Verdant Tea
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Surprisingly good Rou Gui from Verdant! Far superior to my tastes to the Rou Gui I tried from OWT. Still would not purchase more of this at the price, but it is certainly easy to drink and very warming and kind to the soul.
Mouthfeel is fairly thick, sparkling, and mineral. Aftertaste is more a smoky/hazy feeling left in the mouth after swallowing. Quite fascinating really, as the only similar mouthfeel I’ve experienced is with Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong oolong (also Verdant). Mild sweetness. No bitterness, or astringency.
This one comes from the Li family of Wuyi. The plot of land on which this tea grows is fairly natural and interspersed with wildflowers and such.
Verdant’s oolongs continue to impress. This one is just less my style I think. I’d prefer a dong ding if I’m seeking these vibes from a tea. But I’d never turn down a few cups of this tea as it is objectively exquisite.
Harvest: Spring 2023
Varietal: Rou Gui
Location: Wuyishan Ecological Preserve, Wuyishan, Fujian
Elevation: 600 m
Dry leaf: Nutty, Brazil nuts, pecans, roasted
Wet leaf: Bitter nuts
Taste: Pumpkin seeds, pecans, nutty, roasted, smoky, coffee, pecan pie filling, sweet, cinammon, mineral.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Coffee, Mineral, Nutty, Pecan, Pumpkin Seed, Roasted, Smoke, Sweet
This is a really old tea I’ve had for many years (originally from a user on here or possibly a TTB). It’s older 2015 harvest or before but has been in a well sealed pouch in a dark drawer.
I went with 225 mL water (hot, maybe 75 deg. C) and steeped 5 minutes. The liquid has no colour but has a faint flavour of dried oak leaves and fresh fiddleheads or green beans. It’s very faint, through, and more vegetal than anything else. It wasn’t a very good cup due to the very faint flavour and few nuances. I’m not going to rate this one because my tea sample is so old. If I did rate it, I’d give it maybe 30-45/100 but that wouldn’t be fair to the quality of the fresh buds.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Green Beans, Vegetal
Preparation
This tea was an absolute ride! I’m not much of an oolong drinker but I thoroughly enjoyed this tea. Pumpkin seed, carrot, coffee and black cherry were such surprising flavours, but I enjoyed them immensely.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Carrot, Cherry, Coffee, Nutty, Pumpkin Seed, Woody
Preparation
Looks and smells like puerh tea. The leaves, which are stuffed inside a dried mandarin, have a wet woodsy aroma. But unlike puerh, are loosely packed and easy to scrape out without needing sharp tools.
Since this is stuffed and aged inside a mandarin for 6 years, I expected a citrusy flavor. However, it tastes like a normal malty black tea. Red tinged amber color. No real orange or citrus flavoring discernible. On the plus side, it didn’t have any puerh like earthiness either.
I like the concept behind this tea but the execution doesn’t work for me.
Not in a very energetic mood for long and detailed review, so here we go.
1st infusion (80˚C, 0:30)
Aroma of wet leaves is very fragrant, but entirely on the savoury and vegetal side, maybe slightly nutty… not sweet or fruity or buttery at all like the #43 or the 2nd Picking which I’ve already tried. There might even be a more mineral, bittersweet quality to it.
Liquor itself is surprisingly bitter and astringent. I didn’t time how long I steeped for, but don’t think it exceeded 20-30 sec.
Rating: 78
2nd infusion (80˚C, 0:30)
Wet leaves and liquor have gorgeous “fresh spring meadow” scent. Still has this astringency/herbal bitterness (like guilinggao!) in the aftertaste – perhaps that is the wildness and uncultivatedness of this tea. I slightly prefer this infusion to the previous one.
Rating: 80
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Herbal, Mineral, Savory, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Vegetal
Preparation
Happily surprised at the mellow floral flavor of this one. Upon first whiff after awakening the tea, I was a bit dubious, the aroma somewhat savory and floral in an unusual way. After a brief steeping, and a hesitant sip, I was happy to discover there was no bitterness, no vegetable flavor, no nothing but a pleasant taste of freshness. Though I’m not much on floral notes, that was the predominate one here, with nary any fruitiness that I could detect. Yet, with each sip, I was eager for another sip and that is what makes for a good cup of tea.
Flavors: Floral
Preparation
Better? in a steeper basket. Almost obnoxiously floral, so if that’s your thing, scoop this up. Classic tieguanyin taste but without the sourness. Still drying – less so; still viscous – more so. Handles high temps well and can be steeped 3-5 times. Ridiculous longevity for this preparation method. Way too high in caffeine for me, unfortunately, without enough of whatever compounds that mellow me out.
Preparation
Another note with scrubbed text as Steepster was being fixed. Don’t feel inspired to retype the original from memory.
First steeps need some coaxing to bring out the flavor in a liquor that will otherwise taste like sweet, viscous springwater. Usually the third steep for oolong tea holds the magic; that’s the case here but it continues to become more powerful (read: bigger body and more tannic) as steeps progress. Upfront flavors are papery and dry grassy with the real meat of the experience happening in the back of the mouth. First session had loads of mango and coconut water coming from the back. Second and third sessions were less impressive in that regard. This tea feels like it has a lot of caffeine.
Flavors: Butter, Coconut, Dry Grass, Drying, Egg, Floral, Grassy, Lemongrass, Lilac, Mango, Milk, Mineral, Paper, Peach, Salad Greens, Soybean, Spinach, Spring Water, Strawberry, Sugarcane, Tannic, Toast, Vanilla, Violet, Viscous, Wheat
Spring 2022 harvest, a freebie with my order. Thank you!
Round, fluffy-sweet and silky spring water with smooth fruity notes I can see as lychee and muscat grape. Threads of malt and chocolate, cinnamon and mild cardamom. Tangy, mineral, sparkling, playful tannins. Osmanthus in bottom of cup. Very clean, leathery aftertaste.
Excellent tea! I only drank this prepared in a 60mL gaiwan with 2.5g each time. Good longevity for a red tea this way.
Flavors: Cardamom, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Clean, Dark Chocolate, Dust, Leather, Lychee, Malt, Mineral, Muscatel, Osmanthus, Round, Silky, Spring Water, Sweet, Tangy, Wheat, Wood
Preparation
Free sample from my last Verdant order. Verdant hit yet another one out of the park. The Li Family deserves an olympic medal for their teas. Absolutely gorgeous!
Covers a gamut of sweet flavors very well. It’s fruity, chocolatey, and pleasantly tangy. Peach is the most predominant flavor in the liquor. Thick, impressive mouthfeel for a black tea. No bitterness or astringency. Longevity is nice at 10+ infusions.This varietal of tea is Fei Zi Xiao, named after a premium cultivar of lychees. This name translates as “the concubine smiles.” As the story goes, Emperor Tang Ming Huang of the Tang Dynasty ordered a batch of lychees to be rapidly transported (to keep them from going bad) from southern China to his palace in northern China to be given to his most beloved concubine, Yang Gui Fei. While I have tried many lychee-flavored things, I have not tried an actual lychee (on my bucket list), so take my next statement with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, I can’t claim to get any lychee flavor from this tea, but the lovely peach flavor will do in its stead :).
I’m EXTREMELY impressed with Verdant and they will be my go-to tea source for black teas and dan cong in the future. Also looking forward to trying some of their Chinese greens. From my limited experience with their teas, I am far more impressed with the quality than for other shops that offer such a wide variety, likely because they source from separate small farmers.
Not only is their tea phenomenal, but they obviously care about their customers, as this free sample is of one of their $0.44/g teas, which is exceedingly generous! As much as I love this tea, I don’t think I’ll have it on hand often because of the price (ballin’ on a budget), but I will certainly be ordering more of it from time to time.
Harvest: Spring 2022
Location: Wuyishan
Dry leaf: Dark chocolate, cinnamon, cherry.
Wet leaf: Malt, wheat
Flavor: Peach, sweet, tangy, honey,
Flavors: Cherry, Cocoa, Honey, Malt, Peach, Sweet, Tangy, Wheat
Very nice Dancong and the last of the three samples I got from Verdant! I would say probably not worth the $0.50/g price tag for me, but if it were closer to half that, I might get more. It is certainly high quality and complex, and I love how similar the dry leaf smells to cardamom!
Mouthfeel is full and toasty in the initial steepings. This would make a perfect tea for a cool fall day :). Glad I got to try this wonderful tea.
Lasted probably 8 infusions or so. Was expecting a bit more sweetness/fruitiness to develop on the back end of these infusions, but didn’t get much tbh.
Harvest: Spring 2022
Dry leaf: Cardamom
Wet leaf: Flower of a fruiting plant
Flavor: Sweet, astringent, almond, toast, creamy, melon
Flavors: Almond, Astringent, Cardamom, Creamy, Floral, Fruity, Melon, Sweet, Toast
Got such a tiny amount of this tea left that I decided to split it and do a sort of modified western style with about 2ish grams of tea. This is perhaps my final (non-lapsang) Chinese black, and I am in the mood to savor. I have other equally fascinating black teas on deck, and while I am anticipating those, nothing beats a delicious dian hong.
Speaking of dian hongs, This is such a unique tea. I distinctly remember the height of the hype train for this tea, and I was a little skeptical at first. But the second I gave in to the peer pressure, I realized that it was hyped for good reason. The leaves are so distinct and beautiful, and all the golden fuzzies full of the promise of a cha qi buzz. I really enjoyed each session I had with this tea, which is definitely why i squirreled some away until now
Steeped 2ish grams in about 100ml water for 2.5minutes each time. Got a satisfyingly sweet brew, filled with sweet honey, cocoa, vanilla and a musky woodiness.
Flavors: Cocoa, Earth, Sandalwood, Vanilla
Preparation
Another review from the Great Steepster Shutdown of 2023. Will flesh it out on trying the second half of the sample.
Wasn’t crazy about it tbh. Definitely not worth almost $1/g. Unique flavor, but perhaps just not for me. I’m open to having my mind changed when I try the other half of the sample.
Harvest: Spring 2022
Tried this tea over the Great Steepster Shutdown of 2023.
HOT DAMN! Best black tea I’ve had, hands down. Worth the price a million times over! So sweet and strong of a flavor that I thought it had to be a blend or something. Like drinking liquid s’mores and a molten lava brownie mixed together, except way better!
Lasts 12-14 infusions easily, so it has wonderful length too!
I am really loving Verdant Tea’s offerings.
Harvest: Fall, 2022.
Flavors: Cherry, Cinnamon, Dark Chocolate, Graham Cracker, Marshmallow, Sweet
First Dancong and I am blown away!!! Definitely enjoying it more than most of the yancha I’ve tried tbh. The roasted notes dont come through in the brew like most yancha. The flavor is subtle yet complex initially, and becomes more potent past infusion 3.
I’ve never known what an orchid smells like. I do have a recently acquired Phalaenopsis orchid in my apartment, so I spent some time trying to smell those flowers. The smell was not apparent at first, but I did eventually pick up a mild and pleasant smell with my nose. On re-tasting the tea immediately afterwards, I can see why people think it gives off an orchid aroma.
The mouthfeel is quite enticing here. It is hard to describe. Feels somewhat wet while the tea is in your mouth, but after swallowing, I can’t really say that my tongue feels like it was wet just a second ago. I find with most teas that my tongue is either left overly dry and craving more fluid, or feeling like the tea still lingers and my tongue is still wet. It is as if this tea strikes the perfect balance of astringency to just fall in the middle of these two.
The aftertaste is also a fascinating experience. Even after the tea has left your mouth for a bit, certain aromas and flavors (especially grapefruit) and a tingling sensation pop into existence as if out of thin air! It also lasts many minutes after I’ve swallowed the liquor.
As the infusions progress, some honey flavor comes out of the tea, but is not present for the first 4-5 infusions to my palate. Longevity was great at 12-13 infusions for me.
DEFINITELY buying more of this when I run out.
Harvest: Spring 2022
Location: Wudongshan, Guangdong
Dry leaf: fruity, roasted.
Wet leaf: malt.
Flavor: honey, grapefruit, orchid, floral, sweet, melon.
Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Grapefruit, Honey, Malt, Melon, Orchid, Roasted, Sweet
Preparation
Mi Lan Xiang smells + tastes more fruity than floral to me. If you liked this tea, I recommend sampling Verdant’s High Elevation Mi Lan Xiang. It’s a little subtle but has more of that orchid and roasted peach flavor.
Got 50 g of this just in from Verdant and I definitely like it! Most complex and unusual ZSXZ I’ve had. Very smooth and very sweet, with only a touch of bitterness in the aftertaste and minimal astringency.
I prefer the flavor profile (although less complex) of OWT’s ZSXZ, but this gets the same rating because it lasted more infusions (at least 12) before weakening.
I like the tea a lot and will enjoy drinking the rest, but doubt I would reorder at $0.35/g. I could see repurchasing if it were closer to the $0.20-0.25/g range.
Harvest: Spring 2022
Dry leaf: pear, orange, sour.
Wet leaf: malt.
Flavor: graham cracker, maple syrup, walnut, sweet, brown sugar.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Graham Cracker, Malt, Maple Syrup, Orange, Pear, Sour, Sweet, Walnut
Sipdown! I’ll admit up front that I probably didn’t do this tea justice in its last few steepings. I prepared it western style and drank it over the course of the workday. Usually I stick to my middling teas during work so I don’t feel bad for not giving them much attention, but its been rough going lately so I’ve been leaning into quality teas more to cheer up the day. On the flip side, that means good teas are not getting my full focus.
Anyway, this was a really comforting, richly roasted cup. I steeped it pretty strong, so only got three robust steeps out of it, but they were great. It paired well with chilly, gloomy weather. I could see this making a good iced tea, too, actually.