Eve

I used water just barely at the boil and gave it a three minute steep. Nice color to the liquor makes me think this was a sufficient steep time.

It was hard to wait for it to cool to drinking temperature, but worth it. I took one of the little dried fruit pieces and it was so sweet and nice. The peach flavor in this is very good. I have one or two peach teas that I drink but I always have the feeling that I am getting some kind of burning fumes up my nose from the artificial “high note” that must be a byproduct of the flavoring. This tea does not have that to me. The fruit flavors are light, sweet, and natural tasting. The peach does not “turn” my tongue and make me pucker, and I am pretty sensitive to peach flavors. Done right, I like them. Done wrong, like in peach yogurt from the grocery, they gag me.

I thought at first that peach was the dominant flavor, and I will have to say it is the dominant aroma for me, but as it cools and as I sip, I do find the apple coming out and I think it keeps the peach from misbehaving. Apricot is dicey for me to recognize, since I have eaten very little apricot, and the taste is much like peach to me, only mellowed and warmer.

This was a nice choice for this dreary grey day while spring is being held out of my grasp!

Another sipdown! This is a sample sent to me from Lala, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to try this one. The main flavor I got from this is apple, & it was lovely & juicy.

Sipdown (204)!

When I had tea with Lala earlier this month, she brought a whole bunch of extra samples for me, including several from Nina’s Paris that I’ve been excited to try. I decided to make my very first Nina’s Paris tea this one. It was gonna be Nina’s Japon from VariaTEA except I realized I really was in more of a fruity black mood today, and this was in my sample drawer calling out to me.

Dry, I don’t get a whole lot from this. Maybe a little peach/apricot but nothing crazy distinct. My steeping parameters were the whole sample (a little more than 1 1/2 tsp.) steeped in boiling water for four minutes. Steeped up, the smell is very aromatic with thick, fat juicy notes of peach and apricot – though not a ton of apple. very excited to be trying this out.

Mmmm, the taste is definitely a very rich fruit tea like I was wanting. Again, I’m not getting a whole lot of apple (maybe a little) but I do get a very smooth vanilla/peach flavour with a brilliant black base and some milder notes of apricot. There’s not even a touch of astringency or bitterness – and despite a seemingly absent apple that feels well balanced with enough dimension. I honestly think if there was a strong presence of apple that might be a little too much going on – that or it’d be like a fruit cocktail.

Heh, it was even sweet enough to make my teeth sore again. Which is the first time they’ve severely acted up since getting my pain medications from the dentist. So… More pain killers for me!

Also, if it weren’t for the fact the pain killers I just took were the first ones all day then I might think I was pretty severely tripping balls because my landlord’s daughter and girlfriend are upstairs right now very loudly making animal noises (I’ve heard cat, rooster, bear, and dog noises so far). You know, if Maria – his daughter – was like under the age of 10 it might be a kinda cute bonding thing (they don’t get along well), but she’s 20… So, there’s that.

Not sure if I want to know the context of the animal noises.

Anyway, to conclude my thoughts on the tea:

This is definitely delicious and I think a great introduction to Nina’s Paris. It makes me very excited to try the remaining Nina’s Paris samples that I have. However, peach is a flavour that I am often quite fickle about and typically do not prefer or crave so I don’t think I’d go out of my way to acquire any more because I just don’t think it’d be worth the effort. There are more attainable peach teas I can drink instead.

I wouldn’t turn down another cup, though ;)

What a lovely tea ! I am a sucker for apple teas and for peach, apricot and vanilla teas so…i picked this one

I especially adore apricots but actually I refuse to buy any…I am living in Paris it just means we don’t have apricots around and I cannot buy directly to the producer…We are producing a lot of Apricot in the south of France but if I want to buy 1 kg (2.2 pounds) I have to pay 7 € ! 3 years ago during the season apricots were around 3 € which was correct. And I won’t speak about cherries (9 € a kg !) I hope in your respective countries you can buy seasonal fruits without contracting a credit :) !

The tea…of course I love this one.
I brewed it at 100°c and left it for 6 minutes.
Again same tea base as with the other Nina’s Paris flavoured blacks I tried until now.
The aromas are incredible and I got first peach and vanilla then apricot, apple is really behind.
This is my favourite of the Nina’s samples I tried until now.So delicate, so smooth and YUMMY.
Thank you Laurent and Mélanie from Nina’s Paris for the sample.

A pleasant cup. Great without any additions.
I enjoyed the generic peach like fruitiness with just a bare hint of vanilla. This isn’t one I’d want to keep stocked, but it was a nice change and I would grab another sample at some distant future date if I had a chance.
The black base worked well here. A little astringent, but in the positive way that I have learned to not mind.

Thanks to Laurent at Nina’s Paris for this sample!

Dry and brewed up, this tea smells deliciously fruity. No strong “astringent” aroma as I noted with Mon Secret, so I gave it a bit longer of an infusion, although I was still pretty cautious. Flavourwise it’s pretty fruity and full-bodied, with a lovely malty-tasting black base with is just the slightest bit astringent. I can’t specifically identify the fruits in here aside from peach (although it’s not overly peachy, I can just catch hints of it), but it’s tasty, and I’m pretty sure that the vanilla is contributing to the smooth flavour. Not bad! If you’re picking up samples from Nina’s, I’d definitely recommend this one for a fruity black.

Sipdown!! (209)

OMG this is like taking a bite out of a ripe, juicy peach. So flavorful and delicious. I am amazed right now. It is complimented by the smooth black base that I associate with Nina’s teas. Nearing the end of the sip, the apple and apricot appear as subtle notes to round the flavor. A very good cup, especially if you love peaches!

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

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.

1.5 tablespoons for 375 ml

Smooth black tea flavour. The apple, apricot, peach and vanilla are very well blended although I feel that they aren’t as bold as I would like. I feel that these flavours work very well together.

Sinfully good! The smell when dry was tart so I was a little worried, but there was no reason to be the vanilla balanced it out well. Creamy, fruity, goodness! As it cooled it was like biting into a freshly pealed apple skin, makes me wonder how this would taste iced?