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“I am home from the hospital, the surgery went well. I have a temp cast on my hand, pain dope in my system (in NA we call this a *FreeLapse, & I fully intend to enjoy it, although its not...” Read full tasting note
“le sigh. This is not the blend it used to be. Everytime i have it, it makes me a little more sad. This version is a dull version of the previous incarnation. There is way less punch to this one...” Read full tasting note
“So I was looking through my tea cupboard and wanted some pu’erh, but I don’t want to open a new sample tonight, so I was pondering which one to have. And this one just popped out! I’ve been...” Read full tasting note
“I’ve been playing around with my new yixing that I got a few weeks ago and I’m drinking this western style. I have two yixing teapots, one little 3.7 oz from Zen Tea and a 10 oz one from Teavana...” Read full tasting note
We love pu’er for its multi-dimensional complexity. One of the most interesting and often overlooked elements of the pu’er experience is the vaguely numbing and tingling sensation that fine pu’er leaves in the aftertaste. Our goal with this blend was to highlight this textural quality of great shu pu’er, while at the same time creating a warming, rich and perfectly integrated taste experience.
We start with the incredible Yanxin’s Reserve ’04 Shu Nuggets. This tea is known for its pastry-like dessert flavors, and its smooth sweet aftertaste. We build on that richness with one of our favorite ingredients to pair with shu pu’er, dried elderberries. The dark sweetness of the elderberries brings out the natural berry qualities of the pu’er itself, and lingers on the sides of the tongue.
Next we draw out the pastry sweetness of the pu’er with a touch of licorice root, which helps highlight and blend the sweet spice of ginger root. Ginger starts to emphasize the tingling texture of this fine pu’er, but on its own, it doesn’t push quite far enough. That is why we added a touch of Sichuan peppercorn to round out this tea and make it whole. Sichuan peppercorn has a uniquely numbing flavor that elevates this blend to a new level. Taken as a whole, no one flavor stands out above the others. They work together smoothly to emphasize everything warm and satisfying that we love about shu pu’er.
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Steepster was not cooperating the other day when I drank this and though I have not been posting lately I just had to share how amazing this tea blend is. It is seriously a masterpiece! It was exactly what I wanted and needed with my thai spring rolls and noddles, it stood up to the food and kept its flavor going through nearly a dozen steeps long after the meal.
Many months ago I was a wee bit disappointed by Verdant’s Elderberry Spice Pu’erh only because I was getting more heat than Elderberry. I think its mostly about expectations, because while this one doesn’t have elderberry in the name, it is fully present and well balanced by the licorice, ginger and sichuan. I love what this does to my mouth. It’s sweet and decadent and juicy and spicy and numbing and I can still find the base tea in this, one of my favorite shu.
I seriously could drink this all winter. Except for one problem, I only ordered the sample size. Something that must be remedied very soon. First though I am going to order some of this for my brother’s long time girlfriend and fellow spiced tea lover, along with Verdant’s two chai blends. Plus I need to try the other fall/winter Verdant blends waiting for me. But I will certainly order plenty of this to drink through January and February!
Thanks so much, Terri Harplady! She kindly suggested I use the amount she sent me for one mug. So this one has shu pu-erh nuggets, peppercorn, ginger, licorice and elderberries. A mix that didn’t sound very good until I tried it!
First steep // a few minutes after boiling // two minutes
I did a quick rinse first! Two minutes later the flavor is so balanced with these ingredients! Spicy like a chai, thanks to the peppercorn and the ginger. The top of the mug has a hint of tanginess from the elderberries but that disappears as I drink the rest of the mug, probably because the elderberries floated at the top of the infuser. The pu-erh itself is very mild and sweet, and the steep color isn’t too dark – medium brown. A bit of the licorice flavor and this cup is amazingly balanced. Verdant sure knows what they are doing.
Second steep // boiled // 3 min
This cup is MUCH darker… like a deep maroon red. But the flavor isn’t much stronger… the pu-erh is the same! It’s odd that the color changes but the flavor doesn’t. The flavor is so good! I’m not really getting the pastry flavor that the description mentions, but maybe I’m not eating enough pastries. I must remedy that. I’m actually surprised I’m learning to love pu-erh even more than some other types of teas (like white and green) but nothing will ever replace my black teas.
Third steep // boiled // 4 min
I can really appreciate how well the ingredients blend together as each steep progresses. It’s just perfect. This cup is pretty much the same as the last one, another deep red and the flavor is the same. I almost didn’t have a third cup but I’m glad I did! Since the flavor is the same with this one, I imagine there could be many more steeps with the same leaves. I really like this one, so I’m glad I was able to try it!
This is another sample I picked up out of curiousity that I figured my mom would like, and therefore I’m trying it on holiday!
Unlike the Spiced Elderberry Pu’erh, this blend didn’t smell fishy in the packet, nor after the first infusion. I chose not to rinse this blend for fear of losing some of the added ingredients, although I imagine some people do.
So I only got a sip of the first infusion as I gave it to my mom, and I my recollection of it was an earthy, spicy blend. Not too spicy, but definitely flavoured. Actually quite nice! My mom seemed to quite enjoy it too, and polished off the cup. I decided that the second infusion would be for me, and am enjoying a very smooth, richly earthy cup with only hints of the pepper and ginger… but this has got to rank as one of the best cups of pu’erh I’ve had! I have to say that it’s just a touuuuuch fishy (and smelled like that in the infuser), which may be my fault for letting it sit out overnight.
Anyways, I’m starting to think that I’m in general doing something wrong with pu’erhs… perhaps overleafing, which is leading to unpleasant flavours… because this cup is absolutely wonderful (and I think I’m finally catching some of those “angel food cake”, etc. nuances that people have mentioned!)
So I gave this a go last night after a bad tea was had. This one more than made up for the other tea. Plus I LOVE elderberry mixed with puerh! I really miss the old alchemy blend Verdant used to make, but this one is very similar and might be a needed addition to my tea stock! It has just enough spice and kick, but not too much to make you not want to drink it.
SSTTB #7.
To compare the new one to the sample Sil sent me a while back. This just isn’t spicy. At all. And there’s more licorice, I think… or at least more of that sweetness. The result is a blend that I’ll drink, but not a blend that I really like.
I think I preferred the previous iteration, even if it was old. :) Not a tea to keep, but I really wanted a puerh (and honestly I thought this was a different tea until I looked at the package after I had already scooped it out).
(First steep 2 minutes, second steep 4 minutes.)
As much as I try, I don’t really enjoy pu’erh on its own. But this blend is probably the one exception. I love it to bits. I’ll drink anything with ginger in it so that helps too. The spices really make the yanxin nuggets more palatable for my picky tastes. I will be working on this tea for the rest of the evening, since it goes strong after three or more big mugs. Not only is this blend a great tummy soother, I really want to believe that it is helping to lessen a nasty hive breakout from an apparent Amoxicillan allergy. It must be the tea!
90C, 1 minute steep to start.
I prepared this as a cold brew and liked the spices. There’s a nice earthiness, a depth you often don’t get with Chais, which are frequently cinnamon heavy—maybe because cinnamon is cheap and other spices are pricier. This had a nice balance, seeming so homogenous that nothing really stood out at first. I found it amiable enough though and had happily guzzled through half the supply my big sis had sent me when she called.
When the conversation came around to teas, I mentioned that I was sampling this one, which is a favorite of hers. She asked how I liked it, learned I was drinking it cold brewed, and took me to task. It seems this stuff is meant to warm body and spirit in the dead of winter. Fortunately, I had some left and promptly followed her suggestion to try it hot.
Warming this tea up really brought out it’s character. Normally, I favor cardamom as the topnote in my spicy chais but when I drank this brew, I could taste a sweetness at the back of my throat whenever I swallowed. That’s a characteristic of licorice root. I love a good licorice (not the same as anise) and found it to be a very pleasant variation to the usual cinnamon or cardamom topnote of most other chais..The heat brought other flavors to the fore and I was introduced to it‘s warming aspect. Intrigued, I tried it hot and added coconut milk and sugar. It would appear there was a LOT of spice that was lost in translation when I cold brewed this. I’m picking up hints of ginger and cayenne and feeling all warm and tingly on this rainy morning. MMMMM MMMM.
I need to pay better attention to my samples and give them the full workup as some blends are significantly different hot or cold. I nearly missed out on the best part of this. Warming it up brought it from just ok to spectacular. Next time, I’ll remember to drink this one hot.
Nice review, Sis! I’m still hoarding a small stash of this one!
i’m glad she made you brew this hot! This is a fantastic blend..i’m still hoarding the small bit terri was awesome enough to send me after i used all mine up!
I think David will eventually re-release it, with a different shu. I noticed it’s not on the ‘archived’ list, it’s on the ‘out of stock list’. Keeping fingers crossed!
that should be FAAAAAANTASSTIC! otherwise i task YOU with the job of making it.
I took a risk with this blend because I really dislike licorice.
It turns out that this is an awesome blend. I could appreciate the richness of Shu; the ginger and pepper gives it a little zing. It’s nicely balanced and the spices add to the taste instead of overwhelming it. I barely noticed the licorice :)
Tea of the evening, to go with a delicious dinner of mapo doufu. I made a cup for my partner to try, and I’m not sure why I haven’t offered it to him before, because it’s pretty much a flavour combination that was made for him. Ginger, licorice, sichuan pepper, and a hint smokey and musty. Lovely.
Flavors: Ginger, Licorice, Musty, Smoke
I absolutely LOVE this blend!!!
In fact, I am missing a 2 oz bag of it. I know it’s around here somewhere, there is no way I could have drank the whole thing already!