Hepburn

Thank you for the sample, Sophie & Laurent :)

My first Nina’s Tea sample and I had a hard time deciding which to try first, but I saw Josie Jade’s review and orange creamsicle sounded way too good to wait. The dry leaf smell smelled like those chocolate orange candies that come out around Christmas. At first I thought I steeped too long because the tea just reminded me of earl grey… a little bitter and just orange. As it cooled, I started to get the cream and I liked it more… maybe a hint of chocolate? I don’t think my taste buds are sensitive enough lol.

I re-steeped it and added rock sugar, let it cool a bit and voila! There we go, orange creamsicle. I can see myself drinking a lot of this…

I tasted this tea with comparison to Della Terra’s Chocolate Orange Slice. In summary Hepburn had more of an orange flavour while Della Terra’s had a stronger chocolate flavour. Hepburn may be preferable to those who prefer milk chocolate while the Orange Slice tea references dark chocolate. The tea base flavour was more prominent in Hepburn, while the base was smoother but more bitter in Della Terra’s option, and did not have as much depth of flavour or a very strong presence. Both were pretty enjoyable teas, but I think I may prefer Nina’s I loved the rich dark chocolate flavour in Della Terra’s Tea, but Nina’s tea had more layers of flavour and left me with such a pleasant feeling afterwords, whereas Chocolate Orange Slice left me feeling a little heady.

The chocolate orange in this is subtle, but natural. The orange note is fresh and more noticeable than the chocolate, which comes across as dark and rich. It’s one of the better chocolate orange teas I’ve tried, though not my favourite – that title belongs to Butiki’s Three Friends. I wish I could have written a more detailed note on this, but my mind is elsewhere today. Thank you for sending me this sample, Marzipan.

Sipdown 208/399

What a delectable chocolate orange tea. More orange than chocolate, plus the base is smooth and not too astringent. My favourite chocolate orange tea to date.

I’ve been drinking orange juice lately (bought it for blueberry tarts which were devoured in a couple days) so especially after that refresher, the pulp-laden orange juice makes this taste like candy. It’s quite sweet in comparison and doesn’t have the bite that zest/peel can. The dry leaf itself doesn’t have that much orange peel in the mix. I’ve had this a few times now and every time I made a big mug of this, out of every 4-5g of tea, I’d maybe see one little piece of dried peel drop into the infuser basket. Sometimes, not always.

The chocolate is on the semi-sweet side. Realistic and not artificial or waxy at all, although I would have liked a little bit more. Overall, I can see myself grabbing up more of this.

I actually really like this one. After reading some of the reviews on here I wasn’t sure what to expect. Recently I ordered five tins of different flavored black teas from Nina’s, and this is the only one I hadn’t tried until today.

I don’t get a lot of chocolate, I get some orange and I get some cream. I like the way it all comes together though. I get a really nice and interesting sensation of the tea coating my mouth like cream would, and I’m not really sure how to describe that any other way. It’s sort of that buttery, creamy feel that eating decadent things gives (but this does NOT taste like butter). But, it’s not leaving me feeling heavy or yucky.

The orange flavor isn’t super strong or tart, and that’s ok with me since two of the other teas I ordered from Nina’s have a much more foreground orange taste. I think this is really well balanced.

I think if you like vanilla or cream flavored teas with a hint of orange, you should definitely try this one.

Another Nina’s Paris tea from miss Marzipan. After the last one seemed a bit weak in flavor, I figured I should drink my last two before they start to lose their oomph. This is a chocolate orange tea, which is one of my very favorite flavor combinations. It has the same small black leaves, and my sample has one large piece of dried orange peel in it. Dry scent is sweet chocolate, I’m not getting much orange.

Once steeped, however, there is a powerful sweet orange smell accented by a touch of creamy chocolate. The orange here is nice, it reminds me of the fragrance of orange zest. I would like more chocolate, however. The chocolate mostly manifests itself as a touch of (pleasant) bitterness and a creamy texture. I just can’t fully enjoy this cup, as the whole time I’m thinking about Three Friends. Lol!

Thank you Marzipan for the sample! I made this for breakfast without reading what was in the blend. I picked out the citrus notes right away, along with what I thought was vanilla (must have been the cream?) It also has a sweetness about it that I like.

I would never have tasted chocolate in this blend. So in that respect I suppose it might be disappointing. However, it was a really nice breakfast tea that I enjoyed quite a bit this morning, and it paired perfectly with a homemade maple pecan scone! NOMMMY!

Sipdown (132)!

Many thanks to my Nina’s Paris dealer VariaTEA for the sample! I’m always up for trying another of Nina’s teas – they so, so rarely ever disappoint. This one absolutely holds true to that standard, as well!

So I made this in my timolino for work. Dry and steeping I really didn’t get much of any sort of smell from this so I was going in to this with relatively low expectations but still holding onto to some hope because this is Nina’s and Nina’s Paris knows tea. And it was such a joy to sip on while I was walking home after a long day! So cheers for that!

The black base was very smooth with just the faintest floral hint to it. Bitter and Astringent are totally foreign words in regard to this one. And then marrying beautifully with the base was this very rich and juicy orange flavour with a silky creaminess to it that reminded me of a very natural creamsicle type treat (but hot). Not fake orange flavoured syrup frozen over ice cream but something much higher quality, and richer.

There’s also chocolate in this blend, but I found it to actually be very light handed; just enough to sweeten things up and keep this from feeling monotone (or rather “duotone”?). I might not have even recognized it in the blend if I hadn’t looked this one up prior to making it.

So conclusion: this is simple and pretty straight forward, but really really good! There’s no need for me to stock both Three Friends (another sweet Orange/Black) but if I was out of that one I’d be perfectly content with stocking either of these two blends. Both are masterfully executed.

Also hey – here’s a random link ( http://donottouch.org/ ) for a neat-o crowd sourced music video you should all check out! Aside from just being pretty fun, the music/song itself is kinda cool and catchy too.

So I never really liked chocolate and orange which is why I passed on asking for a sample of this while I was at Nina’s. However, the combination of positive reviews and the fact that I enjoyed Three Friends piqued my interest enough that I asked Cavocorax for a sample. Now that I have tried it for myself, I think I agree with Cavo in saying this is the best chocolate orange tea out there. Really. It is good. Very good. Smooth, creamy, chocolatey and with a bright citrus flavor. Yum! Thank you Cavo!!

Thank you again to Laurent and Sophie for a chance to try a couple of Nina’s Paris teas. I really enjoyed this one as well.

The flavoring is really subtle and balanced, but much better once the tea has cooled for 10-15 minutes or so. The orange while still piping hot was a little orange-rindy, but as the tea cooled, it because sweeter and more natural-fruit flavored. What lingers of the flavor on your tongue is juicy and fresh tasting. The cream also popped once the cup cooled, and was a sweet, rich cream that hung on and mingled with the orange. And the chocolate wasn’t quite identifiable as milk or dark chocolate, but had a cocoa flavor that was imparted somewhere mid sip. It doesn’t really play with the other flavors in the aftertaste.

I wish I had a bit more of this to play with milk and sugar. I think it has the potential to be truly decadent. Even so, it was very good and I’m grateful for the opportunity to try it!

I’m definitely leaving this on the wishlist as a reminder to get it when I have the chance.