Teavivre

I’m so glad I tried this out!
It’s perfect and relaxing.
I could taste the chocolate right away!
I can’t wait to actually buy this.
Thank you so much, Angel!

This tea has become a regular re-stock for me, and one that I have on hand at all times. It also may very well be the one drunk most often, because I find it holds up well to two or sometimes three Western style steeps. I often throw it in and fill the pot for enjoying on my own or with the beau or if I’m working I do up a T-Sac and steep it in my travel mug for a few minutes and save the bag for a second round later on. It does better with the teapot than the T-Sac as there is more room for expansion but even in a tight spot I find it yields good strong flavour. There is some cocoa and nice depth. I never find it bitter and it doesn’t seem to be very tannic because even when black teas are giving me heart times (happens when I get too stressed sometimes) this one doesn’t tend to bother me. It’s a fave!

I seem to remember the price on this one going up a few months ago but even at $14.90/100 grams it is a really good deal. In some ways I even prefer it to my beloved Dragon Pearls, though they do have presentation on their side. I am not an iced tea fan but this is good hot and also at room temperature which is saying a lot for me!

I got a sample of this one with my last Teavivre order as it sounds like the sort of thing I would enjoy. The beau and I steeped it up this afternoon and I was pretty enticed by the aroma. Hello cocoa! I love a good natural cocoa note. The beau finds it smells earthy which I can understand, but for me it’s cocoa all the way in the dry smell.

Rather than doing this in the gaiwan as I usually would, we’re doing this western style as this has been the weekend of tea, relaxing and video games. I’ve been playing Alice Madness Returns while the beau alternates between Silent Hill Downpour and R.U.S.E. I’ve also gotten halfway through the newest Carlos Ruiz Zafon book today (Prisoner of Heaven) and I am LOVING it. It’s nice to have a weekend of our favourite things after the hustle and bustle of December.

Back to the tea! Steeped 2.5 minutes, I have an incredibly fragrant cuppa. It smells like bakers chocolate or even just cocoa powder. I am not a dark chocolate person but I LOVE cocoa notes in tea. The depth of the smell is impressive, it seems extremely rich.

First sips are smooth and rich, not as bold as the aroma had led me to believe but still an excellent quality black tea. I still get cocoa but I’m not picking out anything else at the moment. It’s bold without being bitter and has a sweet smoothness at the end of the sip. This is a great infusion and I think I can probably get a couple more out of this sample. When I do another Teavivre order, I think this one will be on there. Very nice!

I’d like to brew it side-by-side with Bailin Gongfu and see if they are as similar as my memory leads me to believe. I have been stocking the Bailin but this may be better…

This was part of a free sample package from Teavivre, and was the first in the set I have opened. The only green teas I have tried so far are the Jasmine Dragon Pearls and although I like them very much, I enjoyed experiencing a vastly different tasting green tea.

The aroma was somewhat sweet and floral at first, but quickly vegetal notes, such as spinach and other dark greens took over. This was very similar to the taste- at first sip the tea has a slightly sweet characteristic but quickly turns into a very earthy vegetal brew. It was smooth and enjoyable and as I write this I am on my second steep with no change in characteristics that I have noticed. I steeped it longer the second time (3 min 15 seconds) which I found to bring out more of the dark green flavor without adding any real bitterness.

Overall, I am very impressed with the tea and surprised with how different it is from the jasmine pearls I am used to.

My second blooming flower tea from Teavivre’s random blooming flower tea pack. This one bloomed very quickly and looks so beautiful floating in the water and looks very much like it’s picture. It’s amazing to watch it develop into a beautiful flower in only 3 minutes.

The tea once brewed has formed a light yellow colour with a slight sweet and vegetal fragrance similar to sweet pea.

The tea tastes of Silver Needle tea but with a slight hint of flowers. It’s sweet, vegetal, refreshing, subtle and floral. Anyone that likes green or floral tasting tea’s would love this.

Mmm, toasty. I really enjoyed this and got several good steeps out of it in my small glass teapot. I really need a small ceramic teapot too. Time to start looking for that again, but first this tea. It’s toasty and floral on the first hit, and smooth, so smooth. This is a tea that would be easy to drink all day and I should probably try that with my gaiwan, when I next get another sample. I also need to compare it to Canton Tea Co’s offering, which I received as part of the tea club but have not yet sat down to taste.

I love Jasmine Pearls and try to keep stocked up at all times for whenever the mood strikes me to have a mug full. Since I regularly order from Teavivre it made sense to order a batch in to store in their wonderful new tins.

Well today I walked the few miles to a fish shop to see what they had to put into my tanks after unfortunately a few died over Christmas of old age. I came out with a female Siamese fighting fish (called Chun Lee), a red finned shark (called Sharky) and a pair of breeding Dwarf Gourami (yet to be named). I not long arrived home and I’m out of shape after Christmas so I let my husband sort the fish out while I sat down puffed out on the sofa. Then the craving hit me, JASMINE JASMINE JASMINE … I deserve the treat. I have had countless cups of this tea and am very surprised that I have not done a review for them.

The pearls look slightly fuzzy with a mix of greens and silver with a sweet and fresh jasmine scent. They are only small pearls but pack a lot of flavour and smell.

Once brewed the tea forms a pale golden colour with that has the same strong yet sweet and somewhat perfumey jasmine fragrance as raw but on a stronger level.

The flavour is smooth, naturally sweet and very fresh. The jasmine seems fairly strong at first but it mellows very quickly making each sip seem like it’s the first one. Whilst being perfumey it’s still refreshing and cleansing. The balance is perfect.

This is my favourite jasmine pearl tea and I don’t think it can be beaten in quality and taste. It truly is the perfect cup of jasmine green tea.

What is a Camellia? Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. – Thank you Wikipedia. :)

I ordered this tea thinking Camellia may be similar to Chamomile even though I am not a fan of Chamomile but wanted the chance to try something new. The flowers look similar, they are mostly small whole yellow flowers with virtually no fragrance. The quality looks very nice and fresh.

Brewed with the given instructions this tea forms a honeyed yellow colour that has a slight toasty and floral scent.

I’m completely surprised by the flavour…I thought it would be overpoweringly floral and perfumey but it’s nothing of the sort. Instead this tea tastes toasty and sweet, similar to an Oolong but not as strong. It does pick up in flavour the more you drink and starts to remind me of genmaicha but less thick and ricey.

Overall I am finding myself liking it more and more. I can’t believe this doesn’t have any reviews yet! A wonderful in-between tea drink that will cleanse the pallet nicely.

The tea consists of small, thinly rolled, black leaves that smell a little like earthy fermented fruit.

Once brewed the tea soup is browny red in colour with the same malty yet sweet fermented fruit fragrance.

This truly is superfine. It’s smooth and fresh with no bitterness or chemical taste (like some other Keemun’s have). The taste is sweet and malty but in a subtle form that remains light. A great light black tea that can be drank at any time of the day.

picked up a sample of this one in my last order with teavivre to see if i still enjoyed it. As it turns out there haven’t been dragon pealrs made in recent harvests that had the same wonderfully delicious taste as they did like 6? years ago. a good cup but the sample is enough for me

I don’t like this years harvest of these. There’s a fruity? note to these that is never what i want when i drink it. I’m more used to this particular tea being more malty/cocoa like than fruity. Whatever the note is…it’s not for me anymore. Not changing the rating as it might just be this year’s harvest but meh.

This will likely be gone by the end of the long weekend. This was a great cup for this morning – cool, rainy mornings = tea just seems that much more amazing in the morning haha. While these weren’t as malty and chocolatey as previous years they are still a great every day sort of cup of tea and they’ll be back in my cupboard before long i’m sure.

man i drank no tea yesterday so i need to make up for it today haha. Received my order from my tea mule yesterday as well so now i’m in tea cupboard trouble haha. Enjoying this one as i kick off weekend cleaning u and such while the dog and husband are out digging in the woods haha

lots to do today….have a bunch of errnads to run so we can enjoy sun and mon as do nothing days. :) Kicked the day off with this one earlier before putting things in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. Hoping to get in a campaign of near and far!

yes i had this again today. I know…my cupboard is terribly exciting for black teas these days. Some day i’ll have some new things to drink that are straight blacks… someday haha