Nuvola Tea

I asked for a gooseneck Bonavita kettle for Christmas especially for our gong fu sessions, and this is my first time trying it. I like it, and it works very well for this.

Since I knew I wanted to gong fu, and since I am trying to get old tea out of the house, I took a chance on this sample. It is quite old – this company is no longer in business – but I wanted to give it a shot. I am glad I did because it was very good. I suppose it really helped that it was a small, individually sealed pack and some oolongs age very well anyway.

I warmed the gaiwan and put the leaves in. After a minute we gave the leaves a sniff and found that they still had good aroma and were on the savory side, but with creamy, almost vanilla frosting notes.

The liquor was not as strong as a TGY, but was full of flavor and very tasty. It was smooth, slightly savory, with sweet dessert notes and a bit of floral. I got five solid steeps,before it was weak enough that it wasn’t worth continuing.

Pairing: Since my husband hasn’t been feeling well he didn’t want supper, so I was actually using this as an excuse to get a little food in him as well as tea. I warmed some cheddar on Garden Herb Triscuits, and then topped each one with a tiny bit of apricot jam. There were also a few pecan tartlets because we are swimming in leftover Christmas dainties. Ha ha!

He really, really enjoyed this tea. I am sorry to see that Nuvola is gone, but I will probably order some Alishan pretty soon from either Teavivre or Harney. (Since Teaave ALSO seems to be gone…)

Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea is the best tasting tea I have tried to date. The rolled leaves are beautiful to see and smell, and all of the dynamic flavors of the tea leaves transition wonderfully when brewed. The smell of this tea is my absolute favorite, and the taste is sweet, floral, fruity and earthy. This tea is an absolute MUST HAVE for avid tea drinkers.

Well, I wanted something with flavor, and boy did I get it with this one! I am certain I have overleafed here. I have got to find that kitchen scale. I used about 3-4 heaping teaspoons for 8-10 ounces, but in my defense, the leaves are very, very big and this didn’t feel particularly heavy. It is a very nice tea, with notes of plum and a little bit of spice. It’s definitely bitter, but I doubt that would come through if I’d just used a little less leaf.

When I opened the sample packet, I thought it was the most glorious and unique black tea I had ever smelled. It really is quite different from what I’m used to, and I’m not quite sure how to describe the aroma. It’s my first black tea from Taiwan. I will see how it develops over a couple more steeps, as I noticed LiberTEAs mentioned that she liked the second steep even better than the first.

Steep 2: The flavor still packs a punch, even on the second steep when I doubled the water to tea ratio. I think this could have gone easily for three sessions, and I’ve dumped it all in the one, which…is a little sad because I’m unlikely to buy more of this unless it goes on sale. I would definitely get this again. I realized that the wet cooled leaves smell strongly of honey — just like when you first open a jar of honey. I want to say orange blossom honey, but really my sniffer is probably not good enough to differentiate between honeys. This much caffeine a few hours before going to bed was a terrible idea, but I will not waste this tea.

Edit: This has a very strong aftertaste that I don’t really love, but I don’t want to blame it on the tea when I’ve used far, far too much leaf. It’s a really interesting and complex tea, but it’s…kinda…a little bit too sweet plus a little bit too bitter and it just overwhelms me a little. The honey is a bit cloying, something I haven’t experienced with pure tea until now. Not sure I would buy this, but I’m glad I got the sample.

Woody, but a bit sweet and fruity. I really like this – it held strong for four steeps and I am positive I could have done more if I really wanted. I always appreciate that.

Backlog:

Not quite Matcha … for one thing, it’s from Taiwan rather than Japan, for another, true matcha has a different flavor: It’s softer, sweeter, and a bit more on the “buttery” side. This has more of a sharpness to it, with a more pronounced bitter-sweet quality. It is slightly astringent, with an almost citrus-y finish.

But, I still quite enjoyed this. It is an invigorating “matcha” like drink, with a strong vegetative presence and a smooth, creamy texture. I like the revitalizing feeling I get from this … very reminiscent to Matcha!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/04/26/green-tea-powder-from-nuvola-tea/

When I opened the pack, it is a dry tea in black colour. It has a nice fragrance which I was attracted.
I placed few tea leaves in a warm tea pot and filled the tea pot with hot water. Once brewed, the tea looks in golden brown colour. It smells good with some fruity aroma.
- See more at: http://foodssrilanka.blogspot.sg/2013/07/tea-reviewpremium-taiwan-oolong-black.html

Thanks Nuvola Tea for this excellent tea!It is really good to sip in a calm evening while watching the beauty of nature
Full review is posted here http://foodssrilanka.blogspot.sg/2013/08/tea-reviewpremium-taiwan-sun-moon-lake.html

Thank you Nuvola Tea for this Sample!

I shared this tasting with my friend Eric who is a Science teacher at the College and serves tea at Happy Lucky’s several days a week. He’s here on Steepster, and a fellow tea geek!

When I want to discuss tea trivia, Eric’s my man!
We talk about leaf hoppers, the bugs that make Oriental Beauty Tea so sweet, and have talks about Puer fungus.

Eric handled the gaiwan through 4 steepings of this Ti Kuan Yin.
(He teaches a gongfu class so I am more than happy to let him do this!)
The flavor if this tea was lightly sweet, with a mild roast nuttiness.
I tasted brown sugar but the more I drank, the more I tasted old fashioned Horehound candy…bittersweet and tangy.

I was about to hand my cup back to Eric when the sweetest fragrance rushed up at me. Wow,this was the scent in my empty cup… thick like a flower shop but as sweet as See’s Candy!

Each steep was pretty much the same. Nutty roastiness, sweet brown sugar and Horehound candy.
A creamy mouth-feel lasted through the first three steeps.

Lovely tea.

This is a sample sent for review by Nuvola Tea. Thank you!

This is the fourth Ruby #18 I have tried, yet it always catches me off guard. It is called black tea because of the level of oxidation but when you steep it it is so light and golden.

If you need a tea for work or busy times, this one is a good bet because I don’t think it is possible to ruin it. Boiling water? No problem. Something a little less than boiling? That is okay, too. Forget you were steeping it? It probably doesn’t matter. This one doesn’t get bitter or astringent unless you leave it for a really long time, longer than I have managed to forget it. I have yet to ruin a cup.

And it resteeps, really well, in fact. This is a black tea made from a hybrid tea varietal and made in Taiwan where oolong teas prevail’ so you can treat this a lot like a oolong.

Everyone needs to try a Sun Moon Lake (Ruby 18) sometime.

Thank you, Nuvola Tea!

My son wanted to try matcha with chia today as part of his clean eating/training program as he prepares for a Spartan Trifecta. I only have one serving of KaiMatcha Premium left and I didn’t want to ruin it if the chia didn’t work out well.

While this is extraordinarily inexpensive and really great in lattes, it doesn’t hold a candle to my favorite as a traditional hot whisked matcha. I did add about 1/2 teaspoon of raw honey to each cup since we had just finished a run. By run I mean he ran three miles and I walked and ran one mile. LOL!

It was drinkable and not very bitter but didn’t have the fresh green vibrancy of KaiMatcha. Teavivre says their green tea powder is fried rather than steamed like matcha, so perhaps that is true of this tea as well.

I highly recommend it for lattes, it is really excellent in them, but for a hot cup of matcha with no sweetener, pay the difference if you can and get the great stuff.

My daughter drinks lots and lots of matcha. She started out drinking flavored matcha lattes and has progressed to preferring plain matcha lattes and plain matcha prepared hot or cold with just water.

She stayed with us last night, so this morning I offered her a latte so she wouldn’t miss her antioxidants. I made one latte with a sampe of matcha of unknown source and one latte with this. She preferred this matcha, and was pretty astounded at the low price. I have been very pleased with my Nuvola green tea powder. I expect she will be ordering several bags of her own soon. The only problem I have had is that I can’t get their website to accept my order, as it is in Hong Kong and demands a certain type of contact phone number and you can’t get around that. I have ordered mine by emailing them directly and they send me an invoice which I pay via PayPal.

Hoorah! Hooray! My tea came today! I just completed a SIPDOWN of another brand of unflavored matcha so I am glad to have this. I bought two pouches of it because the price was so reasonable and I would save on shipping in the long run.

The color of this is quite similar to the one from Zen Tea Life, and both are heartier in flavor than the one I got from Olive Nation. It is not as vibrant green as Kai Matcha or as the higher grades of Red Leaf Matcha, but it is lovely and an excellent price for a good quality of tea.

I made a latte with this as soon as it came and it was yummy! The smell reminds me very strongly of some Ti Kuan Yin and Dong Ding teas I have had, the smell of the acrylic paint art studio I took lessons in when I was very young. I LOVE that smell!

One thing I will be doing with this….I started out ordering all my matcha from Red Leaf in Robust. Now I love plain matcha and the robust flavor level is too much for me. Some of the flavors have a chemical taste if I put a full measure in, and if I cut back on how much Red Leaf I use, I don’t have enough matcha flavor for me anymore.

Solution: use half as much Red Leaf flavored, and replace the other half with a good unflavored matcha – like this one!

I am going to give a bit of this to my daughter and my bestie, because I think they are really going to love it.

Sadly, I finished my sample from Nuvola Tea today. Joyfully, I took a look at their website and saw that it is half the price of others that I have been looking at. I have been trying to get a couple of friends hooked on matcha lattes and have had pretty good success. Today I introduced them to unflavored matcha lattes.

My friend preferred this brand because she felt it was creamier and had a fresher taste than the first one she tried, though it could simply be that this one had more honey since I was drizzling it in and not really measuring.

Bottom line, this is a really tasty matcha for a price I can hardly believe. It is because this is made in Taiwan rather than Japan? Whatever the case, I want more, and I won’t be ordering just one pack!

Thank you, Nuvola Tea, for the sample. It was great to get to taste another matcha since I am fairly new to the type of tea. I have enjoyed every bit of this one!

I was searching for a good green tea to start my day and my eye lit on this sample from Nuvola. I have had three cups of it, had another today, and I would say I still have enough to make another two or three cups.

The liquor is a deep emerald green and it goes down smoothly. This is a very drinkable matcha! Thank you, Nuvola!

This is a free sample sent for review by Nuvola Tea. Thank you so much, Nuvola! This is fantastic! I had it three ways today.

I confess I am a matcha newbie. Two years ago I don’t think I would have tried it. Now that my eldest daughter is drinking tea solely for health reasons I stay on the hunt for the best tasting, most antioxidant rich teas I can find so we can share them.

I opened this pouch this morning for a back to school boost, as my youngest daughter and I are hitting the books again homeschooling. Oh, this smells so sweet and delicious! There is a strong, fresh green aroma, like sweet, sweet veggies. MMM!

I sift about 1/2 tsp. into my bowl and whisk with 176F water. The taste is much like the aroma, only at the end of the sip there is a quick bitterness because I used too much matcha, but also, not a bad taste so much as the palate cleansing type of taste that is often tasted in green teas. I am easily able to finish this.

I make a second cup with a little less matcha powder since I am not really measuring my water. This time I add two pinches of sugar. This probably amounts to less than 1/8 tsp. of sugar. I whisk it up and drink. VOILA! No bitterness at all! Also, I taste no sugar or sugary sweetness, only natural sweetness from the matcha! This cup goes down fast fast so I decide to experiment some more!

I put about 1/8 tsp. sugar in a bowl, maybe less. I warm some milk and whisk. Ahhhhh! Warm milk is so soothing and always takes on a dark and dreamy flavor to me, almost earthy. Now it is combined with the fresh green taste of the matcha, and the sugar is completely hidden flavor wise so next time I may leave it out entirely.

Excellent tea, Nuvola! I have really enjoyed trying your matcha in all these ways today!

Thank you to Nuvola Tea for this sample

I shared this sample with experienced tea drinkers in a side by side comparison with a very high quality matcha. At the end of the tasting a few people arrived not knowing which tea was which and made comments also. (This was all done in a tea shop)

The Nuvola Tea had a distinct fishy scent and flavor, as well as a very bitter taste. The aftertaste was grassy which I didn’t mind.
The late arriving tasters commented that the tea was bad.

I felt that something must have gone wrong with this batch of tea for the comments to all be so unfortunate so I’ll leave this unrated.

This is a sipdown of the sample I received from Nuvola a while back.

I had a bit of a stressful weekend so far. A truly toxic person is trying to get me involved in her dramas, I had a lot of tedious work to do that I wasn’t looking forward to, and we have some decisions to make that I just wish would go away, preferably because we won the lottery and were Elvis-rich and then I would fly to Nevada Hospital and make tea for GMathis and surf teh interwebs with her. I would bring Samwise and say he was a therapy dog and we would dance with him in the waiting room. (Can you tell I need an ESCAPE???)

I took a break from my cleaning and had a cup of sanity and some Bissinger’s Chocolates. Honey, if tea and chocolate don’t make it better, you need to get in somebody’s LAP!

I had forgotten that this black tea steeps up rather light, but it surely was good. The taste is very fruity and complex. It went quite nicely with the chocolate even though it wasn’t as powerful as the Keemuns I usually drink with sweets. Instead of cleansing the palate for the next tidbit like my usual choices do, this sort of sidled up to the chocolate and made friends. There was a hint of roastiness for a low note, lots of middle fruity notes playing along, and a high note of sweetness singing over it all.

This is a really nice tea and not “run of the mill.” I think it would be great to have hanging around!

I saved my leaves yesterday because I suspected that this one was a good resteeper. I was right! The second pot is still going strong and makes me wonder if this might even go three steeps western style.

The brew is light/medium orange and the flavor is roasted walnut with some sweet notes. Very nice!

Thank you, Nuvola Tea, for letting me try this!

This tea intrigues me most out of the new samples sent by Nuvola Tea for review.

I have never heard of a black oolong. I read their description that it is black tea made from oolong tea but I am still a bit in the dark. Is it black tea produced from a varietal that is normally used for oolong? Were the leaves first subjected to the processing for oolong tea, then for black tea?

I decided to go middle of the road with this one, using 194F water and giving it a little less than four minutes to steep.

The aroma is very fruity, the tea a medium orange color. The taste is a bit befuddling, but good. It mixes the flavor of a light black tea having fruity notes with the flavor of a dark roasted oolong. The sides of the tongue really sense that roasted oolong aspect. There is a nice sweet aftertaste.

I decided to see how it goes with food – snack, actually, and specifically pumpkin roll. I am pleased to say it went well, and now I notice that there is a smoky bottom to this tea, the roasted aspect becoming more obvious when pitted against the sweetness of my dessert. Nice pairing! Thank you, Nuvola Tea, for the opportunity to taste this!

Second steep. Beautiful burnished gold color. The Juicy Fruit scent is still strong, but has departed from the flavor. It’s behaving like a more conventional oolong now.

Ahhhh! Freedom! Home! Alarm clock off until January 2! (Unscheduled, un-demanded time is a precious commodity. I have asked for a whole bag of it for Christmas. There are currently no bags under my tree :(

So to celebrate, I made me some contemplatin’ tea. Great big rolled leaf nuggets, dark gold honey-color brew, heavy in the mouth, with a distinct Juicy Fruit taste. Somewhere along the line I made a sensory association with ti kwan yin and JF, and I can’t break it. I’m seeing lots of “nutties” in previous reviews; so far, I don’t get “nuttin’”, but I’m just at Steep #1 of what should be several.

Breathe deep. It’s Christmas. We should rest. (Thanks to K S for these lovely few tea-sponsored moments of just doing nothing.)

I am fascinated by the texture of really good oolongs—so heavy and silky that you feel like you’ve used lip balm after a few good sips.

This is one of those. The flavor reminds me of butterscotch when I roll it around in my mouth.

Perfect light supper substitute…we ate from the Hobbit menu at Denny’s for lunch and OD’d on pumpkin pancakes, Shire sausage, and seedcake french toast. It’s a wonder Hobbits could even waddle, with seven meals like that a day :)

P.S. Thanks to K S for the sample!

Thank you Nuvola Tea for this amazing sample.

I’m hoping for tons of infusions with it in my yixing pot!

First steep, 30 seconds: the cup smells like it might actually be filled with butter instead of tea! It’s very flavorful and yet at the same time somewhat delicate…if that makes any sense. It’s got a strong taste of light flavors. It’s too hard to describe in words, jeez. It’s creamy, vegetal, sweet, and has just a hint of floral.

Second steep, 45 seconds: It’s become more sweet and more vegetal. There seem to even be notes of dark green herbs in here, maybe something like sage! Sage and peas. Sounds good to me.

Third steep, 60 seconds: This steep reminded me somehow that I needed to take decent pictures of my lip balms now that I found my memory card. Except now the battery is drained in my camera and I can’t find the charger. It’s always gotta be something. This steep is now much sweeter, with a hint of astringency. I always like the astringency in oolongs because it comes off as a mix between sparkling water and peppercorns.

Fourth steep, 75 seconds: The flavor was less intense on this one so I decided to make it the last. There was a lot of time between the 3rd and 4th so that probably didn’t help. This one was still sweet, also reminiscent of green vegetables but in no way as intense as even the third steep.

I liked the second steep the best. This is an amazing tea, grown in quite an interesting climate. I wouldn’t hesitate to get some in the future. Thank you again Nuvola for graciously giving me a sample of this tea.