Verdant Tea (Special)

I have only been awake for about 3 hours and in addition to breaking some kitchenware, I have also managed to throw my phone across the room in an attempt to answer it (thank god for OtterBoxes), uppercut my own nose, and stub my pinky toe which consequently caused me to hit my thigh into the corner of my desk. Basically I am convinced today is the day I die (or just get a few new bumps and bruises to add to the collection).

On the plus side, I have yet to ruin tea so there’s that. And, I realized I have an insane amount of tea I have not tried yet (courtesy of many large swaps and a bunch of BF orders). This particular cup came to me from the very generous Cavocorax. After the success of Nina’s Japon and Marshmallow Treat, I have sort of gone on a Genmaicha craze in which I want to try all the Genmaichas. Luckily Cavo was able to help me out with that plan.

This tea is so drastically different from the other genmaichas. This is more savory than sweet. The brown rice incorporates the roasted rice flavor I love but also adds a touch of maltiness while the coriander gives the tea a delicious herb flavor. Given the option, I will always reach for Nina’s Japon but when that is removed from the equation, this is a nice and unique alternative. An interesting cup for sure. Not one I would reach for often but nice to have around when I want something different. So thank you Cavocorax for the chance to taste this tea! Hopefully you are enjoying what I sent you as much as I have enjoyed what you sent me :)

I was very unsure about this month’s blends from Verdant, as they all featured tulsi and a host of herbs, some of which I had never heard of! Despite my reservations, this tea is quite good! I’ve had a couple cups already but find it hard to describe – probably due to the exotic herbs. In any case, it is mellow and rich, spicy and comforting, and overall nice and satisfying. Take away from that what you will. ;) I used 2 tsp and steeped for 1 min, 2 min, etc. The tea was a nice dark cup every time.

Another one from tonight…while testing. i guess…i’m underwhelmed but the most recent blends. I’m glad February is on it’s way so that maybe that will redeem things a little. This one was alright, but even though it’s up on the website, it won’t make the cut for me this time…not like the others that i’ve picked up once they were made official blends. :)

Dear Verdant. Stop with the 1 min steepings for all the blends. kthnx :)

I see why some folks are not as fond of this one as some of them. I am A-ok with this one though. it’s not my favourite, but it is an interesting mix up. I’m actually curious as to how this would fare as a cold brew. Only thing i want a little more of is the lemon. :)

I had absolutely no idea it would take this long to get over strep. The nose still just won’t stop! Things cleared up enough I was finally able to sample this tea, but it didn’t really spark with me. Maybe we can blame that on messed up sinuses, or maybe it’s just a little… eh.

This tea!! I forgot I had a big bag of this tea, and as I am earnestly cutting out all caffeine (had some crazy anxiety this week, including a panic attack..could also be related to time of month..) this tea will be back in my repertoire for a while. Man I realized I have only about 20 herbals of my mass number of teas! I might have to break my hiatus to restock some..ugh how I will miss my caffeine, but until I get my anxiety sorted out, this is how it will have to be.

Anyways, this tea is as delicious as ever, maybe it benefited from ageing? Buttery, lemony goodness. Smooth and tasty. Yum. I am happy I rediscovered this tea in my cupboard :D see previous notes!

Mini sipdown – as I ordered 2 oz of the version without linden flowers on Verdant’s site recently :D this is such a cup of sunshiney goodness again this morning. I only steeped it for about a minute and it’s perfectly flavored, not too much rooibos, lemony and fresh. It feels like spring today, not necessarily weather-wise (-4 C) but to me it feels like it. And now my cravings of fresh green and white teas is starting, and pretty floral blends. Will have to have some of those this weekend! See previous notes on this tea :)

So after my crazy busy day at work I was home briefly then off to sushi with some good friends..I had some genmaicha there and it was tasty, but I needed a favorite cuppa when I got home on behalf of it being my birthday haha. So I looked at my cupboard and almost had the Marshmallow Snowflake EG or my favorite Yu Lu Yan Chai, but those are rather caffeine heavy, and I already have been drinking green tea all evening.

So what better tea to have than this one? My FAVORITE rooibos, which it now looks like is available at Verdant for ordering (minus the linden flowers)! So excited! I am trying so so hard to hold off placing an order with Verdant….it’s so difficult. I can make it!

And yes, this is a lemony, perfect cup of goodness tonight. It’s thirst quenching and rich and warming all at the same time. And it makes me happy. Perfect tea for a good day :)
See previous notes on this tea!

Ok so this tea is so good, I am having BACK to BACK cups of it. Had this before bed, now having it at work first thing. I brewed it at home, so I can’t fully comment on the dry smell, but it was super lemony and good. I followed the steeping parameters of 1 minute with boiling and end up with a pretty darn flavorful cup. Might try a bit longer next time to see what happens!

Oh, and to note, this blend has ROOIBOS in it. I believe this is the first rooibos Verdant has made! Huzzah! And man, is it ever a good one! The steeped scent is lemony and sweet, refreshing and calming. The flavor…wonderful. I stand by that this is a cup of sunshine, and while there is no caffeine in this, it still pleasantly wakes me up with it’s freshness and makes me happy. I feel like it should be a lazy Saturday morning, cuddling in bed with the cat and this tea, but I am at work lol. Fresh, creamy, bright…and not much rooibos flavor!! I am not sure where the tulsi is in here, the lemon verbena is the main flavor, but I think it adds a sharpness, maybe a herbiness. Whatever it is, everything blends very well and I am impressed with this!

This one might even make me send Verdant a note to beg for it to become available permanently. Yes indeed, this one, Yu Lu Yan Chai, and Elderberry Herbal top the list of teas I have loved from the blend club. Awesome tea!!

A perfect cup of sunshine.

I’ll elaborate more later, but really good!

Good night steepster :)

I think Tulsi must be a NO for me.
Three blends with tulsi? (Sigh)
The upside is that by getting three tulsi blends together…
I I was able to pretty much identify it is a definite dislike for me :-(

Not my style at all…unsure if it is the tulsi?
What I know is this month had three tulsi blends…
I loved one and strongly disliked the other two :-(

I have to admit, I wasn’t thrilled to see that the January blends club theme was tulsi. I haven’t had a lot of tulsi (and never just tulsi), but what I have had I haven’t been fond of. But I will try it nonetheless!

When I smelled the dry leaf I was a little put off, and I think it must have been the tulsi because there isn’t anything else in this blend that should be objectionable. Fortunately after steeping it evens out a bit and smells better. Herby, cocoa-y, almost minty even though there isn’t any mint in this. It honestly reminds me a bit of the scent profile of the Peppermint Bark herbal. The taste has a lot more oolong in it, and I’m definitely tasting the toasty, minerally flavor of the Wuyi oolong. A bit of cocoa, and a bit of herbal, root beerish flavor. Considering this blend contains a few things I’m not really a fan of (wuyi oolong, tulsi), I don’t mind it too much, but I wouldn’t say that I really like it that much either. Ah well, can’t love them all!

I needed this spicy tonic this morning.
Going through some depression related to my health.
This cuppa is rich, earthy, spicy & definitely full bodied.
It is recommended for eve sipping, but this my morning cup.
It is getting me going and helping to draw out some sunshine
out of this cup and ignore the blustery, snowy day outside.
I cannot identify all the individual additions to this mix, but I love the spicyness.
This is wonderfully rich ♡☆♡
If you have never tried a puerh, but always wanted to ~
This is highly recommended ~ complex & rich & FABULOUS

I’ve been missing blends now that they have their own monthly club and the “classic” tends to be all pure teas, so I decided to join the “Blend” club for a month or two. I was a little taken aback by this month’s theme – Tulsi is not one of favorites, though I don’t dislike it either. But, I really like this one. Especially on later steeps it tastes like marshmallows! Something about the sarsaparilla in combination with a well-suited oolong? I don’t know, but it’s awesome. I usually get a little annoyed with the way flavors taper off on later steeps but this is one where the balance just gets better. I’m on steep 4 or 5, with 2tsp(roughly 5g)/8oz water

Well, I’m at a sipdown for this tea and I never logged it! Haha, I drank it down in about a month, so it was a very good tea! I first had it at the lake over the holidays, so I didn’t log it due to poor nets up there, but I should have logged some other cups too haha. In a nutshell, this is minty and sweet, the fennel adds to the flavor nicely and the cacao is present but not overwhelming, as with the cinnamon. The cup seems like it could be a bit more chocolatey since it’s a peppermint bark tea, but it’s refreshing and not too sweet so you can drink it all the time. Oh, and I also steep this one for about 4 minutes, much longer than specified, and it’s really good. If this became permanent/seasonal, I would probably look into restocking. I love the herbals that come with the blend club! I’ve enjoyed all three that I’ve received, can’t wait for this months! :)

I kinda like this one. It would be (much) better without the coriander, but the toasted rice kind of overpowers it while hot. I LOVE the toasted rice Verdant uses. So strong and toasty. :D

The Oolong is super duper floral. The floral is coming through the toasted rice, soap, and cinnamon. And sadly as it cools, the coriander is getting soapier. This would be SO good without the excess amount of coriander. Just a little would be fine, but in my bag it looks like at least 1/3 of it is coriander seeds.

Another tea I’m glad I’ve tried, but will probably be relegated to the swap pile. Between the coriander and the mint, I wasn’t super happy with the Blends Club. There are some Verdant blends that I like that I will probably purchase again soon (Sweet Cinnamon Pu’er!), and one I LOVE but just haven’t had the time to sit down and do justice (Earl of Anxi).