Teavivre

Half a cake used for infusion.

Brewed tea has aromatic notes of meaty-savoury, sweet, and fruity.

Flavour notes of smoked wood and jujube candy sweetness.

okay, so, here’s the thing. I’m partial to roses, not simply bc my surname is quite rosey, or because my grandma had a million rose bushes that I constantly would run into and therefore, as a child, was constantly cut up. but also the SMELL of roses, I find to be comforting, and make me think of my grandma (we were partial to yellow roses).

HOWEVER, rose flavoured things are scary because sometimes they just straight up taste like perfume or weird floral soap and that’s not something that I’m into. Steven Smith Teamaker has an EXCELLENT rose genmaicha (Rose City Genmaicha, pls go and try it, it is one of the best non-52 teas flavoured genmaichas I’ve ever had), and because that exists, I try to trust rose flavoured or scented teas. I was worried when I smelled this because….it is VERY rose-y, and I worried about drinking perfume, but it’s not perfume-y at all. the only downside is that the rose really overpowers the dianhong, which is a pity. I can kinda taste that dianhong-y sweetness, but then it’s mostly the rose.

This tea has a pale green liquid and a faint hay aroma. It has a light body with flavors of hay and cucumber. It also has a nice sweetness to it. I liked the Organic Nonpareil better, but at over twice the price I didn’t think it was over twice as better. This is a very good white tea and one that I would drink again.

I love the look of this tea, it is a large 8 gram rolled up ball of white, yellow, and black leaves. I couldn’t help myself and steeped the whole ball, even though it is more tea than I usually steep at one time. It steeps darker than most whites I have had, but it has the honeydew haw flavor of a good white. There is also the subtle flavor of a young raw pu-erh on the back end. It is a tasty tea, which is nice because I was worried that it was just trying to get by on its looks.

This tea is a medium oolong with a light amber color and a nice sweet aroma. It has a pronounced honey taste and is sweet but not overpowering. It has a velvety texture that makes it feel like I’m drinking a warm glass of honey. There is a hint of floral flavor that comes on a little stronger as the tea cools.

This tea is greenish amber in color and has a vegetal hay aroma. It has an interesting flavor of hay, veggies, and caramel. It is kind of like a mix of a green tea and a dark oolong, which is something I haven’t really tasted before. It is not something I would drink all the time, but I am glad I tried it.

Gong Fu Sipdown (627)!

Started a Gong Fu session a little while ago, more lax. I gave this one a nice, long rinse – was really surprised how easily the whole cube just came apart. Very clearly not tightly compressed. I don’t love the taste of this shou, but it’s not bad either. Has a little bit of a funk to it – but mostly just tastes like earth/clay/wet wood.

Got about four infusions in, though, and was just hit with an INTENSE wave of nausea. Like, instant cold sweats/tummy rumbling/dry heaving. So I’ve been sitting here at my tea table for like the last ten minutes waiting for it to pass. Not sure why I so spontaneously feel ill; I’m not drinking this one an empty stomach, and I haven’t had excessive amounts of caffeine today by any stretch. It’s just not going away though. I made a fifth infusion and have slowly sipped on that, but I think it’s making it worse.

Legit feel like I might throw up – and I swear it’s not commentary on the taste of the tea, because it’s not that bad (really, it’s just mediocre pu’erh). Something isn’t right though, and I don’t think I can keep brewing this session…

:/

I wanted to write a note for this before I parceled this out for other Steepsterers. I’m not sure, but I think Teavivre changed the name of their original Golden Monkey to Premium Golden Monkey when they started selling this one? I’m not sure what I expected from this one as Teavivre’s other Golden Monkey was never what I wished it was. I haven’t had the Premium in a while, so I’m not sure how this compares. The leaves are mostly black with only hints of gold with many gold dustings on my teaspoon once I’ve scooped it out. The flavor is neither light nor dark, it’s a nice middle ground of sweet sweet chocolate. But then the second steep kind of loses even that sweet chocolate and becomes a much more plain tasting. It could be the steeping parameters aren’t spot on. I’m glad the flavor isn’t light, but I do like my preferable Golden Monkey to be very dark chocolate with honey notes. Is it just me or does black tea not have that wine note that it did a few years ago? Maybe I haven’t been buying as many fresh teas lately and maybe the wine note is only in fresh teas? Or maybe it only happened in harvests of a few years ago. Or possibly my taste buds have changed. I do notice that many of Teavivre’s teas seem to have a bigger leaf now, which means higher quality, but to me, a bigger leaf means a lighter flavor. (For example, a couple of the keemuns lately have huge leaves now.) But that’s just my tastes.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep
Harvest: 2017

Edited to add: Mary Bao from Teavivre did say I was correct about the name change in an e-mail: “You’re right, we changed the name of our original Golden Monkey to Premium Golden Monkey when this version started selling.” Just in case anyone was wondering!

I’m surprised this is the first review of this tea. Thanks, TeaVivre, for sending it as part of a free sample promotion earlier this year. I put the entire 7 g sample in a 120 ml teapot, which it filled right to the brim. Steeps were at 200F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 120, and 240 seconds.

This lives up to its name, with honey, orchid, mild roast, and lychee-like sweetness. There’s a slight astringency in the aftertaste, which is not surprising given the amount of leaf. In later infusions, notes of wood, minerals, and veggies emerge.

Although this was by no means a complex tea, its honey and orchid character was pronounced and pleasant. I’ll have no problem finishing the two other samples I have on hand, and would consider buying more if I didn’t already own three other iterations of this type of tea.

This is the final Tie Guan Yin in my set of free samples. (Thanks, Teavivre!) I steeped 7 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 120, and 240 seconds.

While the first steep is slightly floral, tangy, and vegetal, the tea really gains its stride in steeps 2-3, with strong grassy, butter, tangerine, orchid, floral, coriander, and tannin notes. Seven grams may have been a bit too much leaf, since the aftertaste is bitter and vegetal. By steep six, a lot of the fruit is starting to disipate, to be replaced by minerals and grass. The astringency is a lot more noticeable in this TGY than in the two others I tried.

Although this Tie Guan Yin had a promising beginning, it didn’t have the staying power of its two siblings. It was also the most vegetal of the bunch. While this would make a good everyday tea, I think TeaVivre offers better options at around the same price point.

This is the second of the three teas in my Tie Guan Yin showdown. (Thanks to TeaVivre for the samples.) The leaf is more broken up than the Zheng Wei TGY, although the orchid/vegetal aroma is very similar. I steeped 7 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 120, and 240 seconds.

The first couple steeps feature orchids and other florals, citrus, herbs, stonefruit, and a vegetal backbone. Its heavy and slightly soapy body reminds me of Chou Shi Dan Cong from Yunnan Sourcing, which is a tea I really like. The citrus, florals, and herbs intensify over the next few steeps, and the stonefruit resolves into peach or maybe nectarine. By steep four, minerals, spinach, and possibly jasmine emerge. Can you tell I’m enjoying this tea? The flavour stays consistent for around eight steeps before experiencing the typical vegetal fade-out.

This was a very enjoyable Tie Guan Yin and a strong contender among the samples. It has the fruity tang I want in a TGY, while still possessing lots of florals.

ETA: For me, this one was the winner.

I took advantage of the free sample promotion that Teavivre was running a while ago to pick up three Tie Guan Yins, with the aim of choosing one to get me through until 2019. (Thanks, TeaVivre, for the free samples!) I steeped 7 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 120, 180, and 240 seconds.

The first steep is fairly vegetal, with notes of orchids, florals, and grass. The slightly bitter aftertaste probably means that I used too much tea. In the next few steeps, the orchid gets more pungent and notes of butter, lilacs, and violets show up. The aftertaste is long, with no bitterness after the first couple infusions. The tea holds steady for about eight steeps before it starts to fade.

This was a very floral-heavy Tie Guan Yin that hit most of the right notes for me. However, I didn’t get any of the fruit that other reviewers mentioned. I didn’t find it all that complex and while it’s clearly a good tea that gives lots of steeps, there might be more interesting TGY’s out there.

Angel was kind enough to include this in the last batch of samples she sent me in Spring 2018. And wow. This is lovely. The dry leaf is bright green curly dry moss. Pretty to watch as it unfurls and tints the added water. The liquor is nutty sweet roast chestnut and green pea. And possibly a bit asparagus. Delicious.

If I might add a suggestion for TeaVivre in terms of packaging of samples. The packaging itself is great. However, the font in the English text is far too small to read for an English speaker and further, the letters all run in and blur together. Add to that, that the names of the teas are in Pinyin and mostly unknown. aside from the names of the most famous teas, this can make for a most frustrating experience.

This tea, for example, with my glasses on, looks like it could be La Shun You Wu or Lo Shan You Wa or Lu Shan Tou Wu and so on and so on. I tried to type this many times in steepster before I gave up and went to search for this tea on TeaVivre’s site and eventually found it. It needn’t be so frustrating. Make the font larger.

Thank you, Angel, for the sample. I really enjoyed it, aside from the challenge with the name of the tea.

Leaves: medium thin green leaves

Measuring Spoon: no

Steep: 8m

Aroma: typical green tea, although it is a yellow

Color: pale yellow almost clear

Clarity: Great

Taste: It has been soo long since I’ve brew a cup of loose leaf tea. After having a nice conversation this afternoon I though why not make a cup of tea? Deciding between a green & yellow, I have never had a yellow tea till now. I was surprised that the leaves were still green yet the brewed color was a pale yellow. As for taste and aroma it reminded me of my typical green teas I’ve had in the past with nothing to really separate it from the others. It was a very nice cup, having great clarity.

In terms of tea experiments I’ve been playing around with Twinings english breakfast tea bags – trying to make it in a British way with milk (soy) & sugar (brown).

Listening to: BTS – 134340 (Pluto)

Very tasty green, similar to the Sichuan greens in the White2Tea club a few months back, but much more affordable. Savory and sweet, tastes of chestnut, sugarcane, and green vegetables.

2018- I can only compare this tea to the highest quality she feng offered by seven cups as of this writing. These tea leaves are enormous in comparison. There is a watery honey taste but nothing nutty, tho somewhat savory. While this is probably a drastic comparison, I do think there must be something affordable that is better than this tea. That being said, this tea is not trash.

2018- dry leaf smells of yellow mustard. Wash is mustard and rotten stone fruit//// 1st brew tastes of avocado, over ripe rotten /// malty, rotten, bitter/// malty fruit

2018- dry leaf: baked bread; wash: cherry with savory after taste… 1st brew smells of sweet potato, taste- sweet potato, sour, bitter, savory /// delayed astringency, mix of cherry, sour, and sweet potato. Decent savory huigan. You can do worse than this tea but i can only technically reccomend it.

This tea smells and tastes distinctly of honey, and nothing else. There is no complexity or development to the flavor, and honestly I really thought the leaves looked young (as in the wer leaf did not feel like aged leaf) but I’m not versed enough to make that call. As far as the recent teas i’ve tried from teavivre, you could do worse than this. If you had to have pure honey shomei, why not I suppose. It’s drinkable, but it is a one trick pony. I will try bpiling the leaves next time.

I’m used to an affordable da hong pao that gives off tons of flavor and color and aroma. This is not one of those teas. I prefer music city tea’s very affordable offering.

Cold Brew Sipdown (639)!

Yes, after that flurry of sipdowns/tasting notes this morning my cupboard number has gone up yet again. I got a handful of free Teavivre samples in the mail today though and this was included in those samples. I’m always curious about Teavivre’s fruit infusions; it seems like a sort of weird thing for them to carry – and in so many varieties too! I’ve never really spoken to a tea drinker who has gone “Yes, I’m placing a Teavivre order because I’ve run out of their fruit infusions”. It’s always one of their straight teas.

I own the Waterlillies blend they carry; that was my first “foray” into their fruit blends. I almost went with this one instead, but I was lured in by the pineapple in the aforementioned. I tried to go for a real mix of teas in this most recent batch of free samples; and that included flowering tea, some pu’erh, a straight herbal tea that I don’t think I’ve experienced before from any company, and this! Back during the free sample/Black Friday deals in November I actually kind of wish I’d gone for this one instead of Waterlillies though because I think I enjoyed this one a lot more than I do Waterlillies, which I find to be VERY tart and hibiscus heavy in terms of flavour. But at least I’ve tried it now…

So firstly, “Vanilla” is DEFINITELY a misnomer because there is nothing in this blend that tastes of vanilla _at all. However, once you accept that and move past the idea of a “berries and cream” profile it is very enjoyable as a mixed berry tea! It’s a little bit tart, but overall quite smooth and well balanced with some really nice sweet Blueberry and Elderberry notes, and then just a little bit of currant in the finish of the sip. It’s fresh and juicy, and hella refreshing! And when I say ‘a little tart’ I really do mean the bare minimum amount of tartness for this to actually make sense as a berry tea; apart from that it’s smooth, smooth sailing all the way!

Thoroughly enjoyable, and maybe I wouldn’t place a Teavivre order specifically for this blend but you can bet that I’d toss it into my cart if I was making an order for other things at the same time!

At first the ‘fishy’ smell was overbearing, but as this tea cooled, the aroma dissipated and gave way to amazing flavor. Multiple steeps reveal a sweeter cup each time.

I don’t know weither I have another cold. Just got over one a week or two ago. Or if I have pneumonia. But I think the tea will help and I will try to review a tea.

Organic huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea from TeaVivre.

Dry leaf: pepper, green, grass.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkGu1cBHnf_/?taken-by=kirkoneill1988

Wet leaf: fresh cut grass, seaweed.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkGu4ownw4x/?taken-by=kirkoneill1988

Light steep; I smell/taste:
(Smell) slight green.
(Taste) slight —> pepper, vegetal. Light green.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkGu3bqH_YO/?taken-by=kirkoneill1988

Medium steep; I smell/taste:
(Smell) slight —> green, pepper.
(Taste) light —> green, pepper, fresh cut grass.

Heavy steep; I smell/taste:
(Smell) light green(?)
(Taste) light —> green, fresh cut grass, metallic (iron?), pepper(?).

All in all, a delicious tea! I rate a 99/100.

Where to find: https://m.teavivre.com/product/view/organic-huang-shan-mao-feng-green-tea.html

Next day note: i feel quite a bit better :D