Verdant Tea

This is a beautiful Big Red Robe!

My first couple of infusions brought me flavors that were fruit-like (I tasted peaches and raisins), a little earthy and smoky, and hints of chocolate. A background of caramel and honey-esque sweetness appeared in the distance. The subsequent infusions were more floral, and the flowery notes tapered off to a tangy citrus-y note that lingered into the aftertaste. The caramel flavors really jumped out by the fourth infusion.

I also noticed in the later infusions that the flavors that were once raisin-like became more like currants, while the peach tones were more subdued.

A beautifully complex Oolong. I’m liking what I’m tasting from Verdant Tea.

My third (and final) infusion: Sweet honey-like undercurrent, with a pleasant spiced foreground. Less of a wood-like taste than what was present in the second infusion. This is smoother and mellower, although the texture is more similar to the first infusion than to the second, and less astringency now too.

I LOVE this tea.

With this second infusion, I notice that the strong honey-like presence is no longer strong. It is still the first flavor I notice, but it tapers off rather quickly and makes way to a cinnamon-y spiced flavor. Very rugged and masculine. Wood but not so much a smoked wood taste. As the cup cools slightly, the honey tones pop out a bit more, but the honey flavor is still not as strong as it was with the first infusion. This infusion is a little thinner in texture than the first, but still incredibly good.

Ahh… I think I shall be sipping on this tea for a while, because I want to enjoy the many infusions that the description promises. This tea is so delicious. The first infusion is sweet and tastes like honey. There are mere hints of a smoky, spicy background that is masked by this sweetness. These background notes peek out every once in a while, just to let me know they are there, and enticing me to continue to sip so that I can move on to my next infusion and taste more.

To my recollection, this is the first tea that I’ve tried from Verdant, and it’s solid gold! I love it.

Pleasantly sweet without being grassy, this tea was just the thing for a gloomy late-summer Wednesday. The bean notes manifest almost more as a texture rather than a flavor; it lends a very silken, waxy (not in a bad way), protein-y/nutty feeling to the undercurrent, while the top layers of tea are very calm and settled. It seems like a very content tea, very satisfied with its lot in life.

Another strong new tea offering from Verdant.

Smelling the dry leaves, there are notes of sweet cocoa and cream, and in the background….well? Remember opening a plastic canister of Play-Doh? It sounds weird, but I definitely felt undertones of that distinctive, sweetly addictive smell (you are similarly and illogically drawn to eat this). Once steeped, the leaves and liquid remind me of the chocolate of a baked chocolate chip cookie, or of dark brownies.

My first tastes are actually more textures and sensations that flavors. The texture is like that of a smooth metallic sheet which is vibrating. I am reminded also of a river rushing of dark slabs of granite and slate. And yes, I wrote down that thought before I read that in Verdant’s description. Try it for yourself and you’ll see! How else can you describe it?
The taste is of Big Red Robe, definitely, but with more complexity than I’m used to finding. Vegetal, thick in movement, filling the mouth. Darkly floral, along the same unexpected lines I found in the YGB, and the aftertaste has the same mouth-feel of Verdant’s Tieguanyin. There is also something at the very tail end of a sip that reminds me of LaoShan green’s bean-y notes.
The flavors make me want to eat hibiscus chocolate, and the vibrating texture calls to mind granny smith apples. As the tea continues to steep, my notes include a “purple caramel” aftertaste. I know that sounds odd, but I am not sure how else to describe it. Alternatively, I imagine chewing on the skin of a red grape that has been frozen.

I wish that my notes were a little easier to follow, but after a while, I just stopped writing and enjoyed the tea. As I steeped this tea out over an evening, I found myself only writing down the most interesting and unexpected things that this Big Red Robe brought to mind and that I knew I wouldn’t remember clearly or believe when I went to log this properly.

Very fun tea, very good big red robe oolong. I think this will be a very popular tea (especially for the price), and I look forward to hearing what other people think of it. I look forward to drinking this through the fall and Minnesota’s long winter.Somebody bring me a slice of apple pie and we’ll turn on the Christmas carols early.

Beautiful leaves; thick, delicious smell.

I made this tea up in a gaiwan over many several steepings, and it was excellent; everything I could have hoped a golden needle could be. The very first golden needle I ever tried was ridiculously good and spicy and complex, so it set the bar for me very high. Every other golden needle I’ve tried afterwards has fallen short, except for this one. This was so relaxing and satisfying to drink, because it honored my first memories of Yunnan Golden Buds, and was as delicious as I could ever want! This is doubly excellent, because I only have about an ounce and a half left of that very first YGB, so now I can feel free to drink it at will and just replace it with this. Hoorah!

The first steeping of this tea was quiet and surprising: honey candy. It was as if we’d steeped a piece of honey candy for three minutes, and added some honey to our cups for good measure.
The second steeping is where this tea really opens up and commands your attention. The cinnamon and spices have come right in, and they are a pleasure to discover. In my notes, I wrote down that I felt like I was wrapped in a blanket of spices. It is lightweight, but absolutely strong.

The texture is creamy, and the aftertaste feels like something is evaporating off of the tongue. As I continued to steep, a surprising floral taste establishes itself. The florals are dark, the kind you would taste in dark chocolate, though this doesn’t have any particular cocoa for me. It feels like a guilty pleasure to drink at this point. I imagine someone grinning, checking the room with shifty conspiratorial eyes, and then indulging in the cup, quite delighted to find that no one is going to come and take it away.

Simply my ideal Yunnan Golden Buds.

Tried this again in the gaiwan with more leaves. The floral notes and spiciness are decidedly stronger this way, and the honey is a background supporting flavor. I find this tea changes more over time if I use a normal amount of leaves in my gaiwan, but there are definitely days in the coming fall where I will want to use a little more leaf for a more intense experience.

I have since tried this iced, and it is DARN GOOD. The billowy, full texture is exquisite (I keep wanting to say mellifluous, even though that only applies to sound; however, it is the texture of mellifluous sounds that I am tasting here). Even better- I do not feel guilty making this iced, because it is several dollars cheaper per oz. than the lower quality YGB’s available at my local teahouses.

Uht-oh! SIPDOWN!
This didn’t last long in my stash…it was THAT GOOD…
Farewell Dear Friend :(

2nd infusion I can pick up on the cinnamon/bark type tastes as well…these are very interesting! I LOVE the differences in this Yunnan Golden Buds than the others I have tried. I like those, too, don’t get me wrong, but it’s pretty special when one is noticeably different and offers that extra little something, ya know?

Don’t pass up this one, folks!!!!

Where to begin?

First…this is FAB!

But this is also DIFFERENT…but in a GOOD way! Here are my thoughts…

Most Yunnan Golden Buds I have tried are very strong – some cigar like, some super malty, some have even a grainy texture.

Verdant’s are smoother, creamier, not cigar-like – it’s sweeter and I can taste the honey notes the product description mentioned! It’s quite nice!

Multiple infusions!!!!!! More notes coming soon!

Ah- that’s better. Found a little sample of this hiding away.

Note to self: get new Spring picking into the house!

The dry leaves of this tea look beautiful, and smell delicious. Looking at my notes here (I took notes!), I remember the leaves smelled like lime, basil and sweet grass. Once steeped, you get more of a barley or corn pancake aroma. The tea itself (at least on the first steeping), smells clean, bright and decidedly vegetal.

If you’ve tried Verdant Tea’s other green offerings, you’ll know right off the bat that this is a very different kind of green tea experience. While Lao Shan greens tend to be hearty, beany, warm and robust, this Jing Shan offers the lighter and more delicate side of Chinese greens. This side is just as legitimate, and helps remind me how gentle and powerfully quiet greens can be.

Once steeped, I got three good steepings out of the buddy leaves, and I kept going for five or so (lost count, and didn’t write that down in my notes). Basically, steeped until I was quite satisfied and sated; unlike some lighter greens, this didn’t tempt and inspire me, only to run off at the second steeping and leave me feeling like I’ve been abandoned at the altar.. The taste is sparkling, bright, and almost fruity (I can’t put my finger on what that fruit could be). The sweetness reminds me of steamed buns, and while drinking, I’m reminded of greens dusted with sweet matcha powder. There is a pleasant tangy aftertaste, and as I continue with later steepings, there is the very light taste of sweet asparagus. Underneath is a pleasant mineral-ly base.

All in all, the tea feels like a cleansing sigh of relief. Yum!

I suspect I will always have a preference for the LaoShan-esque green teas, but this is a wonderful and delicious reminder for me to keep trying Chinese greens. I look forward to drinking this in the morning, especially as summer starts to cool down. I am also really looking forward to a drizzley morning, so that I can open the windows and try steeping this “Jing Shan style” (pour water into a glass, then sprinkle in the leaves… drink when they’ve floated to the bottom). When I do, I’ll let you know how that way of steeping is different from my normal pouring-between-two-glass-pitchers.

just finished a tasting of all of Verdant’s newest teas, so expect a lot more notes over the next few days. Hooray for new teas and remembering to take notes!

I was inspired by recent comments on this tea to pull it out from my pu’er box and give it a real rating on Steepster. Yiwu is the Verdant Tea sheng that I always forget that I have. Perhaps I’m distracted by the tempting Artisan Revival, the crazy Xingyang or the Yohoho Farmer’s Coop? When I do finally have it again, it’s like a revelation. Oh yes! I remember you now! Hello again, and thanks for welcoming me back…

The first tastes of this are always difficult for me to describe. Imagine a powdered sugar donut. When it touches your tongue, there is a cooling sensation that brings you back for more. That cooling texture is here in the first sips (though not sugary sweet). Instead, I imagine extremely dark and pure cocoa powder mixed with the dark bark or skin of a woody branch. The branch bark is ground to dust, and leaves this dark, cooling woody texture and taste on the tip of my tongue. (my husband tells me this is camphor; I can never pinpoint that flavor, but that I know academically is there, and so I struggle absurdly with comparisons to cooling-woody-donuts; how can one be so unable to taste one specific flavor?).

In the rest of the opening steepings, this feeling of sweet, dark woodiness spreads and unfolds into something warm and bright. It reminds me of walking along a path in college: piney trees and leafy greens of the Hudson river valley are on one side; the sun is setting over the hill, and everything turns orange and glowing green. The path is covered with wood chips and fallen pine needles, and because the pine needles have turned golden orange, too, it looks as though the light has splintered and covered the ground in a soft carpet of fragrant light. That smell is the woody taste the opens up in this sheng. It is lovely, but also very mysterious to me. It keeps me coming back for more steepings.

The cocoa/wood flavors continue all the way through the steepings. I think this is also that camphor flavor. The taste is also full and sweet, and in the aftertaste, there’s something that reminds me both of a good, ripe melon and of chewing on grape or apple skins. I do not really ever eat cherries (too bitter for me), but I think this may be what some other tasters have referenced.

This tea is also really really juicy in a way that reminds me of good baking apples or the aftertaste of cider. It is a different kind of thickness than the smooth, comforting linen of the Artisan Revival. If I’m not paying attention, the juicy, fruity afters slide into mintiness, too.

This is a complex sheng, that I feel is closer to what long-time drinkers might expect out of this style of pu’er. It fits more with the traditional flavor profile, but it is not at all bitter or drying, and its interesting complexity goes down as many layers as you might care to explore. It tastes young, but in only the most delicious ways. This will be another great sheng to watch grow with interest.

This morning I finished up the last of my sample of Mt. Yiwu Sheng Pu’er, and I am truly sorry to see it go. It is one of the top three Sheng Pu’er teas that I have ever tasted, and shares this honor with the two other Sheng Pu’er teas I received in my Verdant Tea sampler. So nice that a company uses it’s sampler to put their best foot forward and tries to gain you as a customer.

Through multiple infusions, this tea takes you on a journey that is both quiet and adventurous. It is a walk through a rain filled forest, with stops along the way for a taste of spicyness, a later nibble at pear or apple, and a sniff of moss, mushrooms and distant campfire. Sorry if my description is a bit too imaginative, and should perhaps be more prosaic, but this Pu’er (along with the Verdant Teas ‘06 Artisan Revival and ’03 Mt Banxhang) gets me excited about Chinese Pu’er like no others.

This is…wow. I concur with everything the other commenters have said. But I feel like there’s more complexity, more going on, than I expected. And I’m still on the first steeping. So I’m going to wait on giving a full account of this.

I will say that although I definitely smell corn throughout (and can kind of taste it too), when I first tasted this I immediately thought of mushrooms. Not musty or moldy mushrooms, but sort of the clean umami flavor you get from really high-quality, well-cleaned mushrooms that you might put in a clear soup or saute for a subtle sauce. (And if you hate mushrooms, I think this flavor can be interpreted multiple ways, so please don’t let my description of the flavor put you off this delightful tea!)

The first time I ever had this tea, on the fourth (or so) steeping I said “It tastes like a campfire!” and David added “Yes, but one with silken pillows to sit on, and an elaborate cloth-of-gold pavilion in the background.” (paraphrased, of course) And since then, I’ve used “posh campfire” to describe this.

Don’t get the wrong idea: this is no Lapsang. Its campfire notes come from a sweet woodiness and a silken roasted flavor, not an overpoweringly thick smoke. (Can you hear my biases? Sorry.) The first steeping or two are relatively light but hit at the back of the throat; the flavor begins to settle and softly wrap your tongue after several steepings. By the fifth steeping the liquor is stunning, rich mahogany, and the flavor is in a comparable “full swing”. It gets drier, nuttier, and mustier as it goes, like embers burning down to cakes of sweet ash.

Silky. This tea is like running your hands through a foot-high pile of satin and silk fabric scraps, letting them slide off your hands in waterfall cascades.

Oh, and it also tastes like corn. Did anyone mention that yet? SO MUCH CORN.

The smell of the corn in the dry leaf covers up any possible impression you could form about the tea itself, so you really have to drink it to get a good sense of the flavor. The corn stays light, up at the top of the palate, almost airy, while the pu-erh settles comfortably around your tongue. It’s never heavy, but the second and third steepings are the best once the corn is less dominant and the pu-erh can really unfurl. The corn is sweet but not sugary; it keeps everything very smooth and mellow. I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth the whole experience is; there’s no empty space between the two flavors. It’s a perfect union.

What a beautiful Spring Oolong! I loaded up my gaiwan and brewed just as David suggested, yielding a nice succession of cups almost exactly as described. Wonderful aromas, wonderful flavor and a really pleasant morning sipping on this tea.

Since I grow orchids, I didn’t get this as the most prominent scent. Instead I get the sweet honeysuckle, with a background of orange blossom and jasmine. The first two steeps give a slightly green flavor followed by buttery creaminess in the later brews and some even have a faint aroma of pine or fir trees behind the floral bouquet.

An outstanding tea, plain and simple. ;)

10 Year aged wood fired Tieguanyin –Verdant tea
Dry: dry chestnuts, milk chocolate, caramel
Wet: spicy, mesquite wood, black walnut
Leaf: Chocolate hued, tightly knotted leaves, when hydrated turn a dark, inky black
Cup: to begin, this is a tea best enjoyed in either the wonderful chambers of a cured yixing purple clay teapot, or in the visible embrace of a glass gaiwan or similar glass tea pot. There is a beautiful extractive color bloom that graces the cup upon extraction, not unlike Toucho Pu –erhs, where the dark nest of leaves sinks to the bottom, releasing tendrils of reddish stains that leach into the coppery-golden green liquor ; these threads of reddish life ripple and twist in the liquor at any agitation and when the tea is poured, unify the color into a green-edged burnt umber cup. Its as close to a aurora borealis or a ‘red tide’ as one finds in a cup and this expression is usually only granted compressed pu-erhs that are sized for individual steeping. As a former fisherman in Alaska, this is always a wonderful moment, especially to introduce to others.
The flavors of this tea are complex. Notes of cedar ash, kombu, and chocolate layered against textural depth that moves from clarified butter silkiness, melting milk chocolate, and marinating smoky brine. There is a slight note of almost rolled oats on the final lingering finish. There is a type of unusual mouth feel that is particular to this tea that is unlike the common usage of astringency or tannins, as it leaves a texture that is not unlike cocoa nibs or in 70% or greater dark bittersweet chocolate; it hugs the tongue elusively and hints at sweet and bitter notes, long after the sip has vanished. The leaves are leathery and stay tightly twisted, so don’t expect them to unfurl like a typical oolong and don’t be afraid to use higher steep temps. as the tea is very forgiving and resists bitterness. Expect a few extractions with the notes evolving into mesquite, spicy notes and the body slowly changing to more of a creamy, nutty profile.
Brewing: used 4oz of tea in a 8oz traditional Taiwanese gaiwan, with 200 degree water steeped for 5 min with 2 minutes added to each following extraction.
Thanks so much to the generous gift of Verdant Tea and to their commitment to heritage, story, and the humbleness of a shared cup

I used more tea this time, about two even teaspoons for 12 ounces.

1st steep, 165F, 3 min
The flavors are like I remember from the last time I tasted this, but stronger (as expected). They made such an impression the last time I tasted this that the aroma and taste are like meeting up with an old friend. There is a new piquancy that bites the side of my tongue and back of the throat that I don’t remember from before. This steep has great floral notes that are strong and still larger than the green and savory oolong flavor. The floral notes are complex and clear. I still can’t decide what flower the floral notes remind me of, but there are a lot of them together.

2nd steep, 165F, 4 min
This is a darker liquor with a strong, savory oolong aroma. The floral aroma is secondary now.
The taste profile is different from the first steep. There is a definite fruity sweetness up front and a more moderate floral flavor. The savory flavor is stronger. The tastes are smooth with just a slight hint of an edge. There is a vegetal flavor that I don’t remember before. The floral notes come in late in the sip. I love the slight bite. I love the faint fruity ester aftertaste.

I think it’s better with more (enough?) tea. I love how many things there are to taste here. What a pleasure. Enjoying these two very nice cups of tea put my day in a sense-making frame.

The smell of the leaves is floral with some mowed grass (on a hot afternoon) aroma.

I tasted two steeps in a 8 oz steeping mug.

1st: Almost boiling water, 3 min. The liquor is a clear, bright green. There is a light floral aroma. My first impression is that I haven’t tasted a tea this complex before. I sip over and over again trying to break down what I am tasting. The first taste is a floral one, but not a strong perfume floral taste. This is followed by a flavor that I only know from oolong tea. It is savory, not at all smokey. It reminds me of the savory flavor of wonton soup broth, but without the saltiness. I haven’t had oolong in so long that I had forgotten this taste. Overall, the taste is sweet and floral. Breathing out my nose gives a great floral flavor. Swishing it around violently in my mouth (with lots of air) brings out a great nutty flavor. How many ways can I taste this? Everything is soft; there are no sharp edges here.

2nd: 205 degrees, 5 min. This cup is less floral. There is more sweet flavor and some nuttiness coming out. I feel the first sense of astringency. There is the start of a bitter edge, which I like, but not enough to call this bitter. The aftertaste stayed sweet and seemed to get nuttier as I sipped this over ten minutes. Overall, this cup is sharper. There are fewer flavors and they are more well defined.

I kept writing floral because I didn’t know what flower to call it. I thoroughly enjoyed taking the time to taste this tea. I am excited to see what is in the remaining teas in the sampler pack this tea came in.

Makes the best ice tea, ever! I do it the concentrate way. Double the leaves and steep it with boiling water. Pour into a beer bottle with topper. When I’m ready, I pour it over ice. Sometimes add water to mellow it, because it has a nice bite. Plus, you can resteep the leaves.

When they say malty, chocolatey and smooth they aren’t kidding. I’m really loving this black tea. An interesting note, in the steeping notes they recommend steeping it 4 times. Normally, I haven’t heard much about resteeping black teas, but I followed directions. I can say that the 4th steep is lighter but still has good flavor.