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I drank this one today with my roommate – gong fu style. We enjoyed it for five infusions before noticing taste wearing off. Good company, good tea, good times…

I brewed 3 gr with 500 ml cold water overnight… about 12 hours.

What came out this morning was rather intensive tasting infusion, very vegetal with hint of astringency. It also had a strong herbal notes, sage to be more specific. Aftertaste was vibrant herbal with some sweetness that came after.
I might oversteep this one, or used too much leaf… but I did enjoy it.

I brewed 5 gr with 500 ml cold water overnight… about 12 hours.

I must say, it is even better tasting than when brewed with hot water. It has a nice honey note complemented with roast and smokey aromas. Mild but well defined vegetable taste coupled with some sweetness and finished by sweet peas and even sweeter aftertaste. Delicious!

This is one hell of a tea. No wonder it’s TeaVivre’s highest rated so far.

I’ve received a free sample of this tea, thank you TeaVivre.

I’m pretty much into black teas, 60-70% of the time, it’s black. That’s why I ordered all three grades of Keemun and I’m going to order this one as well. It’s packed in foil, 5 gr each, which is great.

Leaves are longer than average, with a decent amount of buds. Upon opening one pack I used a half of it with 150 ml water on 85 C and brewed it three times, starting with 2 minutes and increasing by one for the rest.

First sip was amazing – lingering caramel and smooth touch, made me remember of my first sip of Dian Hong and Jin Jun Mei. It’s somewhere between those two.
While drinking second infusion I got a really hot feeling in my stomach, like Qi in Dantian… superb!

I’m definitely sparing my rest three packs for special occasions, until I order some.

TeaVivre provided me with a free sample of this tea. Thank you.

I’ve drank this few days ago, but forgot to write a note. I wanted my impressions settled, but if you look the other way, I just might be lazy at the moment. Anyways, let’s get started.

I received the package early-early to mid January that I ordered in mid December, and since it was my first time (to order from TeaVivre) I was so excited when I got a cardboard box. I got my four teas that I ordered (three grades of Keemun and 50 gr. of Organic Bai MuDan), plus three free samples. All teas were double packed, except this one. When I opened the sachet and stuck my nose into it and inhaled deeply (hey, don’t get the wrong idea) – it was amazing, earthy, dried plum-like, mellow scent awarded my months’ wait.

I waited for an opportunity to drink it with my girlfriend that has a knack to pinpoint an aroma. She doesn’t drink tea often, but when she does she can Identify numerous tastes and aromas.
So she came over for the weekend and I popped one Pu Erh ‘cookie’ (that’s how I call them) of my tea board, and she was like – does that smell like fish too? (We drank some Pu Erh not long ago and it had a smell of fish market) She was OK with it so I washed the tea and brewed 1st infusion…

1st infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 10 s

First infusion was clear with violet-ish hue, had a mellow and light taste and seemed quite natural. Since it wasn’t as earthy as I used to I thought that water didn’t penetrate enough, so I added 10 seconds more…

2nd infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 20s

And that’s how you get an espresso-like Pu Erh infusion, that was significantly darker, far from dark red hue that was expected. We drank it, it was quite delicious but a bit strong for my taste, buy I made a mistake, so blame it on me.
Some new notes came up, nutty, but my girlfriend pinpointed it to the sensation when you eat too much walnuts (how does she do that??). It was a bit bitter, but the good kind and we emptied our cups.

3rd infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 15 s

This infusion yielded a more pleasing taste for my palate, if not the best for the session. It had all characteristics of previous infusion, only tuned to my enjoyment area. After we drank this one my girlfriend called it a night, and I went on brewing some more.

4th infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 20 s

I enjoyed that one too, but I noticed that taste is starting to fade – which made me to think that I lost a good deal of it in 2nd infusion. After that one I made it to 7 or 8 in total, increasing for 15s, 20s … up to 2 minutes.

In conclusion, this is the best mini Tuo Cha I had a chance to sip.

(The awkward, funny part)
Tomorrow morning girlfriend said that I scared the hell out of her when I woke up in the middle of night and jumped, talking something about this tea. I guess I felt regrets for that 2nd infusion that it made up to my subconsciousness :)

I love tea in general, but l drink black tea most of the time. That’s why I ordered all Keemun that TeaVivre has – grades 2 & 1 and Premium.
When I opened all these I saw that they’re made in Mao Feng style and seem to be broken. Furthermore, Premium is just a slightly bit tippy than Grade 1, which I wasn’t expecting. In appearance they look almost the same, but in fragrance, well… that’s another story actually.

Brewing this Keemun might be disappointing if you ignore instructions (90C water), and go with boiling water, or just under boiling. Keemun doesn’t go bitter if you do so, but you will lose a great deal of aroma and taste. Other grades I ordered are fine with that BTW.

With its light body that goes bolder after swallowing this isn’t my usual early morning cuppa. I’m not up to breakfast tea for my morning either, so I try to find something between those two. I could sip on this throughout the day, though.
What I find out with this one is that its characteristics tend to shift a bit with different water. I usually brew tea with bottled water, and supermarkets don’t sell the one I like the most anymore… I hope I’m wrong. When I drank this tea with that particular water liquor was crisp and fragrant, with a nice smokey note. With this water I’m using now I still get all those characteristics, but only slightly diminished.

All in all, this is great tea that I drink on daily basis, I only regret that it’s water sensitive .

…back. I left the leaves in cold water overnight, and now I’m drinking 4th infusion (2m), or is it 5th since the leaves were cold-steeped. BTW, cold infusion was quite flavorful.
For 4th(5th) infusion there is some flavor left but it’s not my thing. I think it could go for one or two infusions before losing its flavor to hot water.

Tea sample provided by TeaVivre. Thank you.

I’ve drank only few TGY so far, and I’m not quite fond of it. I guess I was just drinking mediocre tea, since this one blew me away.
Just few minutes ago I asked my roommate if he wants some tea, and then pointed to boxful of TeaVivre’s tea packs (I’m such a showoff). By pure randomness I picked up one pack and it was this TGY. So I dumped one whole package in teapot, which later might prove a waist of good leaves (5 gr of tea, 8 Oz water, up to 7 infusions). I’m drinking 2nd infusion as I’m typing this and I’m almost full, so I’ll pour cold water over leaves overnight and see if it’s any good when I brew it tomorrow.

I’m pretty sure that anyone who ordered tea from TeaVivre isn’t indifferent of their way of packing tea. I’m pretty impressed by it.

And now, the fun part.
I really didn’t observe dry leaf, but I did take a one good sniff after I dropped them in preheated teapot. It was AMAIZING. Unfortunately, it goes beyond my repertoire of aromas to describe it in its fullest . I can identify, however, fresh crisp grassy note that breaks it’s way to the nostrils along with some roasted notes and some of which I really can’t put my finger on (maybe some vegetables or something like that). At that moment I was listening to some Dragon Ball Soundtrack (the old – oldschool one) and it reminded me of Shen Long in an instant :)

The first infusion (60s) was really, really impressive – clear light green liquor, almost the same aroma as of dry leaf, with a note of steamed greens, very refreshing and heavy with long nutty and sweet aftertaste. Roommate left at this point, I’ll ask him tomorrow what he thinks of it.

Second infusion (1m15s) expanded leaves to their fullest and brewed a green liquor leaning to a yellow hue. It had the same characteristics of its predecessor only with addition of mild tingling sensation on the rood of the tongue, and with more expressed nutty finish and aftertaste.

Third infusion (1m30s), I think I’ll stretch this one for half an hour or so, since I’m pretty much full. As palate tastes the same tea liquor in prolonged period it gets saturated of certain notes while others take in their place. At this point I’m definitely getting more of nutty aftertaste than of grassy and vegetable notes. This session was of highest quality, but I’ll have to stop now. I hope I’ll enjoy the same leaves tomorrow as well.

All in all, the best TGY I’ve tasted so far.

Just a quick note,

I poured 2 cups cold water over dry leaves for one cup (3 gr) and let it brew overnight. I’m now enjoying a delicious cup of tea. It has a nice mix of herb and nutty notes with smooth silky touch. I like it better this way than when brewed with hot water.

Raising its marks to 85.

I’ve been waiting too long to drink a cuppa of this one again . Few months ago I was offered a cup of this tea in tea shop in Sarajevo, and I was quite impressed with it, but didn’t buy any since I had it all planned out – bought some greens and oolongs instead. Tomorrow morning I had regrets for not buying it, and when I came back to buy some , there wasn’t any… I guess that tells you if certain tea is good – reminds me of my ex telling me that the best cakes in pastry shop are the ones that are out of stock.
I was excited the other day to see a fresh batch of this perfect black blend and grabbed some without much thought.

This blend has one of the best aromas (if not the very best) I stumbled upon so far. Full bodied cocoa note goes so well with almond in ways that can’t be described. I’m almost tempted to eat all broken cocoa seeds and almond slices in it. Actually, I nibble some cocoa while waiting for water to boil, and sometimes I try to pick out as much of it as I can from strained leaves while waiting for the tea to cool a bit.
Tea is not expensive – 5,95 BAM / 50 gr (or $3.87 at the moment). If you ever come to Sarajevo, I strongly recommend that you at least try it.

After brewing few cups, I found that 4 min brew suits me best, more than that and the tea will release some bitterness (not much though). I’m having an idea right now to steep it for 5 mins. or more and add some milk to it. I think I’ll try that later…
Anyways, cocoa note is sturdy and natural, with nutty-almond finish… and it’s the same with every sip – not the taste curve that you would usually expect with succeeding tea sips.