Nina's Japon

I’m so glad I bought this tea on Sunday! It’s decadent, sweet, and roasty. It makes me feel warm and cosy all over! My co-worker, who I am sharing it with, feels the same way. It’s our moment of calm in a very busy week of switching over to a new scheduling/billing system at the hospital where we work.

I have to say that I’m really liking the teas I’ve had from Nina’s. They are probably some of the best blends I’ve had that come from a company that markets themselves as traditional tea blenders. Not only is each tea great on its own, but each tea is very different from the other blends. For example, Kusmi and Le Palais Des Thes are both companies that market themselves as traditional “fancy” tea blenders. The teas from each company all seem to taste the same to me. The bases are of all the kusmi teas seem similar and the flavors don’t seem very different. Palais des Thes has this kind of awful flowery green base for most of their teas. Nina’s blends are different from one another.

Mmm, Nina’s Japon smelled amazing before steeping!

I do like the combination of the black tea and genmaicha, plus it was creamy! Those flavors really worked well with the creamy, caramel and coconut aftertaste. I’d personally like a little less black in this blend, but I did like the extra depth it added.

This one seemed picky to steep and needs a shorter steeping time.

Full Review on my blog, the oolong owl. I did a review of the 3 samples I received! http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/ninas-paris-sample-tea-review/

1.05 tablespoons 248 ml.

The mild smokiness of the sencha is able to come through. I’m detecting a definite chocolately note near the end of the sip into the aftertaste. Roasted rice flavour closer to the middle of the sip. Vanilla overtones from the middle of sip to the end. Vanilla and caramel sweetness.

This tea really is dreamy! Caramel corn meets green tea in a wonderful carnival version of genmaicha. If I had to rename this tea, I would call it creamy caramel toasty popcorn.

Big thanks to Sophie and Laurent at Nina’s for this sample. I will definitely be purchasing this when I have a little extra $$ for tea. It will be a dessert tea staple in my cabinet.

Update: The cooler the tea gets the more caramel I taste. I bet this would be awesome iced. I MUST BUY THIS TEA!!! My cabinet demands this as a staple NOW!!

the smell of the dry leaf is a decadent cocoa-caramel enhanced coffee flavor…just my definition of comfort. if ever a lion wanted to lure me into his den, this aroma would do the trick.

steeps up a nice, gorgeous golden-orange ‘marigold’ color….how enchanting! Japon smells like a sumptuous genmaicha/hojicha with slight caramel & chocolate notes reminiscent of a comforting Café Francais instant coffee.

there’s a rich, buttery caramel finish on the crispy toasted rice and the teeny popcorn bits, which are so cute!

the unmistakable toasty brown rice quality is very evident in the aroma & the sip. yay! this is the real deal, and any genmaicha enthusiast would love this.

having drank a significant portion of this unadulterated, it must come as no surprise that i’m wondering what this would be like with just a dusting of sugar! ;p

surely enough, it pops the caramel beautifully….wow! this is one special genmaicha….

this is so decadent (and yet, calorie-free!) that i’m going to brew up another cup. i regret nothing.

Nina’s Paris….you have a fan in me.

My first genmaicha! & probably a good one for me since I prefer blacks to greens and this one is a mix. I needed some caffeine this afternoon, headache trying to come on and wanting to persuade it to leave… hopefully this and some tyelnol will do the trick! & I’ve seen so many great reviews of this one lately that I had to give it a try.

Dry leaf this one doesn’t do much for me.. Nutty and faintly sweet.

Steeped this smells nutty and almost like freshly popped corn, minus the butter. I get nutty, toasted something… not sure what to describe it as & I assume it’s the rice coming through. Not really getting the vanilla or caramel. The green and black teas are balanced nicely and don’t overpower each other. I don’t get the vegetal flavor of the green.. a plus for me as I’m still trying to acquire a taste for greens.

Oh… a touch of raw sugar part way through my cup and now I get caramel, mixed with that toasty roasty flavor … now I get the obsession.. Much better ! I should have tried that sooner since I generally like at least a pinch of sugar in each cup.

I have to say this one surprised me a bit. I thought it was going to be too different for me and I could only imagine it having a smoky flavor which I wasn’t sure about. The roasted goodness, combined with the sweet caramel = Yum!

Thanks MIssB for sending a bit of this my way! I likely wouldn’t have picked this one out for a long while on my own. I’m so glad to have been treated to it :)

Thanks so Sophie and Laurent for sending me this sample.

I have tried many a green tea but never a genmaicha. I’ve always wanted to try one but I have never gotten around to it. I did like this one. Very much.

This one took me a while to figure out. It’s just not something I’ve ever tried before. I loved the nutty, popcornish flavor that the rice gave. It was pleasant and not something I thought I’d appreciate but I really did. There was also a lovely pop of caramel and chocolate that gave this tea the feel of a really decadent treat. I do like that it’s a black/green tea mix. The black tea complemented the chocolate in the tea and gave it a bit more maltiness.

Genmaicha is definitely interesting. It’s one that I’ve always wanted to try but never have. And I did love it. I loved the addiction of caramel and chocolate in Nina’s Japon. Kind of reminiscent of caramel popcorn…I always add chocolate chips while the popcorn is still hot. This will definitely be among the teas I order from Nina’s Tea when I eventually make my first order.

I would love to try some straight green genmaicha. Any suggestions?

Delicious tea! The mix of black and mostly green leaves with the pieces of crispy rice is amazing! It smells sweet! The brew was a bright cheery yellow. I’ve never tried flavored genmaicha before!

The taste was amazingly airy and smooth. Delicious and sweet! I love the sweet caramel and vanilla flavors. It was almost like I was eating cotton candy. I love the hint of the nutty rice flavor in the background. I didn’t think it was too prominent. It was blended very well!

My last sample from laurent of nina’s paris once again i’m thanking you to be able to try this!

I’m noticing puffed rice and black and green tea leafs in this blend. The dry leaf smell a bit like a caramel toffee. I’m brewing this with near boiling water for about 3min and the result is a nice dark amber brown liquor that still smells like a toffee!

I’m hoping my tasting buds are not going to mess up my sample because i woke up today having a terrible cold and i’ve been coughing almost whole day now… anyway here we go!

With my first few marginal sips (because its to hot!) i’m noticing light vanilla taste but i’m going to led it cool down a bit more first… ok its cooled enough now and i’m tasting caramel with a hint off vanilla its a light blend with a very soft taste probably because the green leafs mixed in. I’m not really noticing the rice but hey i’m having a cold so i’m not functioning correct!

once again a tea that i would buy in the future!

So this is my first non-work related post and review. Thank you Laurent for the wonderful samples. My first was Nina’s Japon. The aroma during steeping was of a toasted caramel corn. 2min 30min later the first sip was a delicious mixed leaf caramel corny treat. I found the vanilla to come out more at the end for me. This actually reminds me of Frangelico liqueur in flavor, aroma and color. Very tasty and a wonderful introduction to Nina’s Teas.