Nina's Japon

Tea type
Black Food Green Blend
Ingredients
Black Tea, Flavors, Genmaicha
Flavors
Caramel, Coconut, Cream, Hot Hay, Sarsaparilla, Smooth, Sweet, Toasty, Pastries, Toasted, Autumn Leaf Pile, Toasted Rice, Vanilla, Nutty, Butter, Marshmallow, Nuts
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Mastress Alita
Average preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 30 sec 3 g 10 oz / 290 ml

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40 Want it Want it

  • +25

20 Own it Own it

  • +5

123 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I have so many swaps and a bunch of samples that I really should be drinking instead but I could not resist this tasty little tea. Especially not after freaking out about it with Courtney for the...” Read full tasting note
    92
  • “Sipdown! So i have to say, I tried this a while back and liked it a lot but then forgot about it because it’s a green tea and i don’t drink those often. VariaTEA sent a sample to me, which i...” Read full tasting note
    84
  • “Scary close to a sipdown on this one. There’s enough left for one cup – so I’m really going to have to postpone/draw that out, despite the easy sipdown being tempting. It was about 2 AM when I...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “Okay! Here’s the moment VariaTEA has been waiting for!!! (maybe not THE moment, but A moment at least) This tea tastes mostly bright and green, with caramel notes lingering long after each sip....” Read full tasting note
    96

From Nina's Paris

A marvelous blend of black tea and roasted green tea from Japan. An irresistible dreamy concoction made with crispy rice, vanilla and caramel.

Ingredients: Black tea, green tea, toasted rice, flavoring (caramel, coconut, cream and vanilla)

Steeping Instructions: 175F for 3 minutes

About Nina's Paris View company

Company description not available.

123 Tasting Notes

92
6444 tasting notes

I have so many swaps and a bunch of samples that I really should be drinking instead but I could not resist this tasty little tea. Especially not after freaking out about it with Courtney for the past little while. Haha.

Honestly, there is a reason I rated this an 100. This tea is that good! Sheer perfection. The green base is never vegetal and the black base never astringent. The caramel is buttery sweet and the vanilla is silky smooth. All that combined with the roasty-toasty goodness of the rice. SO GOOD!

Preparation
2 min, 0 sec
__Morgana__

Shopping list!

Courtney

Mwuahaha!

VariaTEA

A wise choice Morgana! You can actually email the people at Nina’s for samples. And because you are in the US, I don’t see shipping being costly at all.

__Morgana__

TY, VT. Good to know.

VariaTEA

No problem. I love this company so if I can help get their name out there, I am more than happy to do so. Honestly it is definitely worth trying as their teas are delicious.

pyarkaaloo

this sounds outrageous….wow! i’m really at a loss for words with all your wonderful reviews. caramel, buttery, vanilla, smooth, toasty. sold!

OMGsrsly

Yeah, OK. I added this to my shopping list too. :)

VariaTEA

Oh god. So many people have added this to their shopping list that I will feel really bad if this doesn’t live up to my review when they eventually try it. With that said, I don’t know why it wouldn’t live up to the review because it is pretty tasty.

Courtney

It will. Because it is magical.

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84
15257 tasting notes

Sipdown! So i have to say, I tried this a while back and liked it a lot but then forgot about it because it’s a green tea and i don’t drink those often. VariaTEA sent a sample to me, which i opened up today in an effort to get ahead with my sipdowns since now i might not have the weekend at all for tea drinking!
…We’re driving to Detroit on Friday night, Chicago on Saturday, and then all the way back to Toronto on Sunday. Because we can. lol…

I love this even more than the first time. Something about the vanilla and caramel REALLY makes me happy. it’s deliciously creamy and wonderful and now i want more. So maaaaybe i can convince my friend to trek up to Miami in February heh :) Thanks variatea!

Courtney

I love the road trip, because you can. This tea is AMAZING. I must have more. I emailed them and they mentioned you…

Sil

ME? lol

VariaTEA

Haha yeah, Sil, they told both of us to talk to you about a group order to save on shipping :P. I am glad you liked it by the way. I think I recalled reading your tasting note so I tossed in a bit more so you could have it again.

Courtney

Haha yes. If only Steepster could support pictures. I also was chatting with VariaTEA for this. They mentioned you might place an order and to see if we could get some sort of group order going to help with shipping costs because they think it’ll be quite expensive.

Courtney

Oh man, VariaTEA I would send you anything for more haha!

Sil

So….i’m likely going to be trying to visit their store in Miami at the end of February. If i do, i’m fine to bring things back and send them to you guys or something like that…

Courtney

Ahh yes. That’s not quite what came across in the email haha. I definitely wouldn’t want to take up room in your suitcase, although I appreciate the offer. :)

Sil

….you realise, when i travel to florida i take 2 suitcases right? one for the clothes and one for tea? hahahaha

Sil

(don’t get me wrong, i’m all for a joint order as well, but if i’m going there, we save on the shipping to us and just need to split shipping from here to us when i get back)

Courtney

Hahaha the two suitcases. Okay, I don’t feel so badly anymore. :P

Sil

i guess technically we pay the 25$ for flying BUT the second one i can totally turn into a carry on and not pay for it bwahahaha

VariaTEA

Haha. I was actually saying to Courtney I will be in Florida in March and plan to do the same thing as you Sil. Plus, last time I came back from Florida I also had a second suitcase to bring back my teas. By the way, where do you buy tea when you are there? Aside from Nina’s, I couldn’t really find where to go.

Sil

Soooo funny story…i order from retailers, ship it to my friend’s places and pick up that plus anything else i’ve ordered. I am a fan of ordering my camera bags while i’m down there: www.kellymoorebag.com to save on duty/taxes etc..

VariaTEA

It’s okay. I order from retailers and send it to my Dad in LA to save on shipping. If he knows I will be in Florida he sends the stuff there to avoid customs and then I just bring it home. Yay for tea mules!!

TeaLady441

Pssssst. I would be interested in a group order.

Courtney

Right Cavo? Group order for the win!

VariaTEA

Haha. I feel like the group order would be a whole bunch of samples and a shitton of Nina’s Japon :P

OMGsrsly

Oh man. Sil! I need to get on this group order. :D

VariaTEA

I like how Sil has been appointed the leader of the group order by the people at Nina’s themselves.

TeaLady441

Hahaha. Yea, that’s pretty hilarious. And tey should probably give Sil and VariaTEA some free teas for a) getting us all excited about an order and b) ‘volunteering’ to make it happen!

Sil

I am ALL for that… totally plotting how to get to Miami with ease…

VariaTEA

If you are there around valentine’s day, they are having a tea, wine, and chocolate tasting event.

Sil

sadly it would be the last week in February..if i can convince folks to make the drive. We’re usually only in the orlando area when we o.

VariaTEA

I won’t be there until March so I am missing it too. I tried convincing my mom to go but she is not into teas enough to drive the hour into Miami.

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95
16357 tasting notes

Scary close to a sipdown on this one. There’s enough left for one cup – so I’m really going to have to postpone/draw that out, despite the easy sipdown being tempting.

It was about 2 AM when I decided that I just had to drink this and I don’t got a second regret it because it was a warm, smooth comforting cup of caramel, vanilla, and yummy puffed wheat. I’m not sure if this has ruined Genmaicha for me nearly as much as it has for VariaTEA but it certainly has done a number on me.

Now, what I do regret a little is deciding to make peanut butter cookies at the same time as I made this tea. 2 AM baking is not necessarily the best or brightest idea.

…And so concludes yesterday’s backlog.

VariaTEA

Oh Japon, you tasty, tasty tea. I will restock and share again :)

Courtney

I just got some in! I can send some to you in our swap Roswell. :)

Courtney

Would you like some too VariaTEA?

VariaTEA

Haha. No thank you, I have enough to tide me over until March. Thank you for the offer though.

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96
1598 tasting notes

Okay! Here’s the moment VariaTEA has been waiting for!!!
(maybe not THE moment, but A moment at least)

This tea tastes mostly bright and green, with caramel notes lingering long after each sip. Like minutes after. I had a few sips and then got distracted by some Netflix comedian for a few minutes and could still taste the caramel and vanilla.

This is also slightly nutty and toasty. There’s just so much going on in each sip.

Ok, VariaTEA. OK. You were right.

This is going immediately onto my shopping list.
(And then I’ll re-steep this)

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Yvonne

The more I hear about this tea the more I want it!

Courtney

THIS TEA IS AMAZE.

TeaLady441

TOTALLY AMAZE. I’m so happy VariaTEA was able to spare a little sample when we did our swap!

TeaLady441

Oh, this is also much better than Harney & Son’s Tokyo blend. I had that in my head as a similar one, but it’s really not.

Courtney

I know what you mean. As it cooled, it reminded me more of Tokyo, but with that awesome creaminess it has. Omg I must have more ASAP. I hid the rest of my sample away in my drawer in hopes that I’ll forget it haha.

Plunkybug

OMG, I want to try this! Caramel and nutty! It sounds amazing.

Fjellrev

ZOMG me too.

VariaTEA

HAHAHAHA. This was THE moment I was waiting for (anytime anyone tries this tea it is THE moment!). I am sooooooooo insanely happy that this is getting as much love as it deserves. I swear it must seem like I get a kick back when it comes to this tea because I push it so hard but it is THAT good and needs to be tried.

TeaLady441

Hahah. You probably SHOULD get a commission or free samples or something with all the traffic you are sending to their site!

VariaTEA

Haha well they have given me free samples but that has more to do with their business practice than me and my recommendations

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1359 tasting notes

Oh my word this smells delectable. I enjoy genmaicha so much, but it often gets forgotten in my cupboard for more ‘glamorous’ teas. Creamy vanilla, caramel genmaicha. The black tea adds an additional magical element to the tea.

Thanks you VariaTEA for sharing! Though I fear you have created a monster. I must have more of this.

I found it on the American Amazon site! Is this the best place to buy it? Does Nina’s have a website where you can purchase online?

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec
VariaTEA

OMG I AM OBSESSED!!! I am sooooooooooo happy you liked it. I have been sending it to everyone and talking about it so much that I was sure a whole bunch of people would get it and be like “why does she like this so much?”

Yvonne

I wish I could try this. This sounds incredible!

VariaTEA

I am literally smiling alone in my bedroom right now because I am THAT happy you liked it.

VariaTEA

And Yvonne, you can email the people at Nina’s Paris. They offer samples.

Tealizzy

Yep, Amazon is the way to get it. I think they also do informal billing via email, but I don’t think their website does ordering yet.

Yvonne

Really? Yay!

Courtney

How do I order from them VariaTEA?! I cannot live without this haha. I can’t seem to find if their website offers online shopping?

Courtney

Thanks Tealizzy :)

VariaTEA

Their website doesn’t offer online ordering yet but you can either email them directly or buy the stuff on amazon. Honestly though, I would email them if you are ordering. I met them and they are amazing. Plus you can also probably ask them for samples. I bought mine from them in person. They made me a cup and I was sold.

Courtney

Mwuahaha.

VariaTEA

I have some weird obsession with this tea. If my whole stash disappeared tomorrow and I just had this tea I would still be happy (okay probably not but I do like it a lot).

Courtney

It’s so delicious! I can’t get over it. Like this creamy, toasty, caramel deliciousness. Gah.

Yvonne

Does anybody know their email address? I think I need this tea in my life right now.

TeaLady441

Oooh! I have a sample from my swap with VariaTEA but I want to wait a few days for this head cold to clear. I really want to try it!

Also I thought from their fb page that the Web store might be up soon. I sent my email in for notification. Maybe in a month or two I can justify a small order as I (ahem) loved je t’aime.

Lala

Laurent(at)ninasteastore.com

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76
6107 tasting notes

Thanks to Laurent at Nina’s Paris for this sample!

Ever since tasting 52teas’ Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha (and Cherry Cheesecake Genmaicha), I have been seeking out flavoured genmaichas, so naturally, I wanted to try this one! It’s a bit of a twist, with black tea in the blend as well, but I was hoping that it wouldn’t really be a big contributor to the flavour.

Anyhow, I opted to brew this as a green (though I regret not lowering the temperature further due to some astringency even with my short 2 minute infusion), which was probably the way to go. The dry tea didn’t have a ton of flavour that I recall, but once the water hit the tea? Instant thoughts of Marshmallow Treat, though more of a caramelly version. Which is super exciting, since MT is not being reblended as I would like, but this should be much more readily available!

I let the tea cool a fair bit before drinking it (as I always do), and at first sip, I definitely have to say that I have a bit of a tea crush, haha. It’s not as good as MT, and definitely more caramelly than fluffy vanilla/marshmallow, and I’m getting some astringency (tough to know whether that’s because I used a temp 3 degrees C higher than I should have, or because of the black tea, and sadly I don’t have enough to try again). The astringency is really the most annoying thing for me, since it dampens my enjoyment of the otherwise quite delicious toasty genmaicha/caramel blend.

Overall, I think if I ever made a Nina’s order, this would be included, though I personally wish that there wasn’t any black tea in this blend, as I don’t think it’s adding anything positive.

Thanks again for the sample, Nina’s Paris!

ETA: This one re-steeped well! So I got a tasty second cup from it today :)

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Josie Jade

I still have this one to try too, I’m excited after reading other’s comments.

Kittenna

It’s tasty! I hate that my rating makes it look like I didn’t like it or something, but I’ve tried to go back to my “ratings scale”, as I was falling into the trap of rating pretty much everything (except teas I hated) within the top 20 points of the scale.

Kittenna

(Just bumped my rating two points so it’s bright green, haha)

Tealizzy

Ooooh, I’m so excited to try this one now! I’ve been waiting for a morning at home to enjoy it. Maybe tomorrow!

Sil

we’ll have to place a joint order with nina after we get through the samples :)

Kittenna

Tealizzy – I hope you like it!

Tealizzy

I tried it this morning and I did like it! Really interesting to add other flavors to genmaicha! I’ll have to tea log it.

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84
1113 tasting notes

YUM! Thanks Courtney for giving me a little of this gem. The caramel popcorny goodness is really hitting the spot this afternoon!

VariaTEA

YAY! More people to love Japon :)

Sil

hardly need more ppl to love it… you love it enough for all the ppl

VariaTEA

I really do :P

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3294 tasting notes

This is a sample sent to me from Laurent @ Nina’s.

This is very nice! It’s a rice crispy treat, caramel corn, granola bar!
I like the depth the black tea adds, the caramel sweetness, & really, the balance of this blend is just right!

TastyBrew

Yum. Going on shopping list.

Terri HarpLady

Oh, & I forgot to say, “Thank you Laurent!”

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90
358 tasting notes

This is my last sample from Nina’s to try, and based on the reviews I’ve seen so far I’m in for a treat. It’s also my first Genmaicha – woohoo! The smell of the dry leaves is wonderful – fresh green tea and sweet kettle corn. Wow, this is really good! There’s a fresh, toasty flavor and with a little sweetener the caramel and vanilla notes come out very nicely. I love the popcornish aftertaste too! Are all Genmaichas this delicious? I’ve not found a ’can’t live without you’ green tea yet, but this one may just be in the running! Thanks Nina’s Paris for the sample!

-Dry blend has green and black tea leaves with pieces of crispy rice.
-Dry leaves smell like green tea and kettle corn. Tea liquor aroma is of buttery popcorn.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark yellow color.
-Fresh toasty flavor with a vanilla caramel finish. Nice popcorn aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Wonderful light caramel popcorn flavor.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Kittenna

Mmmm, I’d suggest you try a straight genmaicha as well. They’re toasty and yummy – I love the addition of caramel/vanilla in the blends though, possibly better than the straight tea…

Josie Jade

I have a little sample from Davids of genmaicha, I’m excited to try it now!

Tealizzy

I had a little sample of genmaicha from David’s too. It was deliciously toasty!

Kittenna

:D Just make sure you use green tea parameters, and it should be delicious (but I see that you did for this sample, so you would have done so anyhow!) I also got a sample of DT genmaicha in my last online order, and need to give it a shot! I have about 3 other genmaichas from different companies that I’ve been drinking, though.

Josie Jade

Kittenna, which genmaicha is favorite?

Kittenna

Hmm. One of mine was some unidentified one from a market that my aunt picked up; it was good, but obviously low quality. I also have Verdant’s, which is a real treat but not particularly representative of real genmaicha, as the tea base is Laoshan Green. And I have Butiki’s, which is also good. My roommate has one from a local tea store that I wanted to check out as well, plus I have the sample of DT’s. Overall, the Verdant version was my favourite, followed by Butiki’s, but I definitely haven’t tried enough yet!

Josie Jade

Thanks! I’ll keep those in mind! :)

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1040 tasting notes

Thank you VariaTEA for sending me a sample of this one. I know it’s one of your favorites, and it is so kind of you to share it with so many of us.
LOL this isn’t quite what I was expecting. I really need to read up on the description of the tea BEFORE I decide what it should be. I really thought this was going to be caramal, vanilla, genmaicha. Ummm Dex, the first ingredient is black tea – RIGHT got it.
Regardless of what I thought it was going to be, this does not disappoint in what it is. Caramel, vanilla, dessert black tea. I’m not getting any of the toasted rice, or sencha notes.
I really understand why VariaTEA is so excited about this. It’s a really good one. Thank you so much for sharing. :))

Plunkybug

It’s on my wish list. I hope to try it one day. <3 genmai chas.

VariaTEA

Yay! I am glad you liked it!

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