Teavivre

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 ;)

This batch is just not as Strawberry as the batch I had before, plus the oolong somehow tastes rough around the edges. Too bad, because the one I had previously was SUPERB, just pure strawberry bliss.

My Teavivre order came in! Very happy to have this one back in the cupboard. Also they sent me a super cool gift box sampler prize :)

I think the LAST cup I had of this was the sipdown, because this is just a dusting of strawberry that I heavily bolstered with milk oolong so I’d have a full teaspoon of tea. I guess it’s a testament to the power of strawberry that I do still taste it a little. Anyway, REALLY sorry to see the last of this tea, must order some more pronto!

I stretched this sample out as long as I could, but this is the last of it (tears). This is such an under-sung tea. So good, so natural, so green-oolongish- with-a-kiss-of-mountain-strawberry. I’ll just have to buy some more, but I need to drink some of these other teas first.

A perfect melding of the greenish oolong and strawberry. In many ways this is an understated tea – the strawberry especially doesn’t knock you over the head the way fruit flavors often day. So natural and refreshing.

Resteeping the leaves of this, and thought it deserved a note of its own. The second steep is just as good as the first steep. I really love this tea. Just felt the need to reiterate that.

Love this one! I’m always slightly apprehensive about fruity teas, because so many of them are hopped up on artificial flavors, but this one tastes really natural. The strawberry strikes a nice balance with the oolong. Very smooth. Plus is smells amazing :)

This is the 2nd Ginseng oolong I’ve tried, & they were both basically the same. The oolong is coated with a matte finish of powdered ginseng & I think licorice root as well. It’s an interesting taste, & I’m gonna drop the leaf into a mason jar because I think I’ll also enjoy it cold later! This one came from KS, thanks brother!
287

I had a sample of this once — I remembered that I liked it, but totally mis-remembered what it tasted like. This may be the most complex tea I’ve ever tasted. I used 4 balls and steeped 4 minutes — though 3 might have been enough, as it turned out quite strong. Most noticeable is the sharp tang of molasses. There actually is something in the flavor that reminds me of leather, as unlikely as this sounds. Also a hint of chocolate-raisin. I’m just hitting the highlights here. It makes me think of lapsang souchong, but it’s not actually a smoky tea, I think the correlation is just that they’re both so strong and multi-layered. It really is a difficult tea to describe. It’s good though, and definitely an experience.

Tried this again, and I don’t know if the water temp. was slightly different or I steeped it longer, but it seemed a lot more flavorful this time. I still can’t pinpoint what those flavors are, though. Still working on my tea vocabulary, I guess. The short version is: Good Tea! If you haven’ tried this, get a sample.

These pearls are huge! I used just 4 and they unfurled to a massive amount of tea. It’s fun to watch :) I’m still developing my palette as far as unflavored blacks go, so I couldn’t really pick up on all the flavor notes other reviewers have detected (leather?) but this is a very rich malty black tea, perfect for the morning.

Sometimes when first smelling or tasting a new tea it feels like something of an interaction: its scent or taste ‘greets’ you with something so pleasant that you are moved to respond with a self-surprised “hello!” So it happened to me this morning with this tea.

First the dry leaves’ ripe apricot scent drew me in, intrigued and hopeful that the flavor would bear out this promise; I was kind of excited. And then more so to find that when brewed that apricot flavor remained, although now more toward sweet stewed apricots. Whoop! And complemented by a true lychee flavor. There is also a slightly complex brothy savoriness to it which offers a good comfort factor.

I steeped it at the maximum time suggested, which is 6 minutes. I would recommend that for this tea because it became so nicely full-flavored without any edge. Likely as a result of this, the second steeping had little flavor.

Thank you, Angel, this was a wonderful sample.

BTW, I used the “What flavors and scents do you notice” dropdown for the first time with this tea, and looking through, have to say: “Roasted chicken” is a choice?!!! Come on, how funny is that.

I received this sample from the incomparable MissB. Thank you so much for sending this, because I’m in love with this one!
I used 5 pieces in my gaiwan, and followed the directions from the website (rinse 10 sec, then 30 sec infusion, adding 20 sec after for each infusion).
The dry tea itself smelled so lovely….chocolate and malty and utterly delightful.
Smooth mouth feel with such balanced notes.
As I progressed through infusions, the taste would shift (the chocolate sometimes being right there in the front, other times hanging back…), but each one so intriguing, fascinating my taste buds (seriously, this was a GREAT tea experience).
Definitely will add this one to my ‘must buy’ list.

Sipdown. When I first got this, I thought it was amazing, but it’s been a victim of my own carelessness. I’ve oversteeped it way too many times, leaving me with mixed feelings toward it. It gets this weirdly unpleasant floral aspect when it’s steeped too long. Of course the whole business can be avoided by steeping properly, but the tea doesn’t leave much room for error. I took the water temperature way down from what the directions said, and still, there’s just a narrow window of goodness: 3.5-4 minutes. Less and you’ll taste nothing, more and the tea’s too far gone. When it’s good, it’s really good, but I’d just as soon stick with the unflavored version of this tea. It’s a lot more user-friendly and tastes just as nice or better. Sorry, Steepsters, but consider me the lazy tea drinker among you.

Oh sad day, this is the last of this :(
Plus I am too hot to think of anything else to say.
Truly the dog days are upon us.

Oh happy day! Found one more sample packet than I thought I had of this. (This happens to me a lot, due to general absent-mindedness, but it never loses its thrill.) More milky-buttery-perfectly-balanced-against-the-oolong for me.

From reviews I’ve read, it sounds like some people object to having flavoring in their milk oolongs — and I admit, if you were expecting the unflavored kind, this one might come as a bit of a shock — but I’m no purist. Flavoring is fine by me, as long as it doesn’t taste like chemicals. This is a very natural flavoring.

I’d love to compare it to David’s milk oolong, but I am reluctant to buy a whole 50 grams of it, and I’m nowhere near a store. I know the David’s order form isn’t set up to request specific samples, but has anyone tried requesting them in the comments section of the form? They always send 3 samples with the order anyway, so I’d just as soon get the things I’m really curious about.

Woohoo! Three Teavivre samplers came in the mail today. I decided to cash in all my Teavivre reward points and try some of the things I’ve been hearing so much about :) This has been sort of of a rough day for me, as I had a bit of headache and nausea, so I made a cup of this milk oolong because it sounded the most soothing. I’ve never had a milk oolong before, and I was surprised by just how creamy it really is. Also, peachy. I don’t know if my tastebuds are whacked out right now (I’ll do another review when I’m feeling better) but this is like Breyer’s peach ice cream in tea form. Very natural and very delicious. My one caveat is that it was a bit on the astringent side for an oolong. I think this was because I used boiling water, per the directions. I generally try to brew oolong at about 190, and I’ll probably try that next time. It may just be a matter of taste.

Queued post, written April 27th 2014

I received this one from Courtney and I thought it rang a bell. I know I’ve had some of Teavivre’s Yunnans before, but I couldn’t remember if it was this one. I had a look through the database, and found I was both right and wrong. I had had one before, but it was not this one.

This has an aroma of lots of grain and a good deal of cocoa. The grainy note is very close to freshly baked rye bread, actually. One baked with sourdough, I think. (How detailed is that!)

It’s got quite a sweet flavour with a smidge of chocolate-y cocoa to it. For me, cocoa and chocolate are not the same flavours at all. There is a significant difference to it sometimes. It has to do with how it feels in the mouth as well. For this particular tea, though, it seems to fall right between the two and I can’t decide if I think it’s more one or the other.

It’s thankfully free of that hay-ness that plagues Yunnan blacks for me and instead has a good deal of malty grain to it. On the aftertaste I’m getting that note that some people think is like black pepper and I don’t really think it is, but I can see why they say so.

I thought initially that I would compare this to the Teavivre Yunnan I had before, but my experience of this one was so different from the other that comparing them serves no purpose.

This tea has a more rugged personality than either Mao Fengs or the one other Mao Jian I’ve tried (from Nourishtea). There is a strong, dark vegetal quality but something more as well. In fact, I was struck immediately upon opening my new bag by the scent of something akin to, of all things, … prosciutto!

Today’s batch seemed more vegetal than meaty, but it still had a lot of ruggedness to it. Definitely better for savory than sweet cuisine.

In a side-by-side comparison of this Xin Yang Mao Jian with Teavivre’s Lu Shan Yun Wu, the heartier, more robust and darker green flavor of the Mao Jian really came through. This tea is much closer to Wissotzky Signature Green (in sachets), which I fell for a while back. In contrast, the Lu Shan Yun Wu is like a cross between Long Jing and Bi Luo Chun. Well, sort of… I am quite sure that the profound distinctions between all of these teas would emerge in side-by-side brewings!

The flavors of today’s two teas are certainly very distinct, though the liquors did not differ that much in appearance. The Xin Yang Mao Jian was gold veering more brown than green, which I ascribe to the more cooked quality of the tea. I also noticed that the infused leaves look neat and tidy in the case of Lu Shan Yu Wu, but sort of disheveled and chaotic for the Mao Jian. The dried leaves in both cases looked well-groomed, with the Lu Shan Yu Wu having especially attractive little corkscrew shapes.

Mao Jian is another case, like Bancha in Japan, where the later crop is generally considered to be less desirable than the first flush—Mao Feng in the former and Sencha in the latter case. I find, however, that second flush teas (and this applies equally well to darjeelings in India!) have their own distinctive appeal. I don’t necessarily prefer a tea just because it is harder to come by.

In conclusion, Xin Yang Mao Jian goes on my shopping list, too!