Verdant Tea

It’s good, but I think I might be doing something wrong. :) In my past experience with white teas, the steep time is usually 1 min or so, and temperature about 175. The packaging suggests steeping for 4 minutes at 205 which seems a little high for white tea?

I have tried a couple of different temperatures and I think I need to experiment more to really get a good feeling for what works best with this one. Probably what I really need to do is steep it in a Gaiwan instead, given the specific instructions for this style.

Anyhow – it IS very good and tasty and certainly well-balanced. I don’t have much Jasmine experience but I’m comparing it in my mind to Jasmin Mandarin Special Grade from Lupicia and the Jasmine Silver Needle from Adagio.

Jasmine Silver Needle is similar in some ways, but it does have a much more punchy floral Jasmine smell and flavour. I know tons of people can’t stand that, but I find it really interesting and very enticing. I think I need to appreciate this tea for being a little more subtle than the Adagio cousin/relation of this. I’ll have to try a few different temperatures and steep times to get a better idea of what works best.

If anyone has any suggestions on steep time or temperature for this tea, I’d love to hear some comments!

Verdant Teas really knocks their black teas out of the park.

This is quite chocolately like the Laoshan Black but definitely some spicy business going on in the background. Comparing this to the glorious tea standard by which we always compare – PG Tips of course – this actually reminds me a little bit of our friend PG Tips. I don’t have my Assams and Ceylons in order in my head, but I do get some similarity to it somehow. I guess it’s because I associate PG Tips with just being a very solid, excellent, strong-willed cup of tea, and Yunnan Gold Buds arrives well in the same category. Very nice, pretty bold and “stands up to be noticed” as someone mentioned.

I like it a lot. I’ll have to try some multiple steepings to see how it changes.

All this talk of Gaiwans makes me want to try making this tea the “real” way :)

Wow. Excellent!

Bought some tea from Verdant Tea and they added in a sample of the Autumn Harvest Laoshan Black for me. It was really excellent – a solid, powerful cup of tea with a really nice broad flavour: a little malty, a little chocolatey too. Not overpowering by any means, just a really solid cup. Excellent flavours. Looks like another Black Tea win for Verdant Teas!

O devoured tea …
nary drop, nor bud, nor twig
yet escapes my heart

I steeped this tasty tea four times, and every one was good. The flavor profile given by Verdant is quite apt. A tsp of tea in a 3 oz glass teapot. Never bitter or astringent, just a comforting goodness, as flavors evolve with each steep. Maybe the comfort comes from how dependable it feels. A bit of green bean taste … seems so nourishing. Left me with a fine mellow energy. Thanks, Verdant Tea.

I tried this yesterday and didn’t like the way the flavors went together, then I got really sick which probably wasn’t the fault of the tea but I don’t think I want this anymore. Any takers?

I was actually pretty excited to try this one. I must admit, it’s lighter than I expected. Still, quite complex. There’s a little honey suckle. Some definate floral, fruity, tangyness. Sandlewood. The finish is actually a little bitter. I recommend a second wash. Maybe a slightly cooler water temp, as well. 2nd & 3rd steeps: Less wood, more floral, finish is still a bit bitter. I’m not sure about this one. The woodsy and floral notes are pronounced, and that’s great. But, it could stand to be a bit sweeter, by my standards. Also, it’s a little drying. Perhaps, I’m just not in a oolong mood, today?

I like this shu better than the nuggets. It’s less sedimenty, and more smooth. This tastes more like a beverage, and less like dirt. I don’t know if other folks would enjoy it, if they like the sediment flavor, but I prefer it. It’s very smooth, and light, but flavorful. The color is a very nice redish-brown. 1st & 2nd steeps: The flavor is like old wood. It makes me wonder if it was keep around rotten wood, or something. Not at all bitter. Just rotten old wood. 3rd steep: Old wood, and now leather. No more sediment, at all. Just lots of leather. Like chewing on an old belt. 4th steep (slightly cooler temp): Strangely, sediment is makin a come-back. Leather is fading. Less everything. I’ll have to use higher temp, next. 5th: Lighter flavor, but the leather taste is back. This one feels flatter, and less tangy. I think the water might be getting stale. It’s time to replenish the kettle, anyhow. 6th: Wood and leather are stronger, again. Sorta tangy, too. The aroma is getting a bit smokey. It’s not quite like sheng, though. 7th: I increased the temp a little, and the steep time a lot. The flavor is hanging in there. It’s still wood and leather, though. No new developements, except in the after-taste. It’s like portabello mushrooms, and was rather brief. 8th: Steeped at boiling for 2.5 mins. More of the same, and I’m bored. Over-all, I’m glad I tried this one. There was no fishy odor, and the sediment was minimal. This is a very smooth and approachable shu. Although, it was a little one-dimensional, to me. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t get too excited about having it again. However, if my goal were to drink shu on a regular basis, and I wanted to avoid anything gross. This would be an excellent choice. Although, I doubt it would keep me interested for long.

EDIT: Oh! I forgot to mention that I was doing double steepings. So actually, I drank around 16 steepings. By double steepings, I mean that I was steeping once into my cup, and again into my pitcher, and counting that as one steeping, but it’s in fact two. Sorry for the confusion.

This has the most amazing aroma. I only wish it tasted a bit more like it smells. It really is quite good, but I guess I’m used to sencha. One thing I found distinctly remarkable is that I was getting that tangy-sweet flavor in later steepings, simluar to that experienced in later steepings of sheng. It was definately intriguing. The smell, alone, is by far one of the best aromas I’ve ever encountered. I tried it western-style length, in gaiwan, and it was definately too strong. Therefore, I might’ve liked it better had I not over-done it.

Being my first shu, I can’t really rate this by any measure, other than my general impressions. I have to admit, to me, this actually tastes simular to a dark roasted oolong, or black tea, except that it has an earthy, sedimenty… something. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy it when I first smelled it. But thankfully, it doesn’t taste like it smells. I can deffinately see why it’s an aquired taste. Although, I do find it enjoyable. I can totally see why people like shu. Again, I can’t vouch for this one in particular, being my first. However, I can say that I like it. I chose it as my first, mainly because it was sent as a sample in a plastic baggy and exposed to the light. So, I worried about its shelf life. Also, I figured it would be the least popular out of all the shu samples I received, and I didn’t want to spoil myself, and give it a prejudiced rating. I never read anyone else’s ratings, or reviews, and so I can’t compare it to what other people’ve said. I thought I’d go the unbiased route with all of my samples from Verdant. As good as this one is, I’m looking forward to trying the others. If they’re any better, then I’m certain I’ll enjoy them, too.

Once again, a TGY from Verdant has stolen my heart. I really loved the sample from spring, and this was also a delight. I love how green it tastes. I certainly prefer this style.

I have had sessions with these nuggets a couple of times, which I have enjoyed greatly. It is a fantastic tea packing a wallop of a qi that just about knocked my co-worker off his chair when I shared it with him.

I wish I had taken some proper notes prior, but today I did something different with it following a string of straight steepings. I decided to make Hong Kong-style milk tea. I boiled the nuggets in a pan of water with a measure of Sheng Shan Xiao Zhong reducing it to a thick broth, near to a syrup. I then added milk and some sugar direct to the pan for another few minutes before filtering out the leaf.

I have to say the nuggets worked exceptionally well, creating a deep musty base which cut through the dairy and sugar without the slightest hesitation. It was definitely one of the best interpretations I have made since returning home from my visit to China last year. It was just the warming I needed on this cold and blustery day.

Got a sample of this one with my recent purchase and all I can say is: WOW. I’m really starting to fall for wulongs. It has so many notes that it’s really hard to describe. It has a great smell, kind of spicy (but lovely) taste and wonderful rich aftertaste. Gotta order it ^^

My tasting notes say it has been 12 months since I first tried this tea, the first Autumn 2011 harvest after which I ordered the second which I still have a bit of. I also still have some of the 2011 Spring (logged 6 months ago) and Summer (logged 4 months ago) but I don’t know which is which is which as the pouches are not labeled. Today I’m drinking the Autumn 2012 harvest, which I have tried a few times already but apparently have not logged. Perhaps I should sit down with all four of them one of these days, however right now…

I’m on a Verdant Black Tea tasting spree, one a day. I started with Anxi Fo Shou on Tuesday, Yu Lu Lan Cha on Wednesday and Mi Lan Dancong Black Thursday all of which have been compared to Laoshan Black by David himself for their lovely chocolate notes but of course are each very unique and I wanted to experience that uniqueness each day instead of spaced weeks or months apart. I will continue with Zhu Rong Black, Jin Jun Mei, Master Han’s Wild Picked Yunnan Black (the only one I haven’t opened yet) and end with Golden Fleece, of course these last three don’t have the intense chocolate notes that the darker blacks do, but some of these teas also have strong honey notes and plus its fun!

I don’t pretend I am making any unique observations here, this tea alone has 115 ratings and many like me have more than one tasting note, not much more can be said about it. I’m just trying to come to a personal understand and appreciating the differences and complexities. This is the most intensely chocolate and desert like of the four so far, it is supported and enhanced by honey, caramel, vanilla and hint of cinnamon. The caramel and vanilla are the most intense in this fall harvest than I have experienced before. It is the most creamy and nutty of the teas, due to the soil of Laoshan Village.

Many dessert analogies have been made by others: caramel brownies, cinnamon brownies, honey soaked brownies, brownies brownies brownies, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, whipped cream, creme brulee, hot cocoa, Nutella, Black Forest cake, milk shakes, chocolate beer. It’s all of these but today especially it is &caramel brownie vanilla bean cheesecake served with a caramel brownie and vanilla bean ice cream, drizzled with caramel syrup, chocolate syrup and honey, topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with chocolate shavings and cinnamon*. Beat that! And all that dessert flavor from three 10 second steeps! On a more serious note (not that that wasn’t a serous observation of course) it also seems a lot less grainy than I remember it being in the past and a lot more vanilla.

Summer Harvest! You are finally in my cup! 199th tasting note! Woo hoo! Ahem. This tea smells of caramelized figs, dipped in chocolate and baked into a dark rye beer bread that was made from stout (so not a rye beer, a rye bread, made from stout, got that? I have to be clear on these things). Sorry I have a case of the sillies this morning and it is all because of this tea! I was grouchy before this I swear! Sweet malty black tea where have you been all my life?

Oh no my mug is empty! Off to rebrew, then some food, then vacuuming and shampooing the old Buick Century. I have been driving a grandma car since college, but that all changes in a few days. My mom is buying a new Prius and giving/selling me her “old” one, payments are cheaper than any lease, so it feels like a gift. Enough rambling, back to the tea!

I find it amusing that in my first tasting note for this tea five months I steeped it for 3 minutes. I have since shared this tea with several people, re-ordered the later autumn harvest and am now sipping on the Spring 2012 harvest brewed gongfu style starting at only 5 seconds. But this tea is amazing at a few seconds, 30 secs, 1 min or even 3. I have been infusing it all day, thinking I should eventually move on to an oolong our shu after dinner, but it just keeps on giving, I have no idea how many infusions I’ve done, but I’m now at a minute and a half and is just starting to smell of pine and hickory but still tastes so very sweet.

This spring batch is subtly different from the autumn, even the smell is a bit warmer and floral, while the autumn is cool and dark (yes I sniffed back and forth). It is still wonderfully sweet, malty and chocolaty but that sweetness is a bit different and again I think it comes back to warmth and I agree with the caramel description. It also seems to have less spice than I’ve experienced before. I don’t really get the floral notes in the taste but am excited to taste these different aspects in the Bergamot Rose and the Laoshan Village Chai blends I also ordered.

And don’t worry dear readers this is still the same Laoshan Black we know and love, just with different seasonal elements that I think are worth tasting. Also bumping up the rating, not because of this version per se, but because I’ve enjoyed all its incarnations many times and gotten more infusions out of this today than I have out of any other black tea.

Finding myself at a loss for words especially with the dried leaves it is like no tea I’ve ever smelled before, its deep and rich but also fresh, it smells of quality.  Brewed leaves are a bit more familiar, chocolaty.  The small wiry dried leaves unfurled into long dark luxurious leaves.  

The first sip is amazing so sweet and bold and smooth (in a cool way rather than buttery warmth) there is definitely cocoa notes, dark chocolate, with a hint of fig and warming up to a bit of butter, later comes the spice, the end note is a tiny bit dry but I’m going to attribute this partially to my throat and it is much better than teas that start off dry.  

So… sweet, rich, butter, spice, repeat at least for the first steep.  Would make a good morning tea as well as an excellent dessert tea.  Second steep is even more sweet if that is possible and has less spice.  This tea is so accessible, I would recommend it to everyone.  

I did try a third steep and while there was some sweetness left it was but a ghost of its former glory.  Perhaps I would have extended it to 5 mins, but even still I dot think it would have been a whole lot stronger.  Still I drank it all.  I am okay with it only producing two delicious western steeps, not all tea needs to last all day long and this one is certainly special enough while it lasts.  Of course would be interested with gongfu brewing. The first steep I did at 195 for 3 mins, second at 200ish for 4 mins and third at 212 for 4.5 mins.

I know I’ve reviewed this one before, but I just got another batch, and it makes me happy, so I thought I would say something about it. (And I’ve learned a bit more about tea since last time.)

First off, the leaves of this tea are just beautiful. And it smells and tastes exactly the way I think a jasmine should. Nice and floral and sweet. (Yes, I sweeten all of my tea. Yes, I know this is a sin.)

Quite perfect.

I received this as a sample with my recent Verdant tea order. And it is amazing. This is probably the most jasmine-y jasmine tea I have had. I’m not sure it’s enough to make a white tea drinker out of me. I think I prefer my tea base a little more forceful.

Sipdown, 226. Another old one! Also, I almost added more rose buds to this one to bump the rose but couldn’t remember how it went, and by the time I loaded the page here to see my old tasting note I had started steeping. Turns out there wasn’t much rose the first time for me. Oh well.

My evening teas have been cold care teas lately, but I remembered I had one pot of this left and decided to go for it tonight, especially since I was feeling better in general today. Plus its mint and lemongrass as well as lavender, so pretty good cold herbals anyway. I need to sipdown two more teas in the next day or so, so that I don’t go up above 230 when my Verdant orders get here.

Minty in an herby way, slightly sweet, lavendery, with perhaps a touch of lemon. A pretty tasty blend, but I stand by my wish for more rose!

I got a sample of this tisane with my last order from Verdant, and I’ve kind of been putting it off, partly because it’s herbal and I don’t drink a lot of herbals, and partly because I was starting to feel like lavender might not be my favorite thing to drink (and the dry mix smells really lavendery). But I do like lavender in some cases, and of course this fits my rose challenge, so I decided to brew up a small pot at home today.

It steeped up a dark yellow color, which isn’t quite what I was expecting. It smells lavendery, yes, but it also has that herby, minty aroma from the two kinds of mint. This smells like it would be a great stomach soother. Though I was initially worried about the lavender in this blend, I shouldn’t have been. The lavender and the mints make for a herby, slightly-minty-slightly-lavendery base, with a few bright lemongrass notes. Despite a ton of rose petals in my cup, I don’t actually get any rose flavors from this one. Oh well, it still counts. I let the herbs keep steeping while I drank my first small cup of this, which brought out more lavender in the next cup. Still a pretty tasty blend, though I am a bit disappointed by the lack of rose.

I brewed up a whole western style pot of this one this time. I’m really understanding why the autumn Tieguanyin is referred to as ‘buttery.’ The is the first time I’ve ever encountered a tea that I would refer to as ‘rich.’ Amazing!