this tea of kind of around the peak of pain or whatever you want to call it yesterday. It just fucking sucked, and hurt a lot. Dry, this smells very fresh and fruity and rather tropical – and that carries over into the smell as it steeps. It’s just the juiciest, freshest citrus candy type smell. Mmm!

And then, like magic, I took like two small sips of this and suddenly the cluster headaches were gone and all that was left was this really peaceful, zen moment with this tea. It was like I was swept up, drinking fancy ass cocktails on a beach somewhere – with the little mini umbrellas in ‘em and little wedges of fruit on the rim of my cup. I think it’s the first time I’ve been so vividly transported someplace else while drinking tea – other than recalling childhood memories. But this was up there with that.

Taste wise, the black base came off as very smooth to me, and the fruit flavours were poignant in their juiciness. The pineapple was most violently present to me; and that makes sense given it’s my favourite fruit – ever. It was a very sweet, almost “candied” pineapple flavour to me, made more in depth and flavourful by the sweetness of the mandarin/orange in the blend which complimented it so well. And this natural sweetness and juiciness conjured up the flavour of bubblegum, to me. I’m struggling a bit explaining that portion of the cup but really, this was so good. And, I can’t imagine someone adding sugar to this; I think it’d push the whole cup over the edge into such a cloying state.

Somehow, I am going to get more of this. I feel like this one really needs to be a part of my permanent collection. I was just so blown away by it. I can’t think of a single thing right now to complain about…

I actually really like this one. After reading some of the reviews on here I wasn’t sure what to expect. Recently I ordered five tins of different flavored black teas from Nina’s, and this is the only one I hadn’t tried until today.

I don’t get a lot of chocolate, I get some orange and I get some cream. I like the way it all comes together though. I get a really nice and interesting sensation of the tea coating my mouth like cream would, and I’m not really sure how to describe that any other way. It’s sort of that buttery, creamy feel that eating decadent things gives (but this does NOT taste like butter). But, it’s not leaving me feeling heavy or yucky.

The orange flavor isn’t super strong or tart, and that’s ok with me since two of the other teas I ordered from Nina’s have a much more foreground orange taste. I think this is really well balanced.

I think if you like vanilla or cream flavored teas with a hint of orange, you should definitely try this one.

Upon opening the package for the first time, the dry tea has a very strong citrus mint scent. The tea is so pretty to look at, blue flower petals, lemon peels, green and black tea leaves all mixed together.

Brewed, the tea has a very distinct mint scent. The tea flavours are quite blunted compared to the scent. There is definitely a smooth ceylon base, but without astringency that often accompanies ceylon tea. There is a very light, sweet mint flavour. There is a slight, tart, citrus flavour. It reminds me more of orange vs lemon. The flavour is very light.

This is a very interesting tea. It is not quite mint, not quite a black tea.

I think this one may need to be steeped for longer to bring out more flavour.

The mint and lemon flavours become much more prominent once the tea is cold.

My last Nina’s Paris sample from Marzipan. Visually, this looks somewhat similar to Rouge, but it has fewer flower petals. The dry scent is very tart, and sour in an almost pickle-y way! Very interesting.

After steeping, it still smells tart but in a decidedly fruity way. It smells like a combination of pineapple and orange, which is exactly what it is! I added a touch of raw sugar to my cup. This is a delightfully fruity cup! It seems more like a mélange of fruits than just pineapple and orange, although those two are certainly present. I also taste sweet-tart apple and possibly some mango in here. Yummy!

Another Nina’s Paris tea from miss Marzipan. After the last one seemed a bit weak in flavor, I figured I should drink my last two before they start to lose their oomph. This is a chocolate orange tea, which is one of my very favorite flavor combinations. It has the same small black leaves, and my sample has one large piece of dried orange peel in it. Dry scent is sweet chocolate, I’m not getting much orange.

Once steeped, however, there is a powerful sweet orange smell accented by a touch of creamy chocolate. The orange here is nice, it reminds me of the fragrance of orange zest. I would like more chocolate, however. The chocolate mostly manifests itself as a touch of (pleasant) bitterness and a creamy texture. I just can’t fully enjoy this cup, as the whole time I’m thinking about Three Friends. Lol!

This sample was generously provided by Marzipan! The black tea leaves are small and very dark, and there are slender feather-like red flower petals mixed in with them. I noticed that in the picture, there are orange peel pieces, but I didn’t really look hard enough at my sample to find those. Dry scent is a sweet combination of cinnamon and orange.

The steeped tea smells mostly of sweet cinnamon with just a touch of orange zest. The flavor of this one is super mild for me, I wonder if I overestimated my water. I’m not getting a lot of orange, which is odd since others seemed to. I do taste mild and sweet cinnamon, and it’s more similar to the spice than it is to candy, which is a nice change from a lot of other spiced teas. Hmm, I’m wondering if I waited too long to try this one, since it’s in a little ziploc baggy. :( Withholding rating.

Thanks for the sample Marzipan!

This is good…the cinnamon isn’t too overpowering and the apple is nice and natural. I don’t get much vanilla, but overall the package is quite nice, with the mild black base and all.

Having this one this morning (afternoon?) to convince myself that no, I really don’t need that $12 tin of Christmas Tea from Kusmi that’s on Vente-Privee right now… Especially since I’ve never tried it before, so who knows if I’ll even like it… Ahem. Anyway! This lovely sample came from Marzipan, thanks again! Now, I know sprinkles in tea blends are often frowned upon, but I can’t help but find these tiny white snowflakes anything less than completely charming. Some things are just cute, okay?! Anyway, this tea has that familiar holiday fruit and spice combination.

The steeped tea smells lovely, like the canned cinnamon apple slices my grandma makes. Yum, I quite like this one! The flavor is sweet and somewhat light, and the cinnamon is in perfect harmony with the apple instead of overpowering it. I find I’m not tasting a lot of vanilla, but I’m not terribly upset by it (which is saying a lot, I love vanilla). I will definitely have to pick up some of this gem if I ever get around to a Nina’s order. Thanks Marz! :D

Thank you Marzipan for the sample! I made this for breakfast without reading what was in the blend. I picked out the citrus notes right away, along with what I thought was vanilla (must have been the cream?) It also has a sweetness about it that I like.

I would never have tasted chocolate in this blend. So in that respect I suppose it might be disappointing. However, it was a really nice breakfast tea that I enjoyed quite a bit this morning, and it paired perfectly with a homemade maple pecan scone! NOMMMY!

Miss Marzipan was nice enough to send me several Nina’s Paris samples from her order. This is the first to be tried! The leaves themselves are quite small and very dark, and there are a few yellow flower petals mixed in. Dry scent is a tart combination of fresh orange and grapefruit juices. I steeped 1.5 teaspoons of leaf for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Once steeped, the aroma is an interesting sweet yet tangy mix of grapefruit, orange, and lemon scents. I added a touch of raw sugar to my cup because I can! This is a rather tart-tasting tea, so I think the sugar works nicely to balance it a bit. The grapefruit flavor is actually very accurate to the real fruit, and there is a touch of fresh-squeezed orange here as well. I am not generally a fan of orange juice, but it’s rather nice in this tea. The base is smooth and generally unobtrusive, which I find to be common among French brands. Tasty!

Another lovely Nina’s sample from Marzipan :)

Mild black with zippy grapefruit tang. Subtle but not in an unsatisfying way. I bet some sugar would really make this one sing!

Thanks for the sample Marzipan!!

Wow, this reminds me of that old Bigelow standard “Constant Comment” tea, but not all fakey and chemical tasting! Also not so in your face strong with the spices. Very balanced and pleasant. Good stuff!

First off, a few things.
One, I love citrus. The colors, the smells, the flavors.
Second, I sweeten my teas. I grew up in the south. Get over it.

This is an orange and grapefruit tea. And, I loved it. I drank the cup very quickly just because I loved tasting it. It is definitely citrus, and almost had a lime flavor to it. Very bright but well balanced. This isn’t bold enough to be a morning tea for me, but I can see it becoming a favorite afternoon tea.

3 mins at 200.

I splurged and ordered five adorable red tins of Nina’s tea a couple of days ago. The shipment came today and after I arranged them where I can see them and they can make me happy on the tea shelf, I opened this tea.

It smells amazing: orange peel, spice, and tea. I steeped it at the suggested three minutes at 205 (the temp was not suggested so I was winging it). It is definitely a cinnamon tea but as it cooled the orange peeked out around the corner. It’s really nice. More delicate than other teas with this flavor profile that I have had, and I like that. It also re steeped well and the second cup is as strong as the first was.