Teavivre

Edit Company

Recent Tasting Notes

93

Deliciously fresh smelling green tea with a sweet and somewhat grassy flavour.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79

A nice mellow floral oolong with a touch of vegetal flavor. It reminded me a bit of the formosa jade oolong I had from Upton, though this one wasn’t quite as sweet. Leaves are a dark olivey green. This is the last of the four teas that came in Teavivre’s Flavored Oolong sampler, and while It’s good, for me it pales a bit beside Teavivre’s Milk Oolong and Strawberry Oolong, both of which knock it out of the park.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90
drank Strawberry Oolong Tea by Teavivre
661 tasting notes

This is one of the samples i got from my Teavivre order. It’s very similiar to Tealux’s strawberry oolong. I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two.

It has a very subtle strawberry flavour that just goes perfectly with the nutty buttery oolong. The strawberry flavour becomes a little stronger as the tea cools but nothing overdone. It goes perfectly in my fine bone strawberry coloured china cup I bought today at the flea market. I am so spoiled.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

75

This came in the flavored oolong sample pack, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be trying it as I’m not keen on ginseng. That said, this is the best ginseng tea I’ve had; there’s a cream flavor to it that really smooths out some of the ginseng weirdness, and the oolong is a great base. If you DO like ginseng, you’ll probably love this tea.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 45 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

I’m starting to feel that keemun is just not for me. I can’t put my finger on a single thing wrong with this tea — it’s smooth, rich, and free from bitterness — but somehow it’s just not appealing. The Fengqing Dragon Pearls and the Bailin Gongfu that came with this one in Teavivre’s sampler are so much more interesting.

Preparation
1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

I guess I was expecting something more exotic, but expectations aside, this is a very smooth balanced black tea, very good quality. I’m trying to expand my horizons, but unflavored blacks just don’t seem to move me right now.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
donkeyteaarrrraugh

funny how we go through phases with teas, isn’t it? I’ve sort of temporarily burned out on some blacks, but am quite keen on others….

Tamarindel

It is! Plus I’ve noticed that over time, I pick up on nuances in a tea that I didn’t taste the first time I drank it. So what I like always seems to be in flux. I guess we’re fortunate that there are so many teas out there to choose from!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

67

The pots I brewed with the 2 methods listed on the tea website tasted too strongly of leather for my taste. So, I brewed a final pot using the one method I’ve found so far that toned down the leather flavor of the Teavivre black teas, the “Chinese Gongfu Way” for the Golden Monkey tea (4s rinse, 10s brew, not quite boiling water).

Flavors: Dark Chocolate, Leather

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 3 OZ / 88 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

89

After reading a post by Sherapop challenging herself to review all her existing teas, I updated my cupboard and discovered that I’ve been very lax in posting reviews on Steepster. Instead, I’ve been posting cryptic notes in a spreadsheet.

So, here is a review of a tea I’ve been enjoying for more than a year, finally posted.

1st (1.5 min): Rich aroma of fruit, with hints of spice and veggie. The taste is mostly spice, but with hints of fruit and flower. The finish starts out fruity, but then seems to move back and forth between fruit and spice, ending up tannic. As I sip, the various flavors interact, coming to the fore one at a time. A very interesting cup.

2nd steep (1 min): Nose has the same flavors as before, but is better integrated. Taste is dominated by wood (cedar I think) and opens up into a really big finish. There is some fruit behind the wood.

Today I would rate this tea a 92, but on prior occasions I’ve had a hard time finding the fruit, so I’m going to post my average rating, weighted toward more recent tastings, which is an 89.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

32

Where is the hibiscus in this tea? Again this is like a cup of hibiscus but there’s no hibiscus in the blend. I thought I would really like this fruit tea but another fruit tea from Teavivre that I hate.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
Angrboda

It’s roselle, latin name Hibiscus sabdariffa. I find rosehips give me the same nasty experience as hibiscus does.

Ubacat

Oh, so that’s what it is. I’ll be sure to avoid that one in the future too. Thanks for letting me know.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

32

How strange. All the reviews on this tea were good and I hated it. It was like drinking a cup of hibiscus. Yes, I could detect the apple but around the hibiscus. It was so sharp I just threw the cup out. Bleh

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90

I have a case of the blahs. Pretty sure I am having an immune freak out from the tetanus shot I got yesterday, or maybe I am catching Ben’s summer cold, regardless I feel like a shambling blob. I am hoping that tomorrow I feel better so I can do something other than lay on the couch grumbling.

Today’s tea is Teavivre’s Lapsang Souchong Smoky Black Tea or Yan Xun Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, from the Wuyi Mountains in Fujian, China. This tea is smoked over pine wood (or pine wood charcoal) from Tongmu Kuan in the Wuyi Mountains. Lapsang Souchong has a long and interesting history, in theory Laspang Souchong was created when the passage of an army delayed the annual drying, so in order to meet the demand the tea producers spread up the processing by drying the leaves over pine fires. Turns out it was a tasty idea. The aroma is very much so a pine smoke heavy black tea, lots of pine smoke goodness and a rich malt. There are also notes of molasses and roasted peanuts which blends really well with the pine resin and smoke.

After tossing the pile of leaves into my gaiwan…ok, not tossing, that would be rude to the leaves, and giving the tea its initial steeping, the wet leaves have a very rich aroma with notes of molasses, loam, malt, pine sap, and loads of pine smoke. It smells like a rich black tea steeping over a fire. The liquid once it has been freed from the gaiwan (It is what I am calling pouring now) has a slightly sweet aroma that reminds me of freshly baked molasses cookies. There is, of course, an overarching aroma of pine smoke and resin.

The first steep is quite smooth and very light. The taste is subtly sweet with notes of pine sap and sweet potatoes. This fades to a rich smokiness that lingers into the aftertaste. This steep promises that future steeps are going to have a wonderful richness and smokiness, it is a good prelude to what is to come.

On the second steep there is a strong molasses and pine smoke aroma. The taste is very strong pine resin taste with strong notes of roasted peanuts and molasses. The tea is not very sweet and has a slight astringent finish. It is smoky and brisk and quite strong.

The aroma of the third steep is very malty and molasses heavy, there is still smoke, but it is not as strong as the previous steeps giving it more of a balanced aroma. The taste is a perfectly balanced blend of smoke, pine resin, molasses, and roasted peanuts. There is a sweet aftertaste and no astringency what so ever.

On a whim I decided to give this tea a visit using Western techniques. The aroma is malty, rich, and quite smoky. The taste is very smoky with heavy notes of pine, molasses, and sweetness. The aftertaste is malty and smoky. Both the Western and the Gongfu styles of brewing made a deliciously smoky and rich tea.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/teavivre-lapsang-souchong-smoky-black.html

Flavors: Malt, Molasses, Peanut, Pine, Smoke

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

81

Go through my Samples Teavivre just sent me! Has a light vegetal taste. Its sweet spinach.

Flavors: Spinach

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

68

Sipdown (174/180)!

Cold brewed the last of this one; and I do think I like it better cold brewed although I still believe it’s very weakly flavoured. The jasmine sticks out more than anything else but I can taste a semi buttery green base and the faintest touch of peach. Not bad, but not exactly good either?

It’s nice to have finished off an older sample!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

68

This was my requested sample back when I ordered my 100g of Jasmin Silver Needle, and I’m just now breaking into it. I though it might be a nice cold brewed treat but I also thought it’d be pretty nice hot too so I decided to make a small hot cup and then depending on how I liked it either finish the sample off hot or cold brew the last of it.

So, my verdict is that I think this is very weak and mildly flavoured in general. I hardly get any sort of indicator there’s green tea in this and I certainly don’t get any peach. Mostly, to me, this tastes like hot, jasmine flavoured water? And, I guess it sorta is, but… No thanks?

So I’m gonna cold brew the last of the pearls and see if the prolonged soaking will draw out more flavour. And on the plus side, at least this wasn’t perfumey or chemical tasting or anything like that!

Flavors: Jasmine

Lala

my suggestion for this one is a bit longer of a steep at a low temp. I found is most peach-y when it was not hot but not yet cold.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93

It’s funny maybe more ironic I guess. We were in Florida at the beginning of the month visiting my wife’s Aunt in Tampa and there was a tea place that I wanted to visit last year when we there. We got a chance to go to Hookers which is a good place but this time around we went to Ming Ming tea. We went in the owner was talking about how he had the spring 2014 crop in stock. I thought to myself….2014 is already on it’s way :) So the shipment came about a week later and basically it was like Christmas again. Especially since my duties have changed at work and it’s a little more hectic. I have to tell you that I was never a green tea fan until I have tried selections from Teavivre. The dry leaves resemble blades of grass. There is an pleasant grassy flavor with this one as well as a hint of roasty flavor, spinach too. Kinda like fresh mowed grass. Which was what I was doing when the blade on my mower came off. So tea time it is! This is another great offering from Teavivre.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

I’m having a laid back day at home, with the agenda of getting a lot of desk things done, but to be honest, I haven’t really accomplished a thing, LOL. Except breakfast & students.
And tea!
I don’t remember if Angel sent me this sample, or if I requested it.
The dry fragrance seemed familiar in that, “I know this scent, but can’t quite place it” way.
I preheated my tiny teapots, then pre warmed the leaf, & the aroma bloomed to a sweet fruity floral that immediately said, “Lychee” in my sinuses & mind.
I went with the gongfu suggestions: rinse/15/25/35/45/60/75/90
Yup, lychee!
What makes this tea particularly special is the fragrance & after aroma of lychee & honey.
What’s an after-aroma, you ask?
That’s when you breath out after the sip & you can feel & smell the aroma up in your soft palate & sinuses. I love it. I love teas that have it, especially roast oolongs.
This feature was especially prominent in the first couple of steeps. The 2nd cup featured a bitterness & the tea energy went right to my head, like I could feel the tea energy moving around in my head, opening sinuses so that my ears started popping. By the end of the cup I also had that tongue buzz going on too.
This tea transformed into rye bread, with lychee still in the background, & continuing on, a hint of spice, cloves perhaps? The texture was a little powdery, kind of odd.
The later steeps had a creamy quality, a sweet agave liquor, with a hint of lychee still in the background.
An interesting tea!

Stephanie

I love after-aromas! I get interesting ones with sheng and oolong sometimes, as well as blacks.

looseTman

Excellent review!

Ubacat

I love lychee but haven’t found a good lychee flavoured tea yet.
I’ve had days like that at home too when I’m supposed to be working. Then at the end of the day, I realize I didn’t get anything done! LOL

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Another sipdown, this one from Sil in the most recent box she sent to me.
This is a tasty black tea, & although I tend to associate the words Dian Hong with amazing golden tipped (or completely golden!) teas that taste of sweet potatoes, honey, malt, etc, , I know they aren’t all like that. This one isn’t. The leaf is much darker, the steep is redder. The tea is fruity like plums, but not as sweet & plum like as the Purple tea from YS that I reviewed yesterday. Nonetheless, this is a delicious tea in it’s own right, & I might have to add some to my next Teavivre order…

I want to really go for it today on the sipdowns, but I have to leave in awhile for a wedding at Pere Marquette lodge over in Illinois. It’s roughly an hour drive, so I probably shouldn’t drink anything else this morning…sigh…oh, maybe one more cup of something…
271

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79

I haven’t tried many new teas lately, and have logged even fewer. Doing a bit of backlogging today… this is another tea I received in my Teavivre sampler. It’s a standard sort of medium oolong. It’s pleasant, if not as dark and roasty as I’d like. On the plus side, it doesn’t have that leafy green oolong flavor I just can’t get into. A nice tea, but not an outstanding one—at least for my preferences. Thanks to Angel for letting me try this one!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85

If you have ever wanted to try a herbal tea but have been afraid of the watered down taste, try this one. This tea is brimming with flavor, there is not even a hint of skimping on this lovely fruit flavor. It’s thicker and flavorful like a juice. Sooo delicious! And for those of you who don’t like hibiscus, don’t fret… this tea has the tiniest little taste of it (roselle is a species of hibiscus) that just enhances the flavor. Seriously, this tea is like a bowl of fresh blueberries, cherries, and currants wrapped into one. It is a little tart…but tart in an amazing way. I love it! Plus, you can always add sweetener to make it sweet if you so desire.

Flavors: Berries

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 8 min or more 3 tsp 18 OZ / 532 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

92

Unfortunate sipdown! I really enjoyed this tea. May need to order it at some point with Huang Shan Mao Feng, another one I really like. I actually just bumped the rating up on this one a little bit because it came out even better than last time. Tangy, sweet and savory both depending on whether this is your first sip or your last. It is very flavorful- almost fruty at first- and it was straight-up refreshing this morning. Also, these airy, fluffy, deeply colored leaves are so attractive. They remind me some of how cute WP’s Golden Snail leaves are.

After all the black/pu-erh steeping yesterday, I think I had way too much caffeine. Today I wanted something just like this with low caffeine. So thank you, Bi Luo Chun for helping me out. I re-steeped this one 3 times and it held up fine btw. And now I am going to go knead my made-from-scratch bread dough so I can bake a few loaves before the start of the week. There is nothing like fresh homemade bread and a good cup of tea. Happy Sunday!

Flavors: Fruity, Sweet, Tangy, Vegetal

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Nightshifter

This one isn’t updating with the edit, but I used a heaping 1.5tsp (probably closer to 1.75tsp) per 8oz bottled spring water.

Anlina

Oh home made bread! It’s a favourite thing of mine to eat, but I haven’t baked much bread myself and the few loaves I’ve done have always been more dense than I planned.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

92

Having a health issue that requires low caffeine for the time being, which sadly keeps me from my morning black. Fortunately, I found this one in the cupboard and made me happy again! Naturally sweet without being overly so, tangy, a hint of floral and a touch of citrus at the very end of each sip that is not bitter at all. It is a straight green, so there is a touch of grass and broth, but this is one I would call almost fruity as far as straight greens go. Additionally, the dry leaf is so gorgeous- dark olive fluffy, downy curls!

Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Sweet, Warm Grass, Tangy

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 45 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

92

Thank you for Angel at Teavivre for the generous sample!

Dry: This is a very interesting and attractive dry leaf with tightly rolled curly tea buds that appear green, olive, and silvery all blended together. They are also fluffy, almost feathery, as I placed them in the steeper. This is a very different look and feel from some other greens like dragonwell, for example. The dry aroma is sweet with a touch of floral and hay.

Steeped: The recommended steep time is 1-6 minutes so I went with 2 minutes to start. This resulted in a light olive green clear liquor that smelled mildly savory and pleasant. The second time I went with 5 minutes and this resulted in a deep olive clear liquor that has a notably stronger vegetal fragrance. The steeped tea itself unfurls into lovely olive buds with a few dark green cut tea leaves mixed in.

Taste: With the first 2 minute steep, there was a very mellow flavor that was almost like I was tasting the aroma. It was enjoyable, but I wanted something bolder to detect the nuances of the green tea. With the 2nd longer steep, there is noticeably more flavor. It has an initial savory, almost brothy note that is chased by something almost faintly citrus. It is not a sweet citrus, but more like a tiny crisp note at the end of each sip. It is fun playing with the steep times as this tea is very versatile in regards to being able to meet the preferences of the individual via short steep or longer steep without becoming overly bitter. Although I must admit it is not my favorite of Teavivre’s greens, I would gladly have it any day and am very glad I have been able to try it!

Flavors: Cut Grass, Fruit Tree Flowers, Vegetable Broth

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 5 min, 0 sec 8 g 20 OZ / 591 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90

Polished this off without even realizing it — I thought I had half a bag stashed in the pantry, but apparently I already drank it. This particular batch wasn’t as amazing as the batch I had before, not as intensely strawberry, and the oolong flavor had sort of a rough edge to it, but it was still pretty good. I mean, obviously I had no trouble getting it down if went through 50 grams of it without noticing ;)

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.