Verdant Tea

Second Review. Have you ever intended to write a proper review and then something distracts you? And this distraction happens AFTER your tea steeping has begun and time has to be attended to? FREAK OUT! As the realization hit me this morning, that I had gone 4 minutes past the recommended steep time I fully expected that I had ruined my pot of tea. Only one way to check …so I poured the deep dark liquor and braced myself taking a hearty swig. Ahhhh! As perfect (yes I said perfect) a cup of tea one could wish for! Because it is morning, I added milk (no soy or artificial white stuff) and sweetening sighing with satisfaction. "Perfect ",I said out loud. I love this tea so much that I’ve ordered more (afraid they’ll run out!) .

First Review. My Verdant Shipment Arrived! I’ve been watching the mailbox and it’s here with this tea, the new 2004 Pu-erh the Laoshan Chai and 2 samples of new tea’s with a nice handwritten note (now who does that anymore)?! I am so excited. I’ve been out getting a hair trim and could use a good strong black tea this afternoon. This one sounds like such a perfect choice.
I checked the steeping time first…3 minutes, 2 TB. for my glass teapot size and boiling water (I know, filtered!). Tic, tic, tic, ready.
I like to watch the tea steeping in my glass teapot basket. I’m like a kid watching fish in a fishbowl and my nose is going to get burned one of these days. These tea leaves are gnarley and dark and when steeping they look like inky octopi dancing about. The liquour turns to the color of root beer an smells malty. Time to pour and sip…slurp.

This is full bodied, toasty with some remote almond or hazelnut taste. There is malt but not the brewery malt, a bakery maltiness without sourness. I was a doubter about the buckwheat comments. Really? Buckwheat? Seems a strong flavor. I had to see for myself. I went to my spice cupboard and picked out the Buckwheat Honey and poured a little in some hot water. Sniff, sip, taste the tea now and… right-o… BUCKWHEAT! Straight up this is tasty tea. Add sweetening…which many of us do….and this is really a good dessert tea.

The Chocolate has not been addressed yet. I have not found Dark Chocolate notes as yet. Some Milk Chocolate I can grant… but I am a Dark Chocolate LOVER! I do not taste Dark Chocolate! Maybe I will some other time, who knows.

What I have to say about this tea is…BRAVO! I hope this tea becomes available on a permanent basis because if so, it will be a staple for my cupboard. An Awesome Tea!

I received this one in my tea of the month selection for March. My first impression after opening the package ’it’s like buttah’! Seriously this has such a buttery scent to it I was instantly in love without even tasting it! That is some serious commitment on my part. As the leaves (which were beautiful) steeped more of the buttery notes came through and the leaves opened up perfectly. I used my bodum Tea for One to steep this in and it came out perfect! (I love this Tea for One cup.)

Now on to the taste of this tea that knocked me off my feet at first smell…WOW! So rich, smooth, and yes still buttery. This is amazing. It is also light, crisp, and refreshing. There’s just so much going on I can’t pin everything I like about this tea because the good just keeps coming with it! I’m pretty sure I’ll get a few more steeps out of this too. THIS is already in my cart over on their site…now to order it (and two other favorites) without my dear, wonderful hubby finding out. ;)

What a fascinating tea! Thanks to both Geoffrey and David for the insightful information about this tea’s extraordinary and rare history. I really enjoyed reading everyone’s saga of complexity with their tasting notes. Here’s what I experienced, cup by cup:

8 steeps, 8-40 seconds.
The first thing that hit me when I opened the bag was a smell that reminded me of the tea at the Chinese restaurant my parents always brought me to when I was a kid. I take this to be a very good sign. Now on to the taste.

1. Grassy white tea with floral notes.
2. A bitter smokiness emerges.
3. Dark & smoky, but a nutty vegetal flavor emerges, like green beans.
4. A citrus smell is now standing out, with a flavor like zubrowka – vanilla, buffalo grass.
5. A faint lilac begins to pop out.
6. More vanilla, macadamia.
7. Caramel & rock candy.
8. The aroma of fennel and just a hint of sarsaparilla.
The scent of the leaves after steeping: Grapefruit, fennel, earth.

What an elaborate network of flavors! Great by itself or as an accompaniment to a spicy meal. Both captivating and calming all at once.

The Jingshan is soft and crisp, tasting of asparagus and corn with a natural sweetness to it. The lavender is wonderfully floral and earthy adding extra weight to the tea, in a good way. The bergamot and lemongrass are light and I smell them more than I can taste them adding more of a crisp feeling, playing opposite of the lavender.

If you are not a fan of lavender or florals I wouldn’t recommend this one. Lavender is a strong one and easily overpowers what it is paired with. Even though there isn’t much lavender in this blend and doesn’t overpower the tea, it is impossible to ignore.

I love me some Earl Green teas and this one doesn’t fail me.

Enjoyed this tea this morning in my yixing-lined travel tea tumbler. I’ve kept it pretty exclusive to use with oolong teas, but this is the first real hearty oolong it’s seen. To begin, I really just love the flavor of tea when it has that yixing addition in general. And this yixing has seen some nice ginseng oolongs, so that was slightly added to the mix, mostly with an after-taste mouth feel.

As ever, this tea is delicious and I’m eager to taste it again in future!

I enjoyed this quite a lot! I actually just did my first side-by-side(-by-side) tasting of the same tea from different vendors with some Red Robes I have in my cupboard. So I’m going to try and keep this review to this tea alone, as I’ll be writing a post this weekend comparing them more directly.

In any case, I really love a Red Robe oolong. It’s a fun tea that packs a wallop and has some seriously awesome flavor every time.

Of all the Red Robes I’ve had, this one from Verdant Tea is probably the most mild. This is not a negative thing, however. It’s just a thing. The wet leaves after the first infusion were mild and nutty in scent.

The liquor had a smooth aroma and there was something familiar about the flavor that I still can’t quite manage to place. As if it tasted of something I’ve eaten before and really enjoyed, but I’ve only actually eaten it once or twice. But it has a lovely flavor that I enjoyed very much.

The second infusion was mellower and added a touch of sweetness. Interesting enough, even though the water was still quite hot, it left a coolness in my mouth. Like a mild version of the feeling you get when drinking a mint infusion. But it didn’t taste minty, just mimicked that sensation.

I’m glad I got this tea and will be happy to finish off what I have in time!

I think this tea is growing on me—instead of searching for “cake”, I’m beginning to like this for what I can taste in it—mainly buttered asapargus and Wheat Thins. There is also a flavor of broth and minerals.

I’m not detecting any bitterness or tannins at all. Super smooth—which makes it perfect to just toss into my travel mug and resteep all day. I’m feeling somehow calmer and more centered just by drinking this.

Just a quick impression—

I’ve steeped this with more tea then last time (plus a lower temp and longer steep time)—using about 5 good-sized nuggets (nearly the size of the those little dried, salted plums) to 12.85 ounces.

I’m now getting an abundance of buttery asparagus and hints of wheat thins—but still no cake.

Yay! I got this today and instantly tore into it!

I have to say it’s super smooth and the flavor seems very soft and slate-y. But I’m not getting much of anything else, sadly. No cinnamon, no sweetness, no vanilla, no angel food cake…

Just smooth, soft, slightly rooty puerh-ness.

But wait!…..if I breathe deeply and exhale with each sip—I can taste something like buckwheat…something like malt-o-meal..something like those whole wheat tea biscuits in those cylindrical packages (“Digestive Biscuits”?). Then, finally some rich buttery notes, upon cooldown.

Wow. Some teas assert themselves right away. This one doesn’t. Patience is key!

I really like this pu-erh. It tastes amazing! It has these delicious cake-y kind of flavors, complete with notes of vanilla, sugar, caramel and cinnamon … even some wheat-like tones in there! So good!

Definitely a pu-erh I’d recommend to anyone, even someone who doesn’t think they like pu-erh. This is incredible!

First Review of this lovely black Yunnan Golden Bud tea. Each infusion 3 minutes. 1TB Leaves used per instructions on the Verdant Website Per Cup. traditional method (PIAO 1 glass pot used).

1. Beautiful medium golden brown (with a twinge of green) colored liquor. There is a very pronounced honey scent that picked me up and carried me away…I mean it…all through this first tasting…to my crazy place! (You should all be afraid!) I went to my cupboard and pulled out some honey. Buckwheat honey…yuk…not that one…too strong. Then the local Prairie Wildflower Raw honey (Copoco)…which was closer to the scent( I’ll get back to this later). I needed to taste this tea! The flavor reminds me of those honey seseme candies…but slightly astringent on the finish. Juicy and bright.

2. This I was hoping would be the ‘MegaMillion’ Pour. Soooo much darker! Rich and silky looking caramel orange liquor. The same color that you don’t want your tanning lotion to do to your body! This smells like a slightly floral honey…here we go folks…that Prairie Wildflower Honey! Sumptious and bright on the tongue! Juicy! I just HAD…yes HAD to add sweetening to see what would happen to the honey and it was the best thing I ever ate. No, that’s a show…but it was so darned good! That sweet addition brought up the cinnamon and spicy pepperiness which made a huge difference to the whole cuppa experience. I have to say that when I finished this second cup, there was a feeling and coating on my tongue like whipped creamy honey thick and gooey.

3. The liquor is getting lighter now but still nice and amber. What to expect here? No floral notes but still some honey flavor exists. What is so pronounced at this stage is cinnamon and pepper. If you are a spice-aholic…this is where you jump for joy and say “Mama Mia! "
(I’m thinking Verdant is going to bar me from writing comments about their tea!)

How fantastic to have honey and cinnamon in your tea without having to add it! It’s there already naturally! This is worth a try!

I know that I’ve written about this Shu before. It has been one great friend in my Puer collection.
Today, I was able to share this tea with my granddaughter Megan who has been staying with me for a few days.
This was a symphony of love between a grandmother that she refers to as a ‘young soul’ and herself the ‘old soul’.
We are cool and can talk about music, books, ethics and boys. I show her how to put on make-up and she shares her secret thoughts with me. Is there anything better?!
I was the tea conductor today. I told Megan how to prepare this Shu. First, she looked up the Peacock Village Puer on the Verdant website for brewing instructions, then in my Gaiwan rinsed the leaves and steeped.
Our experience together:
The scent…like bread baking and sweet in the wet dark mulch.
The liquor golden and also was light like bread still waiting to emerge.

Again a second steep..darker and more brothy and thick. The taste was dry cedar with a linen feel across the top of the tongue. Salty. Smooth.

The third steep leaves were almost black and smelled of fine wet leather. We poked the leaves and noticed how much life was left to extract. Megan was surprised. I took one leaf and opened it up so that it was very large. We talked a minute about how Puer is prepared. The immense amount of work it takes to become the Puer that we were now drinking so casually.

There wasn’t any breadiness left in this darkest liquor. None.
There was cedar and clove. Juice, salt with juniper berry faintly in the background.
I pointed out an interesting thing you can do with a salty Puer. Add a little sugar which will enhance the flavor. (This is something a cook knows)

When we did this addition of sugar…Megan was wow’d!

She had a different wonderful taste experience that she can discribe in her review (don’t want to spoil it).
I tasted caramelized peach.
Yes! Puer is amazing.

It would be a great and awesome thing if younger people drank tea and learned to discribe flavor and experience. We are so out of touch with being present in the moment and in connecting with people without devices in the way.

Today Megan and I did not text each other. We drank tea! We had the best time. Some day, I hope she blogs about tea with me as a good memory in the same way I am writing about my time with her.

Second Review. This review will be shorter because I will not be putting my nose to the pot watching the Pu-erh break apart and all that. What I’m after is taste. How does this taste on another day when I may be a whole other person…the cameleon that I am. The mists of yesterday are gone and a cool Spring morning is begging me for Pu-erh.
I did a cursory rinse and then a 3 minute steep. It is pretty nice and strong the way I like it without bitterness or any off taste. But, it’s not quite to my liking. The flavors are fighting each other for control. “Hey..buckwheat/mushroom, honey-pepper…STOP ALREADY!”, I demanded. I think I will have to tone this down into a latte, I thought, and I did…which made the flavors behave better.
Awhile later, I prepared a second steep and let it go 6 minutes. The mash of Pu-erh leaves smells like paint which some of you will like (you know who you are!) and I actually like the memory of six years of art classes and paint all over my fingers. This pour is more like it! Subtle and at peace with it’s complexity. The pepper is content to bounce off the end of your tongue. The honey is lingering in a pool at the bottom of the roundness of the other flavors and the buckwheat and mushroom have joined together as partners woven into a more gentle earthiness. You can sip this without sweetening or milk. I have a hard time saying this since I love Pu-erh lattes. But it is good straight.

First review. A disclaimer. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT PU-ER! (Don’t know why it’s spelled Pu-erh, Pu-Erh, Puer, Pu-er either). My background is working in a tasting room at a Winery, entering cooking contests, and international cooking. That’s it. I have a pretty good palate for THOSE things. I bring what I know about other things to tea and am learning new ways to think about tea as I progress. Nuff said. This explanation is given because this was a tea that took a lot of turns in reviewing.
Here goes:
I used my new PIAO I Glass top drop infuser and 3 minutes for each steep .
I did 1 quick rinse before the first steep. Raw the Shu looks like dark tan-bark. Really!
1. I poured on the water and let the steep go watching the liquid begin to lightly turn brown. Beep…pushed the button to release the water to the reservour below. The liquid is light honey colored and tastes like toasted rice. No earthiness, slightly salty and sweet. Really good and savory. Not a hint of grass or hay but maybe a shitaki mushroom sauteed in there. Super delicious.
2. Way darker color like whisky. Earthy scent. While steeping you can see the leaves begin to float and open pushing away from the solid bark mass. There is a slightly astringent finish and pepper on the tongue, linen and rust. No bitterness. Juicy and light. This makes no sense but it’s what I taste and smell. Oh, faint nutmeg also. I opened the top of my steeper and smelled the wet tea…arh…paint thinner! Whoa…no kidding!
3. This steeping released long-legged creatures moving around the steeping cylinder releasing all the tea flavors just for me. Eight long years from China to Colorado they were locked up waiting for this moment! Eh…timer went off…Really dark liquor this time.
Less paint thinner smell on the leaves! Lighter less earthy flavor. More astringent but still juicy and not bitter. There is a tartness which is like black walnut and an introduction of salt and smoke. Bless My Soul! I like smoke and salt. In fact…Hum…I have some gumbo in the fridge and think this would be a good finish after some gumbo and rice. Not during the meal but after. Very delicious Shu! I have loved all the selections from Verdant thus far! Find the new videos helpful to a rookie like me.
This is not a fancy review but MY review. It’s what I enjoyed this afternoon as a part of my life.

I absolutely love this tea. If I could choose only one tea to drink for the rest of my life it would be this one. Jasmine tea is what started me on this wonderful tea journey. While my tea base preference may have changed a few times, it’s still my favorite tea.

I came home today wanting tea (what’s new) but I had a headache and I wanted something different. This one called to me, but I said no. So, I went sniffing through my teas trying to find one that would pop out at me. It never happened. I opened my canister of this and it was instant bliss.

I brewed it up in my yixing with my little teacup…which I just realized match without me ever having intended to do so. I drank my first little cup and instantly felt better. My husband came home, he’s coming down with a cold, I offered him some and he drank a few cups…more for the warmth than the taste, but hey I’ll take what I can.

For a jasmine, this is soft and sweet with a creamy mouthfeel. Sometimes I can taste the pepper bite in the aftertaste, today I’m getting something closer to cinnamon. Even though this is a bud tea, which should contain more caffeine, I always feel more calm and relaxed. I try to save this tea for something, but it’s more of my go-to tea than anything else, not that I mind.

Here’s another picture of my yixing and teacup matching each other! I really do love them, and this tea, they go so well together!

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/feralanima/100MEDIA_IMAG0114.jpg

What a rainy day. They are saying there is a tornado warning for some counties but nothing too bad other than a little rain and wind. It’s still kind of warm but a lot cooler than it has been the last few days and stocked up on some library books to help pass the dreary day. I wanted to try some of my new green teas from Verdant but I didn’t feel like sitting down and really focusing on tea today, I wanted something I already knew I liked and ended up pulling this off the shelf.

I brewed this in, what I now know is, my Italian mug. Some of the leaves are a little smaller than the holes and quite a bit does get through, but I’m not too worried about it. I love how this is so soft and light with wonderful creamy floral notes and hints of pepper lasting into the aftertaste. Good tea to go with a good book on a wet, overcast day.

I will start by saying that I am partial to Jasmine teas, but not white jasmines. I feel that the jasmine is cloying, too perfumy, and always overpowers the white tea base. After hearing so many good things about this company and their tea and reading the great reviews of this tea, I had to give it a try. I am such a sucker for jasmines.

Upon opening the package I smell the jasmine, but it’s nice and light and I can still smell the silver needles through the jasmine, that’s a first. Once I brew it the wet leaves smell strongly of jasmine but the infusion and the taste does not reflect that, it reflects the softer jasmine I had smelled when I first opened the package. This tea tastes amazing, the jasmine is soft and creamy in quality, I get the hay notes of the silver needle. The tea has a sweetness to it and I do get a hint of the pine at the ending. When I swish the tea in my mouth I get just the barest hint of the pepper note.

On the third steep (Western style) I get some of that fizziness feeling on the tip of my tongue that Bonnie mentioned in her review and more of the spiciness is coming through. Absolutely no sign of any bitterness or astringency.

This is the BEST jasmine white tea I’ve ever had. It is not something I would drink everyday but drink when I want to indulge in something so light and complex and wonderful. There is a reason this tea is highly rated.

Wow. There are a lot of reviews already. Guess I might has well throw my hat into the mix.

First cup, Steep 2.5 minutes.
In David’s notes on the Verdant website, he describes many of his teas as having a sparkling flavor. This is something that I am still trying to uncover myself, but I think that I have caught a glimpse of it with this tea. The mocha and marshmallow notes are so powerful that they really do have a quality reminiscent of bubbles bursting over your tongue and fizzing up into your nose. It is not overwhelming, however, as many flavored blends can be. These flavors remain neatly packaged within the savor of the tea leaves (because let’s be honest, the first flavor of most loose tea is still usually, ahem, tea.)

Well after you finish your cup, the aftertaste of cinnamon and almond will continue to hang on. It is wild how naturally sweet this tea is – no sugar necessary! The end of the cup yields some oak flavor as well. Another thing that I like about this tea is the durability. After you pour the water off from the first steep, you can definitely see that the leaves are still tightly wound, ready for at least two more infusions.

Second cup, Steep 3.5 minutes.
Again, this tea does not disappoint. Make sure you don’t let the leaves sit for too long before making another cup. The less time you wait between infusions, the stronger the tea will remain.

Other tasting notes: Pumpkin, honey, black walnut, fig

Second review.

I noticed a few people revisiting this remarkable Oolong again and realized that today was an Oolong day for me. Beginning with Butiki then Teavivre and in the wee hours…a last nightcap with Verdant. A tender cup to send me sweetly to sleep. I have plans for my supply to go to a new home…because someone loves this too much for me to hold onto it. I suppose this is a farewell.

I wrote much about this Oolong the first time. As I learn more about tea, I am learning more than a set of rules on preparation or flavor profiles. When I look into the cup there is a world of memories and sensory wonders…magical associations that are sometimes inexplicable. I try and more often than not, fail to express what happens with something so simple as a single sip of tea.

One sip…

Wearing a green floral robe…a liquid golden Dervish is revealed turning around and around to a rhythmic beat… teasing the tongue with spice and saffron.

The mouth fills with the taste of melted butter swirling like a whirlpool and overflowing with small sweet orchids in rippling pools.

In the waning heat of early evening…when the breeze begins to cool the earth, to sit by the fountain on an ottoman…inhaling the fragrance of grass and herbs, flowers and spice…the waning of what has been warmed by the air.

This is the one sip…which is this tea… for me.

(I hope noone finds this/me too strange, it is very late)