Teavivre

Second pot of the day…..

Score! The last time I bought this, I purchased 100g. Little did I remember that they packaged them in 50g amounts. Here it is, I thought I was almost out. And then I found another pouch in the recesses of my stash. After having a good look at the items back in there, I have decided that waiting until September for new acquisitions of tea will not be difficult at all. I also had some Dragon Pearl Black Tea back there, 100g unopened, lots of Keemun Mao Feng, and lots of Hong Tao. Yes, my tendencies to stock up for the zombie apocalypse will pay off.

This tea is wonderful. I love the natural sweetness of this one. Caramelized sweet potato. And back on the staple list this goes (I was hoarding what I thought was my last bit of this!) After all, there are several favorites of mine that TeaVivre offers. It is never difficult to shop there, even if your tea tastes run very specific.

Usual teapot method. Yes, a whole decadent pot all to myself!

A big thank you to Teavivre for allowing me to sample their teas again! I always love having the opportunity!

Now, I have had a chrysanthemum tea once, and that was several years ago. I know I enjoyed it, but I don’t remember much else. (Besides the fact that it was much lower quality than this one.)

The tea itself is beautiful. Delicate, pale flowers with green buds at their base, almost like little daisies. They smell sweet and sort of spiced. I’m instantly reminded of spring. They seem to have been dried very gently, as there is no trace of bruising or brown spots anywhere. Very interesting! As it steeps, the flowers fluff up and expand, making me wish for a glass teapot to prepare them in. It would be so lovely…

The tea brews up to a light shade of greenish yellow, as I expected. It smells a lot like fresh chrysanthemums, but also kinda like chamomile. But not exactly. It’s a little hard to describe. The flavor is light as well, and very clean tasting. It’s soothing and very floral, of course. The description mentions it being slightly bitter, but I’m not getting that. Perhaps I would if I added more flowers.

This would be a great tea to end a summer night with.

Much thanks to Angel and Teavivre for this sample to review. Another busy busy day so this will have to be a tad short, but I will try to do it justice. Fortunately I have a few more servings for future tastings.

I used half the sample pouch with 12 oz of water. After two minutes it was a nice light yellowy-amber color, with a light nutty-sweet aroma. Even with a fairly light flavor (I might use more leaf/more time next cup), this is super delicious. So sweet, and oh so nutty. It is way chestnutty, with soft vegetal notes behind it, and perhaps just a hint floral like lilacs.

I am reminded by this cup that although I am losing interest in flavored greens, a high quality unflavored green like this can be heavenly. This tea really is “without parallel” among green teas. I looked at my tasting notes for the regular Huang Shan Mao Feng that I had from Teavivre a while ago, and although I really liked that one, this one is quite amazing. I think I have a love for Huang Shan Mao Feng I never realized before!

Thank you CrowKettle for the sample! (Or wait. Was is Sil? /0\ I’ll start labeling from now on I promise, but I know this one showed up with my matcha samples!!!)

I think Dragon Pearls are one of my favourite types of teas! This is just so smooth, and I love the malt and cocoa notes. Honey too! I steeped it for two minutes and that makes it nice and strong, without being overwhelming, and I’ll probably get a few more steeps out of this before I call it quits. I love how much flavour is in this black.

I believe this is nicer than the one from Zen Tea, and the tea itself is so pretty to look at. I love those little balls! It’s hard to say what makes this one “better” but it seems like there are a lot of things going on, and if I steeped it for less time and more often I would probably pick up on all sorts of things!

I guess I’ll have to keep my eyes open for a Teavivre sale because I’d like to stock up on this one. Moar please!

This is such a lovely tea.
I shared 2 pots (steep & resteep) with one of my students this morning.
A nice thick mouthfeel, a slightly bold depth, a rich middle. It doesn’t have a super bright high note, but that’s ok with me, as I’m more into the middle & lower ranges in my taste anyway.

Part 3 of 3 of my Teavivre 2013 Long Jing Smackdown. Spring samples courtesy of the generous Angel over at Teavivire. I cross reference the 3 types of Long Jing teas I received in their respective tasting notes, so if you’re really curious you might want to check them out for a more full account.

Part 1 – “Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea”
Part 2 – “Premium Dragon Well Green Tea”

Both can be found in my Tea Log — http://steepster.com/markballou

Here, with this Organic Long Jing (my previous goto Long Jing for 2012), it got more interesting for me. Again as I’ve mentioned in my Ming Qian tasting note, I didn’t find these teas significantly different. I really wrung my hands over the samples. At one point I had to bust out some competitor’s Long Jing for a kind of baseline. But what finally stood out the most, and what separated this Organic Long Jing from the two others I’d sampled from Teavivre, was an overall bolder smell and taste. OK, that’s pretty base… I tried to put my finger on it when I did my side by side comparison. I’d come to the conclusion these 3 teas were so closely matched that I had to brew them all in one sitting to really feel them out.

Here’s what I can say about this organic version. Have you ever tasted the difference between organic poultry or meat? In my experience I find the flavor to be a bit gamier. Funny enough that’s the best way I can describe this tea. Not that it was literally gamy, but its profile was bolder and broader, more pronounced and very specifically it yielded later infusions that were stronger and more flavorful. Do I like that? Yes, I do. Do I like that enough to pay the extra and forgo the Premium? That’s a good question.

I think, though I find the Organic more complex, the way I tend to drink Long Jing (on the go), some of the benefits might be lost to me. If I were going to save this for sitting, sharing and really experiencing, I’d say it’s worth it. With that said, I may just buy a bit to keep on the side for friends, while sticking with the Premium as my primary bread and butter. Of course, since I was sent the samples, Teavivre is now offering a basic 2013 non-organic Dragon Well Long Jing. So, it’s possible that might be a good solution for an everyday Long Jing… I hadn’t particularly cared for it in 2012, but 2013 is turning out to be a good year across the board.

Part 2 of 3 of my Teavivre 2013 Long Jing Smackdown. Spring samples courtesy of the generous Angel over at Teavivire. I cross reference the 3 types of teas I received in their respective tasting notes, so if you’re really curious you might want to check them out for a more full account.

Part 1 – “Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea”
Part 2 – “Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea”

Both can be found in my Tea Log — http://steepster.com/markballou

This Long Jing had not impressed me as much in 2012, losing out to follow up orders of the Organic Superfine version. 2013 though is a pleasant surprise. I’m immediately greeted by an unexpected dry leaf, nice, not on par with some of the shapeliness of the highest quality Long Jings, but surprisingly uniform and pleasing to watch hydrate in my 10oz double wall tall glass tumbler. Broken leaf is minimal and there’s a small amount of white clump. The leaf color is greener than I’ve come to look for when evaluating Long Jings; something about young teas not developing as much chlorophyll, having more theanine and a tendency towards a lighter green color. Upon opening the package you can smell the fresh, bright, lively aroma immediately.

I’m impatient and don’t let my water cool to 175˚F as recommended by Teavivre but bully my way into this tea at approximately 190˚ (the water temp in the prep details is for my later side by side comparison). I’m not completely uncivilized and follow my tried and true Long Jing brewing protocol minus the glass warming stage:

http://goo.gl/6HBZf

I first note the liqueur is vibrant yellow-green, followed by an initial taste impression of “juicy.”

This is a wow. I’m not hit with complexity here, but overall satisfaction. Where I’m often impressed with a multidimensional profile, here it’s not about that. It’s a broader experience. This tea is tolerant, not going all bitter with the water being so hot. I’ve gone through 5 steeps of this tea and it never went all swampy and flat on me like many of the Long Jings I’ve had before. The color got less vibrant and lost it’s green color, favoring the yellow tones.

In my side by side comparison the Premium did not fair as well, and contrary to when I steeped a larger quantity of leaf, by the 4th and fifth steep it had indeed gone somewhat flat. It still never did go swampy, just was kinda void.

If you’re not all about Organic, then I’d say this is a good value and is the one I’m tempted to buy in quantity.

Beautiful 2013 spring samples courtesy of the preeminently generous Angel over at Teavivire. I was shocked at how many she sent me when I contacted her about the 2013 harvest. When I find a tea I like, I tend to buy significant quantity, so having this reference is truly appreciated. You rock Angel!

Well, let’s call this Part 1 of 3 in my Teavivre Long Jing Smackdown. All in all I was provided with samples of the Organic Long Jing, Premium and this Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian. I prepared them all in my variation of the Tall Glass Method, where I decant each infusion, leaving a root. Tasting notes on the other 2 teas can be found in my Tea Log:

http://steepster.com/markballou

I really wanted to be the first to post a review of this tea, but I didn’t want to rush, particularly because my findings were a little perplexing. Initially I sampled each of the teas separately, reserving some dry leaf to compare. I noticed that the leaf of all 3 teas was very well photographed on the website and representative of what I was sent. Kudos to Teavivre for providing great photo documentation that is not overly manipulated.

I was shocked that all three dry teas looked and smelled almost identical. I really expected to see something to differentiate them. I first tried the Premium, and without going into detail I again was surprised to find that there wasn’t a huge difference in the flavor profiles, aroma and color of the liquor in comparison to the Ming Qian and the Organic Long Jing. I thought I’d see vast differences, but either A) my palate isn’t refined enough to tell the difference, or B) these teas really aren’t significantly different.

To see if maybe my memory was failing me day to day, I decided to do a single sitting, side by side comparison. I’d spread the initial tastings out over 3 days as there was no way was I going to do 3 full servings in one day or I’d be bouncing off the walls. For my comparison I cut the tea by a 3rd the size of my usual servings and prepared them each the same way. For my finding on the other teas, see their respective tasting notes.

As for this tea, the highest price of the 3, I like it. It’s a good Long Jing. None of them were particularly chestnutty, as is often the descriptor for Long Jings, and this one I would say was the least. Most significant for me was that it had an overall more refined, smooth profile and a sweeter aroma. The mouthfeel was clean with a light, dry astringency on the periphery and a lingering subtle sweet aftertaste. I don’t have any food comparisons or vegetables that it reminds me of. No green beans here or spinach, just telltale Dragon Well. Sometimes you’ll see a mild smokiness or toasted element to Long Jings. Not so much for any of these. Though I DO get a little toasty note here, just more of a backdrop than center stage.

I got about 4 steeps out of each of these, steeps 2-4 with a root. The first about 1 min (30 swirled + 30 steeped), 2nd about 30 secs w/ the previous well-soaked root, the 3rd about 1-1.5 mins and the 4th I drank from the tall glass. The Ming Qian started falling apart, along with the Premium, tasting a bit vacant on the 4th steep, but remained quite drinkable. I could probably coax a 5th steep out of this but I’m not motivated. Yeah, motivated myself— 5th, not so much.

Is it worth paying premium for the Ming Qian? Maybe if you want to get stupid like me and go crazy with a comparison, really splitting hairs to see the minor differences between Teavivre’s offerings. But honestly, for my taste, I don’t see the need to spend the extra ducats.

Caffeine. After a side by side like this, all I can say is “Yes.” I’m pretty confident that I could depend on this tea to keep my inner fire burning late in the day and rub the cobwebs out of my eyes in the AM. As for now I’m certainly motivated to write all three tasting notes, one after the other while still fresh in my mind.

Giving this sample a go today, as I am out of milk right now. Thanks to Angel at Teavivre for sending me this one to try…she knows I like oolongs.

My first attempt, I think I let the water cool too much, and possibly under-leafed this as well. I got a much lighter and thinner liquor than I was expecting. I’m tasting something though, but I am unable to put my finger on it. It seems possibly fruity or buttery or brothy but maybe a little of it all?

Although I have a second steep coming, with hotter water and more leaf, so I can compare then if it was my steeping parameters or not. Water had cooled a few minutes (maybe 5?) and I did a 3 minute steep. this current steep I am using just boiled water and a 2 minute steep. We will see.

I am very intrigued by this tea though. The leaves are long, thin, and spindly…and the colour is a dark green with a slight purple tinge to them, I think. Someone said seaweed, and I think that is a good descriptor.

http://campl.us/gyF5P8XSsKq

What do you think?

EDIT FOR RE-STEEP:

So I used more leaf, hotter water, and less steeping time and I got a stronger brew. I’m not sure if that was for the better or not. I feel like I have gone in the opposite direction now and it is too strong a steep. I feel like I need something in between. I’m not getting sweet potato, but I am getting a saliva inducing feeling in my mouth. I am still tasting something fruity, but I am not sure. It doesn’t seem peachy to me, but someone mentioned grape, and I think maybe I am getting a raisin note, or plum or tart cherry, because I am getting a little bit of astringency with the juicy mouthfeel. There is a little smokiness too, I think, along with a mild floral note.

I think that I need to play around with the steeping parameters on this one still, to get the optimal balance of flavours I am looking for.

Dare I say it? Am I being too impulsive by already saying that this has become one of my favorite teas?

Eh, let’s say it. I think it’s safe. This tea was so great! It’s the first Golden Monkey I’ve tried, and I think it’s pretty safe to say I’ve found a winner. :) It had a very interesting taste. It tasted chocolately, yet it was fruity, and yet it was also had a slight tinge of pepper too. Very slight mind you, the tea is very pleasantly sweet! I practically guzzled the cup, and I have my next infusion steeping now. The shelf life on the package said 36 months. As if this’ll be around for three years. More like three days. Haha. Next time I order this, I’ll be sure to order it with a tin. This’ll be a permanent one. Very glad I was confident and ordered a good pouch rather than just a sample.

I’m feeling much more comfortable about my likes with black teas. I tend to love them either very bold and roasty, or really naturally sweet. I enjoy the nutty ones, and I’m not a huge fan of super peppery ones, nor super smokey ones as I discovered with lapsang souchong.

Edit: Second infusion, the chocolatey and fruity notes have really receded, and it’s mostly hayish now. It’s still quite flavorful, and really good! I’ll be sure to try a third infusion. :)

Got this as one of my samples from my first Teavivre order! :D

Well this is my first lapsang souchong. I felt it was a type of tea I ought to try, but so far I’m not terribly sure if I like it! I always thought of myself as someone who liked a smoky taste, but yeah… wow. Heh. One thing I can tell you though, is that it tastes like the old campfires from days dearly missed with the family on camping trips from my childhood.

In the sense of the nostalgia, I love it dearly, as it brings back so many memories. If I close my eyes, I can almost swear I’m in front of a nighttime campfire at Christina Lake. It doesn’t taste entirely like smoke, I definitely can taste the wood they used in the fire. I feel like this would be best drunk outside in the fresh air with the birds chirping. I think I might wander outside with this in fact.

All that said though, while I’m happy to go down a trip on memory lane, I think I’d rather think about my camping memories than drink them. I’m happy I tried this, as I really felt like this was something I should try as a black tea lover.

EDIT: yeah, not loving it. Made it halfway through the cup and just tossed it. xD; Definitely glad it was a sample, and still happy that I finally tried a lapsang souchong for the first time.

Thank you Angel for this sample.

In raw form this tea is a lovely blend of dark brown, light brown and silver green leaves. It has an earthy, wooden scent.

Once brewed the tea is brown in colour and has a slightly spicy and toasted, earthen scent.

My husband had a sip and said he could taste pasta and pizza in this tea. The most bizzare statement that he has ever made. I found this tea to be spicy and warming with a gentle toasted almost fruity and floral essence. Very beautiful and elegant. Each sip brings forward different flavours but each one is as tasty as the last.

Side Note – I don’t think I have ever had a spicy natural Oolong before.

I went to the clinic Saturday due to an earache that won’t go away that has kept me so dizzy I haven’t wanted to brew tea. Drugs haven’t helped much yet but this morning I needed a good cup.

I previously reviewed what I recall was the 2011 version. Ain’t gonna lie to you. I freak’n love this tea. It is hard to pick a favorite from TeaVivre but this one is definitely very near the top. The leaf still reminds me of old time upholstery stuffing and the sip still tastes like Cheerios. There is a floral element similar to green oolong hiding in the middle of the sip. This turns creamy late sip. Good aftertaste. Resteeps well. My favorite part is when I sip it the world around me dissapears for a moment. Who couldn’t use a little of that now and then?

Thanks Angel for the sample.

Water: 8oz boiling

Leaves: Huge pearl

Steep: 2m 4-pearls with 1min rinse

Aroma: plain black tea aroma

Color: Dark brown

Taste: I didn’t like this tea at all it had a burnt taste.It also left an unpleasant after taste.

Water: 8oz boiling water

Leaves: small circled to huge full tea leaves

Steep: 2m

Aroma: light (different from previous oolong i had)

Color: yellow green

Taste: I had rinsed this tea first i think that is what washed all of my initial flavor away thus making this tea quite dull.I’m going to have to brew it again to see if i get a better taste. Oolings are fun to watch due to their huge leaves.

Water: I boiled 8oz water on the stove,then let cool for 5 minutes.

Leaves: medium size tea buds, greenish-brown & fuzzy

Steep: 2m

Aroma: Strong Jasmine

Color: pale almost clear

Taste: The jasmine aroma of this tea was quite strong but i didn’t really get any floral taste.It reminded me of the Organic Silver Needle White Tea just with a scent added. I didn’t get a lot of taste from this tea, it was okay.

Full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ at 6pm central time May 14th but here are snippets:

The aroma of Organic Superfine Moderately Roasted Tie Guan Yin “Iron Goddess” Oolong Tea is milky and creamy, which is surprising since I was really anticipating a deeper roasted aroma. Regardless, I love a milky tea so if it tasted milky I would be fine with that. I decided to go ahead and let it steep for a couple more minutes since Iron Goddess does not get bitter with longer steeps. This seems to be the way to go because after two more minutes after an initial 2 minutes it became stronger, bolder, with a coffee like aroma and that roasted aroma I was expecting. I will later hate to try it with a shorter steep though as I am sure that milky aroma had something to it!

Also this is a tea that keeps on giving. Even with my long five minute steep the first time around I can continue to keep on steepin! Following steeps have some interesting notes highlighted that bring about the thoughts of a green tea, such as green bean for example, but more like veggies that are fire roasted! So good! I love having this Iron Goddess with some milk chocolate, it really taste like s’mores between the creamy note in the tea and the smokiness with the toasty note, and of course the chocolate!

I am reading Okakura Kakuzo, “The Book of Tea”, with a glass pot of Dragonwell, and a broken-lid gaiwan turned teacup. These leaves are old now, the news of yesteryear’s springtime, but I like them. They’re nice to look at, and they make great tea. Right now is good.

Brewed at 175F to start, then with 205F. Still very aromatic, still a beautiful pale green liquor. I haven’t had such a sweet brew of these leaves before, and they continue to impress even at this point in time. It’s clear that they’re losing life, though – there’s a wonderful, vivid start to each sip, and a surprising sweetness to finish, but the savory, nutty middle is beginning to thin out. The tea is developing more and more unpleasant, flat mineral notes these days… signs of struggle for a mountain green tea, perhaps?

Still very good drinking tonight, though, and very good reading.

At the beginning of his essay, Okakura Kakuzo references the Japanese proverb – that a man with ‘no tea’ in him is unable to understand beauty. He then describes the opposite; a man who is humorously overzealous about beauty, the man with “too much tea in him”. I must scold, and laugh at myself then; I think I might be someone who has always had a bit too much tea. But I think, too, that it is better for us to drown a bit, or even overflow, than to ever, ever run dry.

Reassuredly, Okakura Kakuzo seems to agree.

Water: 8oz boiling water

Leaves: very tiny brownish-black leaves

Steep: 2m

Aroma: Smokey

Color: Black

Taste: Before buying this tea i had never heard of Pu-erh before, it was something completely new and still is. Before brewing I had rinsed the tea twice each time for 1 minute b/c I read it’s good to rinse Pu-erh. Then the brewing process I was surprised at how dark the color was it remind me of black coffee. As for the taste I’m not sure how to describe it, but it’s a very smooth tea.

Water: I boiled 8oz water on the stove,then let cool for 5 minutes.

Leaves: medium size tea buds, light green & fuzzy

Steep: 2m,3m,4m,5m

Aroma: light fresh scent

Color: very pale almost clear

Taste: I decided to brew this tea again. This time using a more proper method than i did the first time around. I never thought I would be able to re-steep it soo many times yet still have a nice light flavor.

No notes yet.

Thanks to Angel and Teavivre for a sample of this tea!

I love silver needles- the little fuzz all over the leaves just makes it seem so alive!

This might be the RICHEST white tea I’ve ever tasted. It is hard to describe. The smell of wet straw dipped in white chocolate maybe? Its sweet, earthy and VERY smooth.

If you like white teas this one is a sure bet!

I needed a gong-fu tea tasting today, so I tried it with this tea. I followed Teavivre’s parameters:7 steeps: rinse,25s,35s,45s,55s,65s,75s,85s.

I found this green oolong to be buttery, slightly vegetal but not overpowering. I found it fruity and slightly sweet, just as the description states.

Overall, I am glad that I ordered a sample of this tea and ejoyed it.

I received this as a lovely sample with my Teavivre order. The dry tea is a very small dark olive, producing a golden green cup. A silky, sweet, hay and honeyed cup, which is reminiscent of a sweeter, softer, less green dragonwell. Not bitter, not flowery, but vegetal and honeylike. Very much enjoyed.