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Teavivre’s Fengqing Raw Pu-Erh 2006

Fengqing Raw Pu-Erh 2006 by Teavivre
Pu-Erh Tea / Straight
$12.90USD for 100g

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First Impressions

This is my first tea from Teavivre, so I’m not sure what to expect! The packet is simple, with a printed label that tells you all the information you need to know. The ingredients are listed as being “tea buds and leaves of Yunnan large-leaf tea trees”. The sample packet contains 10gs of loose leaf tea.

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I poured out the 10g of tea into a small tea cup so I could take a look before steeping it. There’s this earthy, woody smell that reminds me a lot of pine trees. The dry leaves are a dark green, almost brown. As this tea is often sold in tea cakes, I could see several ‘chunks’ of tea leaves that are still pressed together. I’m curious about this raw pu-erh, which means that the tea was harvested and then stored. A ripe pu-erh means that the tea was harvested and allowed to ferment.

Preparation

Teavivre recommend steeping Fengqing Raw Pu-Erh in 100°C (212°F) water for 3-10 minutes.

First Taste

I steeped this tea for about 4 to 5 minutes for the initial steep. It steeps to a golden brown, and it smells woody still. The taste itself is interesting, there’s some grassy, woody notes, and it does have some astringency to the tea. There’s some mild bitterness that isn’t unpleasant, although I can see other people having a problem with it. The astrigency isn’t off-putting, so I enjoyed the first cup immensely.

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A Second Cup?

Resteeping Fengqing Raw Pu-Erh is… interesting. It steeps much darker, and the astringency and bitterness is more pronounced. It is, quite literally, hard to swallow.

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My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like Teavivre’s Fengqing Raw Pu-Erh 2006. The first cup was fantastic! But the second steeping was much too bitter for me. The mild bitterness in the first steeping was a fantastic and welcome layer of complexity to the flavours of the pu-erh tea, but it was overwhelming and made for a difficult cup of tea to drink.

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DavidsTea’s Nepal Black

Nepal Black by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Straight
$10.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

Going to start off this review by saying that Nepal Black is really pretty. The dry leaves are huge (for the most part) with just the slightest twist in each leaf. They’re dark with some golden tips for some of the leaves, pretty indeed! The dry tea has a bit of plum in the scent, I find, along with some woody notes, and honey – it reminds me a lot of an Assam because there’s some malty notes in the fragrance of the dry tea. Even a small amount of this tea takes up a lot of volume in the bags – which helps to prevent leaves from being crushed and broken.

The ingredients for Nepal Black are simple: black tea from Nepal. Easy to remember, given the name of the tea.

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Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping in 96C water for 4-7 minutes. I steeped for about 4 minutes.

First Taste

Nepal Black steeps to a beautiful golden orange colour, and it smells just as the dry leaf did: a little bit of honey, some plum, and then rounding it out with some smokiness and woody notes. The little bit of honeyed taste to the tea makes it just a touch sweet and it does really well without the addition of sweetener (of course, you are welcome to add some to personal taste – I just find it sweet enough). It’s a very pleasant tea, I know a lot of the time when black teas are steeped in too hot of water or for too long, it ends up being very bitter – this is not the case for Nepal Black. Granted, I only steeped for four minutes, which is on the low end of the time range they offered.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Nepal Black twice. The first resteep resulted in a very similar pot of tea as the first in terms of strength of the aroma and flavour. The second resteep was lacking the natural honeyed taste and the other mix of flavours were starting to wane. I would say that Nepal Black is good for one more steep only, although the second resteep is still an okay cup of tea.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved DavidsTea’s Nepal Black. One of the things that I really enjoyed about Nepal Black is the complexity of the tea in terms of the flavours that I can pick out from a straight tea. It’s enjoyable, it resteeps at least once well. There’s a great mixture of flavours that mingle well together on the tongue, and it is an overall just good cup of tea. I would recommend trying it if you’re looking for a black tea to add to your tea cupboard, I certainly like it and will definitely steep this one again.

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Teavana’s Silver Needle

Silver Needle by Teavana
White Tea / Straight
$17.98 for 2oz

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First Impressions

This was a Starbucks/Teavana reward that my sister picked up at Teavana. Unfortunately, she had asked for a different silver needle tea and wasn’t aware that they had given her a different one until she had gotten home – disappointing, to say the least.

Silver Needle is a straight white tea, it has a very light floral scent to it that is quite subtle. It has some grassy qualities in the dry leaf – you can definitely tell by looking at the tea leaves why the tea is referred to as ‘silver needle’. The pale silver-white down on the tea leaves is soft to the touch, and the leaves are a decent size.

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Preparation

Teavana recommends steeping Silver Needle in 175°F (79°C) water for 4-5 minutes.

First Taste

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Silver Needle is an amazingly pale tea, it steeps with a light yellow colour after about 4 minutes of steeping time. The aroma is much like the dry tea – grassy, a little bit of floral notes. The taste is very subtle, but it tastes just like it smells. The mark of a true straight tea, it’s quite nice to have a tea that tastes the way it smells. There’s a lightness to this tea that is enjoyable. While the taste doesn’t bowl you over, it’s still quite good and it’s one of those teas better suited for a mellow or lazy day.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Silver Needle several times. The Teavana website states that it can be steeped for 3 to 5 times. I steeped it for a total of 5 times – adding an extra 30 seconds for each steep. It still has this amazing lightness that I enjoy, the flavour remains subtle but present the entire time. The colour of the tea gets a little bit darker with each subsequent steep – it turns into a golden yellow.

My Overall Impression

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I loved Teavana’s Silver Needle. The tea itself was good – the smell of the dry leaf matches the steeped tea, the taste doesn’t disappoint. There’s a lightness to the tea that is enjoyable, and steeping to the recommended time results in a tasty cup of tea. It really is the type of tea that you need to be able to sit down and enjoy, not rush through. I am disappointed with Teavana’s customer service, given that my sister had asked for a different silver needle tea to use her Starbucks/Teavana reward on and was given this one instead.

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