Nina's Paris

Tasty and caramely and toasted-ricey. All together it tastes like caramel popcorn. All good good things. :) This is a very balanced tea with a slightly decadent and very comforting profile. I could certainly use more teas like this!

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

I didn’t see any recommended brewing parameters for this tea either, so went with my standard boiling/3 minute infusion… or at least, I planned to, until I sniffed the tea while it was a minute in, and I was already smelling… astringency. Yes, I realize that astringency is a sensation, but I imagine you guys can figure out what I mean… it’s kind of a sharp, pungent aroma that gets my tastebuds going like astringency does (not in a good way). So I took the infuser basket out at 2 minutes instead, because I only have one chance at this tea, and you can always put the basket back in, but you can’t reverse an oversteeped tea!

The aroma is quite nondescript, and smells like a plain black to me. Perhaps a plain flavoured black, as it’s that sort of base that I associate with… cheap flavoured blacks? :/ Although I see that it’s Keemun and not Ceylon, as I probably would have guessed (not that I really would know, though).

Flavourwise, unfortunately, this one isn’t doing it for me. I can tell that it’s a flavoured black (it has a vague plasticky flavour to it), and that’s about it. I’m not even sure that I would be able to say that it’s fruity… the flavouring is quite vague. Luckily there doesn’t actually seem to be quite the astringency that I was worried about (though there is some, and I am drinking this tea cool, which sometimes I find reduces the sensation of astringency).

I’m pretty picky about flavoured blacks, and this one unfortunately wouldn’t be a tea I’d drink again. Perhaps it has lost some flavour during transit or something (I don’t think that my short infusion affected the flavour; usually that only affects strength of flavour), but I can’t say I’m a big fan of this one.

Mmmm. The house was freezing this morning. It was actually in the 50s. Now that might not seem cold to those of you from chillier parts of the country but here in SoCal it’s mighty cold. So it was with much effort I dragged myself from bed and into the kitchen. The thought of new tea to try was a huge motivator.

I decided I wanted a black tea to start the morning and went with Nina’s because they had been so gracious to send me a sample. On first sniff it was all cream and raspberry to me. After it’s been brewed the current peaks out a bit more and balances the raspberry.

The one thing that strikes me about this tea is the level of creaminess and underlaying sweet tones. It would be easy for a tea like this to become bitter but it tastes like a dessert tea even without an additives. I do taste a faint note of caramel that could be increasing the sweetness and giving it depth but I’m really not sure if that’s exactly what it is.

Next time I don’t know if I’d have this as a breakfast tea. It seriously feels like I’m eating dessert first. I was looking into ordering more of this but while the price is pretty reasonable the shipping from amazon is pretty steep to get just 50 grams of this which is what I would want.

Overall a wonderful tea. Thank you Laurent!

Sipdown, 841.

Yum, this is about as tasty as I remember it. Caramelly and toasty. Can’t really taste either the black or green tea specifically.

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 :)

Well, this the third and last sample I requested from Nina’s Paris. I saved it for last because I liked the idea of an orange chocolate tea, which I’ve never drunk before. But because no set instructions were given (for any of their teas, for that matter), I think brewed this tea incorrectly, unfortunately.

Anyway, the dry leaves – which look pretty due to the presence of several pieces of orange rind – smelled of yummy orange cream. Wet, they smelled of the base tea, which is a strong black tea. I knew then the flavor would be strong as well. The aroma of the tea itself smelled like that of the orange chocolate in the shape of orange (the one that you bang on the table and the slices come apart – man, I miss those!).

The liquor is clear and reddish brown. As for the flavor, the base tea is very strong – too strong. It overpowers the orange and chocolate, which don’t appear until the aftertaste. And even then they are kind of weak. I guess this tea isn’t for me.

But much thanks to Nina’s Paris for their willing to send out samples!

My last sample from Nina’s :) It smells sweet and cinnamony. The apple flavor isn’t as strong as the Marie Antoinette tea – I like the addition of cinnamon but wish the apple was more prominent. It seems like a mellow tea, nice to sip while watching TV :D

First, if you have not steeped your Nina’s Teas yet – don’t use your American oversized mug. The samples seem much more suited to dainty 6oz cups than our usual 12-16oz beasties. I wish I had realized why these were coming out so light before hand. Live and learn.

This one is a lovely relaxing cup that is a mild twist on standard jasmine tea. The leaf is very finely cut and very dark for green tea. There is some flower petals in the mix. The jasmine is the good stuff. What I mean is it is not the gross bitter stuff passed off as jasmine in cheap or bagged teas. The lotus is a very light floral note in the late sip and reminded me of the flavor of Tazo Lotus. That happens to be one of the few I like by Tazo. The base is a bit harder to separate out. Definitely not grassy or bitter.

Thank you Nina’s Tea for the sample.

Sipdown, 241. Thanks to Nina’s Paris for this sample! Rose is of course one of my favorites, so Versailles Rose was an immediate selection. Plus grapefruit sounded like an interesting combo!

Well it seems like you can count Nina’s among the Parisian teas that I really enjoy. First off, delicious black base. Malty, nutty, with a hint of honey. Based on reading reviews of their other teas, it seems like this one has a much subtler flavoring. The grapefruit is light, just adding a slight citrusy note to the tea, and the rose is also very subtle, coming across as lightly herby-floral. I probably could have used more of those flavors here, but the base tea is quite delicious so it doesn’t matter as much to me. Looking forward to trying my other samples!

The description is spot on with this one – soft and fruity. The wet leaf looks more like green tea than a black. This has no bitterness or sharp bite. There is only a light drying compared to the bagged versions I’ve tried. The aftertaste is pleasant, cooling, and lasting. I don’t know enough about Darjeeling to comment a lot on the taste. I can say I enjoyed this quite a bit and it went great with sausage gravy.

Sinfully good! The smell when dry was tart so I was a little worried, but there was no reason to be the vanilla balanced it out well. Creamy, fruity, goodness! As it cooled it was like biting into a freshly pealed apple skin, makes me wonder how this would taste iced?

I expected to love this tea. It’s ok but not great. It lacks the orange flavor I expected. I could smell it when I opened the baggie so I thought the orange would be the prominent taste. Its just not there. Once steeped I couldn’t even smell orange just a spicy sweetness. Now as a spiced black it was good, had a nice flavor and I enjoyed it. But I rated it on being a orange tea and this just wasn’t orange.

This is the perfect balance of flavor. I can taste it all! Sometimes with a flavored tea there’s so much going on that one flavor over shadows the other, not with this tea! I used just a little sugar and this taste like raspberry pie ala-mode from the amish country. They put a layer of caramel on the bottom of the crust then the berry filling and whipped cream on top. Yes! Raspberry pie with a cup of black tea is exactly how this taste. Yummy!!

Tasty tea! It reminds me of the flavoring used for DT’s Chocolate Orange only this is used subtly so that the tea base can work with the bright citrus and creamy decadent chocolate. :) I would say the chocolate doesn’t taste all that authentic, but it is not unbearably fake. I am a bit of a chocolate snob so it might just be me. :)

Steep tea has a bit or orange rind flavor (nice and authentic here) and still a bit or creamy chocolate, but mostly it just tastes like tea. And not a bad black tea base either. :) Worth a second steep.

Thank you for the sample!

Enjoyed this last night while watching Love Actually. Thought they complemented each other well.

This reminded me so much of Della Terra’s Eight Candles. Caramel is much of what I smell and taste in the cup. The vanilla and caramel together make it taste like a toasted marshmallow. So creamy and delicious. Another tea to add to my shopping list. I may need to take another part time job to pay for my tea addiction :) 2 for 2 with Nina’s Paris!

Thank you for the sample, Sophie & Laurent :)

My first Nina’s Tea sample and I had a hard time deciding which to try first, but I saw Josie Jade’s review and orange creamsicle sounded way too good to wait. The dry leaf smell smelled like those chocolate orange candies that come out around Christmas. At first I thought I steeped too long because the tea just reminded me of earl grey… a little bitter and just orange. As it cooled, I started to get the cream and I liked it more… maybe a hint of chocolate? I don’t think my taste buds are sensitive enough lol.

I re-steeped it and added rock sugar, let it cool a bit and voila! There we go, orange creamsicle. I can see myself drinking a lot of this…

My second sample from Sophie and Laurent :). This is my favorite so far. The dry leaf smelled like roses. When I steeped it and sipped it to see if it was strong enough I could immediately tell it was apples. As it cooled, I got a whole lot more of the rose so by the end of the cup it was pretty equal tasting. I think it would have been a good tea for Valentine’s Day actually, a romantic, sweet tea with roses :) One of my favorite teas was an apple black tea that was discontinued so I really like this one…

I’ve had this tea for years and had lost interest in it long ago. It smells fantastic and delivers a strongly flavored cup, but I had other teas I favored. Not sure why I picked it today, but I was looking for an option for an iced late tea and this was a good one to have picked! The rose is bright and has such an accurate rose petal flavor. It isn’t just the scent of the rose, but the hint of a bite that you experience when eating fresh rose petals. The apple is crisp, blending harmoniously with the rose and the whole thing tastes really good as a latte. This tea has caught my attention again!

I love that some of Nina’s teas are available on Amazon! What that means is that I can put it on my wish list and people who are wanting to get me a gift can look and see what I’d like. THEN the tea magically arrives in my mailbox just like it did yesterday! Yay me! This tea is just as good as the sample I so enjoyed and I’m on my third steeping with remarkable flavor.

Dry, this tea smells fruity, but I can’t put my finger on which fruit. While steeping, there is a green fruity rose scent rising from my cup. The first few sips had a bitter twinge which made me question if the three minutes I had steeped it for was too long, but that turned into a short burst of tartness. I just re-read the tea description – apples! Apples and roses, that makes the tartness make sense! It’s like you are biting into an apple and you get that bit of tartness of the skin before the sweet flavor hits you! Adding a little sugar brings out the sweetness of the apples and mellows out that tart burst. The rose seems to mix in the middle of the sip and remains on the end after the apple fades out, although the taste lingering after each sip is pretty balanced between the two. My mouth feels a little dry after, the same feeling I get when I eat rose petals. I’m impressed how this tea is able to taste so much like ripe apples, yet not taste like apple juice. It is as if I just bit into the most juicy floral apple ever. Towards the end of my cup, when the tea has cooled, I’m getting more rose in the beginning of each sip. I steeped a second time for four minutes and put a teaspoon of sugar in this time. The flavor was really amped up! Third steeping at five minutes is a little weaker, but still has a surprising amount of flavor. Fourth steeping at six minutes still has a decent amount of flavor and a bit of that apple tartness! This tea just keeps going!

The leaves are dark brown and uniformly cut, and contain pieces of apple and rose. While I waited for the tea to cool down, I took delight in the aroma – apple and cinnamon, with hint of vanilla – which smelled like apple pie with a generous amount of cinnamon. Since the liquor is dark, yet clear, I expected the base tea (black) to quite strong. Instead, I tasted a wonderful balance between the base and the other ingredients. Again, apple pie, but with a slight presence of brisk black tea. The flavor is medium-bodied and smooth.

This tea is delicious! I’m very glad I chose it as one of my samples. Recommended to be drunk with dessert (for the apple cinnamon) or with breakfast (for the base).

Full review on the 18th on http://sororiteasisters.com/ but here are the snippits:

The initial sip evokes the cherry flavors in such a pleasant way. Nothing like a medicinal cheery or artificial cherry flavor. As a matter of fact the flavors in this tea are delicious and quite natural with no residual “oily” look or texture floating on top of the cup. In fact the tea is so clear that I am highly pleased as I anticipated some type of oils from all the varied flavorings.

It is wonderful how lovely the flavors meld, I can distinctly pick up all flavors of peach, strawberry, and cherry, and they blend in harmony.

This is my favorite sample from Nina’s. I can taste the rooibos, slightly woody. The apricot flavor comes through strong but not too strong, hints of peach and it is very creamy. The tea is fine on its own but I added just a few drops of cream, no sugar needed. This is a good dessert tea for the evening, and because there is no caffeine I do not have to worry about it keeping me up all night.

This tea smells amazing in the cup. Refreshing mint with green tea. The two come together well, and make a pretty good cup of tea. It tastes a little more basic than I would have expected. I can see a bit of lemon peel mixed in with the tea but it doesn’t come out til the end, and even then it’s just a hint. The green tea tastes delicious, high quality with a lightly grassy taste. The more I drink this one the more I like it – the mint, lemon, and green tea blend together seamlessly and make a cup of tea that’s even better as it cools. I’m tempted to try this one iced as well.

Thanks go to Nina’s Paris Teas for sending me a sample of this delicious tea!