Verdant Tea

Wow!

This was perhaps the one tea that I was most excited for from the new shipment. I wasn’t sure if anything could beat the Spring Tieguanyin offering from Verdant Tea. If anything could though, it would be this one, as it has the same source and farmers. It has so much of the nice, floral and bright qualities of the Spring, yet it possesses a heartier body while not missing out on any sweetness. The sweetness gives way to a buttery mouthfeel and a sweet-peach, mouthwatering flavor.

Overall, this particular Tieguanyin as well as it’s brother from the spring, are quite simply put…the best of it’s style that I’ve ever experienced. I would not suggest trying this, rather, I would suggest stocking up on it! We all know with tea this fine that it is limited in quantity, so my honest suggestion is to enjoy it while you can.

Well done to Verdant on this one!

I am brewing this in the Gaiwan again. The first cup is flawless. So light and wonderful. We now know that Oolongs get better after the first steeping. The second cup has opened up and I am in heaven. This tea is near perfection. The aroma and flavor will stay with me. It’s that powerful yet so delicate. This is about as good as it gets. I cannot write that it tastes like butter or spinach or orchids or whatever. It contains subtle hints of all of these. When I first joined Steepster I bought the Spring version just because people were raving about it. And they had every reason to. I’m raving about this. We sat down to a dinner of Dumplings with salad of Lotus Root tossed with long green hot peppers. The tea was a perfect addition. The real plus is the way this tea calms you and stimulates conversation. Deep conversation. I totally overstepped the third cup and I am definitely getting the lime taste that others have noted. Even oversteeped it is incredible.

I am brewing this in the Gaiwan. A tsp of tea. My first impression was of seaweed. Very green and vegetal. I am also getting the butter aroma and flavors as I proceed. So far it is very complex. A deeper brew than her spring sister. It is mouth watering. I always like to comment on how a tea makes me feel. This is a feel good tea. A calm body and mind. I am only on cup 3. I have to brew this western style as well soon. With each sip through the thick leaves this tea is putting me at peace. Pure poetry. Zen-like….

NOTE: I have the Autumn Laoshan Black.

I think I’ve steeped this one a bit too long. The taste was somewhat bitter, though not unpleasant. It tastes bark-ish and smells familiar, yet I cannot quite pin down exactly what familiar thing it smells like.

Will rate after a few more infusions.

Infusion 2: much more pleasant. It tastes more like an Oolong this time (to me), and is very malty. The aftertaste is, as others have said, honey-like. This is a very smooth tea.

Just a quick note about water.

We moved into our new place this weekend, but we haven’t been able to install our water filter. The threading on the faucet just doesn’t want to grab any of the little plastic adapters that came with the filter, so it looks like we’ll have to get something else.

So- we made this tea on Saturday morning with water from the tap. Generally, the water is fine (no funky tastes or anything weird like huge calcium deposits, etc). However, we noticed that the tea seemed a lot juicier than normal? After many sips and a few other teas, it’s clear that the water has more metal of some sort in it. It’s a subtle difference, but immeadiatly noticeable. With this water, it’s as if this is a different picking or a different grade or a different season. Definitely LaoShan, but not quite the same as my last note described.

So! Water really is important. With a little bit of a filter, the house water is going to be sweet and full and an awesome base for teas. Right now, the light metal/juicy flavor will keep me from breaking out the awesome celebratory new-place teas until we get a filter or one of those pitchers.

I was going to wait to do this review until this weekend, but when I saw all of the others coming in this morning, I thought- why not? I’ve got my notes; I’ll throw my hat in the ring.

I talk about my notes alot, so I thought with this one it would be worth sharing a scan of them.
http://imgur.com/qwnPc
You’ll notice my extremely terrible handwriting. Usually, it’s not that bad! (see the sample at the top of the image) But when you’re sitting up late with friends in a marathon drinking session, and your pen is of a certain style… handwriting goes out the window. Aren’t you glad I don’t just post these scribbles? This’ll be a little bit easier to understand (hopefully).

I am really loving this 2nd batch of the Autumn harvest. Notice my first note towards the middle (and I quote):
“Humina humina humina!”

It tastes like the Autumn LS we’ve come to know and love… but taken up another notch or four. How do they do that? However it happens, it’s been thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve done this gong-fy style in my gaiwan (big and tiny), my yixing pots, the big western pot, even combining gong-fu steeps into big mugs. Basically everything but cold-steep (and it’s been too chilly to try that out). I don’t know what my favorite way to do this is. Probably gong-fu, because it’s more fun for me to see flavors changing over time. Tea in a pot is a drink, but drinks are just that… to fill a need or quench my thirst. I can enjoy things so much more if I set out to do that.

So what does this new batch taste like? My first impression was of something called Nyou Beng.. it was an herbal tea my friends made for me in China, and I miss it dearly. It’s a kind of burdock root, but though I’ve tried to make it from Burdock here in the states, it’s just not the same. Basically, Nyou Beng tastes kind of like liquid graham crackers, plus a lot of other delicious things. Warm and caramelly, and perfect for drinking under a blanket or in front of a fire. The taste of this LS Black really reminds me of Nyou Beng.. if NB were a really fine and refined tea. Lip smacking good..

In the tasting where I took notes, we actually had the black tea after trying selects from a delicious Wuyi care package. The similarities between this and the Rou Gui called to me.. cinnamon goodness, but it was more of a smooth smooth sweet base note of cinnamon, rather than the pop and spicy bite of it. Other Steepsters here today have made comparisons to Da Hong Pao, which I can see. The black tea is almost like an oolong sometimes.

As steepings progress, there’s a nice chewy, bark-y quality at the bottom of the flavors that I don’t recall before. It adds a complexity I can’t quite put my finger on.. Usually, woodiness in teas feel very high energy and rambunctious, but this one seems to add to the fine quality. It’s like the little woody child has grown up into a fine young person with composure and knowledge tempered from experience.
As my notes remind me, I get a giant marshmallow-y feeling from this tea. Puts me in mind of s’mores and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Specifically, it really calls to mind those awesome seven layer bars!!
Another dessert this reminds me of? Whipped chocolate mousse with dark chocolate shaved on top. Yum.

My notes from here get less about the taste and more about things the tea reminds me of. For example, later steepings called to mind apples covered in chocolate syrup with whipped cream.. or maybe an almod croissant.. or maybe both, on top of each other, at the same time! Gosh that sounds good- weekend project, maybe? Fat chance- we’re moving into our new place this weekend!

In later late steepings, the taste called to mind a childhood experiment of mine. One time, when a friend was sleeping over, we wanted to make some cool food experiment. We took a hand-full of M&M’s and soaked them in water (stirring until the water was a delicate shade of purple). Then, to be super fancy, we froze the mixture overnight in a tupperware. In the morning, we had the “invention” for breakfast.. we crushed up the block of ice into shavings and ate it out of bowls like sorbet.
Some sort of sweetness in here reminds me not of the chocolates themselves, but of that taste of their candy shells. The taste of the shells that steeped out into the water and turned it such a light and pretty color.

Conclusion? Part of this tea reminds me of frozen, cold-steeped M&M tea! I love that; it’s been many years since I remembered that experiment.. now I want to do it again.

Steeped this gong-fu style in a gaiwan, as usual.

The smell of this dry tea from David’s big bags is great- like sticking my nose into a bag of dark dark chocolate chips mixed with dried cranberries or pit fruits. The wet smell continues on the same them: a dark chocolate bar with currants or raspberries or tart hibiscus. In fact, the smell and the first tastes really reminds me of this delicious bar of chocolate from Rogue Chocolatier (try them! try them! try them!) called the Hispaniola: http://www.roguechocolatier.com/products-page/

Apart from the chocolate, this new picking just strikes me as particularly autumny. It seems leafy (fallen leaves), with lots of toasted grains. Notes of buckwheat and, of course, honey. Some may disagree with me, but I think this one is even more malty than the last spring picking (but maybe I was just really in the mood for that taste, and so I found it in abundance).
There is also the taste of brown sugar that, in a way, reminds me of aged Gouda. You know how aged gouda has these really awesome crystalline structures of salt that burst open as your eating a piece? This has that same feeling, but with brown sugar crystal-nuggets instead of salt.

As we steeped this out, I was reminded a bit of the jingling/ringing mouth-texture of Verdant’s big red robe, but this is accompanied by the brothy, honey full feeling. Later flavors remind me of honey nut cheerios, but with more honey. I like Geoffrey’s notes of creme brulee in this one; I taste that, too.. but a creme brulee that’s more complex than most, with cinnamon sweetness and carrots and raisins and cream. Final flavors are those of perfectly toasted marshmallows!

If I’m going to drink a black tea, it’s going to be Dien Hong, or it’s going to be this one. This tea gives me absolutely everything I want out of black tea. Yes, I’ll keep trying Indian blacks and I’m not going to turn down any opportunities to try other Chinese blacks. But here’s the thing: I really cannot stand bitterness at all. There have been times I couldn’t make it through house salads because the greens they used were just too bitter for me! So I have a feeling that when I drink Indian blacks, I’m going to say to myself.. HmmmmMm.. this would be really good if it just weren’t so bitter…Now where’s my LaoShan black? And recently when I’ve had Chinese black teas, their flavors seem to fall very clearly into the Dien Hong camp or the LSBlack camp, without offering something very distinctive all their own that helps me understand what makes that tea unique. When I find another Chinese black that really grabs me and shows me why someone can dedicate themselves to that tea, then you will be sure to see a happy review from me. Until then, I’m going to enjoy hunkering down for the winter with this Autumn Lao Shan black.

It’s so good. I am so very happy to have the opportunity to try this tea. Imagine: last year, no one outside of China had ever tried this village’s black tea. How lucky I am to find it in my cup now!

I used a generous amount of leaf in my Gaiwan. One thing I try to do when tasting is to always close my eyes. I believe somehow this helps me to better evaluate the flavor. With the amount that I used, which is probably twice the amount I used before, the liquor is strong and very warming. I steeped this twice and I am loving it. I will taste this again later because even closing my eyes cannot rid my mouth of the flavor of the “everything” bagel that I had. One thing that I can be certain of is the energy that this tea posesses. In all honesty I cannot handle another cup….

2 reviews this morning made me desire this. Brewed basket style with generous leaf: This tea after 3 minutes of steeping is all sweet honey with spicy cinnamon cream. Hints of soft cocoa. I will be enjoying this rest of the day. I have to increase the score….

It’s raining here and I need something to lift my spirits. Sometimes you just look at the dried leaves of a tea and you know it will be special. It’s a very comforting tea. It’s exactly what I need at the moment. Sweet, mellow, warm indulgence.

Oh, wow- this jasmine!!

I am really excited for other people to try this; prepare for your socks to get knocked off.

Now, I’m normally not one for jasmines- period. I find them often bitter with an unpleasant metallic base, or the jasmine scent is positively choking in its powdery perfume. Sure, you can find one that tastes nice like candy and floral sweetness, but I’ve never really been convinced of why the flavor is necessary. Why would someone think of scenting tea with jasmine? Well.. now I know.

First, the dry leaves of this tea are just beautiful. Gorgeous yunnan white buds with some flowers.. the whole thing reminds me of lovely Victorian lace. The smell of the dry leaves almost bowls me over with how mouthwatering it is. I smell jellies, oranges, strawberries, peaches.. thick candies and creams.
Once I steep it up.. woah, Nelly! This is going to be fantastic!! (my technical note here was: “YUM!!”) It’s thick and warm and floral like being in a flower conservatory in the middle of our Minnesota winter, with a suprising undercurrent of pine.

The taste begs multiple steepings. I think we did at least ten or so in the gaiwan? Usually, I’m never moved to steep jasmine more than three times. You drink it, and say to yourself: “Yep, that’s jasmine, alright,” and then you’re done. This one- you just want to bask in it.

The taste is lovely and thick in texture with a bit of warm spice.. very much in keeping with the budset base. There are notes of pine along with fruit like peaches, candied lime, or that pink watermelon flavor you find in jollyranchers. There is no perfume choking the throat or drying the nose as I drink. The texture through later steepings reminds me of gelato (vanilla.. or very very light, delicate strawberry+cream), with an intriguing aftertaste of blueberries. The taste of plumerias on Hawaii…

The fantastic thing about this jasmine is how calm and perfectly together everything melds. I drink it, and it really reminds me of Verdant’s Alchemy blends. The jasmine is there to accent and show off how delicious the white tea base is! The jasmine scenting fills in and picks up exactly where the white tea leaves off, and you’re left (shifty-eyed) wondering.. is this really just the most fantastic white tea ever?!? Brilliant! Just what scenting should be.

An ambrosial white tea, decadent but at the same time thoroughly cleansing. It’s a tea I want to have as soon as I wake up, to start the day off right. A spa in my mouth.

Now I understand why you’d want to scent tea with jasmine, and why I want to drink it. Thank you!!!

This is the last tea from my oolong sample pack from Verdant that I haven’t tried… I know, what’s taken me so long? I have been discovering recently that I don’t care for dark oolongs as much, so while I was curious about this one, I also am going in thinking that I won’t love it.

The dry tea has some vegetal and slightly floral notes, but also some darker note. If it hadn’t been autumn, I might not have identified the overall aroma as that of fallen leaves, but that’s what it’s reminding me of right now. Steeped, I get strong campfire scents, especially early in a campfire when you are still burning tinder and leaves to get it going, and including that almost sweet aroma that some wood fires have. The flavor has those woody, smokey notes but also a surprising (based on the aroma… I suppose its not surprising given the tea origin) floral note that really grows in the sip. Intriguing. This is a very interesting tea, and clearly a very fine one. It is not typically they kind of tea I would drink, but it is impressive nonetheless.

I’m not a huge green tea lover but this is definitely one of the nicer ones I have tried lately. I need to write my review since I just finished the sample! It has a wonderful fresh and nutty smell when you open the bag. The tea is super mellow and rich, has a walnut taste and a bit of butter in the finish. I would recommend it without hesitation.

Like a lot of green teas this one is a finicky creature and is easy to ruin if you steep it with water that is too hot or steeping time that is too long. This makes it difficult for me to enjoy at work where I don’t have the benefit of being able to stand around with my timer and thermometer! I was a skeptic but am amazed at how much better my greens are when I keep the water temp. lower & the steeping time short.

I have enjoyed these Laoshan green teas very much, thanks to Verdant for making them available…

Just tried this much-anticipated tea for the first time with Verdant Tea founder and importer David Duckler. I am a HUGE fan of the Spring picking, so I could not have been more excited.

When I smelled it dry, there was something I couldn’t identify…something sweet but not floral. The wet leaves smell like, no kidding, spinach and asparugus sauteed in an INCH of butter. It is SO rich and sweet and dark green. The Spring is light-footed and fancy; the Autumn is a down-to-earth older brother.

It’s far more vegetal than floral, a change that floored me (considering the extreme orchid and lilac of the Spring). The butter is rich and sweet but never overpowering. There is a slight metallic taste; David and I debated about the best way to characterize it, because it’s absolutely not a negative quality. It’s more like the metallic taste in the mouth when one drools, or the mouth is watering. That really threw its weight behind the asparugus and spinach experience.

Special thanks to LiberTEAs for this one! I have been wanting to try it! Just a heads-up – I have a lot to say about this lil gem!

This smells slightly grassy, slightly floral, slightly vegetal, and slightly sweet – all in one! These 4 traits surely make up a unique aroma that is very intriguing and scrumptious at the same time!

It infuses to a mellowed-out lemon-lime color. It’s very smooth from Point A to Point B – beginning to the end of the sip! It’s delightful! It has a buttery texture but not necessarily a buttery flavor due to the grassy and floral notes.

As my sips continue I can taste a bit of nut, a leafy green of some sort in there…baby spinach, perhaps, and a very little bit of toastiness hiding underneath the vegetal, floral, and grassy flavors.

This is complex. I like complex. It’s far from ordinary…it’s EXTRAordinary! Hearty and Rich as the description states is correct but more importantly SCRUMPTIOUS! I really like this! The more I sip – the more I appreciate it and enjoy it!

Another fantastic tea from Verdant!

I’ve now had four drinking sessions with this tea. The first three times were with friends, and presently I’m drinking it on my own. Always preparing it in a gaiwan with, more or less, Verdant’s suggested guidelines for Gongfu brewing. Delectable tea!

I initially encounter a quality reminiscent of roasted nuts in the fragrance and flavor, mixed with green vegetal notes and a hint of vanilla bean. Complex! As the profile builds with successive infusions, these qualities yield at turns to surprising others: a little kernel of toasted rice, the aftertaste left by ripe grapes, sweet butter punctuated by a grain or two of sea salt, whispers of those long-gone lilacs of spring… It’s all very fascinating, even as these flavors seem so divergent. There is something indescribable that holds the show together…

In fact, I feel like the flavors interact and move on and off the stage of a captivating theatrical play. So running with that analogy… in later acts, I recognize a lush juiciness developing, with notes of honeydew and plum on the long road home, being guided by this savvy prevailing peach flavor. Peach is definitely one of the key characters, as throughout the whole experience, even before making its first entrance, mention of it can be repeatedly heard in the discreet whisperings of some characters and in the lively repartee of others. What I mean by this is that, from the beginning, there is a sensation on the tongue after sipping that feels like the soft fuzz of a peach skin — but it’s not immediately recognizable as such. With continued drinking, the juiciness grows, the aftertaste deepens, then soon enough the presence of peach makes its grand entrance, and after each cup there’s this uncanny sensation that you just ate a really nice ripe one. I love this!

Comparisons are inevitable, but I feel that I must assess the beauties and virtues of this Autumn Tieguanyin in their own right. Her dignity quietly commands it. The spring and autumn pickings of this tea are no doubt related, but they each have such unique characteristics that, for me, a direct comparison would be unwarranted. There will be more spring pickings, and more autumn pickings, and I’ll let each be compared with its kind. If I could say anything about what makes these spring and autumn teas distinct, it would be that this Autumn Tieguanyin is like a more reserved, but more sophisticated, sister of the Spring Tieguanyin. No less beautiful, but she doesn’t make the kind of head-turning display of it her sister does. She’ll ask you to invest some attention and time in getting to know her, and appreciating her knowledge and intellectual charms, before she unfolds a full glimpse of her beauty for you. But this extra effort is wholly worthwhile, because when she does, finally, grant you that gift… my, does it feel special!

And I think I must spend a great deal of time sharing the good company of this tea. Her charms may yet enthrall me more than her stunning sister.

I have to admit last nights affair with this tea produced such a wonderful experience. Maybe because I was in a better mood because my employment prospects are good. Either way, this tea made me laugh and I felt soooo good. It was brewed in the Gaiwan.

Happy and Healthy New Year to my friends. This tea is nothing short of fabulous. After the weak first steep the tea soars on the second steep. A very deep and complex brew. My brow is getting moist and I am only on my second cup. It seems to open your pores and I do believe my breathing is improved. These Pu-erhs change each time you indulge. I don’t know if it’s a combination of how I am feeling when I imbibe and the overall changing of a tea that is essentially alive. Nothing makes my body and mind and soul feel more alive than when I am sipping this liquid life….

It’s amazing how tea can influence your mood. Along with some good music or book or film or even silence. Today this tea with some Blaze Foley " Live at the Austin Outhouse " has provided a mellow, beautiful morning/afternoon. The dark, rich, redwood flavor is absolutely intoxicating. And to misquote Geoffrey: How many 1000’s of songs will flow through me this morning? And tomorrow I will be able to repeat every word…. Ye Gods I love Tea…. And I have to share this: What is Life?
Life is the flash of a firefly at night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in wintertime;
It is the little shadow,
which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset

The last words of Crowfoot
Blackfoot Hunter

I just want to share what was written on a small piece of paper that came with this lovely tea: A INTRODUCTION TO " DIAN-ZANG-HOLY TEA " Mixed with the painstaking efforts and loyalty of our factory. " Dian-Zang Holy Tea " is prepared with selected tealeaves from old trees in Mount Nannuo and Mount Bulang, the high altitude mountains in fog and clouds. With the nimbus collected from the great nature between heaven and the earth, this product belongs to the series of Qizi Biscuit Tea, which was processed through moderate ferment and by pressing in high temperature. The tea soup looks brown and clear, smells purely mellow, tastes strong and lasts long with a slight sweet and refreshing aftertaste. It is really a kind superior tea.
Today, when the ringing of caravan bells reminds us of long history of our tea culture again, we would like to present our top grade with the purpose to recur the brilliance of yesterday.
I will drink to that….