Nio Teas

2023 Nio advent teas.
Breaking my new teapot in with this one. Dry aroma of sweet grass, some sweet corn still fresh not cooked, a bit of stone fruit, slight grass,
Nice yellow-green liquor color.
Great flavor. Butter. Grass. Sweetgrass. Need to really be careful of steeping time with this one. The astringency sneaks up quickly.

2022. A sample. Sweetgrass and steamed asparagus in the infusing leaves. The mouth feel is smooth with a hit of astringency. This also steeps cold in a wonderful fashion.

Stems, leaves, twigs. If one were to grab a fistful of this and show it to a nontea drinker they might wonder what tree you grabbed it from nearby. It is very raw in its appearance. More so than any bancha I’ve seen before. The aroma is slightly marine and slightly herbal but both are very minimal in detection. It is not an in-your-face green tea like some are. It has a wildness to it with a bit of nuttiness.

Advent 2023. It’s been a day. I wasn’t enthused to try this tea at first because the aroma was too mineral and metallic. But it’s somewhat calming honestly. A bit nutty, a bit grassy.

The leaf is such a beautiful green color and it smells so richly of sweet grass. Even the wet aroma is laden with it but also with a unique hint of tropical mango and vegetal notes. The mouthful is very smooth. Full of vegetal notes, cooked and some fresh, as well as hay, grass, umami, and a slight milk.

Update: NIO Advent 2023
The dry leaf is a nice, glossy, dark green. The aroma isn’t as strong as I was hoping. Steeping tea smelled a bit of grass and dandelion. A bit of apple on the tongue as it first enters my mouth which very quickly changes to tall grass notes and different vegetal notes. Fresh asparagus. The mouth feel is silky.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 24 (3/3)

The last one!

This is quite light for a gyokuro, though it does have those nice rich and intense vegetal notes, paired with plenty of umami. It’s also quite sweet and has some nice refreshing top notes – not quite grassy, but something close like salad greens. The finish is quite short, and has a light and crisp fruitiness that reminds me of green apples.

Very nice light tea for the evening, though I’m not sure I would guess it was a gyokuro if I didn’t know. It is extremely smooth though.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 24 (2/3)

Not sure if this is the golden sencha made from the cultivar that has actual golden leaves, but I assume not since it’s not mentioned in the description.

This is a lovely sencha though. It has a very powerful, almost gyokuro-like sweet vegetal and umami flavor. Plenty of sweetness, and a refreshing fruitiness that reminds me of starfruit. There’s a touch of grassiness at the end of the sip, but it’s quite subtle, and maybe even a bit closer to salad greens. It’s a very nicely balanced tea, with the rich vegetal and umami notes contrasting well with fresher grass and fruit, and then just enough bitterness and astringency to keep it from being heavy and give it a clean finish.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 24 (1/3)

Happy Christmas Eve, friends! I’m so ready for it to be the last day of advent calendars, heh heh… Especially since today there were THREE teas in my Nio envelope! XD

This matcha has a very strong and noticeable hay note to it, along with a bit of mustiness. Otherwise it has quite powerful and savory vegetal flavors, a combination of spinach, cooked asparagus, and some cruciferous veggies like kale and brussels sprouts. Very thick and creamy in texture as well, and quite smooth. There’s no sweetness to it at all.

Definitely a high-quality matcha, but not my favorite due to the lack of sweeter notes.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 23 (2/2)

Woah, this one really smacks you in the mouth ha ha.

It has a very powerful and intense vegetal flavor with notes of spinach and kale, perhaps a bit of squash in there as well. Quite a bit of umami here. There’s some fresh grassiness midsip, and also a touch of bitterness creeps in, then some astringency pops up at the end of the sip, along with more grassy notes and apple skin.

The description mentions fruity notes, and I do get just a touch of the papaya near the end of the sip. As a rule I seem to have trouble finding fruity notes in Japanese green teas for some reason…

Very nice tea, especially when you need a kick in the pants! :P

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 23 (1/2)

Yep, two teas again today. It’s nice of them to give extras, though I’m the last person who needs them ha ha.

Hmm, this is interesting. It’s not very sweet for a gyokuro, and it has a very earthy character to it. There are still intense notes of spinach and grass, with perhaps a bit less umami than I’m accustomed to in a gyokuro.

Not my favorite, with the strong mineral and earthy notes. But definitely an interesting one.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 22 (2/2)

Ooh, this is a nice one.

The first steep is quite golden in color, and it has a smooth and thick texture and intense vegetal flavor similar to a shaded tea, but with a bit more toastiness and nuttiness to it. But then in the middle of the sip, the flavor completely flips to being refreshing, slightly grassy, and tasting just like biting into a tart, crisp apple, like a Granny Smith. The finish is still somewhat grassy, but also some of those vegetal and nutty notes come back into play.

Subsequent steeps are very grassy, and interestingly a floral note comes out as well? Still a bit of that slightly astringent apple flavor at the end, but it’s more of an apple skin now as opposed to the flesh. I’m not sure I can identify the floral, but it reminds me of an oolong.

Very tasty, love the distinct apple notes!

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 22 (1/2)

So… There were two teas in my Nio advent calendar envelope this morning ha ha. Not sure if that’s just a today thing, or if the two remaining days will also have two. Just what I need, extra advent teas! XD

Ooh, this is a nice one. It’s extremely smooth with almost no bitterness at all. Quite nutty and creamy at the beginning of the sip, with a refreshing grassiness that appears in the middle and dominates toward the end. A touch of astringency comes with the grassiness as well, giving it a more clean and refreshing flavor. The beginning of the sip actually reminds me a bit of eating Cheerios, it has that grainy sort of note to it.

A nice matcha, it’s perhaps a bit subtle in this preparation, but still very enjoyable.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 21

Ooh, this is a nice one. It has a bright green color, much better than the matcha from a couple of days ago that was a bit oxidized.

This is a very fresh-tasting matcha, with a strong and bright grassy flavor alongside deep steamed vegetal notes and a nice nutty finish. There’s only a light touch of bitterness, just enough to balance the creamy richness of the vegetables.

I see in the description they actually recommend this one as being good for lattes, since it has such a strong flavor. I agree! I think it would probably be too much for me as usucha.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 20

Ooh, something a bit different for day 20! I’m familiar with kamairicha, but I haven’t tried many of them. The leaves are pan-fried, similar to some Chinese green teas, which is not normally part of the processing for a sencha. The little curly leaves are so cute!

Yum, it’s quite nice. I definitely get a little bit of the toastiness of the pan-frying, it adds such a nice warmth around the edges. Otherwise it’s quite vegetal, with somewhat intense squashy notes and a touch of the ubiquitous spinach. Very nutty as well, almost like a sobacha, and it has a thick and creamy texture that’s so restorative in this cold weather. It reminds me of drinking some kind of vegetable broth, but with the additional toasty grainy nutty flavors.

Really loving this cuppa tonight! I’ll have to look into trying more kamairicha in the future… :)

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 19

So my sample of this was actually a bit on the brownish side, as if it had been exposed to air. The best by date on the label was in 2024, so it doesn’t seem like it’s old. Maybe there was a little hole somewhere in the heat-sealed packet? Not sure.

It doesn’t seem to have a ton of flavor to it, I’m tasting a lot of the oat milk, which is unusual. There’s a bit of a nuttiness I think, and then at the end of the sip there’s a sharp stab of bitterness that makes my tongue go “yow!”

So I feel like my sample was probably compromised, either that or is this a very subtle matcha. That doesn’t explain the bitterness though!

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 18

So I think I may have ruined this by using water that had been sitting in a metal kettle for a few days. It tastes very metallic and I assume that’s why…

Otherwise, honestly it’s a bit weak? Maybe I should’ve used less water, but their website recommends 150ml… It doesn’t have that intensity that I expect from a gyokuro. It’s very sweet, and there is a nice concentrated vegetal quality, but it tastes almost watered down?

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 17

At first I thought this was a duplicate, as I had a karigane from Sakamoto earlier in the advent. But they appear to be two different teas, even though they’re both made with gyokuro stems. I think this one has more stems, and the other has more leaves? Unsure.

Regardless, this is a tasty tea! It has the rich vegetal and umami flavor of gyokuro, but in a much lighter form. Sweet and smooth with a creamy kabocha note, paired with a clean, mineral finish with a touch of hay.

The second steep is much lighter, but still has a smooth vegetal note to it, along with fresh grass and a light nuttiness. It tastes a bit more kukicha-like, with less of the gyokuro intensity.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 16

So my packet doesn’t say shincha, but this is the only tea I found on Nio’s website that matched the name. So hopefully it’s the right one. :P

This is a fukamushi sencha, with very small pieces of leaf. The first steep actually came out a bit bitter, but otherwise it has a sweet and fresh grassy flavor with underlying spinachy vegetal notes. The end of the sip has a bit of umami, and a short finish with a touch of astringency to it.

The second and third steeps are not as sweet, but still have that refreshing grassy flavor along with stronger vegetal and savory notes. These steeps also came out slightly bitter, not sure if that’s due to my steeping parameters or just because of how tiny the leaf was.

Anyway, a pleasant tea but not my favorite.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 15

Whoa, this tastes so different than other matcha! It has strong grain and sun-warmed hay notes to it, rather than vegetal ones. It’s smooth and creamy with a light, dry grassiness and a touch of nori umami on the bottom end. To me it tastes very late summer/early autumn, like lazing in a field of dry wheat as the sun drops in the late afternoon, after an excellent morning’s adventure.

Really interesting and enjoyable!

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 14

Well that’s fun, just lost that note somehow…

This is a lovely tea, the sip starts out vegetal and rich and reminds me of cooked zucchini. There’s a nice grainy note to it as well, and a light creaminess. It has a silky texture but doesn’t taste too heavy. Toward the end of the sip it lightens, swapping out the vegetal and umami notes for more refreshing ones like grass, crisp apples, and a hint of sakura. There’s a light astringency as well that gives it an even cleaner finish.

Second steep is more like the end of the first, fresh and more grassy in flavor, with sun-dried hay and a light fruitiness that reminds me of green grapes, alongside the apple.

A lovely tea, probably my favorite from Nio so far! :)

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 13

So there was a suggestion to cold brew this tea (though no instructions for it on the package, which seemed weird to me) so I figured I would comply. I looked up Nio’s cold brewing instructions on their website, and steeped the 5g sample in 500ml of cold water for 2 hours in the fridge.

The resulting tea is light, refreshing, and super yummy! It has a bright and fresh grassiness, but also some soft buttery notes and gentle squashy umami. I can definitely taste the matcha, which gives a bit of additional intensity to the flavor. I’m also getting some lychee notes in the finish, but I think that’s probably just because I drank a very floral tea prior to this one.

A very nicely balanced cold brew for sure! I’m enjoying it at this concentration, but you could definitely use more leaves for a more concentrated version as well.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 12

Perfect tea for today, when it’s been super dark and drizzly! I prepared this one Western-style, because lazy ha ha…

It’s a lovely classic hojicha, with large leaves that I assume were bancha originally. Moderately toasty with a flavor that makes me think of jumping into a pile of autumn leaves and breathing them in. Some woodiness as well, along with a mild coffee flavor (minus the bitterness). And underneath I can taste the dry grassiness of the bancha, which just adds to the cozy vibes.

Not sure I would order it specifically, as I already have a ton of hojicha (I’m looking at you, Obubu subscription…), but I’m really enjoying my big mugful on this dreary afternoon. :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmFbnrDOl1n/

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 11

Prepared as a concentrated iced oat latte, with 2g (~1 tsp) of matcha to 4 ounces of liquid.

This is a very subtle matcha. (And then I read the description which uses words like “bold” and “strong” and I go, “huh?”) Well, to me it’s subtle lol. It has a very light flavor even at this high concentration, and it’s über smooth with basically zero bitterness to speak of. I do taste a bit of vegetal umami, but mostly it’s quite creamy and a bit nutty. Definitely some fresh and dry grass notes on the tail end as well, along with a touch of toasted nori.

Extremely smooth matcha, I could see it being a good one for beginners, aside from the less beginner-friendly price tag.

Nio Teas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 10

This is a lovely kukicha! Very nutty, sweet, and smooth with a light flavor and echoes of kabusecha-like vegetal and umami notes. There’s a lingering sweet and creamy vegetal finish as well.

Subsequent steeps lose a bit of the creamy vegetal quality in favor of a more refreshing grassy flavor profile, but still very smooth with a light sweetness. A pleasant tea for a pleasant Saturday evening! :)