Today’s review is of 3 teas from Nepal – TÊTÊ‘s White, Green and Black tea. TÊTÊ exclusively sources tea from Nepal with direct partnerships. These Himalayan grown teas are full loose leaf from remote tea gardens. In addition, TÊTÊ‘s teas are all organic.
First off, really nice packaging – stylized simple and modern. #lessismore for sure!
(edit: end of the review there’s a coupon code!)
Tasting of TÊTÊ’s White, Green, and Black Nepal Teas
I did gongfu style steeping in a gaiwan for all the teas to get the full flavor out of them. The instructions on the tea packaging is for western style brewing.
The dry leaf is light in weight with leaves of silver, pale green and tans. It was hard to capture on camera, but this white had fuzzies!
For water temperature, I did 190F and started with 10 second infusions, no rinse. The white tea steeps up pale light yellow cream.
The first infusion of TÊTÊ White Tea has a sweet silky lip feel with juicy creamy and bosc pear notes.
The second, third, fourth and fifth infusions got sweeter and even better. The white developed more of an apricot pear flavor over a cream and straw background. With each infusion the white got a little dry of a finish – 2/10 Astringency. I got one final infusion after the 5th, which was light on flavor with a hum of floral but with a really dry finish.
The green tea is dark green with the odd fleck of golden olive tones.
I did two runs with this tea and decided steeping it at a low temperature of 160f was best. I first steeped this green at my usual 175f green water temperature and it was bitter. 160f turned out better, which was the temperature on the western brew instructions. The steeped colour is light yellow green.
TÊTÊ Green Tea sips in asparagus sweet with a soft silky texture. Later steeps develop a light smokey flavor just like grilled sweet asparagus. With each infusion the green loses sweetness and getting more savory. I got five infusions then it got too light and dry to continue.
This black tea has pretty dry leaf of black and gold waves – also the most scented of all the teas with a tasty sweet scent. I used boiling water to infuse TÊTÊ Black Tea.
The first three infusions were really sweet with notes of honey, cherry wood and a hint of chocolate malt. I found this black wasn’t thick, heavy or rich and had a very clean taste.
Fourth, fifth, and sixth infusions get an amber incense note along with the cherry woodsy which I find quite nice and unique for a black. There is a slight astringency 3/10 that dries the throat. These infusions are less sweet but interest savory notes.
I got two more infusions for a total of eight rounds. TÊTÊ Black Tea’s final infusions had a sweet come with light amber notes and a stiff dryness as a finishing move.
I also had this black western steeped as per package instructions. TÊTÊ Black Tea makes for a pretty good long infusion as it was creamy and woodsy with a hint of amber, however I found the gong fu infusions sweeter.
Comments
Out of the three teas from TÊTÊ, I liked the Black Tea the most, with White Tea second – I found them the most interesting and different, perfect if you want to try Nepal teas. TÊTÊ Black Tea was also the most photogenic of the teas!
TÊTÊ Green Tea was more difficult to steep as it seemed the most sensitive to heat. Either way, check out TÊTÊ for some tasty Nepal teas!
Edit: A coupon code!
OOLONGOWL for 20% off TÊTÊ! Expires June 16 2015
(tea provided for review)
