Teavivre

Extremely Backlogged

I had this way, way, way back a few weeks (or months) ago. It was on the bottom pile of my empties, but I remembered to leave a small slip with notes in the sample bag!

Notes: Asparagus, collards, nutty, butter green beans, & umami.

Generally underwhelming and I didn’t really pick up any outstanding notes, but I think I might just be beginning to understand that I’m not really an oolong person.

A nice, decent green tea, but no notes I could detect or anything that blew me away. Slightly sweet and becomes lightly astringent and vegetal with more steeps. If you’re looking for a nice standard green, this is good choice, but if you’re looking for a tea with interesting flavors and notes, I find this one lacking.

I was really excited for this puer but I am pretty disappointed, it is extremely mild, nearly tasteless to me. I get a hint of jasmine, but not much else.

Wow! I was unsure how this one would be because the normal flavor profile of a lapsang souchoung is not really my favorite but this is great, really something unique. It has a chocolate, caramel, dark honey flavor with no bitterness or astringency! Definitely worth a try!

I was worried the chamomile in this would be overwhelming but it’s not! A very pleasant flavored tea, white tea and chamomile at the beginning, a bit of rose at the end, and at the very end, a hint of fruity rosehip. Very good!

A strange, more astringent jasmine tea. I feel the amount of jasmine in this one does not necessarily make a more aromatic tea than other jasmines and instead adds a floral bitterness. There is a soft floral honey note there if you really search for it, but overall, certainly not my favorite jasmine, but also not horrible.

Certainly a darker tea, quite woody, with a bit of a honey flavor before you swallow, but a dark honey, like honeydew. Gives a pretty bold and astringent aftertaste.

The notes in this were extremely subtle, barely there, nothing that blew me away. A near standard black tea for me, save the hints of stone fruits you get if you swish it around in your mouth. It’s not a bad tea, in fact it’s pretty good, but nothing that impressed me too much.

Its aroma is incredible and really makes you understand why jasmine teas are considered scented teas and not flavored teas. It has a very light flavor, nearly tasteless, but the aftertaste is like sweet mountain spring water. The experience for me in this tea is more in the aroma and the aftertaste than the taste of drinking the tea itself. Still, both make it worth it.

I’m always up for trying another unsmoked lapsang, so I was excited to see this Hua Xiang Xiao Zhong in Teavivre’s catalogue. I steeped the entire 5 g sample in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of peaches, citrus, sweet potato, florals, honey, and malt. The first steep has notes of peach, orange, raspberry, other red berries, sweet potato, honey, orchid, and malt. The tea has a nice, syrupy quality but is a bit drying in the mouth. The next steep is even more peachy, with a lovely peachy aftertaste. Steeps three and four are more malty and woody, but with plenty of peach, honey, berries, orange, and sweet potato. By steeps five and six, the jammy berries are taking over the peach, and the tea has more of those lapsang notes of malt, honey, wood, minerals, and light tannins. The final few steeps have faint hints of fruit, along with malt, wood, honey, tannins, and minerals.

For the price, this is a pretty good lapsang, though I don’t think it compares to the offerings from Wuyi Origin. I’m a fan of the peach and berries, and the tea’s longevity is good. The flavours are lighter than they could be, perhaps because I was using 5 g instead of my usual 6. If you like unsmoked lapsang and are ordering from Teavivre, I’d say this would be a good tea to add to your cart.

I received this tea as a free sample in my last order. It seems to be the least expensive longjing in Teavivre’s catalogue, and I don’t think I’ve had it before. I steeped about 2.5 g in 250 ml of 185F water starting at 4 minutes, refilling the cup as necessary.

The dry aroma of these extra-long, sometimes broken leaves is of chestnut, sesame, orchid, and spinach. The first steeps have notes of chestnut, sesame, butter, faint florals, spinach, kale, and green beans. I taste some bitterness that I typically don’t get with higher-quality longjing. Subsequent steeps are buttery, nutty, and vegetal, with cashew, chestnut, sesame, kale, spinach, umami, and beans being prominent. The final steeps have some bitterness, along with lettuce, spinach, nuts, and faint sweetness.

This is a nice entry-level longjing, though there are better ones on the market. I’d recommend this tea if you like nutty longjing and don’t mind a touch of bitterness.

I’ve been curious about Tai Ping Hou Kui for a while, as it’s supposed to be a floral tea. After reading a discussion of it on TeaForum, I finally bought a sample. I followed Teavivre’s instructions and steeped 15 leaves in about 250 ml of 185F water, starting at 4 minutes and refilling as needed.

These long, flat, beautiful leaves stick up above the rim of my cup! The dry aroma is of orchids, pears, and vegetables. The leaves are easy to push into the cup after a few seconds in hot water. The first few steeps are very subtle, with orchid, pear, bok choy, cucumber, green beans, and minerals and no bitterness at all. This tea is quite sweet, with a taste I’d describe as sugary. Predictably, the tea gradually becomes more vegetal, with cucumber, green beans, lettuce, bok choy, zucchini, and minerals. There’s a lingering floral sweetness in the aftertaste. The minerality increases in the final steeps, and the tea becomes even more vegetal without acquiring any bitterness.

This tea is pleasantly floral and sweet, but its subtlety is a bit of a drawback. There’s nothing really wrong with it, and pushing those long leaves into my cup was kind of fun. However, I’d recommend their Mingqian Bi Luo Chun and Longjing over this tea, especially for the price.

This is one of my samples from the Teavivre VIP program. See, Stoo, I DID choose one or two unfamiliar teas after all! I was bemoaning to you that I thought I had only ordered old favorites!

This was a welcome surprise this morning as I was craving a solid black tea, unflavored, but full bodied.

From the smell of the dry leaf I thought it was not what I was after as I was getting lots of high fruity notes, but the steeped tea was just just what I was looking for. It was strong enough for breakfast, didn’t need additions but could take them if that’s what you like, and would also be a great lunch or afternoon picker-upper tea. Good solid base with beautiful red color and smooth on the tongue, a mix of malty and fruity.

Would definitely reorder.

I looked forward to opening up this tea sample for a unique (and maybe silly) reason this time. It just so happens that my wife and her cousin call each other Jin Jun. I don’t know why and I’m not sure they know either. However, it seemed like fate to give this one a try.

The unbrewed leaves/buds were long, gold, and black. The smell was quite sweet, like a breakfast coffee cake, which immediately ramped up my sweet tooth (more like teeth).

As instructed on the packet, I brewed the leaves for five minutes at 185 degrees. The steeped liquor was a golden color. The aroma was quite sweet and alluring.

The taste of this tea was splendid. It was similar to a freshly baked sugar cookie with chocolate and mild fruit and floral accents. A light and tender aftertaste followed each sip.

Like all Teavivre teas, it was quite smooth. My only challenge with their smooth teas is that I tend to gulp them down. I’m trying to change my ways and slowly savor these teas.

This is another winner amongst Teavivre’s ever-growing collection of fine teas. I’m giving away my age here, but when I was a young man (in the dark ages), I never hesitated to buy a Beatles record album, songs unheard, as soon as it came out. I knew it would be great and I would love it. This is how I feel about Teavivre’s teas. I’m confident I will never be disappointed.

My breakfast today featured the Wuyi Golden Buds black tea from Teavivre. As always, I was excited to try a new selection. Whenever I see the word “golden” in the name of a black tea, it usually means I won’t be disappointed.

This tea consisted of short brown leaves with golden buds dominantly blended among them. The aroma had a sweet chocolate sensation to it.

I brewed the leaves at 185 degrees for five minutes in accordance with the instructions on the packet. The steeped product had an orange/yellow color. The finished odor was mildly sweet with chocolate and caramel undertones.

The flavor of this tea was mild and soft, but delightful. Caramel and chocolate accents were in the forefront. The dominance of golden buds in the mix all but eliminated a recognizable black tea type, but I didn’t find myself yearning for that at all. It was quite tasty as it was.

The aftertaste was also mild and dissipated quickly. Astringency was completely absent.

Since the flavor of the tea is rather mild, it is custom-made for a dessert tea. However, it certainly brightened up my breakfast too.

Although I’d never tried Ying De Hong Cha YingHong #1 through #8, I was still anxious to sample #9. So, I made sure to debut it at my house as today’s breakfast tea.

The unbrewed leaves had an interesting sweet and malty aroma. I was reminded of waffles.

I brewed the long black leaves with gold tips for three minutes at 195 degrees. I always initiate new teas by using a company’s recommended instructions. This way, I don’t feel like it’s my fault if the tea has some unpleasant characteristics.
The concluded liquor had an amber hue. The odor was sweet and malty.

The flavor was like a healthier version of my favorite malted waffles. A sweetness was notable, but not overwhelming like my waffles. The difference was that I usually douse my waffles with enough maple syrup to make my teeth hurt. This tea should not spike your sugar levels like that. There were also slight fruity notes that were as welcome as blueberries on my waffles.

The tea was also tremendously smooth with no bitterness. The aftertaste was soft and gentle.

This is another winner from Teavivre. Although I drank it at breakfast, this would also be a wonderful lunch tea.

Another Teavivre tea sample that I looked forward to trying was their Hua Xiang Xiao Zhong black tea. Even though I couldn’t pronounce it, I figured I would have no problem drinking it. Thank you Teavivre for this sample.

The long black leaves in the sample packet were probably the darkest tea leaves I’ve ever encountered. Their aroma was like a hodgepodge of sweet, fruity, and flowery elements.

I steeped the leaves for five minutes at 195 degrees. The brewed result was a surprisingly light color for black tea. It reminded me of melted butter.

At first sip, I thought I detected a sweet potato flavor accent. However, as I got deeper into my cup, I realized the flavor was actually sweet like caramel, surrounded by fruity and flowery soft tones. I don’t normally gravitate toward flowery teas, but this one expertly uses the flower attributes as a flavor enhancer, versus the star of the show.

This tea was also buttery smooth down the gullet. It was another one that I had to use constraint to savor rather than gulp.

Even though the light brewed color made me wonder if the flavor would be light too, that was not the case. It had a gentle, yet full, extremely satisfying taste, with no astringency or overbearing aftertaste.

Teavivre has come up with yet another exquisite tea that I could drink all day. In fact, I like it so much that I will work on trying to pronounce it!

I had won a giveaway a few weeks ago on IG. I never try to enter giveaways on the account I hardly win anything. One reason the lottery goes out of my mind…I lose more than I give. Ha-ha. However, in this case, I did win a few of Teavivre’s 2024 Green Tea samples. This was the first I tried of the bunch. I meant to record and edit a video for my YT channel, but I wasn’t in the mood. I sat at a baseball game for 4 hours yesterday and have developed a bright red (burnt) face and arms.

I brewed this at 185F for 2 minutes as the packet noted. I noted, “bitter greens, astringent, spinach, nutty (walnuts?), and savory.” I attempted a second (4 minute) infusion, but the leaf hardly tasted of anything. This isn’t the most expensive Dragon Well, but it’s not cheap. If I paid for the leaf, I’d’ve been slightly disappointed in the longevity.

I swear I reviewed this tea when I first purchased it, but it seems to have disappeared from the database.

It’s a beautiful, everyday teathat isn’t as floral as the name suggests. Creamy, crunchy, mild, faint apricot and chocolate notes, it’s lovely on its own or sweetened with mylk (I use full fat coconut milk from the can).

400mL with 2tsps for ~2 minutes, this was my second steep. 90C

May Sipdown Prompt – drink a floral green tea

Sample Sipdown

I am sorry to say that I have had this sample sitting around for a long time. Best before date was May 16, 2023, so we are nearly a year past that. My sample and swap box used to be absolutely packed, but during these two years of doing the sipdown challenges I can see the bottom quite easily!

I am happy to say that it is still wonderful and does not seem to have suffered from the neglect, although I have never tasted it fresh. The leaves are mostly whole, very long, and thin. I followed their parameters of 185F and five to eight minutes, choosing five for steep one and six for steep two.

As always, the jasmine is brilliant. My jasmine vines that sprawl on two sides of the house are in full bloom and had me wanting jasmine tea. Teavivre’s jasmine flavored teas beat all others I have tried, including Harney’s. (Sorry, Harney and Sons, I love you dearly but it is true.)

This is slightly cheaper than my favorite, which is Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls. The biggest different I notice is that this one is leaving a minty tingle from the green tea that is very long lasting. With food, this would not be noticeable. It may even be nicely palate clearing. By itself, I still prefer the Premium, which is slightly cheaper than the Downy Pearls (also very good but Premium still holds number one spot for me) but this one is an economical choice for serving with food.

Sipdown 11 – 2024

Finished off a sample of this a few days ago and remember nearly nothing about it sadly.

Sipdown 10 – 2024

Not a favorite. I haven’t been drinking a lot of green tea over the last few years, but decided to break into some samples I had. This still tasted super fresh, but wasn’t a fan of the flavor. Cooked spinach and latex?