Teavivre

My tastebuds are a little wonky from burning my tongue this morning, but this was still a very enjoyable cup combining a certain floral quality with the earthy richness of sweet potatoes.

I made a pot of this one to share with my first student of the day. That was hours ago, but it was delicious & satisfying: Croissant, sweet potato, rose. Smooth, sweet, delicious.

Day 4 of the Qimen Quandery!
I’ve already drank every Keemun in my collection, including sipdowns on grade 1 & 2 from Teavivre. I’m starting over with the ones I still have, mainly because I realized that I didn’t necessarily use the same parameters, nor did I decide on my preferred parameters with each one either. So this one:
I’ve tried it using 1T + 8oz X 2min/3 re-steep, & that was a little too floral for my taste. If I try it again using that quantity, I’ll go for 1min/2/3.
1tsp X 2/ 3 was nice, but a little weak.
2 tsp x 2/3 = a nice rich, slightly floral cup. I’ll probably continue my experiments, including 2tsp X 1 min, 1 tsp X 2, etc. If this one is steeped too long it takes on an edge that I’ve realized I don’t really care much for. Don’t get me wrong, I still love this one, but I have noticed that.

In other news, I plan to get some Keemun from the London Tea Room tomorrow (along with some Kenyan Kaproret, to share with Nofar, Sil, & Tasty Brew), AND the Steepster Select box just arrived, with another Keemun that I can include in the mix!

Part 2 of Ms Theresa’s new protocol, which is to drink & compare Keemuns, since we have several in our collection. So after breakfast teas, Keemuns are sort of the black tea of the week. I’m not gonna try to drink them all in one day, I’ve decided the flavors get muddled in my tastebuds if I do it that way. I’ll just drink my way through them as my 2nd tea of the day for awhile.

This one is the current favorite, a lovely smooth tea with a subtle taste of chocolate & a hint of roses. Some Keemuns are more smoke & brown sugar, which I also love, but this one is not.

This was the tea I started my day with! My tea drinking gameplan today had been to sample all of the Keemuns in my collection, so I started with this one. Then I left the house to meet my friend, we lingered over Brekkie until noon, then I ran a few errands, & by the time I got home, I realized that having an all day Keemun day just wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore.
AND guess what….My box from SIL, my awesome steep-sister, came today!!!
And there are a few Keemun samples in there as well!!
Yay!!

I think this tea will have to be in my collection forever, because it really is that nice. The flavor is lovely & rich, with a hint of roses to it, at least that’s how I perceive it.

I love this tea! I want MOAR, because I’m almost at sipdown with it, & I will miss it when it is gone. So I have a Teavivre page open, it looks like I’ll be playing around with the shopping cart today! :D

This is such a tasty smooth tea, my first cup this morning while I was stumbling around at 5:30 am, trying to get ready to go play my Harp for another early morning brunch gig.

Heading out to rehearsal with the UMSL choir. This was my tea for sipping while practicing at home, part of an order shared with Sil & BoxerMama.
Wonderful!

I drank this yesterday, and it’s so nice that I’m drinking it again today while I eat breakfast & get ready to go play a gig.

I’m calling it a sip down, because although I have enough left for one for cup, I’m going to package that up with another sample & send it to one of my steepster friends as a surprise!! I’m not telling who, hehehehe, but I don’t think she’s ever logged it. :D

It took awhile to get out of bed. I laid there with my ipad, half asleep, reading & commenting on Steepster reviews. Tuesday is officially my day off, at least from students (although I do have a gig later today). Of course, it’s not really a day off, as I have desk work to do, music to practice, etc, but it’s nice to sleep in a bit & laze around. Besides my bed is SO comfy, it felt good to just lay there for awhile. The only thing that would have made it better was a hot cup of tea. My room is on the 3rd floor, so by the time I made it down to the kitchen, there was no point going back to bed. I drank my tea in the sunroom.

My first cup of the day was this wonderful Keemun. The dry leaf is SO fragrant! The tea itself is so smooth & flavorful. My formula:
1 T + 12 oz (195 F) X 2 minutes = Yeah, baby!
The re-steep was for 3 minutes & it was every bit as delicious.

Sitting here in the sun, my houseplants have reminded me that I forgot to water them yesterday & they are also hungry. There is work to do, even on my day off.

I’ve reviewed this Keemun several times, & it is very tasty, with essence of chocolate, malt, and roses! Of course, there are no roses or chocolate in it, but the flavor is there!

My first gig of the day is done. It was 4 hours long, but it was fun.
I’ve been sitting here, eating a little leftovers, & sipping this yummy tea. Essence of sweet potatoes & rose petals, it really is nice. I’ve been drinking a lot of Yunnan lately, but I like Keemun too. It’s different, especially in the mouth-feel, but wonderfully tasty.

Now I’m off to play the church gig for the 2nd night, which will be easy. Then I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep!

In spite of the fact that I have a gig this morning (I have to leave by 10:30, which is way better than yesterday when I had to leave around 6:00), I stayed up kind of late (“how late?” you ask. “I’m not telling”)
So Little Terri, Theresa, and I were jammin’ with the AX, and IT IS SO MUCH FUN!! We’re already fantasizing about Youtube videos with Little Terri playing Bass on the AX, Theresa playing some percussion toys (yes, I have quite a few of those too), and me playing my electric harp & singing a Janis Joplin number. We’re all gonna dress up to express our personalities, and it will be awesome. Oh, the possibilities!!

I originally got this tea as a sample from Angel@TeaVivre. It was quite tasty, and she was sending me some more samples, so I ordered some more of this lovely tea (along with several other items), and had her package them together. No point wasting shipping costs!

I steeped one T in 8oz @ 195 for 2min. It’s a very gentle Keemun, essence of malt, sweet potato, and roses. It makes me wonder if there are rose bushes planted around the tea plants, but probably not. The re-steep was 3 minutes, and that’s a pleasant cup as well.
It’s not particularly smokey, like some of the Keemun’s I’ve tried, but it is tasty, and that’s the most important thing!

I’m trying to get rid of a headache by slamming down several cups of black tea, this wonderful Keemun being one of them. I’ve already reviewed it before, but I’d like to say that I really love the backdrop of rose petals that I taste (although it doesn’t have rose petals in it, it just has a taste of them). I’ll need to order some of this, because it is tasty!

My thanks to Angel & Teavivre for this wonderful sample!!

I’m on a black tea drinking streak! This & 4 other samples arrived today from Teavivre, & this is the one I wanted. The sample is generous enough, roughly a heaping Tbl’s worth. My first cup was a tsp, brewed for 3 minutes. It was delicious! An enticing croissant-like aroma, a beautiful honey-amber hue, and a very mild, slightly chocolatey hint. It’s a gentle, mellow brew, very smooth in every way.

I tend to like my tea on the strong side, so the 2nd cup was made with what was left in the foil package, roughly 2 tsp of leaf, for 2 minutes. Now we’re talking! Bring on the croissant, bring on a little chocolate feeling in my mouth, & bring on the rose petals! It really seems as if this is a rose tea to me, & there is a sweet earthiness that brings sweet potatoes to mind (& I love my sweet potatoes!).
The 3rd cup was a r-esteeping of all of the above for 3 minutes, & it was also tasty!

The quality is excellent, & although there is no need for sweetener & I love it plain, I added a little stevia to the bottom 1/3 of each cup, & it was SO nice too. Not a hint of bitterness or astringency, I really enjoyed drinking this tea! Get you some! http://www.teavivre.com/black-tea/

I’ve noticed a few others comparing this one with the non-organic. I definitely prefer the non-organic. I brewed this one Western style, and if I get any more, I’d try Gongfu brewing with short steeps. The organic is a little stronger, so some might prefer it, but I love the non-organic and next time I order, I’ll get that one. In fact, the non-organic Bailin Gongfu is one of my favorite blacks-it is one smooth cup of tea!

High in fluoride, so good for teeth and bones?

Do you mean the naturally occuring fluorine? Or fluoride? Because fluoride is a toxic bi-product of several industries including: aluminum, nuclear and phosphate fertilizer. It is put in toothpaste and municipal water. It is also sprayed on crops. It is not good for your teeth. Not only that, but calcifies the pineal gland, lowers IQ, contributes to cancer, Alzheimer’s and more.

I have to admit that I was skeptical of this tea since it is A) a green tea, and B) it has jasmine in it. Turns out my skeptisisms were unwarrented.
I brewed me up a large cuppa this golden/green colored drink merely so I could cross it off of my ‘possible teas’ list. As you can see by my opening statement it turns out that is in fact a possible drinker. I can’t say I’m in love with it, but given that I haven’t liked many greens or any of the jasmines I’ve tried it’s still fairing well enough.
First thing that came to mind on the first sip was buttery, real buttery. After that I found myself questioning what was different about the green flavor. Partly it was the addition of the jasmine, though that was pretty tame, yet there was something else difficult to nail down. It’s a kind of malty green hay thing that, again, is difficult to nail down.
There were some sweet notes present as well, but I didn’t get any of the fruity or honey I read others may have found. I steeped this one a few times and found that the distinctly different notes that jumped out in the first cup had all mellowed and melted into a harmony of flavors.
Even though greens aren’t typically my thing I must still comment on the qaulity that Teavivre delivers. The pearls were beautiful and unfurled into delicate slender leaves. Even though it was AZZ that sent me this sample I must add Angel to my gratitude for the opportunity to experience this tea. Azz you were very gracious to send me so many samples to learn from, and Angel you have made it possible for many people to experience your teas and to taste and see what it is that you offer. Thank you both.
tunes-Gactic,albums-From The Corner To The Block/Carnivale Electicos.

Today I’m trying Taiwan Dong Ding gong fu style using the instructions provided by Teavivre. I got 7 infusions, tasted each one a few times, then poured them together to finish. This is a lighter roast, more green oolong. It had good character and flavor through 7 infusions. I would describe the flavor as light green vegetable with underlying floral sweetness, even a hint of buttery character. It will appeal to those who enjoy lighter oolongs and is a good value-a very nice tea.

It just occured to me how similar the taste of this tea is to Shou Mei white tea, am I going crazy?:)

This is one of the yunnanist Yunnans I have ever had. Really, that is my first thought on sipping this.

To me, Yunnan blacks are the original dessert teas. Chocolate, honey, maltiness, sweetness. When my boyfriend spoils me with super-fancy handmade truffles from the farmer’s market, the kind you have to sit and savor not (just) because they’re practically two dollars apiece, but because they’re just that good, I reach for none other than a good Yunnan black tea to go with them.

I have a long history with Yunnan blacks, beginning with an Adagio signature blend “Silk Road” that I drank religiously every morning for breakfast. Soon I realized the element of the blend I loved most was Adagio’s own blend, “Mambo”, a mix of Yunnan black and WuYi oolong. It didn’t take me long from there to pinpoint that the Yunnan was what I was really after all along, and since then, I have taken a lot of joy in trying assorted Yunnan black teas from many vendors.

These days I even gongfu brew them, something I never would have imagined years back when I was gulping mugfuls of milk-and-sugar laden Silk Road every morning while watercolor painting sheets of would-be origami paper. But that distinct Yunnan-y flavor takes me back, regardless.

Thank you to Angel & TeaVivre for this sample!
Smelling the leaf, I’m getting chocolate & yeast.

It didn’t taste very chocolatey, but definitely had a yeasty undertone, like a home baked loaf of bread! Interesting!