Verdant Tea

I have yet to be disappointed in a Verdant Tea offering.

In a Gift-of-the-Magi-esque situation, my wife and I both got the other a six-month subscription to Verdant Tea’s Tea of the Month club. Because David is awesome, he’s making them consecutive instead of concurrent, so we can look forward to a whole year of amazing tea.

Anyway. This yabao is incredible, I’ve never tasted anything quite like it. It’s a white tea, but there is a depth of flavour to it that’s quite incredible, especially since it brews up practically clear. From the colour, I was expecting a faint delicate flavour, but I was pleasantly surprised by the party that happened in my mouth. Very heavy and spicy, as promised. Definitely a tea to be savoured.

Although my lips have yet to have experienced the unique Sun Dried flavors from Jing Shan Green village, the meer thought overwhelms my mind with pleasure. This tea holds the potential to eliminate any stress or discomfort one is feeling on a given day. I may not have had the privilege to taste this tea yet, and it already exceeds my expectations.

I had this Pu-erh yesterday, was about to write a tasting note on it, and got distracted. So, I am enjoying more today. Dry leaf does not have much aroma, but while brewing and the liquor is quite earthy, which kind of scared me. The first sip is earthy… but it quickly subsides and becomes rather sweet and pleasant. After that, the earthiness is right at the start of the sip, but again, it quickly disappears and makes way for a beautiful sweetness. It’s remarkably light for a Pu-erh. It’s a lovely surprise. My first reaction was that I probably wasn’t going to like it because of that strong earthiness right at the start, but, as it turns out, I like it quite a bit.

First 2 infusions (following a quick double rinse): earthy at the start, followed by a lovely sweetness and a light, crisp taste. In my full-length review of this tea (which will publish in the next week or so), I likened it to honey that had been thinned with sparkling white grape juice. It has that crisp, sparkling kind of sensation, and the sweet fruity taste.

The next two infusions were sweeter and there was some earthiness, but, less than the first cup. It is off in the distance, becoming a memory more than a prominent flavor. A spice profile is developing, in the aftertaste especially, I get a sort of tingle on my tongue that reminds me of the sensation of when I’ve just eaten something with fresh peppercorn. It isn’t a spicy or hot sensation, but that tingle is there.

The next two infusions: the earthiness is now gone. Sweet sweet sweet! Rock candy sweet. There is a dry sensation toward the finish… not astringency, but, kind of like the dry sensation of powdered cocoa but without the chocolate… it is more like powdered, mild spice. Intriguing.

This is a great pu-erh – I’d recommend it to those who have tried Pu-erh in the past and thought they didn’t like it. I think that this one would change their mind. It’s really a unique Pu-erh.

This tea was an amazing experience.

I have to say thank you David of Verdant Tea, as I received this as a sample! Sadly, it was a sample for the art contest (which ended a few months ago), which must have got held up by customs for no reason. But thank you! The tea is fueling my mug decoration for homemade gifts :) I’ll post pictures!

I had numerous steeps with this tea, but didn’t take notes the first time. I will the second time, as the sample was extremely generous!

The flavour notes I remember are that it was a baritone tea, but not a bass. (I’m with you on the music scale, Dinosara). Notes of caramel, super sweetness but in an earthy, grounded way. So complex! My favorite steeps were the ones with a currant/prune note to them, lately I’ve been loving to find hints of raisin in my tea.

Anyways, let the Christmas rush continue around me, I’m driving home in 45 minutes and I still have a heck of a lot to do!

Happy Holidays lovelies, I will have many notes when I return! O:

A nifty green tea. I am really enjoying the nuttyness of this green, and it gets smoother with each steep. I stopped at six infusions this evening, and gulped down each glass faster than anticipated. Delicious. Verdant’s greens are really impressing me!

Well, it’s official. I’m not entirely sure why I keep buying teas from anywhere but Verdant. I’ve been exploring lots of dancong teas lately. I love how distinctly you can pick up perfume or fruit or whatever else in a humble little tea leaf. Some of them, however, practically take off with florals, to the detriment of other flavors.

This particular tea starts off deep, like a warm roasted nut, but balanced out by the “baked apple” sort of texture noted in the description. Toward the middle, I get raisin like sensations, and the woodsy fragrance just lingers around my head. I get many more fruit, wood, and sugar notes out of this tea than floral, and it’s a richer tea “base” than other dancongs – and for that I think it is (as many of Verdant’s offerings tend to be) very accessible and understandable for those branching out from “western” tea drinking. Although there is a warning about being sensitive to brew time, this tea doesn’t “go green” or “bitter and astringent” at the slightest touch because of the roasted quality it presents. I fear I may start drinking this tea to the exclusion of others, it’s that good.

Oh, holy yum. Made this in my new pretty tea set (with built-in ball filter!) that my aunt gave me. I’m on probably the 8th gongfu steeping, and it’s fabulous. Every time.

I got an ounce of this when I placed my first Verdant order. I finally got around to trying it yesterday, and I had it with about 3 parts water to 1 part soymilk. It cooled off super quickly because of the soymilk, but I put it in my lovely travel mug and it still stayed fairly warm. I sipped it during breakfast with a dear friend from the summer yesterday—she had just gotten back into town, I was just about to leave. It was great to catch up. The chai tasted very nice, but I think I had drowned it out some with the soymilk, and I would have liked it to be hotter.

I had saved the leaves from my fantastic, amazing day spent with Autumn Laoshan Black the other day; I had gotten 15 delicious infusions from them and I finally had to go to bed! I figured it was a shame to compost them just because of that when they had so much more to give.

How does this connect? I put the not-yet-spent pure leaves together with the chai-spiced ones from yesterday and brewed it all gongfu style. I now can taste all the smooth, spicy intricacy of this delicious chai, coupled with the beautiful base of the Laoshan leaves (which are perfect for this kind of thing, by the way). It’s so complete on its own that I don’t think I’ll drink this with milk…

I had this the other day. For some reason I got a strong barley or roasted note. Not what I expected!! No cocoa notes either. Odd. Two infusions, more or less the same. This has happened a few times, but not every time. Has this happened to anyone else? I bought it over the xmas holidays.

On the health front, after jumping through about a dozen hoops… I finally got my hands on meds. Except it turns out it isn’t strong enough to make any difference at all. To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement. My doc is on vacay this week and doesn’t take appointments, only walk ins. So it looks like I’ll be in his office waiting next week for about six hours… great… plus now I have to wait a whole week… not impressed I am!!
Anyhow… May the 4th be with ya ;)

Oh baby its been awhile!
For awhile there I wasn’t really liking the LB so much – no idea what was wrong with my buds haha. But thankfully I am all fixed up now!
This cup was a tad underleafed. Still delish though. Happy sighs

I can’t believe I had a bit of this left! hiding in the back of my cupboard, found during inventory last week and consumed during the blackout.
Now, there must be something wrong with me because it was just “ok”. Maybe the tea was old?
I’ve been having issues with cocoa note black teas lately but this was the worst example. Usually they taste off but here, well I didn’t get much of anything. I am le sad :(
On the other hand, I am getting back into all sorts of other teas that I thought were lost to my tastebuds so yay for that!

Holy buckwheat batman!!
this was amaaaazing. but different than the last sample I had. More doughey and rich, wheras the other one had some chocolate notes. Hmmm.
I did four steeps. The first two were more or less the same, all buckwheat and molasses sweet, whereas the third and fourth were more like sweet buns. Very sweet buns! and I don’t mean like the kind Alex O’Loughlin has (Hawaii Five-O) ;)
Thank you SO much Bonnie for the sample!!!!! I really adore this tea!

Heaven!!! pure, blissful, intoxicating heaven.
The first cup anyhow. Funny, I made it through 5 steeps and the first one was my fave! I guess that is commom with Asian black tea, for me. (Oolongs are a different beast altogether)
Anyhow, it tasted just like dark chocolate. I really felt as if I’d eaten a piece of rich, 90% chocolate. SO good. I could also taste the honey/buckwheat.
The second steep was really nice as well. Less chocolatey… or maybe like milk chocolate? (without the milk, that is!). The sweetness really came out here.
The third steep was more of the same. but the fourth! well, this is where the raisin note that I detected a hint of before, really shone through. and a sortof fresh water note in the finish. Almost sour.
This was hours ago, so now of course I am wondering if that was the hibiscus? Either way, it was an epic experience.
There are enough leaves to make a few more cups but once those are gone I think I will leave it be. One of those things that are just so great that the memory needs to be left intact, unspoiled even. *sighs
Maybe I will save those for my gaiwan, when I finally get one…
Big thank you to Amy Oh for the sample!! you made my dreadfully boring day a whole lot less boring! :)

I used up all of my sample, brewed rather nonchalantly in my 12.85 oz travel tea mug—“Western-style”. But quickly “rinsed” once in boiling water.

Soothing, soft, “veggie” aroma overlaid with holly berries.

First sip when piping hot = stewed, buttery green beans and ivy.

Further sips = woodsy, mushrooms. Pleasant and smooth. Reminiscent of the comforting aroma of the inside of a vintage applewood wardrobe ala “The Chronicles of Narnia”. I’m not sure how I’m envisioning this, but I am.

More sips = mulch, bark and sweet clover. Still very soothing. Calming.

Upon cooldown: Button mushrooms, brisk, tannic, vines, earth. Hints of walnuts, soy sauce and vinegar. Slight echoes of a sandalwood fan. Wet limestone. Emerging bitterness.

Overall: Aromatic, savory, flavorful, astringent.

After my Golden Fleece turned out so well yesterday, I decided to brew this tea in my double-walled mug and then trasfer it to my normal mug. I used a generous amount of leaf, though I wasn’t really paying attention to how much it was, and then used 205 degree water, and let it sit for 15 seconds. Like the last time I brewed this tea, it turned out surprisingly sweet, but with the delightful smooth taste that isn’t quite butter yet still close. Finally, the wonderful smooth walnut aftertaste gently asserts itself and lingers for a rround two minutes. Overall, an amazing expereince which was the perfect pic-me-up for a dreary day like today.

Second cup, same temperature and preparation method, but only steeped for 10 seconds. There is a kind of juicy/fruity flavor that has begun to assert itself, which then transitions to a kind of juniper/woody flavor in the middle, and finishes with that delightful characteristic walnut aftertaste. The resemblence of this tea to butter has further degraded, but it’s not silky or “mineral” (i.e. a Wuyi Oolong), but I’m not sure how else I can describe the feeeling. Regardless, the tea developed well, and I’m very pleased with how the session is going.

Music of the Day – Leo Ornstein, Piano Sonata no. 4
first video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6-oVoTBACw&

The rest can be found in the related videos.

This is a lovely piece written when the composer was in his late 80’s, after several decades of mellowing (he was rather well-know for writing music that would make Schoenberg look tame, but this was written late in his life, well after he finished pushing the boundaries of music). It’s a surprisingly emotionally powerful piece, but I understant the it mihgt not be the type of thing that a lot of you guys like, so feel free to ignore this piece

Another day, another sucessful tea experiment. I put a generous ammount of leaf in my teaball, but I only let it steep for about 10 seconds. The result was pretty muhc perfect, with not even a hint of bitterness, and an amazing mouthfeel. I wouldn’t call it buttery, but it was a very smooth feeling which lingered on the hard palate for a good minute. The aftertate of walnuts was also fantastic, and I hand’t actually tasted it nearly this strongly in previous tasting for this tea. I can’t wait to see how this develops today.

The second infusion was setted for 15 seconds, but ti didn’t turn out quite as well. I think that upping the step time was a mistakes, since a bit of astringency is now present. The smoky/cedar flavor is a bit more prevalent as well. As the tea cooled, the astringency actually got more subtle, which is the opposite of a lot of my teas. I’m actually rather excited to see what will develop next.\

Third infusion, 15 seconds, but I let the water sit for about three minutes before pouring. The results is a smooth and surprisingly sweet cup of tea, with a resergence of the mouthfeel and aftertaste, as well as the development of an interesting fruity flavor. It might be orange like the description says, but it’s not that prominent yet, so I can’t tell. Anyway, this tea continues to impress with interesitg and delicious flavor developemnt, once more leaving me eager to see what else it has to offer.

Fourth infusion, same preparation as the third. I’m actually really pleased with the development of the orange flavor. It’s not terribly strong, but it’s very pleasant, and adds a lot of depth to the flavor. It should also be noted that the aftertaste is a bit like sparkling cider now, and lingers for at least three minutes on the hard palate. It’s remarkable how the small change in my preparation has yeilded an amazing new depth of flavor for this tea, especially now that the smokiness is fading, exposing the more more subtle flavors. I can’t wait to see what else it has to offer.

Fifth infusion, 20 seconds, cooler water. This tea can only be described as “subtle” at this point. Other than the juniper and hint of orange, the other flavors are very muted now. Also, the smoothness has changed, and it’s more like a kind of mineral or metalic smoothness, a change that has been gradually occuring over the last three steeps or so and has just finally finished. I’m personally amazed that this tea still has more development left in it, which is always a bonus.

Alright, this is the first time I’ve had a sheng since Jim Marks made that post a while ago about using less leaves when brewing sheng. I decided to try it out, and the results are amazing! The first infusion is so much sweeter than I remember, and the bitter foretaste is not present at all! While I wouldn’t describe the taste as “buttery” I can certainly taste the walnut, albeit much smoother and refined than most actual walnuts. I’m certainly bumping the rating up a few point, since this is much better than I remember.

I decided to drink this to celebrate my last class of the semester. From here until the 15th, all I have to do is study like crazy for exams.

Anyway, I kinda forgot about the tea for a bit while watching a friend play a game, and the resulting tea was actually pretty bitter. To be fair, it’s still way less bitter than the 2011 sheng samples I have from Douji, but it still had a lot more flavors than usual. Hopefully I won’t flub the next infusion.

EDIT – Yep, didn’t mess up the next infusion, and the bitterness is gone! See my previous notes for more info.

I’ve got tons of stuff to do today, but decided to indulge my self a bit with this tea. See my previous notes for more detailed information.

Day 2 of my study weekend, and I’m once again picking one of my more potent teas. Sadly, I don’t have enough time for a full review, so check out my other notes for more information about this tea.

EDIT:

I’ve lost track of how many infusions I’ve had, but the tea still continues to develop. The flavor is a lot more subtle now, and it’s a bit sweeter than it was early in the afternoon. I’m definitely glad that I bought more of this.

I had a really busy day, so I didn’t have time to do a play-by-play for this tea. I’ve recently found that I’ve acquired more of a taste for Sheng, and the consequence of this is that I find this tea to be better than I remember. The flavor was also delightfully complex, with all sorts of interesting flavors clamoring for attention in the early steepings. I know that I’ve only really been into tea for about six months, but the fact that this tea still defies description only serves to illustrate how complex the flavor profile for this tea is. I only had time for five infusions, but during these the flavors started to sort themselves out and the tea became a great deal sweeter. It’s a bit of a shame that I can’t continue to brew more of this tea because even the last infusion still exhibited flavor development, and I think that the leaves still had more to give.

This tea is very hard for me to describe. The aroma has a touch of Juniper, but I’m not sure what the othe aromas are. Likewise, the taste o the tea is very good, but the only thing I can make out is a touch of walnut. That said, it is a very good tea.

EDIT (1 am)

When it’s all said and done, this tea still defies my ability to describe it. It continued to change in interesting and subtle ways throughout the day, but I only had time for four infusions, so I can’t say what the end was like. Each cup was just a bit different, and each was delicious in it’s own way. I honestly prefer Oolong, but this tea was so interesting, I actually feel like getting more of it just to see everything it has to offer.

Also, I apologize if this is a bit incoherent, as it’s late enough that I can’t have any more caffeine ( D: ), but not late enough for me to actually fall asleep. I’ll look over this again in the morning to make sure that it’s okay.