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Infusion 2…
8-10 secs
darker in color a nice medium brown
Aroma is musky and of PLUMS! Yum!
The taste is Plum-like and near creamy.
I’m enjoying the 2nd infusion much more than the first. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the first but the 2nd touches my heart and soul a lot more! :)
Upping rating!!!
3rd infusion coming soon…
1st infusion…
Aroma after infusion…musky, woodsy, raisins
Color…light reddish brown
Taste…fairly malty, hint of raisin or fig taste
I seemed to enjoy it a bit more after it cooled for just a few moments
5 secs infusion
2nd infusion…coming soon…
Preparation
Often when doing pu’er in such short infusions, I throw out the first steeping. This gives the pu’er a little more time to open up (or wake up! these sleeping beauties have been waiting years for their “prince” to come along…). It might seem like a sacrifice, but the first wash can be really helpful. That’s probably why the second infusion spoke more to your soul. The second infusion was a much better picture of what this tea’s personality really is.
Yes…I should have mentioned I actually tossed the FIRST first infusion…sorry…lol…
2nd infusion…
about a minute or so
darker in color and in flavor yet still mellower than I thought it would be but I am ok with that – it’s a nice yet different tasting pu-erh. The aroma is more like a pu-erh but still not something I can’t handle…I am grateful for that, indeed!
Multiple Infusion test on this one today…
1st infusion
25-30 secs
Smells a little more like Pu-erh than the other Pu-erh I loved so much from Verdant…but, just a little musky…not too much, really. It is sweet as well. There are woodsy hints, too. The first infusion wasn’t overly flavorful but the flavor I did get was nice and mellow yet semi-malty-sweet. The color of the post infusion was surprisingly near clear with a slight brown-yellow slash as well…stay tuned for more infusions…
Preparation
Yes- I remember the first time I drank this tea. The man who represents the tiny Xingyang workshop was so excited because I was telling him about coming off trying a bunch of murky shu pu’ers. He brewed this up with a sparkle in his eyes and held it up to the light. He described it as crystalline and explained that the opacity of a pu’er can be a quality indicator. If the pu’er is too opaque and dark,he explained that it was probably fermented too quickly and actually composted. This one is almost 15 years old, and still it is clear. That is good handling. I think you pinpointed the “mellow” flavor that Xingyang is striving for. They do very slow and long fermentation not in huge piles that are sprayed with water but spread out and allowed to absorb the natural humidity of southern Yunnan. The careful process prevents the pungent bit of the average shu. I have been on the phone with my friend at Xingyang, Wang Shilin, and he is sending me some more great stuff from their workshop to try.
That’s awesome! :) I LOVE to hear these stories!!! Keep them coming!!!!
3rd infusion
a little more than 30 secs
starting to smell a little more like a walk thru the woods! Sweet-woodsy and floral with a hint of ‘earth’. subtle but a change-up from first two infusions.
Not as sweet but still pretty juicy. Back to being creamy and smoother than the 2nd infusion tho. Interesting!
More sweet-floral notes are happening…but not overly-so!
I like this! Nice!
I honestly can’t believe this is a Pu-erh! Lovely! I’m only on my first infusion and I will say right away I am a fan…
1st infusion is light and sweet! Cooling…mouthwatering…creamy, even! Nice hint of floral in the aftertaste.
Multiple infusion notes coming soon!
Preparation
mmmm a pu’erh that is creamy?? huh, interesting. Is their shipping expensive?
FREE Shopping and samples with orders over $10 :) – not sure about overseas tho…where are you located again!?
Just found this…
Verdant Tea ships domestic and international, and gives you multiple shipping options in checkout.
-We are pleased to offer FREE priority mail shipping to anywhere in the United States on orders over $10. Priority mail takes 2-3 days on average.
-For important orders when you need a guaranteed delivery date and a tracking number, we offer UPS Ground shipping. This is $15, flat rate and arrives within 4 business days.
-For international orders we offer $7.50 flat rate 1st class mail shipping. This takes up to 3 weeks, but usually no more than two weeks.
-Free 1st class USPS international shipping is provided for orders over $50.
-For more urgent orders, we offer $15 priority mail shipping, which usually takes about 1 week.
All orders will be shipped within one business day, and you will be notified by email of the shipment. If you need your package faster than our delivery options, please contact us, and we will arrange express mail, or FEDEX for you.
I’m in Canada, Toronto. Is that “international”? we aren’t that far! lol
thanks TeaEqualsBliss! :)
I’m not sure how that works, honestly :) I’ll get an email addy for ya! Tell them The SororiTEA Sisters ‘sent ya’!!!
[email protected] – He’s super cool!!!! He’s also on steepster, too!
Ooooh, you rock TEB!!!
Hi! I am glad you are enjoying one of my favorite pu’ers. The creaminess is ridiculous considering that it is first a pu’er, and second, only 5 years old. I am saving up for a personal cache of this one to age.
About Shipping: I just looked up Canada, and the Post Office and it is actually cheaper to ship to Canada than other destinations. I could do free shipping to Canada, but it would be 1st class mail. Priority comes in at 11.95. If you would like to place an order, you can select domestic free shipping at checkout, or if we have to do a workaround, I will send you an invoice. In the meantime, I will try and figure out how to trick the paypal shipping calculator to allow exceptions (like Canada.) Thanks for the good question! My email is [email protected]
I just emailed you David, please ignore it… since you answered my question here so perfectly :)
thanks for the info! let me know if you figure out the workaround.
See!!! I told ya David was AWESOME!!! :) Thanks for the additional info, David! :)
Done and Done. I love getting questions, because I probably hadn’t thought about the issue before. I just created a shipping option in checkout for Canada only. It is free over $10, just like domestic. That should work.
Thanks!
Yep, sheng puerh and shu puerh are for pratical purposes two very different types of tea.
This Pu’er is redefining what Sheng can be for so many people. Glad to hear that you love it!
Take note of the description: “almost candy-like.” What an understatement!
This tea really does taste like you’re sucking on a delicious sweet piece of hard candy. And even more fun, the real heart of the flavors lies mostly in the aftertaste, building and building over time, blossoming up from your throat and the back of your tongue. Candy sweetness, orchid, lots of yummy brown sugar. What a treat! It’s hard to believe you’re not racking up calorie points as you sip this.
This is a sure favorite “traditional” tea for anyone who usually lingers by heavily-flavored only. A sure-fire winner at any little girl’s tea party, even if those girls are now all grown up. Feminine, clean and refined, without having any of the choking/heavy floral dustiness of grandma’s old perfumes. And the flavor really stays with the tea throughout multiple steepings.
This tea is very yummy iced, too. No one will believe there’s not a trace of sugar added to your brew. Just add some leaves to a pitcher or tupperware, fill with cold water, and let them sit over-night. Pour yourself a glass in the morning, and go relax in the hammock on your summer porch.
Definitely fun for anyone to try; guaranteed to please!
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!
I just ordered 4 ounces. Maybe I should of got a pound.
:) I hope you enjoy it!
After reading the many glowing reviews I had to have it. I was impressed when I sent a message requesting a sample of the Big Red Robe and they actually replied. Two messages to Harneys went unanswered. So, to show my appreciation I ordered 2 oz of the Sundried Jing Shan which you also raved about….
Oh yes – that was a goodie, too! Verdant is a great Customer Service type company! The owner views steepster quite a bit! Neat guy! LOVE his stories and descriptions! He is surely one of the top tea educators in my book! Super nice!!!! VERY Knowledgeable!
Charles: I am horrified to hear the Harney and Sons didn’t reply! that has never happened to me. They have been in the process of starting up a whole new website for a while and have been fixing the bugs so that may have been part of the problem. I was a sort of beta tester for the new site and I did find a thing or two still not working just yesterday.
@ ashmanra, also there was a charge of 400.00 to my credit card the same night that I placed an order with them. I would say that it is’nt secure. Thankfully my credit card new it was fraud….
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!
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!
Two infusions- nice! Did you make this in a big pot, or did you do it more personal-size / gong-fu / gaiwan style? I guess I never though of doing this one more than once in a big pot, since I tend to make a really big pot, and them I’m too comfortable and sleepy-satisfied to make another giant pot.
8 ounce with a stainless-steel strainer :)
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!
Preparation
That sounds like the luckiest teapot in the world! I am going to need to try this method out tonight…thanks for sharing the new brewing parameters!
Very fun! This new steeping method takes all the vaporous qualities of the Xingyang flavor and condenses them, as if, by sheer force of will, into a liquid. My tips for brewing like this are to heat the tea pot with boiling water before adding leaves, use 3-5g of leaves (more than you would think for a 4oz yixing. Steep at 90 degrees and pour boiling water over the teapot while steeping to keep it hot. You can go up to 2 minutes by the later steepings. Have fun!
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.
Preparation
Good review. Any serious Pu’er drinker needs to try this. For those that have fallen in love with it like we have, the only option is to buy at least a few tins of it. Like we’ve said, one tin is simply not going to work long term with this tea. The fact that this one is even available for purchase is such a blessing.
I think it is ridiculous that farmers will even part with tea like this. To get stuff of this caliber, you can’t just walk in with fistfuls of money. You have to drink tea with someone for days, and in this case, months, before they open up enough to bring out their treasure. I think one reason that many companies have trouble with sourcing is that they go on a whirlwind tour and allow just a day in each tea region. I had the unique privilege of living for a year straight with these people with the primary goal being research, and I can tell you that they look at money as a dirty and base thing. One tea friend actually hired somebody to stand in his shop and accept money. The owner wouldn’t touch it. That is the coolest thing ever! If you like this tea, by the way, I have a few old sheng pu’ers in the works. More on that later.
David! That’s an awesome story!!! So glad you shared it here! :) LOVE it!!!
@ David, I admire your friends in China. I’m sipping this incredible tea and I’m at a loss for words.
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.
Thanks for the update. I’ll had this to my verdant order. Not a huge Oolong drinker, but this one sounds special. I would hate to think that people would actually numerically rate a tea without trying it, but I’ve noticed a lot of shenanigans going on with people giving over the top ratings to companies they like and inexplicably and uniformly low ratings to other tea companies.
Well- hopefully I’m just being a negative Nancy. It’s also possible that there were one or two people who tried the tea somewhere, hated it inexplicably, and then gave it super low ratings without sharing their experiences. Still, that’s a sad thing to do regardless, especially because their explanation might be a useful example of how not to brew the tea, etc..
Oh well, oh well. The important thing is: I love this tea, and I’ve still got a bunch of it left!
On a side note, I’ll be in the Minneapolis area at least a few times a year for the next few years. Are there any good tea houses or tea shops in the area. You mentioned that Verdant does some tastings?
one would think that the quality of the reveiws would be more useful than the abreviation of a numerical notation….I realize its a lot to ask for people to read descriptions, but I think they are such a better way to get a sense of the palate and the drinker…the numbers after all are on an sliding scale that is not annotated…
Enlighten me please, because I am confused. Why do you automatically assume that the lower ratings were entered by someone who hadn’t tried the tea? Maybe they just didn’t like it as much as you do…?
@ Kashyap – You are of course correct. Especially if they’re reading your descriptions; you’ve got some really excellent ones! It also helps to get context for notes and ratings by reading the checking out people’s profiles and getting a sense for how they rate things. You don’t give out high ratings lightly, and others don’t like to give anything they liked below a 92.
@ Angrboda – You’re definitely right. The assumption was probably one part protective mama-bear reaction, and seven parts posting-too-far-past-1am. I had just left a tasting note for the TGY a few days ago, and had found it quite conveniently on the first page of teas. When I went to log my note yesterday night/morning, I was confused to not see it again where it had been on the front page for so long, and instead found it through my previous notes. When I noticed that the rating had changed, I assumed someone must have rated it low, and I looked for the rating with curiosity but found nothing. In my sleepy logic, I decided that someone whose experience was so different from the others would definitely have left a note of warning or to protest. Not seeing a note, I leapt to the idea of sabotage.
Hopefully it isn’t so! I really wish there had been a note. If a TGY lover tries this tea and doesn’t like it, I would love to go and read the rest of their logs to find the oolongs they rate highly. If this is just ho hum for them, I’ve got to see their recommendations and try some for myself!
@ Triumph – There are two or three tea houses in the Twin Cities; I will send a private note this evening with details. As for Verdant’s tastings, they happen at my local teahouse (Infinitea) and also around at some art galleries, studios and events. I usually find out about them because I’m on the mailing list or via Verdant’s facebook page.
Yeah, late nights can definitely mess with one’s thought processes and leaps of logic. :) I have been known to make some interesting conclusions once about the anniversary of something or other (I’ve forgotten all the details) by way of some really creative maths… :)
If it had me and the beloved Tan Yang Te Ji (♥), I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t have come to the same conclusion that you did with this one.
Some people just don’t bother with the notes, it seems. I think it would have been nice if those ratings were not anonymous, but I suppose we can’t have everything.
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!
Preparation
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.
Preparation
Anyone who doesn’t prefer creamy ambrosia is quite possibly on crack.. more for us!! I dont think I’ve ever had a better Tieguanyin than this one, and I spent straight months of my life trying one after another with my tea friends/teachers in China.
It really is that good, you’re right!
WOW…….based on your review, I’m going to add Verdant Tea to my ever growing list of tea companies. :))
