Verdant Tea

AMAZING!
Lovely!

The others reviews are all high and I agree! This is stellar!

As soon as the liquor hits the tongue it IS quite candy-like…nice and sweet! Then it’s smooth, creamy, buttery, and sweet. There is a lovely smooth-floral after taste – much like honeysuckle! I’m going to do multiple infusions on this one!

WOW!

Special Thanks to A Purrfect Cup for this one! I’m currently drinking the Autumn 2011 and LOVING it! I can TOTALLY pick up on those cocoa-dark chocolately notes and barley! And I can smell and taste the campfire-log on top of a flame type roasted goodness. This is quite marvelous! Excellent!

Another SIPDOWN!
Chocolaty-malty-honey-goodness! See other notes :)

Backlogging…I started my day with this one…and it’s been a good day ever since :)

2nd infusion…
still very good! Less charcoal still extremely malty! A little more sweet on the end sip! I really like it! :) YUM!

EXTREMELY Malty! Very smooth! It also has an interesting charcoal or roasted marshmellow likeness to it! I can also pick up on the honey notes, too! I am going to do multiple infusions of this one to compare…first impressions of this is DARNED TASTY!!!!!! 2 thumbs up!

Had this one again last night.

After carefully re-reading the tin of this tea, we realized that we’d passed over additional brewing instructions in Chinese. Besides the more traditional method of steeping pu’er (a few seconds per steep, adding a little bit of time each round), the Xingyang packaging also suggest another method.

Boil water, let the water cool to 90 degrees Celsius, then pour water into small (yixing) pot and let steep for one minute. Really?

Well, we had to try it! And boy, what an interesting experience.

First steeping, it was like drinking from an enchanted well. So clean, and very minerally and sweet (like the well was full of the best, most amazing perfect stones). The next few steepings grew in complexity and strength. Instead of the a liqour the color of white wine, the steped liquid ranged from amber to stunning orange- always crystal clear. Where before, I described this tea as lunar (weightless, musty like a library, with a taste of the smell of new book binding or money or paper), it was now more like an eclipse- the moon glowing and growing with power as it overshadows the sun. The taste was always incredibly clean and weightless, but the strength was incredible- not heavy or dirty, but almost vibrating with intensity on the tongue.
My friend said it was as if they could taste every possible positive flavor found in puer’s: clean, thick, plum, walnuts, oatmeal, sticky rice, mist/camphor/cooling, brown sugar, caramel, raisins, apples… whatever taste you wanted to find or focus on- it was all there.

This is definitely an intense, intriguing experience. It makes you and your fellow drinkers giddy to experience such a fine tea in this intense, delicious unbelievable way.

I do not know if I prefer either steeping method, one over the other. They are both amazing ways to experience this incredible tea, and both should be tried. Whichever you end of doing, the strenght and depth of these tea is clearly demonstrated. We steeped in this longer method for about two hours, and when we couldn’t stay up any longer, I’m sure the tea could have kept going for another hour more.

Our teapot was so happy!

Note coming soon- I need a little bit of time to share my thoughts on this one.

(simple summary: incredible)

EDIT:

So – this tea is really cool. Every time I think about someone trying this for the first time, I’m so pleased and proud for them! I think, “Oh- you lucky person! You’re about to have a real treat. Lucky….”

This is a shu pu’er, and by now, it’s almost 13 years old. I’m always impressed by this, not because it’s just old, but because it is clearly so fine. From my understanding and experience of old shu’s, things this old and older generally just taste really musty and (well) “old”- any further complexity is usually just straight dirt or heavy sweetness. They’re boring, and why not? Shu pu’er was (and still is) a relatively new thing, still being perfected as something more than swindler-trying-to-sell-you-fake-old-sheng.

But enough of those- onto this one!

Whenever I’ve gone to one of their tastings that includes this tea, Verdant always has us try this tea last. Thank goodness! It would be so unfair to the other pu’ers to start a tasting with this tea. It is the culmination of an afternoon’s education, and the glimmering hopeful promise of all that could await you in your future tea-life.

How can I describe the taste of this tea? Sure- I could tell you all of the things my tongue is telling me: sweet, sparkling / musty like a grandest library, full of books and the feeling of shared knowledge / incredibly crystalline and light-weight, almost like a vapor / the guilty pleasure of the smell of book-binding glue in new books, or the back of a stamp, or fresh-minted money / clean vegetal sweetness, like celery or grass after the rain / lunar.

All of those things are true, but (as Nate has said, and as others will surely corroborate) the real strenght of this tea comes with the connections and memories it pulls out of you and the company you drink it with. Do not drink this tea if you do not want to reminisce. Do not drink this tea if you do not want to find yourself opening up with honesty and truth to those you’re drinking with. Drink this tea with good true friends, or with people you really want to know better. Drink this tea if you’re willing to still yourself and listen to what it could help you uncover, if you want to meet again a younger version of yourself, and if you’re ready to revisit the places of your youth.

This is a quiet tea. This is a tea drinker’s tea. This is a tea for memories, and a tea for honesty, and a tea for connections. If you like tea, then this is a tea you just have to try.

….

It’s pretty inconceivable, but this tea could continue to age and grow! I cannot imagine where this one might go in another ten or twelve years, and I do not know if I’ve got the self control to make it that far on one canister.
Also, the tin mentions that there was an even higher grade of this tea produced, but it was reserved solely for state dignitaries. Incredible. What must that taste like now??
For now- I will hide the tea in the back of my closet, at the bottom of my box of pu’ers. I will save this for special occasions, or for very beautiful, rainy days. I will keep going to Verdant’s tastings, and I will be sure to stick around for the end.

Well, I’m giving in to myself and just giving this tea 100. I’ve had it at 99 for so long, but I thought.. what is holding me back? Nothing at all- just some feeling of politeness; that it would be rude to actually give something 100 because that implies..blah blah blah.

Well, enough of that phooey. I love this tea, and I’m not afraid to admit it anymore. This is probably my favorite tea to drink; I am always in the mood for it. And because it’s a spring picking, it will soon be just a lovely memory.

In honor of you, Spring 2011 Tieguanyin, here is your perfect score.

Much love!!!!!!!

Tried this again tonight, and it was just as delicious as always. ah, I loved this tea.. I tried some Jingshan green just before having the TGY, and it seems like it really primed my palette in an interesting way. Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?

Hm- funny note here. Yesterday, this tea was the highest rated Oolong on Steepster (91), but now it’s suddenly at 86. What?!? There are 9 written reviews (all high), and 11 ratings. It seems like a shame for people to rate this low when they haven’t even tried it. :( Seriously folks- this is the best oolong I have ever had, I wish everyone could try this. I’d invite everyone over to my little apartment for a big tea-tasting party, and we’d all leave happier than when we started.

Ah well- I guess that’s just the way life goes. For everyone out there considering trying this, I’d recommend reading the reviews instead of just looking at the number.

I had this tea the other night while in the middle of a long flight down to Austin to visit family. As these things always go, my first flight was delayed about two hours, which left about 10 minutes to run to my other gate…. oy yoy. You know how it is.

Anyway, when I was finally on my second, final flight, I decided I would get hot water and make some tea. I had brought several new kinds for my parents to try, but the only one I remembered to put in my purse was a packet of this Tieguanyin.

Well, I was worried that I was going to be wasting the tea. Luckily, not at all! I opened the packet and poured out just a little bit into the styrofoam cup full of hot water from the coffee machine. Usually, I’ll try a green on the plane, and it will just taste smokey and overly-meat like because of the not-really-boiling coffee-tasting water they use. This one though..phew, what a treat! It was delicious and felt decadent and it was absolutely what I needed to calm myself down. I sipped and sipped on it as long as I could, and watched the tightly rolled balls slowly unfurl.

Thanks, Tieguanyin! You tempted me to indulgence, and took me from stressed unhappy and sick to perfectly relaxed and content. I was just sad the flight was so short I couldn’t get a refill on my hot water. I was smacking my lips and enjoying the thick aftertaste for the rest of the flight.

Yum!

Had this one again last night. Still excellent!

We starting drinking it at about 7:30pm. When I went to sleep at 11:30pm, the aftertaste was /still/ strong and delicious. And that was after having had a manog lassi in between!

This is quite honestly the best Tieguanyin I’ve ever had the privilege to try. And now I own some – so awesome! Considering my best tea friend and teacher in China spent several straight months of my life having me try about 70 different kinds of Iron Goddess of Mercy, that’s saying something.

I don’t understand how Verdant hasn’t sold out of all of this within the first weeks of offering it in America! It is so good- just so good.

Incredible, thick and creamy lilac. So sweet, but very balanced. Also really really juicy. Am I the only one who’s reminded of delicious creamy key-lime pie in the after taste of this? And what an aftertaste- this lingers in my mouth for ten or twenty minutes after I’ve finished steeping the tea. I found myself wandering around the house two days ago just smacking my lips together, savoring the after-tastes and mouth-feel, wondering what I could have done to deserve something so ridiculously yummy. Considering that I can usually steep this tea at least thirty times, this makes for one crazy-delicious afternoon.

I usually make this in a gaiwan with basically boiling water. Traditional gongfu-style, with steepings that last just a few seconds. It goes without saying that this would also be killer iced, in a mug, or in a big pot, but why oh why would you waste the tea like that? While this is still so fresh and good, treat yourself to ambrosia. Make sure you invite someone over to drink this with you, too. It gets so much better when you can look at your friend in disbelief and say.. “Are you tasting this?”….and have them say….“I know, right?!?!”.. and then laugh conspiratorially together.

In conclusion, this tea is ridiculously, almost-offensively good. Treat yourself, please, while there’s still fresh Spring stuff left!

With Spring oolong this good, I can’t wait to see what the autumn-picking later this year will be.

This is easily the best Oolong I have tried from the new spring picking this year. Incredibly creamy and a fresh lilac that is amongst some of the most perfect Tieguanyin I have ever had. Though this tea is not perhaps the highest end in competition in China because of its creaminess, it makes it much more affordable and honestly, it is hard to tell if this is indeed inferior to some of the very floral Tieguanyin’s that are available.

Overall this has been my favorite tea of the new season.

First let me preface this by saying that I don’t like to rate teas this high. I really won’t ever give a tea a perfect 100 score, so 99 is essentially saying that it’s the best thing I’ve had to date. A perfect 100 would in essence be stating that nothing could possibly be better than this tea in all existence, and I’m not ever going to make that claim.

I remember the first time David from Verdant Tea made me this particular tea. I remember the emotions it evoked and how it brought me back to a place of comfort from the past. I tend to relate things to good music, as I am a musician. When I write a particular piece I tend to write something that envelopes all emotions, making myself feel completely content, heartbroken, moved, and yet hopeful without sounding forced. In a weird way this tea does that for me. The aroma and essence of this tea reminds me of sitting in in an old library with books that have absorbed the flavors of the weathered wood surrounding them. It also brings about the memory of sitting on a particular dock at camp growing up, talking with my best friends while fishing and relaxing.

I think because of the pure nostalgia that this tea has brought about for me and everyone I know that has tried it, puts it in to a category all its own. It is not flavor, it is emotion, aroma, and beauty. I only bring this tea out ever so often for a very special conversation or time…to brew this everyday for me would be to make it commonplace, and I dare not offend the tea in that way.

This tea is so sweet and fresh. Packed with flavor, it continues to wow even after many steepings. With each steeping a new layer of flavor unfolds, as if the tea is changing shape and mood. Starting off very sweet and floral the tea dances on your taste buds, as is steeps more the flavor moves down to a more grassy, savory taste. Eventually the steepings become a perfect balance of sweet and robust, consistently leaving a lingering pang of star anise in the throat. Through the shifting of flavors, the smooth buttery base to the tea never leaves. This is a must have for any appreciators of oolong. The only company that captures the essence of this tea to its full potential is Verdant Tea.

Excellent “Dragonwell Style” tea from Laoshan. All of the teas from Laoshan have a very similar feel which can be attributed to their Northern location. I love the way that green teas from Laoshan actually have all of those great cooling qualities of a good Japanese Gyokuro yet maintain the heartiness of a good Chinese tea. This tea is particularly stunning in color. So fresh! So green! I myself will not drink green tea daily, but this is one that I will pull out as a great example of what Dragonwell style teas can be.

Highly recommended for green tea lovers that are looking for something new.

I loved this tea! I received it as a sample from Verdant Tea. Thanks David! This is a relatively green tieguanyin, and not bitter, at all. It’s robustly floral, creamy and sweet. Not thinking, I used boiling water, and so I didn’t make it to 30 steeps (It was a long day, and I was pretty brain dead). However, it didn’t hurt a thing, and it was still quite excellent, and not bitter, at all. In fact, there was a distinct evergreen, sort of pine, flavor and aroma. It was most delicious, and a big part of why I rated this so high. After a dozen or so steepings, the floral and evergreen flavors started to taper-off, and the sweet, creamy flavor began to take center stage. After 15 or so, this started to take on more of a classical tieguanyin flavor. It’s very clean and smooth, and the beautiful color really held on, well into the later steepings. The sweetness lingers in my mouth, and keeps it watering. I can totally see this becoming a favorite!

Wow! Now, this being my first pu-erh, I was a little nervous, because so many times people say that it’s an acquired taste. What are they smoking? This is awesome! I liked it right away. It has a brisk, oolong-like, taste. It has very appealing color, too. It’s sort of blush, like apple cider. In earlier steepings, I noticed a faint earthy, sort of mushroom-like, background. It wasn’t musty, though. It was still sweet, and floral. I can sort of taste the sweet tobacco flavor, too, but it doesn’t have that sharp bite. It’s very smoothe. In mid-later steepings, just when I thought it was done, judging by the lighter color, it was not giving up! In fact, it took on a honey, raisin-like flavor that is soooo good. It’s now taking on an even more floral, plum, tangy, somewhat citrus, flavor. It just keeps getting better! I can probably push it even further, still. I guess, we shall see. ::sip sip:: mmmm

::Edit::
So, I got to around 20 or so steepings (lost count), and the flavor is still there. I have to steep so long the water cools, now. That’s my fault, however, because I’m not very skilled at gongfu cha, yet. Some of my steepings were too long, and tasted slightly bitter. I was over-focused on the color. Now, that I know that it’s OK for it to lighten, and it’ll still pack a flavorful punch, I think I probably could’ve managed 30+ steepings out of this. I’ll have to chalk that up to live and learn, I spoze. Definitely worth the experimentation! Plus, there’s still plenty left. This is a very delicious, and flavorful tea. I totally enjoy it better than oolong.

The only thing missing in the experience, is that intense cleansing, centering feeling I get from drinking sencha. It’s more fun, though. Due to the fact that it requires so many steepings, and some skill, I can’t call it the perfect tea. The perfect sheng pu-erh, however? Definitely maybe. Even though, I haven’t experienced anything else to compare it to, I can’t imagine it being any better.

Thin florals and the typical “juiciness” of good, heavily roasted TGY take the forefront as the agedness unfurls slowly in the midst of the more immediate rock-like qualities. The real action is in that slowly developing complexity. A good balance of aged swarthiness and heavily roasted . . . roastiness.

This one immediately piqued my interest as a strange and unusual (and authentic) offering. Nathan at Verdant Tea was kind enough to supply me with a handful of bite-sized samples of some of their sheng (which are all very, very good by the way) and this fortunately found its way in there.

It is different that any other traditional tea I’ve had as it carries very airy, herbal qualities. The taste is an exquisite blend of chamomile, lavender, lemongrass, and definitely sage. At no time does this taste bitter or medicinal. Instead there is a caring warmth throughout. Only at the tail end of the flavor profile does the taste of Yunnan sweetness come through reminding me that I am, in fact, drinking tea..

All in all I have to say that I am impressed. It is most certainly in a genre of it’s own with the only similarity in taste to puer being the lingering sweetness at the end. It’s really interesting, if anything, and I can recommend it to anyone who like hot beverages of any sort.

Surefire.

I love this green tea! I think Lao Shan will always be my favorite kind of green tea, and I am so excited to have found so many kinds from Verdant Tea (does anyone else import this to the US? I haven’t seen it anywhere).

Ultimately, the First Spring Picking is probably a “finer” tea (it would and should score higher in a competition because of it’s early spring sweetness still buoyed by complexity), but this Lao Shan has all of the ice-creamy thick sweet goodness you might ever want, coupled with that signature “bean” Lao Shan taste! Really- you have to try this stuff. In my opinion, it’s a perfect balance between a sweeter more traditional Chinese green and a Japanese. Absolutely not astringent; idiot proof. Very hearty without being in your face or overly grassy. It just offers so much more than your typical green’s sweetness and…well..“green” taste.

If you like green tea, you just have to try this! Unless boring and sweet is all you look for (why stop there?), you’ll find a tea to fall in love with. And if you’re a super Japanese fan, you’ll finally find something from China that easily compares to (and in many cases, surpasses) what you’ve been drinking. Also- the leaves turn the water bright green, so it’s always very fun to make! These leaves are still tender and young enough that you can turn them into a salad with soy sauce and sesame oil when they’re all steeped out.

I’ve made this tea in many different ways, and it always performs for me. If it’s a nice spring morning, I’ll just put leaves into a (tempered!) glass tumbler so that they thinly cover the bottom, and then pour in my not-quite-boiling water. Drink on it all morning and just keep refilling the glass. I also make this in a gaiwan (great for more serious tastings, so that each steeping can be appreciated in full).
For a more traditional Northern China experience, this tea is fun to do with two glass pitchers. Put leaves in one (about as much as in your gaiwan), and then pour in boiling water (let it hit the sides first so as not to “shock” the leaves). Almost immediately pour out half of this into the other pitcher. Then pour everything right back into the first pitcher. Swirl swirl swirl for just a few seconds, and pour back into the other pitcher through a strainer. This practice keeps the leaves moving, and the glass makes sure the water doesn’t stay too hot. It also shows of just how gorgeous the curled leaves are when they open up!

I’ve also made this tea in big pots (more “English” / western style) and it’s fantastic. Even more fun (especially as summer comes along) is to ice this tea! Just put some in a pitcher, add cold water, and let it sit overnight. The result is really creamy, sweet and delicious. Makes for a full-bodied ice-tea that is strong without being the least bit bitter or drying or astringent.

Seriously- I love this green tea.