Nina's Paris

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.

I think I drank this every day while we were on vacation! Smelling the dry leaves is such a treat that you really must just do that for a while before you make this tea. The berry aroma is so fresh and natural.

I really prefer this tea made by green tea parameters. I tried it using hotter water and a slightly longer steep and it was good but my favorite way is 176F for three minutes. The black tea in the base beefs it up just a little bit without the green getting bitter. This is soooo good. Another big hit from Nina’s, I will be serving this for tea time Wednesday and I can’t wait to see how my guest likes it.

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 think the only time I’ve ever had a jasmine tea was when I went out for dim sum. It definitely goes well with dim sum. This tea smells heavenly. I enjoyed two steeps of it, the second of which was more enjoyable, since I didn’t oversteep it. It seems to like about a one minute steep. I think this is a tea I would like to have now and then. Would probably be delicious paired with a rice dish. Thanks for the sample, Nina’s Paris!!

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.

I just enjoyed the sample of this tea that came with my Nina’s order. It smells amazing! Like piña colada, which is what I assume they were going for. I wasn’t sure about the steeping parameters since it didn’t come with any, and I don’t drink that much green tea, but it turned out pretty good at 176 degrees for 2 minutes. The taste is pretty light, but I definitely tasted some pineapple and maybe some creaminess from the coconut. Not overpowering flavor, but pleasant, delicate. I think I would consider getting more of this tea. It would probably be delicious iced, as long as it’s not oversteeped. Thanks, Nina’s, for the sample!! (Btw, I had this with a mango cupcake…great pairing!)

I learned something new with this tea. I love it when that happens. I thought gyokuro was a higher grade of sencha. It can be made of sencha but doesn’t have to be. What makes it gyokuro is that the tea bushes are covered for a few days prior to picking. This does some kind of mojo to the taste.

This is my first of this type tea. I have no idea if it is a good representation of gyokuro. I do know I really liked it. I used a cooler white tea type water temperature. Prepared this way it was not bitter. It was smooth, silky, not grassy, and I was happy to see Nina’s mentions in their description that there is a touch of the sea in the flavor. I picked that up before I read it. I love it when that happens.

We are on vacation and my eldest daughter just joined us last night. She brought a Mother’s Day gift with her! How fitting is Pour Maman for Mother’s Day! After smelling it, though, I think it would also be perfect for a baby shower gift to a new mother, because the aroma is so sweet. The word “precious” comes to mind.

This is a blend of green and black tea, but I pampered it and treated it like a green all the way. What can I say? Oh la la! The aroma is like a warm blanket tucked around when you are chilly. The strawberry is the main fragrance, with vanilla and rose beneath. Absolutely wonderful.

I gave a sip or two to my daughter who does not care for black tea but likes some greens and she liked it very much. She also thought it would be great iced, so I may give that a try, but honestly, this is going in my stash of tea to drink when you want to wrap your hands around your cup and escape from the world. Magnifique!

Guess what I’m drinking this morning?! Surprise, surprise!! Although I think at 5 minutes, it’s getting astringent. Will try 4 1/2 minutes next time. :D Gonna bring some of this for my mom and sister later when I go visit, so they can taste the awesomeness!!

SO FREAKING GOOD!! Okay guys, now that it’s here, after 2 days of me worrying that it was lost, I am in heaven! I did a little happy dance when I finally got it! The tin is really elegant. I just wish I could read the French that is written on it (although that makes it even more special)! I couldn’t for the life of me remember how long I steeped this tea when I tried the little one cup sample, so I went with 4 minutes.

OMG, totally met my expectations, and every bit as good as the sample!! The most noteable aspect of this tea is how silky smooth it is! I actually think I will steep this next time for 5 minutes, because I don’t think I really need to worry about astringency here. The raspberry and red current are complimented by the caramel and vanilla. Perfect balance of flavors! I am SO happy I bought 100g of this! Now, I think I need a scone! Haha!!

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.

First let me say that the little sample of this that I got awhile back was amazing, which lead me to today, where I was supposed to receive my “giant” order (100g tin) of it, but I am tea-less! :(

So, instead of me writing a great note about how happy I am to finally get this tea, I am super bummed out. The postal service “missent” my tea, so who knows when I’ll get it. It was supposed to be here today, but it didn’t come with the regular mail, and then I finally saw the update that it was “missent.” I really hope that it was just placed on the wrong mail truck, that it is still in my city, and that it will show up tomorrow.

This was a major disappointment to me, because I’ve been wanting this tea for months now and finally ordered it. AND, I had a difficult meeting to lead today at work, and I told myself that once I got through it I would have this tea to look forward to!! Super bummer!!

I really hope it comes tomorrow. New tea is supposed to decrease stress, not increase it! Stupid postal service!

UPDATE: Still no tea :( I hope it’s not lost!

UPDATE 2: It’s here! It’s here! Finally! I snooped through the blinds to see if the postman was putting a box in my mailbox, and he did! My husband was nice enough to go out and get it because I’m still in PJ’s, cuz I’m off work today. ;) It smells delicious! Gonna have some now! YIPPEE!!

Tea party day! We had pound cake made from freshly ground soft white wheat and eggs from my hens. I made strawberry yogurt, homemade, to go with it, and I must say many thanks to Ysaurella for telling me about Bon Maman preserves. I just stir in a bit of the preserves with my homemade Greek yogurt and VOILA! Delicious, fruity yogurt!

Every week my middle daughter shows us her most recent sketches and occasionally my youngest entertains us by playing the piano. Today, I joined in and sang “Cara Mia, Addio” from (of all things!) the Portal 2 video game, while youngest accompanied! LOL!

Because our food was so sweet I served this tea after we finished eating so the flavors would not compete. This is a nice, smooth green base and the fruit flavors are fresh and so enjoyable. I really need to try this iced as well! This is one of my favorite teas from Nina’s.

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.

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.

Yeah! I finally get to drink some tea! Check out the picture of this one. It looks alien. It smells delicious. I sipped this hot, but the taste reminds me of a grown up shaved ice drink. I imagine this would be awesome iced with a little sugar. There are several different berry and citrus ingredients in this. I personally could only separate out the blueberry. It all blends so perfectly, maybe too perfectly? Nice lingering aftertaste. I sipped this slowly and enjoyed every sip.

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…

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.

My stomach just feels upset this morning for some reason. I’m not sure why, so I thought some tea might help. I dumped the rest of the leaves that I had in my press to steep with the older leaves from last night and it tasted lots better. Yummy. I’m sad to see it go, but that means that I’ll just have to get more when I am able to.

I must be on a green tea kick today. I love how this one smells. It reminds me of a marshmallow. I used less leaf on this one today and if I re-steep it tonight then I’ll toss the rest of the leaf I have in with it. I have to remember that I tend to like a little more leaf and a little less time.

I might have to put this one on my teas I need to get list for later. I do really like it. Nice and toasty and green.

Let’s try this again. My computer is having a little temper-tantrum and shutting off on me again. Oh well.

I was expecting a plain green tea with this one, but when I poured my water over it I thought I smelled mint. I was correct and my first sips were mint. It was a plain mint. Nothing really stood out about it. It had a nice toothpaste clean mouth feel after it. But I wasn’t really tasting the green tea.

It cooled down a little bit and the green tea finally stood up. You can still taste the mint, but it isn’t as strong as it was at the beginning of the cup. It is slightly astringent. When it cools more you can really feel it at the back of your throat.

I’m not sure I like it as much as I did when I first took a sip. The green tea is a little rough for me this time and the mint is having a strange aftertaste in the back of my throat. It is nice and light and delicate. I think I would drink this with smaller cups though instead of in the big mugs of tea I normally have.

So, I don’t think I would go out and buy it for myself, but it is nice to drink. I like their Japon tea better.

Edit: So people are classifying this as a Moroccan mint type of tea? That’s interesting because I keep thinking of how nice it would be to mix this with my gunpowder green to see how it would turn out. That’s funny!

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!