Teavivre

Ahhh… this is lovely! It seems that I’m quite a fan of Teavivre’s Silver Needle White teas. This Jasmine tea has quite a strong smell when I open the package, but as I sip, it’s nicely floral, fragrant, and sweet.

I accidentally spilled a little of this tea on the shirt I was wearing this morning, and I decided I even liked the smell of this tea as a perfume…kind of strange I know.

Thank you Angel and Teavivre for this sample, this one was a perfect fit for my taste. I will have to explore any other options you might have with Silver Needle White – I’m curious what other treasures I might find. In the meantime I will be enjoying this one….mmmmm….

I finally made this tea without having it make me feel so jittery! Great tea! I might purchase this in the future. It is the right kind of smokey. I am not always a fan of smoky when it is excessive, so this is perfect. Go Teavivre!

Wowzers! This actually made me jittery this morning! No tea has done that for me… at least not in a very long time! This is great for the mornings since I need that caffeine eye opener! I love this malty tea.

Thank you Teavivre for this sample! It was hiding away in my cupboard! I have drank this twice already. This is a great tea. It has a nice, warm, subtly smoky, nutty and toasty flavor to it. It is a smooth tea that brews an amber color. It is bold and perfect for the morning cup. I’ve had it two mornings in a row now. I added some sugar and some milk to keep me going for a little longer.

This is a very delicious tea! I love Keemun teas, especially when I’m in the mood for them around this cooler time of year. Go Keemun!!

Thanks to Angel for sending me a new set of samples of the 2014 Long Jing greens. This Organic Superfine version is consistent with the 2013 harvest. I found the profile immediately familiar and near identical to my impressions from the previous year.

http://steepster.com/markballou/posts/174508

Though I think this is a good Long Jing, it is ultimately not remarkable enough for me to order quantity. In my limited sampling, unlike last year, I prefer the Organic to the Premium. The Organic tolerated resteeping better and had less of a tendency to go bitter. It does retain a strange peppery note that I remembered from last year, but don’t think I wrote about.

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.

Hmmm. Seems like the tail end of their harvest or something. Been ordering this all through 2012, but now into early 2013 I’m finding the tea less aesthetically pleasing. Bought about a 1/2 lb and found there’s more broken leaf, less uniform shape, etc.

Same great taste, less visual appeal.

This is by far one of my favorite Dragon Well teas out there. I’m not a huge fan of Teavivre’s shipping performance. Free samples came within about 10 days, but my resulting large order of this tea took over a month. Though Teavivre was communicative, I didn’t find their explanations reasonable. But with that said, I’d be tempted to run the gauntlet again and order more. It’s that good. I’ll update this review when I have the time, but it just offers a wonderful complexity, yields more infusions and tastes awesome. Though I like VerdantTea’s Mrs. Li’s Shi Feng Dragonwell Green Tea, and want to support that company, I’d say this is superior.

I took this tea to work in my travel mugs today. It was tasty, but I must say that it tastes much better in a regular mug where I can enjoy the aroma.

Thank you Angel and Teavivre for yet another generous sample.

This tea is quite nutty in both aroma and taste. The nuttiness is evident in the first steeping whereas the second steeping brings on a smokier flavor. For the third steeping, I got distracted emailing our real estate agent, and left the leaves in for too long so there was some definite bitterness. I’m sure that this was completely “user error” as my other brews had no bitterness – silly me! This is quite a lovely green tea, but it’s not a must-have for my cupboard. As far as pure green tea goes, it seems as though my preference leans towards Japanese green tea (probably out of familiarity).

My Teavivre samples will likely have a much better chance at winning my heart with their non-green teas (so far their organic silver needle white tea is a definite champ with my taste buds). Perhaps I will give the jasmine sample a try tomorrow. While sorting through my untried teas, I sniff at that jasmine packet like a bloodhound on a hot trail. So hopefully tomorrow will be the morning that I grab that pack out of my bag of goodies while I’m practicing my half-asleep morning tea making ritual…I’m rooting for it!

It’s good but not one I like. It’s too flowery for me, or a taste I associate with flowery teas. As usual good quality and great if you like that kind of thing but for me I’ll pass :D

This is a sample for Teavivre and it’s pretty tasty as with most oolongs I can never identify a specific taste (my brain just says yummy)

I am finally off of the chai train. I decided to brew up the last of this tea before breaking into my new samples. It is yummy and I have missed pu-erh. I will probably be nursing these steeps throughout the entire day today.

I took my driver’s test today and passed! To celebrate, I made some of this tea for me and my fiancee. He gets the first steep and I get the second steep, then we will share the third steep and maybe the fourth steep if I feel like going that far with one tea today.

I had three steeps of this tea yesterday, but I have been wondering if I could pull out a fourth steep out of this tea. So, I decided to try it with my tea leaves from last night.

I steeped these leaves for an hour until the liquid is a nice amber color like I just brewed a lighter tea. The smell is still wonderful. A light dusty smell that is combined with the scent of fresh rainfall. The tea is still warm even though it has been steeping for the past hour. My french press keeps the tea nice and warm.

The flavor is slightly different from the other steeps. It is still silky smooth and I am getting a creamy mouthfeel that is just divine. It isn’t as dark as the other steeps and is slightly more astringent.

I am glad that I managed to wrangle a fourth steep out of this tea. I’m not sure if I would brew it up often, but I am happy I have the option.

The tea of choice for today is this pu-erh that always makes me feel like royalty. So good!

So, I tried doing a short rinse (10-15 seconds) on the leaves tonight before making the first steep. That made the first steep much more flavorful. If I don’t have all three steeps of this tonight, I might have the last in the morning. It is better than the one cup of hot chocolate I have been having before bed though. I discovered that hot chocolate keeps me up if I have it too late.

Last backlog, with long steeps this is just lovely.

Have I mentioned how much I love this tea? This is my third (and probably final) steeping of this tea and it is lovely. I am still experimenting on how best to brew this so that I can get that similar flavor out of each steeping. I think I need to give the leaves a quick rinse first. Like 10-15 seconds. Then do my 5 minute steep then the 7 minute steep and then end with either a 13-15 minute steep.

This steep was an 11 minute steep and the flavor is still mellow and slightly creamy and dark, but not as rich as the second steep. So 13-15 minutes on the last steep should make it sing! ♥ I feel like I am an oddball with the long steep times on this one, but if that is how I like it then I am not complaining at all. It also makes me think that when I finally am able to get a gaiwan, I should try brewing this tea in it. I know that this will be coming back in my tea cabinet when I get the funds.

On a non-tea related note, I have an interview tomorrow afternoon. It is for a seasonal position, but just having a job right now would really help. So, send me luck!

As much as I liked that jasmine earlier, drinking it made me cold because it was cold. So I decided to have this one too.

This time I put in the leaf and steeped it for five minutes on the first run. I think I will need to start doing a 10 or 15 second rinse on my leaves since. This tastes nice with the hint of cream starting to come out. I have a feeling that the more this develops, the more it will be like that one time I hit it on the head.

I really like this one with a longer steeping time though. I also need to learn to let my tea cool down so I can drink it without burning my tongue. The flavor develops better when it is drinkable temperature as well.

I couldn’t bring myself to dump the rest of the leaves out just yet. I read in a tasting note that somebody had left the leaves steep for too long, but this tea developed a rich, creamy taste. Since I steeped it for three minutes last time, I’m steeping it extra long at 6 minutes this time just to see what this tea will do.

So far, the liquid is this goregous dark mahogany color. Well, maybe a couple shades lighter, but it is this wonderful color. It smells like the earth you dig up when you are out planting flowers in the garden at the beginning of summer. It just screams summer to me.

I really should have let this steep longer. It is just hinting at a nice cream mouthfeel. I love the richer, bolder flavor this brought out. It was nice before, but it now has another deep note to it. sip I want to say almost a cocoa sip but not quite. There is something there that I can’t place but it is dark.

Woah! Aftertaste is hitting the sides of my tongue when I type up my notes. Smooth and pure butter sip no, cream, sip no, heavy cream almost bordering on butter but darker.

♥ I love this! The flavor I am getting out of this right now is just amazing! ♥

It is so mellow but rich and bold at the same time. The heavy cream that is almost butter but not quite lingering taste on the edges of the tongue. I feel like royalty.

Thank you Teavivre for letting me try this amazing pu-erh. I never really liked the pu-erh and always had to tone it down with milk, but this is truly amazing.

Edit: It has now been about three hours and that wonderful creamy taste is still lingering on my tongue. Too bad I have to go to bed soon or else I would have another cup…or five.

I did end up having this again for breakfast. It is good, but there is nothing to keep me reaching back for it time and time again. It is mellow and slightly earthy, but that is about it. A good pu-erh.

I keep reading the other tasting notes and I’m wondering how I can modify what I am doing to bring more goodness out of this tea. I will have to experiment to see if I can get the tea to jump out at me and make me love it more.

So, I actually put in the correct amount of leaf this time: 3 teaspoons instead of 1.5/2 teaspoons. Right away, I can tell a difference. It brewed up a lot darker in two minutes than it did the last time. The smell is rich, damp earth. I had a big dinner today so I am hoping that this will help settle my stomach. It is close to bedtime so I think I will probably only steep this one time tonight. If it is as good as it was last time, I will probably save the leaves to have with breakfast.

It tastes…smooth. There isn’t anything overwhelmingly amazing about it so far. I mean, it doesn’t taste like dirt and fish so that is a good thing. It is smooth and you can tell it is earthy.

I mean, I like it. It is mellow. The first steep is very mellow and smooth. I can feel my stomach settling down from our overly-sweet dinner (all we had was homemade apple crisp and homemade ice cream; it was delicious and rich).

I’ll end up drinking the rest of my cup tonight and I will probably steep more tomorrow to see if it develops. Then I can see if I really like the tea or not.

Edit: I think it is growing on me. The more I drink my mug, the more of it I want. Good sign!