Teavivre

I have a bit of time this morning, so I thought I might do a fuller review for this. It’s been a while. Let’s start the review in the tin, shall we? I never do that, but I feel it needs covering.

The aroma is incredible. It wafts right out of the tin and slaps me in the face, making my mouth water in anticipation. It’s such a strong green bean, sweet buttery aroma that I feel as though I am standing INSIDE the jar. I’ll admit to opening my tea cabinet once or twice just so I can stick my nose in that jar. Once a bit has been separated from its fellows, however, the dry leaf isn’t strong enough to omit much of an aroma.

Once it’s wet, the brew and the leaf exude a strong, sweet chestnut and grassy aroma. It’s almost a bit matcha like in character.

The flavor of the tea actually hits the mouth in stages. The first part is on the front of the palate, where it is sweet, bright, and grassy. On the back of the palate, I get the darker flavors, like chestnuts, umami, and butter. The aftertaste is the tiniest bit astringent, but not in a way that bothers someone who dislikes astringency. I mostly get a slightly toasted matcha-like flavor that lingers on the palate for a while after swallowing.

One of my first fresh greens for the year, and a great experience to start off with!

Review:

Ru Yao dragon teapot. Gongfucha.

Dry leaf: musty.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTb2Lj5g-pH/

Wet leaf: slight pepper. Strong musty.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTb4IzcAP0l/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTb4N4ZgHr3/

1x medium rinse.

Light steep; I taste/smell: (smell) cannot really smell anything. (Taste) light —→ earth, pepper, spicy, minerals, metallic (?).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTb3LnpgrDm/

Medium steep; I taste/smell: (smell) light pepper. (Taste). Light to medium
—→ pepper, earth, minerals (?), metallic (?), burnt toast (?).

Heavy steep; I taste/smell: (smell) light —> pepper, fruity (?). (Taste) medium to strong -→ pepper, earth, minerals (?), burnt toast (?), metallic (?).

All in all, a tasty tea! Very good cha qi. Very clean, and yummy!

I rate a 80/100.

Where to buy: https://m.teavivre.com/product/view/organic-dragon-pearl-black-tea.html

I generally love Golden Monkey style teas. I love how smooth and caramell-y they can be. I bought 100g of a Golden Monkey from NBtea that I wasn’t crazy about (tastes a bit too much of hay, weirdly?) but other than that I have been blown away.

This is some top-notch tea. I use a glass teacup so that I can appreciate the colours (granted a large one because I enjoy drinking multiple large cups of tea per day) and after just over two minutes with a heaped tsp it’s a dark amber colour. (I probably should have set my kettle to 80 rather than 100, so I let it cool for a short while before pouring).

The smell is everything that I would expect; slightly rich, a little sweet, even a touch of caramel perhaps. This tea wants you to drink it.

The first sip goes down smoothly. Very smoothly. There is no bitterness, and hardly even the very light astringency that you would expect. As it cools and the flavours open up you are treated to those subtle caramel notes that you get on the nose.

Ah yes, this is an beverage than could easily be quaffed all day long if you were engaging in a hedonistic tea bender (but is probably best enjoyed sipped over about 20 minutes with a break in between like a regular person). Epicurus himself would have been chugging pints of this stuff though if Chinese tea were readily available in 300 BC Athens, I can practically guarantee it.

For me at least, this tea has joined the Pantheon of the Tea Gods and shall be restocked when my paltry 2×7g sample packs run out. Also I need to get paid because I’ve spent like £150 on tea this month (I’ve just got into the hobby) and you have to draw a line somewhere.

But yes, this a damn fine tea. So good, in fact, that I would serve it to my mum as-is (who is British and likes PG Tips with a dash a milk). What’s more, I think that she would like it.

Drinking up a sample of this from way back when. Probably should have drank this a while ago but figured I’d clean a bit of this off today!

Very pretty leaves tightly rolled up. The dry leaf has this sharp, vegetal (?) sort of smell to it that I’m not totally fond of, but I’d chalk that up to a personal preference. Wet leaf also shows a strong, floral aroma. I find this to be a little sharper than the Taiwanese oolongs I’ve tried (such as Jin Xuan or Baozhong) which I believe is mostly par for the course.

I can’t comment too much on the flavor as it isn’t really my realm of experience, but unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan of this one. I think this has to do with my own personal preference, however, as I prefer fruitier and smoother teas :)

It’s sweet. It’s floral. It’s alright.

I’ve never met an osmanthus flower in person so I can’t vouch for them.

Had this both in western and gongfu style and it consistently tastes the same.

(2016 harvest)

additional notes: oh. I really need to be working on this one. I had a craving of adding some matcha to some vanilla ice cream as “sprinkles” so I did. The first mouthful was pretty flavorful (mostly bitter) but then the subsequent mouthfuls seemed to mostly taste like vanilla ice cream. That was weird. Maybe the age affected the flavor… I also wanted to try adding matcha to a vanilla fast food milkshake. Maybe one day.

I bought this with the Black Friday sale last year for fairly cheap. Seems tasty enough to me! I poured some in the bottom of the mug and then waited about 40 minutes for the water to cool after boiling (around 175 degrees) then poured the water in the mug while stirring. A little goes a long way to the point where I used the remnants of the powder in the bottom of the mug for a second cup. Even much hotter water the second cup didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the powder flavor which was surprising to me. I thought the hot water would ruin the flavor. The flavor is fairly strong but I like it — I probably used way too much powder. It’s a refreshing cup — such a lovely bright green cup! I like that I can get a decent green tea powder for this price. It does the job!

This is a great value for money entry level Tie Guan Yin and one to buy for economical daily drinking. The overall flavour profile of the tea was baked and woody with a noticeable taste of dried fruit, a hint of lemon and sweet potato. The texture of the tea wasn’t overwhelmingly astrigent – it did feel like a typical TGY, but it’s also still rather smooth with the third and fourth steep having a more buttery mouthfeel.

My brewing method was gongfu style at boiling, starting off with 30 seconds and adding 5-10 seconds with each steeping, depending on my preference and how the tea responded to the previous infusion. 30 seconds, give or take, is ideal for the first steeping because these leaves do take time to “wake up” and grow. It’s also great when done western style too imo, for whenever you’re feeling too lazy.

Strawberry ice cream with oolong butter icing.

I’m not generally a fan of strawberry flavoured things and wary when it comes to flavoured oolongs, but this has a lovely balance. I can pretend I’m eating strawberry ice cream and actually enjoy it! :P

Steep count: 3

I saw a slight “rawer” mineral green oolong note (touch of floral) and a tangier strawberry flavouring in the additional steeps.

I am a fan of XG, and it is very hard to find, and it is very to find “real stuff”. I can’t tell you weather or not this was “real stuff”, but it was very good!

The leaves are tightly compressed, and they give off an array of scents including strong high notes of grass, watermelon, and raspberry lemonade. It was sweet, tangy, and aromatic. I warmed my gaiwan and scooped the leaves inside. The scent opens with sweet, smooth, and thick musty tones. I can pick up some florals and spices in the undertones. This reminded me of a nice high end cologne. It has heavy sweet rough tones along with some musk and just a tinge of floral. It was very nice. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste began alike a sugary apple turnover that was heavy on the bread part. I could note a slight viscosity, and it carried a decent kuwei. The next sip brought a distinct bosc pear taste. The brew is thick, fair, and it reminds me of some XG maocha I had in 2015. The brew builds with high notes, and it smoothly goes down. The aftertaste leans towards sour patch kids, with a sharp enjoyable bite and then a gooey sweetness. The liquor thins; however, it is still very fruity and punchy. Then I noticed the qi. The qi starts subtle, but it quickly builds. This was a very intense feeling for me. I took a lot of heat in, I got a little shaky, I even felt a little faint. This was an awesome brew, and it lasted for quite some time. The session ended with me sniffing the cup and relaxing as I spaced out. I really enjoyed this tea!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRMrJL5ASrX/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en

2023 Ode To Tea – Part II – H

Not a sipdown, but I chose an ‘H’ tea that I tend to ignore because I really don’t reach for roasted oolongs. Of course, Teavivre probably has the best roasted oolongs, but they are still probably lost on me. This one is aging well, at least! It was actually more enjoyable than I would have thought. Either I haven’t had this type of tea in a WHILE or my tastes are changing. I doubt that. I think Teavivre just has a really solid tea here, much like most of their other offerings.

This was a sample from a while ago, thanks Teavivre! Sadly not available on the website at the moment. Maybe because it is GOOD. These are the types of tea that I least enjoy, the roasted oolong, but I should have known I would enjoy the leaf that Teavivre offers. The leaf here is dark brown and twisty with a fragrance of fresh hay. The flavor is mostly SWEET honey with hints of lemon and charcoal. So very sweet — another tea I could swear that has sugar in it. Two teaspoons is perfect for me, it isn’t overboard on the charcoal flavor that I don’t like. Just a hint of charcoal in this yellow cup! The second steep has even more of a fuller flavor with a little more charcoal, but it’s evenly balanced — I like the sweetness with the roastiness. I should have steeped this a third time but it was too late for caffeine. Charcoal teas are my least favorite tea but this is the best of this type of tea that I’ve tried. Teavivre is always fantastic. I’m always surprised by almost every Teavivre tea I’ve tried.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 18 minutes after boiling // rinse // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 13 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Harvest: 2016

Disclaimer: this is my first ever lapsang souchong.

I mean yeah, it’s smoky. I was expecting that. It’s not horribly overpowering though, it’s actually pretty pleasant. I think that I preferred the second steep to the first as it was a bit more mellow.

Would I drink this every day? No, of course not. You have to be in the mood for it.

Would I ever be in the mood to fancy a cup of this? Absolutely, it’s lovely!

Here’s Hoping TTB

I was surprised to find this in the “unflavored blacks” section of the TTB instead of in the “smoky tea” bag. Turns out, it was filed correctly. This is a lovely smooth, malty black tea with a warm honeyed sweet potato flavor and not even a hint of smoke. Quite delicious!

Wow, this is a very different-tasting black tea (to me).

Up until now I’ve mostly drank Assams and a few black Chinese teas – nothing too crazy, usually quite smooth and subtle. This is a lovely surprise.

It is certainly smooth and with very low bitterness and astringency, but you can taste a wild earthy note in it immediately. I actually really like this. It is also a lovely amber colour, which adds to the “I am drinking tea leaves from a wild tree” feeling, so to speak :)

It doesn’t replace a good Assam as my favourite, but I can definitely see myself fancying a cup of this over something else from time-to-time.

I think this is a sipdown, or maybe I have another little sample pack lying around somewhere. Regardless, I’m trying it iced with (unsweetened vanilla) soymilk and enjoying it. refreshing, but creamy and flavourful too. Feels good to get through a sipdown considering I just bought three teavana teas. I think I’m at 250 or so. D:

Coldbrewed

Lots of peppermint, background of lemongrass and herbs. I think cold brewing is the way to go on this one (hot steeping brings out too much licorice for my liking.)

This is a fantastic white tea presented in a unique way! Each dragon ball looks to be about an inch across and individually wrapped in tissue paper. It has the appearance of big ole white leaves wrapped into a sphere. Such a lovely sweet flavor results! I could swear there is some sugar mixed in with these white tea leaves. The flavor is light yet smooth and full for a white tea. The second steep is even thicker, like a syrup with a lovely white tea flavor — something deeper than the first steep but not astringent. The third steep is more autumnal flavored — still delicious but I think the third steep could have waited a few more minutes after boiling for the best of that light, syrupy, sweet flavor. I think I could keep steeping this many more times! I’d stock up on this one. If you’re looking for a delicious white tea, this is it. It doesn’t even taste like a usual white tea to me — only sweetness and light.
Steep #1 // 1 piece for a full mug// 20 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // 5 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Sipdown! 230/365!

Finishing off a sample packet of this that was opened – I recently inventoried the majority of my straight teas, and pulled out open samples, greens, and sipdown-level samples, so I will be drinking a bit more of that sort of thing in the near future. I think I’m well ahead on my sipdown goal, though, so no end-of-month quick roulette like last time.

This is another still-really-tasty-despite-age tea. Some of the complexity gone, and there are some spice notes here that are perhaps from contamination, but no metallic flavours, just sweetness and green bean-y umami. Thanks for the sample, Teavivre!

Also – I talked myself out of a Taiwan Tea Crafts order today, which I’m pleased about, especially since I just got a Verdant order that I probably could have waited on. However, I’m excited to see that TTC has 10g samples – not sure they had those last time I ordered, as I bought 25g of everything, which is more than necessary when you’re just curious. I also noted they have free shipping for sample orders of $25+, so this is on my list for some refills of high mountain oolongs and baozhongs at some point.

For those interested, my current tea count is 693 (oh – 692 with this one removed)…. but this does not include my most recent Verdant order, any of my paid-for and incoming teas (AQ2T, 52teas, Bird & Blend), almost all of the Anne-era 52teas, almost all Butiki, all Lupicia, nearly all misc company teas and swap samples. I’ve only inventoried 5 of my 12 bins of tea (though they were the fullest and oldest, excepting Butiki, which I just haven’t run through a second time yet). Yeesh.

Absolutely delicious sample courtesy of Teavivre! This was an opened packet I discovered while cleaning out my desk at work – and I was pleasantly surprised that it was still quite tasty despite me having forgotten to seal it. Classic fresh green-beany goodness. Highly recommend!

One of my favourite greens from Teavivre – lovely vegetal green beany/umami flavour. Shared a pot with a friend a few weeks back, and it was delicious as always.

Thanks to Teavivre/Angel for the free sample :)