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I bought for $1during special offer some time ago. I felt like finding a small treasure during treasure hunt.

I brewed went gongfu on this one with 3 grams of dry leaf and 100 ml water on 85 Celsius.
Infusions (in seconds)
1st: 60
2nd: 45
3rd: 60
4th: 80
5th: 120

Dry leaf is small with light roast and faint TGY aroma. Wet leaf reveals some light oxidation on edges of few leaves with slightly fresh, floral and buttery notes.
Infusion is clear with light emerald tone. Since I only took quick notes on each steep, I’ll copy-paste them and write an overall impression.

1st
Light, fresh, and buttery.

2nd
Light, fresh, buttery, a bit less floral than previous, faint citrus sour, and decent floral aftertaste.

3rd
Light, fresh, same floral tone like from previous, buttery note fades away, citrus sour more expressed than previous, and gets a bit astringent at tip.

4th
Light, fresh, floral note fading away and overall taste as well. There isn’t any sign of citrus sour.

5th
Light with even more overall loss of taste, starts to give out watery impression. Surprisingly, sour citrus appears but overall impression isn’t enough for additional steep.

When I got this a whole ounce was packed in single foil, the kind used for packing 5-8 gr of tea. I couldn’t believe it when I opened it and found a small ‘oxygen absorber’ bag. It was my first encounter with something like that in tea packaging. Quite ingenious!
First sniff made me remember of Ben Shan, but the dry leaf itself resembles TGY with tightly rolled, more roasted and more even leaf texture than Ben Shan’s.
First and second infusions are subtle, but impressive. I would recommend it to those that find TGY too strong to their taste, and than there is that buttery-ness that gives it additional character. On third steep you get a drop with buttery notes fading away and getting more of floral and citrus sour background.

I’m brewing this according to brewing instructions and I can’t say that I’m that satisfied. Comparing it to my previous note when I did shorter steeps with far less water, this one has a mild first infusion and second comes as kicking espresso. Third infusion is more down to earth, but still there isn’t that much of flavor and aroma complexity and it retains great deal of espresso character.
Gongfu FTW!

Sipped this one extensively over last couple of weeks and wrote a review on my blog:

http://dobricajevi.blogspot.com/2012/03/keemun-grade-2-grade-1-hao-ya-teavivre.html

Copy-paste the content in Google Translate and translate it as Croatian.

Sipped this one extensively over last couple of weeks and wrote a review on my blog:

http://dobricajevi.blogspot.com/2012/03/keemun-grade-2-grade-1-hao-ya-teavivre.html

Copy-paste the content in Google Translate and translate it as Croatian.

Sipped this one extensively over last couple of weeks and wrote a review on my blog:

http://dobricajevi.blogspot.com/2012/03/keemun-grade-2-grade-1-hao-ya-teavivre.html

Copy-paste the content in Google Translate and translate it as Croatian.

Another free sample provided by TeaVivre. Thank you!

Dry leaf is finely rolled with really dark green hue with a lot of petioles that give of pine leaf resemblance. That being said, leaf is 1,5 to 3 cm long and here and there you can find some around 4 cm. If you look more carefully you can also see some pebbles and even non-rolled leaf parts making (about 10-15%). There’s some smokiness about it, but you really have to dig in your nose to sense it.

One of the ways I savor dry leaf aroma is by dropping it in heated teapot and let it rise to my nostrils with the steam. At this point I can sense some buttery notes with vegetal hint.

1st infusion (3gr 80C 250ml 60s)
Clear liquor with light jade tone. On first sip you get a light hint of pleasant bitterness that quickly dissipates and turns to bold vegetable note, or more like some herbal tea with bitter note (like Mountain Germander). Finish is a bit dry and at this point I can picture myself quenching thirst with this tea in summer heat. I’ll have to wait for it though.

2nd infusion (80C 250ml 90s)
Second infusion yielded a bit stronger character with more bitterness but still in pleasant range. I think I shouldn’t have stretched it but keep it at 1 minute infusion – getting the impression that too much flavor got released.
Vegetal note has increased also and sweetness appears just after swallowing. Not bad, not bad at all.

3rd (3gr 80C 250ml 90s)
After this I’m pulling the plug. I could have pulled out one more steep if I hadn’t gone too far in second.
Here I get more robust cuppa with very little bitterness (less than from 1st steep) and astringency takes over. After swallowing starchy dryness is present in throat.

To wrap it up, I might get a bag of this as summer closes in, and I yet have to try it in cold brew fashion.

I had a cup of this one after few weeks. I kinda missed it. I’m raising the score on this one (81 → 84).

I don’t know why I hesitated to write a note about this one… I’ve done Grade 1 and Hao Ya, but I seem to forgot about this one. Oh well, better write it now while I’m in mood for it.

This is the cheapest Keemun you can get from TeaVivre. I guess I didn’t really want to buy it, but I felt the urge to get it just to feel how far are they from each other.
Dry leaf is unevenly rolled when compared to other grades and even having some red hue to it.
I find this tea to be few steps from my taste area for breakfast tea. It’s light in taste so I could blend it with Ceylon. On other hand, some finer notes come up when steeped with boiling water and 5-minute sit. It has a somewhat coffee background, only lacking in character, with cocoa and dimmed vegetal notes and even hint of coconut with splash of milk.
Pleasant cuppa, only lacking in character. And when I think about it, it reminds me of Prince of Wales.

Sample provided by TeaVivre, thank you!

I haven’t tried Mao Jian before and I was a taken aback by brewing instructions (90C water) and 36-month shelf life which is like a double for random green tea.
Dry leaves have a dark olive tone and are long and twisted with some white tips and mild toasted aroma. I quite experimented with this one (still have to try cold brew method though) and I find it to be sensitive to both steeping time and temperature.

TeaVivre’s brewing instruction for this tea:
" Just like all green teas, brew Taimu Maojian at approximately 194 ºF or 90ºC for 1 to 2 minutes. TeaVivre’s Maojian can be infused 6 or 7 times, and you should add about 25% to the brewing time and using slightly hotter water for each infusion."

When I first brewed it (followed the instructions) I used minimum 60 seconds for first steep and added 15 seconds to second steep. What I got was delicious first infusion with clear jade tone and similar profile as Bi Luo Chun: fresh, slightly vegetal with sturdy chestnut background and some pleasant astringency that quickly fades and turns into sweet finish.
Second infusion seem to keep all the previous characteristics with a big scoop of bitterness. It wasn’t the one that would wrinkle your face but still it makes one focus more on bitterness itself than on savoring nuttiness and sweetness that are included.
I kept on brewing it with 15 second increase per steep, and third infusion brought less bitterness than previous with accent on sweetness and nutty aftertaste. There was a significant drop of astringency as well. I also got some kind of tickling sensation on tongue.
Forth steep (105 seconds) is where I pulled the plug. Taste started wearing out to the point that I might not want to drink 5th infusion. It still retained some sweet and vegetal notes with fair nutty background. Tickling sensation on tongue is more notable than in 3rd infusion.

I think I got seldom results for my first try.

On second try I managed to make it right! First two 60 second steeps (and 90C water for all) brought out an even profile of first infusion in my previous attempt. I also noted some starchy dryness this time. As I moved toward third infusion I noticed how that nutty background reminds me of dry leaf of particular Long Jing I had recently. Sweetness lingers and lasts long after sipping. This tea reminds me somewhat of Bi Luo Chun, that I don’t particularly enjoy due to its astringency, but astringency of this Mao Jian fits perfectly to my taste.

Wet leaves have accented nutty profile and I could toss them in salad or something (it’s organic after all).

P.S.

I noticed that there’s only 200g left of this tea in TeaVivre’s stock. I immediately snatched 100g … only one more bag left…

Just drank four steeps out of 3 grams (250 ml and about 85C per steep), one minute for 1st and 2nd steep, and two minutes for 3rd and 4th. Flavor is lighter and aroma is more subtle, less herbacious with usual characteristics(see previous notes). Even 4th steep had some flavor, like 1/3 of previous steeps, without taste of hot water (this is usually where I pull the plug).

NOTE: Originally, this note was written on non-organic Bai Mu Dan. I just noticed that I made a mistake, so I’m doing copy-paste on an organic one (the one I actually have and drink)

Hmm, now this is an interesting Bai MuDan… Before I get to the point I’ll focus on the dry leaf a bit.
I’ve drank only two Bai MuDan teas so far, this is my third. I noticed that leaf doesn’t have that pollen-y aroma like the other two, it’s more subtle aroma of certain textiles that I can’t quite put my finger on.
Leaf seems to be somewhat broken but has a decent amount of silver tips in two leaves and a bud fashion. I’m not a big fan of white tea, but I’ve learned that you can’t judge the leaf just by smell and appearance. After all, we’re supposed to drink this, right? My guess is that some of the leaf got broken during the handling and transportation. But in the end I don’t really mind, I just want a tasty cuppa.

Moving on

First infusion (1min)
This tea shows more of taste than of smell compared to other White Peony I’ve drank. With its bright white-pinkish color it’s sweet, fruity, almost sour-citrus-like and it lingers. I really didn’t expect this for a white tea such as this. It’s actually very surprising, in positive manner.
To make myself more clear, this tea is more tasty and refreshing and less aromatic.

Now, into the second infusion (2min)
Second infusion brought out golden note and with taste cut in half where aromas are better expressed with same intensity as taste. I think that temperature of 90 Celsius squeezed a lot of its flavor in first infusion. I might experiment with this one to get two infusions that are almost even in appearance and taste.

This one surprised me. I’ll try cold brewing it overnight and see for the results.

I drink a lot of tea, but I usually forget to write notes.
I’m under 1/3 of 100gr bag of Premium Hao Ya grade of this tea, so now I’m trying to get it even with other two grades I purchased. What sometimes bothers me with TeaVivre’s Hao Ya grade is that it’s somewhat too light bodied and tends to lose part of its aroma when prepared with bottled water other than I usually use.
Keemun Grade 1 has more of a character, even little bitter possibly due to brewing it in tall inox thermos and thus water breaking some leaf and releasing bitterness. It’s really cold in Bosnia these days so I’m getting the feeling that water in my usual glass teapot is cooling down faster than it should and the end result isn’t satisfying. Moving on.

As I said infusion presents itself as more robust with a dash of bitterness and yet it feels light as it goes down the throat. I really can’t feel roasted notes but I do get some of that of steamed vegetables. All in all it’s pleasant for my palate, but I’m not making any ‘wows’ , an this cuppa can pass as breakfast tea for me.

I drank this one today with my roommate – gong fu style. We enjoyed it for five infusions before noticing taste wearing off. Good company, good tea, good times…

I brewed 3 gr with 500 ml cold water overnight… about 12 hours.

What came out this morning was rather intensive tasting infusion, very vegetal with hint of astringency. It also had a strong herbal notes, sage to be more specific. Aftertaste was vibrant herbal with some sweetness that came after.
I might oversteep this one, or used too much leaf… but I did enjoy it.

I brewed 5 gr with 500 ml cold water overnight… about 12 hours.

I must say, it is even better tasting than when brewed with hot water. It has a nice honey note complemented with roast and smokey aromas. Mild but well defined vegetable taste coupled with some sweetness and finished by sweet peas and even sweeter aftertaste. Delicious!

This is one hell of a tea. No wonder it’s TeaVivre’s highest rated so far.

I’ve received a free sample of this tea, thank you TeaVivre.

I’m pretty much into black teas, 60-70% of the time, it’s black. That’s why I ordered all three grades of Keemun and I’m going to order this one as well. It’s packed in foil, 5 gr each, which is great.

Leaves are longer than average, with a decent amount of buds. Upon opening one pack I used a half of it with 150 ml water on 85 C and brewed it three times, starting with 2 minutes and increasing by one for the rest.

First sip was amazing – lingering caramel and smooth touch, made me remember of my first sip of Dian Hong and Jin Jun Mei. It’s somewhere between those two.
While drinking second infusion I got a really hot feeling in my stomach, like Qi in Dantian… superb!

I’m definitely sparing my rest three packs for special occasions, until I order some.

TeaVivre provided me with a free sample of this tea. Thank you.

I’ve drank this few days ago, but forgot to write a note. I wanted my impressions settled, but if you look the other way, I just might be lazy at the moment. Anyways, let’s get started.

I received the package early-early to mid January that I ordered in mid December, and since it was my first time (to order from TeaVivre) I was so excited when I got a cardboard box. I got my four teas that I ordered (three grades of Keemun and 50 gr. of Organic Bai MuDan), plus three free samples. All teas were double packed, except this one. When I opened the sachet and stuck my nose into it and inhaled deeply (hey, don’t get the wrong idea) – it was amazing, earthy, dried plum-like, mellow scent awarded my months’ wait.

I waited for an opportunity to drink it with my girlfriend that has a knack to pinpoint an aroma. She doesn’t drink tea often, but when she does she can Identify numerous tastes and aromas.
So she came over for the weekend and I popped one Pu Erh ‘cookie’ (that’s how I call them) of my tea board, and she was like – does that smell like fish too? (We drank some Pu Erh not long ago and it had a smell of fish market) She was OK with it so I washed the tea and brewed 1st infusion…

1st infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 10 s

First infusion was clear with violet-ish hue, had a mellow and light taste and seemed quite natural. Since it wasn’t as earthy as I used to I thought that water didn’t penetrate enough, so I added 10 seconds more…

2nd infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 20s

And that’s how you get an espresso-like Pu Erh infusion, that was significantly darker, far from dark red hue that was expected. We drank it, it was quite delicious but a bit strong for my taste, buy I made a mistake, so blame it on me.
Some new notes came up, nutty, but my girlfriend pinpointed it to the sensation when you eat too much walnuts (how does she do that??). It was a bit bitter, but the good kind and we emptied our cups.

3rd infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 15 s

This infusion yielded a more pleasing taste for my palate, if not the best for the session. It had all characteristics of previous infusion, only tuned to my enjoyment area. After we drank this one my girlfriend called it a night, and I went on brewing some more.

4th infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 20 s

I enjoyed that one too, but I noticed that taste is starting to fade – which made me to think that I lost a good deal of it in 2nd infusion. After that one I made it to 7 or 8 in total, increasing for 15s, 20s … up to 2 minutes.

In conclusion, this is the best mini Tuo Cha I had a chance to sip.

(The awkward, funny part)
Tomorrow morning girlfriend said that I scared the hell out of her when I woke up in the middle of night and jumped, talking something about this tea. I guess I felt regrets for that 2nd infusion that it made up to my subconsciousness :)

I love tea in general, but l drink black tea most of the time. That’s why I ordered all Keemun that TeaVivre has – grades 2 & 1 and Premium.
When I opened all these I saw that they’re made in Mao Feng style and seem to be broken. Furthermore, Premium is just a slightly bit tippy than Grade 1, which I wasn’t expecting. In appearance they look almost the same, but in fragrance, well… that’s another story actually.

Brewing this Keemun might be disappointing if you ignore instructions (90C water), and go with boiling water, or just under boiling. Keemun doesn’t go bitter if you do so, but you will lose a great deal of aroma and taste. Other grades I ordered are fine with that BTW.

With its light body that goes bolder after swallowing this isn’t my usual early morning cuppa. I’m not up to breakfast tea for my morning either, so I try to find something between those two. I could sip on this throughout the day, though.
What I find out with this one is that its characteristics tend to shift a bit with different water. I usually brew tea with bottled water, and supermarkets don’t sell the one I like the most anymore… I hope I’m wrong. When I drank this tea with that particular water liquor was crisp and fragrant, with a nice smokey note. With this water I’m using now I still get all those characteristics, but only slightly diminished.

All in all, this is great tea that I drink on daily basis, I only regret that it’s water sensitive .

…back. I left the leaves in cold water overnight, and now I’m drinking 4th infusion (2m), or is it 5th since the leaves were cold-steeped. BTW, cold infusion was quite flavorful.
For 4th(5th) infusion there is some flavor left but it’s not my thing. I think it could go for one or two infusions before losing its flavor to hot water.

Tea sample provided by TeaVivre. Thank you.

I’ve drank only few TGY so far, and I’m not quite fond of it. I guess I was just drinking mediocre tea, since this one blew me away.
Just few minutes ago I asked my roommate if he wants some tea, and then pointed to boxful of TeaVivre’s tea packs (I’m such a showoff). By pure randomness I picked up one pack and it was this TGY. So I dumped one whole package in teapot, which later might prove a waist of good leaves (5 gr of tea, 8 Oz water, up to 7 infusions). I’m drinking 2nd infusion as I’m typing this and I’m almost full, so I’ll pour cold water over leaves overnight and see if it’s any good when I brew it tomorrow.

I’m pretty sure that anyone who ordered tea from TeaVivre isn’t indifferent of their way of packing tea. I’m pretty impressed by it.

And now, the fun part.
I really didn’t observe dry leaf, but I did take a one good sniff after I dropped them in preheated teapot. It was AMAIZING. Unfortunately, it goes beyond my repertoire of aromas to describe it in its fullest . I can identify, however, fresh crisp grassy note that breaks it’s way to the nostrils along with some roasted notes and some of which I really can’t put my finger on (maybe some vegetables or something like that). At that moment I was listening to some Dragon Ball Soundtrack (the old – oldschool one) and it reminded me of Shen Long in an instant :)

The first infusion (60s) was really, really impressive – clear light green liquor, almost the same aroma as of dry leaf, with a note of steamed greens, very refreshing and heavy with long nutty and sweet aftertaste. Roommate left at this point, I’ll ask him tomorrow what he thinks of it.

Second infusion (1m15s) expanded leaves to their fullest and brewed a green liquor leaning to a yellow hue. It had the same characteristics of its predecessor only with addition of mild tingling sensation on the rood of the tongue, and with more expressed nutty finish and aftertaste.

Third infusion (1m30s), I think I’ll stretch this one for half an hour or so, since I’m pretty much full. As palate tastes the same tea liquor in prolonged period it gets saturated of certain notes while others take in their place. At this point I’m definitely getting more of nutty aftertaste than of grassy and vegetable notes. This session was of highest quality, but I’ll have to stop now. I hope I’ll enjoy the same leaves tomorrow as well.

All in all, the best TGY I’ve tasted so far.

Just a quick note,

I poured 2 cups cold water over dry leaves for one cup (3 gr) and let it brew overnight. I’m now enjoying a delicious cup of tea. It has a nice mix of herb and nutty notes with smooth silky touch. I like it better this way than when brewed with hot water.

Raising its marks to 85.

I’ve been waiting too long to drink a cuppa of this one again . Few months ago I was offered a cup of this tea in tea shop in Sarajevo, and I was quite impressed with it, but didn’t buy any since I had it all planned out – bought some greens and oolongs instead. Tomorrow morning I had regrets for not buying it, and when I came back to buy some , there wasn’t any… I guess that tells you if certain tea is good – reminds me of my ex telling me that the best cakes in pastry shop are the ones that are out of stock.
I was excited the other day to see a fresh batch of this perfect black blend and grabbed some without much thought.

This blend has one of the best aromas (if not the very best) I stumbled upon so far. Full bodied cocoa note goes so well with almond in ways that can’t be described. I’m almost tempted to eat all broken cocoa seeds and almond slices in it. Actually, I nibble some cocoa while waiting for water to boil, and sometimes I try to pick out as much of it as I can from strained leaves while waiting for the tea to cool a bit.
Tea is not expensive – 5,95 BAM / 50 gr (or $3.87 at the moment). If you ever come to Sarajevo, I strongly recommend that you at least try it.

After brewing few cups, I found that 4 min brew suits me best, more than that and the tea will release some bitterness (not much though). I’m having an idea right now to steep it for 5 mins. or more and add some milk to it. I think I’ll try that later…
Anyways, cocoa note is sturdy and natural, with nutty-almond finish… and it’s the same with every sip – not the taste curve that you would usually expect with succeeding tea sips.

…’kay time for some organic Kukicha.

This is my first time to drink Kukicha actually, because one person asked me to write a review for it. Otherwise, I wasn’t attracted to Kukucha… until I tried it that is. I couldn’t believe that twigs and stems can bring up such a pleasant flavor.

Tea soup resembles Sencha in appearance, just to lack that grassy note with some aroma that I somehow closely relate to roasted corn on a cob. I was surprised how refreshing and tasty it was. You know when you try something for the first time and you get less than you expected, well, it’s the other way around with this cuppa.
Few sips into familiarizing with Kukicha and slight sourness arises, just a dash, and no astringency. Few sips more and subtle grassy Sencha flavor comes about. I drank it all the way to the bottom (:eeeew:). No really, it was that tasty.

I wasn’t feeling like washing my teapot for some Keemun so I dared to re-steep it on lower temperature and at least 5 minutes. And it was worth it. Maybe not as flavorful as the first steep, minus freshness, but I could feel some Gyokuro, and boy, that made my day.

To wrap it up, an excellent tea, I could drink it almost on a daily basis. Nice to meet you Kukicha.

Here’s the album, sorry for low res I had to resize for the forum I post my reviews.

http://imageshack.us/g/401/311220111477.jpg/

I’ve heard of this tisane few weeks ago. I stumbled upon it last week and purchased 1 Oz, just to give it a try. I’m really not fond of tisanes, but I really can’t drink any C. Sinensis in evening, or I’ll be staying awake for couple more hours than usual. Anyways, this cuppa has cooled enough for sipping, so let’s get to the point.

Liquor reminds me of rich red wine in color, and aroma rising from the cup is somewhat fruity with a dash of honey. Taste itself reminds of rooibos, it has that earthy body and tobacco-y finish. Besides that, it derives from rooibos with some short lasting sweetness culminating to freshness in the end. There’s a certain fruity aroma that lingers about, that I just can’t put my finger on. And as I strain my brain cells to reach for it, it slips away. I don’t want to bother about it right now, I pretty much enjoy this cuppa.
Few sips to finish this one, and I notice that liquor slightly changed color, looking more like Ceylon than rooibos.

To wrap it up, this is pretty neat cuppa, like rooibos on steroids (lol). But seriously, I don’t fancy drinking plain rooibos, only in blends, but I could hang out with this one for quite the time.