RiverTea

This tea pleases me greatly in practically every way.

Except the totally lame name. I’m not gonna drop that. This tea is delicious and so deserving of a cooler, way less generic name.

It feels like this has been on my dash a lot, but I guess not because the only three reviewers thus far are myself, VariaTEA (whom I sent this to), and Cavocorax. Maybe it seems like more because the few times I’ve seen it pop up I basically freaked the fuck out with excitement and we had massive comment conversations about it?

Anyway, when I pulled out DT’s Cranberry Pear I caved and pulled this one out too. And then impatiently waited for the water to cool while I steeped up Cranberry Pear. Brilliant cup like always – absolutely a restock, though thankful I still have a fair amount of it.

The papaya is strong today.

EDIT: I increased my rating a little.

This tea needs a cooler name. Mulberry White is just so completely boring…

Anyway, I made this as my (very early) morning cuppa while I was preparing my three travel teas for the ride back to Saskatoon. I’m leaving in about an hour, and I definitely need some tea to take along for the ride. I’m also stupidly sleepy…

I’m getting better and better and brewing this one up, though. Today, the mulberry is especially rich and wonderful, and I’m getting stronger notes of papaya/apple as well. I always struggle to get any significant jasmine notes though. Anyway, it’s a nice cuppa.

I left a couple cups worth with my Mom to try – I think she’ll like it as much as I do.

Parameters: 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in 6 oz. teacup of 80(ish) degree celsius water for about two minutes. Liquor is a pale yellow color. Smells like caramel and fresh, sweet flowers.

This tastes to me like the Pokemon move Sweet Scent would taste/smell like. Super fresh, kind of apple-y with hints of papaya and maybe jasmine (definitely a fresh, floral quality) and lots of sweet caramel-y mulberries. Yummy!

It feels like lots of my white teas are caramel kind of sweet. I don’t know; Big Apple, Gold Rush…

Maybe it’s not as much as it seems. Either way, it’s not a bad thing in my mind.

Third white tea of the day – I’ll have to pick out something else to try after this one. Although, maybe I’ll take a nap first – I think all this tea sipping has put me into a serenely relaxed and sleepy mood.

This blend came to me from RiverTea as part of my prize package for winning their “What would you do for 100g of your favourite tea” contest. First time I smelled it was prior to reading the ingredients list, and I was just so confused by what I was smelling. Don’t get me wrong – it smelled incredibly and sweet and kinda caramel like but there was other stuff too that I just couldn’t put a handle on.

Dry, I got notes of caramel and something floral. There was also something very fruity about the blend, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It smells incredibly fresh. This is probably one of the weirdest comparisons I’ve used thus far (and only people who play Pokemon will probably get it). But if I had to describe the smell – I’d say it’s bang on for what I imagine the Pokemon move Sweet Scent would smell like. Basically, this gentle kind of breezy aroma with a delicate but full bodied sweetness to it.

I’ve read the ingredients list now – and I can say it sorta makes sense. It’s a very interesting compilation of ingredients and I don’t think I’ve seen or heard of another tea that encompasses this sort of combination (let alone tried one). If I was shopping online, I’m not totally sure if this is something I would have wanted to try for myself but now that I have it and have smelled it, it seems like the perfect blend for me!

I think it’s obvious I’m getting the caramel type smell from the mulberries similar to how I get that out of DAVIDsTEA’s gold rush, and now that I know what they are I totally see how there’s apple and papaya in the blend. Although, it’s not a granny smith or any kind of green apple type smell – it’s that juicy red delicious or gala apple kind of smell! And, the jasmine makes sense too – it’s just weird smelling it alongside caramel or juicy gala apples, so I think that’s part of what threw me in the scent.

For steeping, I used 2 tsp. of leaf in 8 oz. of water, steeped for 4 minutes (the high end of the suggested spectrum) in about 70 degree water – very close to what RiverTea recommends. I should have used a clear mug but instead I just used the dark red one I’ve been using all day – so I can’t really see the colour of the liquor. The smell is very delicate; much more so than in the dry leaf. There’s fragile notes of caramel (mulberries), gala type apple, papaya, and muddled marigold/jasmine. The white tea base is also present in smell, but it’s quite gentle and delicate as well.

In taste, the first thing I noticed was the mulberry/notes of caramel. It was very similar to Gold Rush, but then I was kind of flooded with a whole other group of flavour notes that make the two really different. My immediate thought was actually “Hmm, I bet VariaTea would love to try a cup of this” (probably because of your review on Gold Rush from earlier today). The next thing I noticed was the apple, and then the papaya. In an incredibly gentle and delicate was I was reminded of a candy apple – and yes, a candy apple not a caramel one. Even though there’s caramel notes present, I’m getting sweet candy apple with that rock hard but yummy red coating and then caramel in addition to that. Does that make sense?

The jasmine and other floral aspects are here, but they do a great job of blending in with the other flavour notes so they’re not obvious and instead create a sensory experience with a lot of depth and layers. Definitely not perfumey. This almost feels, to me, as subtly complex and gentle yet powerfully flavourful as many of the Butiki blends I’ve tried. Maple Pecan oolong and Cantaloupe & Cream come to mind (not in similar flavours – but in the way they’re powerful in flavour and have a layered taste profile while not being cloyingly sweet and retaining a gentleness).

I believe it was KittyLovesTea who is the other person (that I know of) who received this blend too, so I’m excited to see her take on in since she’s likely the only other person who’ll have the chance to try it before they launch. I’m really enjoying this cup though – and I’m excited to resteep and see what else I get from the leaves.

I’m happy I had the time today to sit down and review this properly and fully appreciate it!

EDIT: Resteeped, and while this isn’t too bad it hasn’t held up exceptionally well to a resteep which is sorta disappointing. Mostly, I’m getting the apple notes from before and the white tea base. I’m sipping while eating some apple slices with peanut butter, which is enjoyable. Not a bad cup though, just not as good.

RiverTea is scheduled to go live this week. I won this sample in their pre-launch promotional contest.

This is a jasmine green tea. It has one major strike against it right off the bat. The premium dragon pearls from another company are one of my half dozen all time favorite teas. That’s kind of unfair. I will try to assess it on its own merits.

The pearls are small and tightly rolled. After the first steep they only partially relax. The color is golden yellow. The scent is light. The taste is quite sweet and nicely jasmine. The light dry scent seemed a little perfume-y but in the cup it works well. I was surprised by the low steeping temperature. I think it may be the lowest I have encountered (156 F). I am having a second cup from yesterday’s leaf it is just as good as the first. I believe there is at least a third cup and maybe more in the leaf.

There is certainly nothing wrong with this one, especially if it is reasonably priced as an everyday jasmine.

Sipdown (106)!

One of the only companies I wanted to order from today is RiverTea but right now their website is super weird. They were down last night for store maintenance, but now today everything in the store is showing up at “100% off” (so, free) with free shipping. That can’t be right. I mean, I know people go all out for Black Friday but that’s GOT TO BE WRONG.

I really, really want to place my order though! After I’m done here at CC today I wont be around another computer until after midnight. Ugh. Please fix your site RiverTea! I can’t take advantage of those glitchy prices; I just can’t…

Anyway; speaking of RiverTea I did say I’d sip this one down and get it out of the way, which is what I did this morning. I added some milk because I’m kinda over this one plain right now, and I needed a switch up of some sort. I tried drinking it one the walk to work but the streets/sidewalks are really bad right now: it snowed very heavily last night and people haven’t really had a chance to clear the streets or shovel their sidewalks yet so i had to walk through thick piles of snow and kinda create my own path. Boo. Whenever I tried doing that and drinking I just would up spilling tea on my coat from the shaky/exaggerated walking.

Drinking it now at work though; it’s ok. Milk wouldn’t normally be my first choice with this blend but it definitely doesn’t hurt. If anything it sorta mutes the floral notes of the lychee/base. So definitely not terrible.

Cold Brew!

I’m actually almost out of this one, which means I’ve definitely burned through a substantial amount of leaf. And you know what? I think it shows because I am growing a little tired of this one. I mean, it’s still delicious – subtle lychee and a nice malty black base with some subtle floral tones, but I definitely don’t find myself craving it frequently and at the point I don’t think I’d miss it if it was no longer in my cupboard…

So, I may just push towards a sipdown. Wont rule out restocking it because I do love it for a reason, but if I do it wont be for a while; I need to go without this one for a little bit so I can get to a point where I miss it, and where I don’t feel like I’ve gone through so much of it.

Cold Brewed this one; especially malty with very floral lychee/grape notes. That might sound kind of bad; but it tasted really good! I enjoyed drinking this one on break today; it was refreshing and fun.

This was from the week where I worked 45 hours; all 9 1/2 hours days. I would get home after standing at till for nine hours straight or unloading/stocking freight for nine and a half straight hours and my everything would hurt and ache. I would hobble from the door to the couch and basically go straight to sleep.

My personal tea notes sucked last week; I struggled to put the effort in to write my usual list of short jot notes to guide my longer tasting notes. Even typing was a pain.

This one was in a timolino. Writing now, I vaguely remember it tasting smoky overtop of the faint, floral lychee notes. This is the only jot that I recorded that night though:

- Peppery Black Base?

So that.

Mmmm…

I don’t feel up to writing a ton so I’ll just keep it short and sweet and very tasting note focused: the lychee was extra present and very juicy with a lovely floral finish that nicely contrasted the somewhat malty black base. I drew out the cup over a long stretch of time and really enjoyed the scent and flavour of it. It felt like a very sensual cup.

I always take the time to really draw this one out and enjoy it.

Final ‘work tea’ to log; I had it in a timolino on the bus ride back; which was interesting; I took the long route (40 min.) home so I could chat with a coworker when I could have just done the 20 minute walk instead. I think it was worth it though just to have a really good multi fandom conversation in person with someone my own age.

I need in person friends.

I was so worried this wouldn’t travel well though because it’s such a gentle tea; but overall I was really pleasantly surprised by how good this did in the timolino – the lychee still came across and it didn’t get bitter from sitting all day – so still a winning blend in my books!

On a whole, I don’t think I’d consider this a perfect black, but it is one I very much love and enjoy. This cup in particular, however, was a perfect cup with a brilliantly smooth black base and a very rich and just a touch floral juicy lychee taste.

I think the key may have been that I added in 1/2 tsp. extra of leaf (I grabbed the 1/2 tbsp. measurement instead of the tsp. measurement). I’m going to need to test that again, because Holy Delicious.

All the RiverTea hype going on right now has made me pull out my two remaining small sample packages of this blend and Pret a Portea. Internally, I’m a hyena right now laughing loudly and egotistically at you all because I get to drink my RiverTea blends and you do not.

Mwahahaha.

But honestly, I’m so happy that RiverTea is receiving such a warm welcoming and so many people are placing orders because I’ve been nothing but impressed with the blends and the company itself. I hope everyone enjoys what they ordered as much as I’ve enjoyed the teas I received. I have my cart all built and samples picked out, but sadly I’ve yet to pick up a prepaid card to actually place my order.

So anyway, parameters for this mug were 1 tsp. of leaf in a 10 oz. mug steeped in boiling water for three minutes.

I still love the taste of this one – it’s a lychee black that really does taste exactly like a lychee. Not artificial or overly sweet, just perfect. Alongside the lychee, I also get floral notes of rose but that’s not uncommon for lychee since it’s often compared to roses, grapes, some wines, and perfumes.

For me, the sweet spot with this tea is after you’ve allowed it to cool down a little. If you try to drink it piping hot, it’s ok but cooled for 5-10 minutes and it’s just mind blowingly delicious. The black base for this one is also quite nice to boot.

For me, I only ever pull out my lychee teas (whether that’s Butiki, Tea Desire or now RiverTea) when I feel I really have time to sit down and appreciate them. I’m very excited to be getting a larger amount of this one!

This is the first tea I’m trying from the teas I won in RiverTea’s “what would you do for 100g of your favourite tea” contest. Although, it was really hard to pick out of the five teas they sent me. This one, along with two other cherry teas, was a sample size and then I got what I’m guessing is 50g each of two different teas: a mango vanilla black (which I just totally love the name of) and a mulberry white. Admittedly, I think I decided on this one because when I opened my Butiki order up the first smell I was hit with was the very intense smell of the lychee in the Lychee Oolong that I ordered.

I took a few pictures of everything as I was opening the package up, and just a few moments ago uploading everything to Tumblr. This is the link if you’re curious:

http://guyfierithirdandfinalantichrist.tumblr.com/post/68299190362/pictures-of-the-tea-i-recieved-from-the-tea

Personally, I love the packaging. Everything is beautifully packaged and has a very personal and humble feel to it. It get the impression everything was put together with time, attention, and care. My only complaint would be that the teas I received in larger quantity have no listed ingredients or steeping parameters. For Boatsman, the mango vanilla black, I can sorta just stick with the parameters on the two black samples I received but for the mulberry white I’m going to have to do a bit more guess work.

Also, I can’t believe a company with a mulberry tea would pass at the opportunity to name it something fun like “Pop Goes The Weasle” :P

You have to see the opportunity and then seize it! I love teas with fun names – it really makes them stand out and, personally, it draws me in more when I’m shopping online. If I see something like “Mango Black” listed on a website I’m less likely to click on it for additional details than I am to click on something like “Boatsman” (I just really love the name of this one, for whatever reason, so it’s my example tea right now) so I can find out what’s in that blend. That’s part of why I love DAVIDsTEA so much: a lot of the time their blends have really fun names.

Anyway, dry this tea has a very light and subtle lychee smell. It’s somewhere in between the realm of artificial and natural smelling, but leaning more towards natural. I’m so determined to find the perfect lychee tea – so I do have high hopes (especially for a tea named “The Tea of Kings”).

I steeped 1 tsp. in boiling water for three minutes, as per RiverTea’s steeping guide. As it steeped, the aroma got to be significantly stronger. As it’s brewing now, the lychee doesn’t smell artificial at all and the black base smells a lot more strong and bold.

Here are a couple more pictures:

http://guyfierithirdandfinalantichrist.tumblr.com/post/68302362032/the-tea-of-kings-lychee-black-tea-blend-from

Sipping at this slowly now; the black tea base is the first flavour present each sip. It’s strong and bold – so I get the “of kings” comparison. There’s also ZERO bitterness and astringency: this is a very good black tea base that goes down quite easily. The black tea taste then transitions quite smoothly into this very sweet and lush lychee taste that reminds me of eating straight lychees. The lychee does NOT taste artificial or perfumey to me, which I’m so thankful of. This delicious fruity tastes lingers for a very, very long time in the aftertaste which really allows you to draw out each sip and take your time enjoying every last bit of the cup.

I’m really enjoying how this is very rich and flavourful and gives the impression of being complex without actually relying on a large variety of ingredients to create a huge taste profile. Often times that translates into a very overwhelming and overly complicated tea. This is simple and I appreciate that. I don’t think I can call it the “perfect” lychee tea, and it’s not the best lychee tea I’ve ever tried in general – however it IS the best black lychee tea I’ve ever had, and by a long shot too.

So as a first tasting of RiverTea I’m very impressed!

EDIT: As it cools down, the lychee gets even more intense and flavourful which just makes this SO good!

EDIT: I take back my complaint about lack of ingredients lists/no steeping parameters on the two larger amounts of tea I recieved. Apparently I just wasn’t looking hard enough: both the steeping parameters and ingredients are listed on the bottoms of the tins.

You can see by the picture this is very pretty to look at straight out of the pouch. I am not accustomed to such large petal pieces. It was a bit difficult to know how much leaf to use even though the instructions are clearly printed on the sample.

The dry scent is much stronger on the bergamot than in the cup. There is a nice amount of briskness in the black tea base. While bergamot is the driving force, the base is easily tasted. The rose is a supporting flavor. You don’t have to search for it, at the same time it doesn’t flower up the cup.

I found the interaction between the rose and bergamot unexpectedly delightful. This is not a big bold cup of citrus and flowers. To my tastes it is a gentler cup for a quiet afternoon with a book or a conversation with a friend. As a guy, this is not so girly that I would be embarrassed to serve it.

Oh, and there were several nice touches that personalized my package. The only one I’ll mention at this time is the samples came in resealable pouches. How awesome is that? Sure beats having to resort to the paperclip method I use now for leftover samples.

I received a package in the mail today from Germany, which is a first! I was very excited to open it because it contained tea that I won in a contest being held on Steepster by RiverTea. In order to keep people excited for the upcoming launch of their online shop they asked readers ‘what would you do if only 100 grams of your favorite tea existed in the world, what would you do to get it?’ and my answer involving crayfish put me among the winners. As per usual when I get a box in the mail containing tea, I had to try some of it immediately!

Today I am reviewing Marquis de Gris by RiverTea. (they are still pre-launch, but if you sign up for notification you can get a nice discount and samples) This tea is a blend of Mango, Bergamot, and Black tea with Rose, Sunflower, and Cornflower Blossoms. This tea is exceptionally pretty and colorful, I love teas that stimulate multiple senses. Well, on to the olfactory analysis, in a word this tea is heavenly. The aroma is one of the best blends of, well a blended tea, that I have run into, no one aroma overpowers the other. You can certainly detect the sharpness of the bergamot, the sweet tropical aroma of the mango, the delicate floral aroma from the various blossoms, and a rich maltiness from the tea.

Once steeping the aroma fills up my room, even though the petals become sad and faded. The aroma becomes more intensely citrus and the oaky, malty aroma of the black tea is really noticeable. It is a very brisk aroma and wakes me up (which is good because I have a serious case of the groggies). The liquid has a more sweetly floral aroma that blends well with the aroma of mangoes. The bergamot and black tea aromas are not as intense as with the steeped leaves.

The taste is wonderful, a perfect blend of mild sweetness, floral, and tartness. There is a hint mild astringency giving the tea a brisk quality that is not at all intrusive. A while ago I tasted a Lady Grey and thought it was, well, kinda awful, this tea gives me what I want in a ‘milder’ bergamot Early Grey style tea. I do not necessarily want there to be less bergamot but I want it accented with other things so it does not overpower. In this tea I can taste the citrus, the roses, the rich mango, and the base tea and they are harmonious, it does a wonderful job of being subtle while also being intense enough to keep my interest. I decided to add a splash of cream and sugar (my usual way of drinking Black teas, especially blends and first thing in the morning) and it was an excellent idea! The cream added that edge of richness and made the mango more pronounced and the sugar, well I just like my first tea of the day to be sweet. I have been looking for a new morning tea and I think I have found it, as you all know I do not often say ‘new favorite tea’ but today I got lucky.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/11/rivertea-maquis-de-gris-tea-review.html