Teavivre

Additional notes: I’m having this one again today! Thank you so much Dexter3657 for sending me some of this one and the Tan Yang that I was also enjoying the other day. (Delicious.. I’ve tried some samples of it that Teavivre sent over before.) Both teas are VERY appreciated!

I have a bunch of one serving cups left of most of the pearls in my collection, so I’m going to try steeping them all the same way: five pearls, rinse, just boiled, first steep at two minutes. These pearls are nice, but it doesn’t quite have the chocolate/honey level that I would expect. Good but not the best. I certainly will not say no to the rest of these pearls until I settle on a favorite!

A big thank you to Teavivre for sending out these samples! I don’t know what it is about black tea pearls, but I love them, and I had to try Teavivre’s. And I had to try them today because of other tasting notes on the dashboard today! Maybe the flavor stays wrapped up in the pearls making the flavor stronger, rather than with a loose leaf, I don’t know. Teavivre’s site told me to brew ten pearls at a time but one sample had seven in it, so I went with that. These pearls are pretty big though! I rinsed the pearls with just boiled water, just covering the pearls for a few seconds, then dumped that water out.

Steep #1// boiled // 2 min
I just love the dark chocolate flavor of pearls. It’s like melted chocolate. So so good. With only seven pearls, I can imagine how ten would be even more delicious. But some might not like the flavor that strong! There is a bit of a tanginess but in the best way possible. It makes the sweetness even sweeter. Like semi-sweet dark chocolate chips! (Is that even a thing?) This is why I love black pearls!

Steep #2 // boiled // 2 min
This cup is also super divine.. though not as burned dark chocolatey as the first cup. A little bit oaky, but I didn’t really follow Teavivre’s parameters of 1,2,3 minute steeps. It’s still very good though. I’ll have to have my Zen pearls again soon to see how they compare to these, but I think those need a longer steep time anyway.

Steep #3 // boiled // 2 min
Also very good but the first cup is the best. Overall, these are amazing. Chocolate-like tea at its finest. I’m so glad I started drinking tea because at this point, I don’t know how I could live without it!

This is a really nice Milk Oolong, that does not lose any flavor between steepings. I got three steepings out of one teaspoon, but probably could have gotten more if I had wanted.

This is a milk oolong but it doesn’t smell as awful as some others I’ve tried, so that may be a plus for individuals who had been turned off from this variety before. The taste is a bit more subtle than the smelly milk oolongs and I don’t know which I prefer. Both are yummy in different ways.

This tea has a jasmine aroma. It taste floral and buttery. The strong jasmine aroma does not come through in the flavor, it is much more muted. I get the jasmine taste with honeysuckle and a sweetness that reminds me a little of honeydew melon.

We had some friends over tonight, and one of them was from the Netherlands. I brought this out for him to sniff, and he immediately knew exactly what it was, which made me so happy to know there are more people like me! :) Although he pronounced it more like Lapsang Soo-Wong, which may be the correct way to pronounce it, I have no idea. He picked this out to drink and was very happy with it!

I am so delighted to finally be trying this tea! This was sent to me as free sample from Teavivre- thank you!! I have been waiting for the right mood to strike me before I try this tea. It smells soo good dry leaf- reminds me a bit of liquid smoke, and also smoked salmon. Being that I love smoked fish, I am ready to love this tea.
I am also cautious, however. I follow the low end of Teavivre’s instructions. 2 tsp of tea, 1 min. I am pretty happy with how it turned out! I will definitely need to be in the right mood for a tea as smoky as this one, but it’s a perfect, comforting, inside-warming mug.
Thanks again Teavivre for the opportunity to try this tea!

Sipdown, 136. Thanks again to Teavivre for this sample.

I really enjoyed this one today. It was floral and sweet, with thick, rich osmanthus flavor. I also like that it’s not all osmanthus and I can taste the vegetal notes of the base, but the osmanthus is definitely the main even. One of the better osmanthus oolongs I’ve had.

Thanks to Angel and Teavivre for this sample. I requested this one because it is new and it’s a green oolong. A note of personal preferences: typically I don’t LOVE osmanthus oolongs, but I do enjoy them quite a lot. They are tasty teas to drink but I don’t swoon over them usually.

I followed Teavivre’s steeping directions on this one, and it seemed pretty done after a minute so I pulled the leaves instead of letting it go for two. It smells nicely floral and sweet, with lovely osmanthus notes. The flavor is sweetish, with slighty spinachy bottom notes and a thick floral flavor over all. This is an extremely floral tea, so if you are not down with florals you are probably better off giving this one a pass. If you do like florals, however, this is a nice example of an osmanthus oolong.

Sipdown, 137. Another delicious offering from Teavivre. This tea is nicely floral and fruity, with a nice amount of authenic peach flavor. It doesn’t stick out as hugely flavored, but it also is distinctly peachy. When I was smelling the dry leaf earlier it was really reminding me of being at the farmer’s market and smelling all the lovely fresh fruits. Sad that peach season is over!

This is the tea I made (hot) to replace my cold brewed disaster. It was, of course, delicious. Peachy, floral, refreshing. The jasmine on this is fairly subtle but really makes this more interesting than just a standard peach flavored green tea. Glad to have a bit more of this one around.

I actually had this one once before, but it was when my water was kind of off so I never even logged it. Now I feel like I can write an accurate review. Thanks so much to Angel and Teavivre for the sample!

I decided to brew this how I usually brew jasmine pearls, which ended up using half the sample pouch for my 12 oz mug. The dry tea looks just like jasmine pearls but smells delightfully peachy. Steeped, the aroma is similar… peach, with a hint of floral jasmine behind it. I do mean a hint, though, as peach is the dominant aroma. It is kind of more peach juice than fresh peaches, but it’s not really candy. The flavor is nice and fresh, with strong peach and light jasmine. The overall sense I get from it is less peach and jasmine than peach blossoms. Floral peaches, really. It works well for me and I definitely enjoy the combo.

I love the look of this tea with the black and gold dried leaves. The aroma of this tea is smokey and earthy, which is misleading because it does not come through in the flavor. The tea has a complex taste of malty and cocoa flavors mixed with sweet potato. This is a very exceptional tea.

This tea smells and taste of jasmine. The jasmine flavor is not overpowering, but it is the only flavor I get. This tea is enjoyable but not exceptional.

I taste an excellent range of flavors from this tea. There is a nice nuttiness at first and then a grassy vegetal flavor with a sweetness that comes on at the end. One of my favorite green teas I have tried, and overall a rich and complex tea.

Has a nice green color and a mild light taste. The flavor is grassy with a hint of spinach. There is a sweet after taste that stays with you for a while. This tea tastes like a lighter version of the Dragon Well tea.

While it is not the best Phoenix Mountain Dan Cong I’ve had, it’s still quite tasty. The flavor is nice and isn’t bitter or astringent. The taste started off subtly flowery, and its not until the end that you detect the almost smoked-woody flavor.

The color of this tea is quite clear with a hint of green. The flavor of the tea is buttery with slight fruitiness and a subtle nutty flavor on the end. All in all, a light crisp flavorful green tea.

Sipdown, 134. I actually sipped this one down the other day but completely forgot to log it!

I do like this one a lot, in part because the jasmine is so inobtrusive. Sometimes you don’t want to be drinking a bouquet of flowers (for many of you that is all of the time, but for me it is only sometimes). This is light and fresh and green, with some sweet snap pea notes to it. The kind of jasmine green I would want for an everyday jasmine tea, if my stash ever got low enough that I needed such a thing. Glad to have gotten a chance to try this sample! Thanks Teavivre!

I drank the second of three sample pouches of this one today. It was quite tasty; the jasmine is certainly present but not super strong, letting the bi luo chun shine a bit as well. I’m quite pleased with this one for an everyday jasmine green type of tea, and one that has a bit more interest than a more generic jasmine green.

Thank you so much to Angel and Teavivre for sending me samples of this tea. I am always intrigued when a jasmine tea is on an unusual green base… actually I’m not sure what base jasmine greens usually are, but they aren’t usually specified. But this one is! It was cool that the leaf was kind of half-rolled, almost like an oolong.

This was quite a nice jasmine green tea, with perhaps a bit more oomph from the green tea than a regular jasmine green. Bi luo chun is often kind of green-beany, and it comes through a little. This is less sweet than some other jasmine greens and lacks the honeysuckle notes. But that’s not to say the jasmine is light! It’s quite robust, it’s just matched by the green flavor of the tea as well. I definitely look forward to trying this one again, maybe in close comparison with some other jasmine greens.

This is one of the best tasting oolongs I’ve had. The flavor has a depth and richness that is hard to describe, and hard to tease apart. I just know that I savored this tea, and it made me feel mellow and blissful. This is a comfort tea.

Sipdown…

I, uh, decided to dump the whole packet in my timolino and cold steep all afternoon, but when I was ready to drink it, it was not steeped enough and was too weak. I knew I shoulda used a bit of hot water at the bottom first.

Oh well, this one is gone, but not forgotten. I do still like it, but I like the strawberry oolong best.

Very yummy tea. I cold steeped it for work today, and it is very delicate still, but more emphasis on the juicy peach, though still no jasmine (no good for me). I still like the strawberry oolong more, but this is still quite tasty.

This is one of the new teas from Teavivre that is flavoured, but not a straight floral flavour. I was a little weary of this one because of my sensitivity to florals, but I was assured that the jasmine was understated in this blend so I opted to give it a try in addition to the Strawberry Oolong.

The dry leaf of this is tightly rolled in dragon pearl fashion, and smells so so so fragrant like peach nectar.

Steeped, the brew is less intense juicy peach, but rather subtle juicy peach. Any hint of jasmine is blended into the background with the green tea base and is not really distinguishable individually.

I suspect I will get a few nice cups from the leaves, and moreover, I think that this will make a really good cold steep and bring the peach out more in the same way it does for the strawberry in the Strawberry Oolong.

Many grateful thanks to Angel at Teavivre for encouraging me to try this one, even though the jasmine scared me.