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This is a sample sent to me with my last Verdant order! Thank you David!

I’ll be teaching all afternoon, so I’ll be sipping all afternoon. I’m brewing this in my Gaiwan, following the instructions on the Verdant site. The label on the sample says Light Roasted Aged Tieguanyin, so I believe this is the advanced sample of the tea I’ve listed it as. If not, someone feel free to correct me!

Dry scent: dehydrated banana & toasted rice
1st steep: the wet leaf smells of toasted seaweed, the tea is a pale apricot, with a mildly essence of banana in the flavor
2nd steep: the color is now light carmel, smell of toasted rice, I can’t define the taste, buy my tongue is tingling around the edges!!
3rd steep: (just burnt my fingers because I filled the gaiwan too full) I’m getting a slightly tropical flavor, & still toasty rice, & the creaminess of rice pudding is starting to rise.
4th: (the wet leaf now smells like Seaweed steaming on charcoal)
now there is a mild sweetness, hinting at roasted carrots
5th: the center of my tongue has a bright metalic sensation, but not in a bad way, it’s like a sparkly tingly magic thing…actually, now I’m feeling that this sensation is like the acidity you feel on your tongue after eating pineapple, from the enzymes in that fruit. I’m not really tasting pineapple so much, just feeling the sensation of it.

I think I’m on #8 now. My mouth is watering!

Rather than drag this on, I will go teach & continue sipping…

This is the last of my generous sample from Bonnie. Thanks Dear!

Gratefully, I’ve already ordered more from verdanttea.com, & if you like it or want to try it, better order some right away, because it’s being replaced with the Fall blend, any day now!

Smooth, deep, rich, mineralizing, awesome plain or sweet.
A perfect tea for my bubble bath.
Enough said.

First, thanks to Amanda (the “Be a Fruitloop in a world of Cherrios” Amanda, there are 2 Amandas here) for this tea!!

I’m sitting here, eating breakfast & sipping tea with my left hand, & typing with my right hand. I thought that might occupy little T so I could write this review in peace. This is the 2nd of 3 teas she thought would fit the “talk like a pirate day” theme. (The third one is Buttered Rum, by Davids Tea, which Bonnie sent to me. I already reviewed it last week).

Dry, it has a fruity & buttery aroma. A dark tea with bits of cacao nibs, very enticing. I brewed 1 tsp in 8oz for 3min.

“arrrrrr…tastee! Buttery, creamy, bold, & worthy of a sea-farin’ swag like me…a wee bit of a bite, but not ‘nough to blow a man down. Tastes more like rum than whiskey, to my per-view, & I likes me whiskey, says I, says I. She’s a lovely diversion, a beauty for sure. Takes me back to the beaches of Moroloro, where I sat, stranded for a year, aye, yes it does. ’twould’ve been a miserable one, that, had I not found a treasure in the cave: barrels of black tea, 50 cases of rum, & some food rations. Endless supply o’ coconuts on that Isle…aye,… ’twas a year of wonder…”

Arrrrrrr, me Hearties!!! ‘Tis a lovely morn, & I’m takin’ a float on me Black Dragon Pearl. She’s a beauty of a ship, & pervides a rich & tasty sip, if I say so me self. Rich, robust, with a bit of malt & chocolate, she makes me want to sing, “Yo ho yo ho the pirate’s life for me”. So bring out your whiskey & rum flavored teas, me Lovelies! Lift up your pinkies, me Bonnie tea brewsters, in a salute to Jolly Roger, whilst we swill down our steepings & savor the day! Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!

Explanation: Yesterday was “International Talk Like a Pirate Day”. Little Terri was very excited to participate & had lined up 3 teas to review, all with a pirate theme & jargon. We spent the day running around, & we both forgot all about it until about 1:00am. She blathered on about it all night, in my head, & so there you have it.

This tea was provided by the lovely Azzrian. I’ve had Black Dragon Pearl from Teavana & have loved it ever since they started carrying it. I tend to use 5 or 6 pearls in 8 oz cup & brew 3 minutes, re-steeping 2 or 3 times. I’m thinking that Mandala’s pearls may be a little stronger than Teavana’s, but, on a pirately day such as this, I’m liking it! Excellent straight, sweetened, & also with the addition of the milk of your choice, it’s a great breakfast tea.

I just got home from the grocery store. I didn’t really want to go, but I’ve been avoiding it for a week, the meals were starting to be odd, & I ran out of stevia! So I made a deal with myself: Give the Caramel Matcha a 2nd chance by making a smoothie & I could drink it on my way to the store!

If you read my first caramel matcha tasting notes, you’ll know that I made a hot latte & wasn’t that thrilled with it. Several people mentioned to me that they liked it cold, and as it turns out, the good news is that it was YUM in the cold smoothie!! Here’s my recipe:

In the blender (preferably a vitamix if you have one, I’ve destroyed innumerable blenders by dropping chunks of frozen fruit in them):
1 C almond milk (I like Blue Diamond unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze)
1 tsp caramel matcha
the sweetener of your choice: I used a few drops of stevia

Blend, then gradually add:
1 frozen banana, broken into pieces

Blend some more!
Yum, it was delicious!
So now I know why everyone keeps ranting & raving about this stuff!

Thanks to everyone who offered their suggestions!

I got a sample tin of this from the Tea Spot because I like the pretty picture of teeny tiny little yellow flowers mixed with green tea! It’s not a tea that will make my top ten list, just something to slip in between all the dark teas, to cleanse the palate!

Dry it smells lightly of carmel & vanilla.
Wet, add a hint of lemon peel.

The taste is pretty mellow, mildly tinged with vanilla & carmel & a slight toasty flavor. I play at a lot of weddings & receptions, but I’ve never actually eaten wedding cake, so who knows?

I added a pinch of stevia. I’ve been doing that more & more lately, these flavored teas require it to really bring out their best. So now I’m drinking a twinky! I haven’t one of those in about 45 years, & you- know-who likes it!

First, thank you Bonnie, for this tea!

I’ve had 3 lattes today, & my son Drew & I split a small chocolate from Kakao. It was the size of a quarter & had cacao nibs & matcha in & on it. It was just a small piece of very dark chocolate, which I allowed to melt in my mouth until it was just the nibs. Now I need something grounding & this puerh sounded like it might be just right.

I am a gardener. In my backyard you will found 6 compost piles. Two of them are strictly for leaves (I have 3 pin oaks & various smaller trees). It takes 18 months to break down oak leaves, so the leaves I rake into a retaining area this fall won’t be used until the spring of 2014. They are an awesome addition to the clay-like soil we have here. The other 4 piles are for yard & kitchen waste. Everything starts in the first pile, gradually getting turned to the next pile in the row, hopefully by the time it gets to the last enclosure the compost is ready, thanks to the actions of various factors that cook the contents.

I mention this because Shu Puerh is basically compost, made from tea.
This does not bother me, as I also make sauerkraut & other cultured products at home, which are also ‘cooked’, or predigested by various bacteria, etc. I’m fairly new to puerh, but I understand the science!

So, dry there was an oceanic smell, wet the leaves smell like sea veggies. The tea itself was deeply grounding, mineral tasting, with a color that I can only describe as blood orange.
I steeped per Ms. Bonnie’s instructions, & although I enjoyed each steeping, I’ll say that the latter ones were my favorite, as the flavor got more mineral, more grounding. Just what I needed. Nothing frilly, no sweetener, just an earthy cup & me.

I just got home from an outing with my daughter Ari & my grandson Kyzer. We met at Foundation Grounds, where they had lunch & I had a Chai Almond milk Latte (this is the day for lattes I guess), & it was tasty! Next we walked down the street to Kakao, & I bought them each a treat. There were also free samples (“The Big squeal” bacon brittle).

Coming home, I discovered that my Red Leaf order had arrived. All I ordered was the Carmel Matcha with the canister (& it is a really nice, cute canister!).

I heated some almond milk, I heated some water. I opened the package of matcha…not sure if I like the smell…reminds me of…something…I can’t quite pinpoint it…

I whisked 1 t of the matcha in my little blue bowl, it did froth up nicely! Then I whisked in the hot almond milk & I poured it into 2 cups, one for me & one for my son Drew. Tasted kind of buttery, & has a buttery feel. Ahhh…the smell I noticed is like theater popcorn butter! Anyway, Drew drank his straight, I opted for a little stevia, which was an improvement, but it’s probably not my thing.

Send me suggestions, people, as to what I’m really suppose to do with this. I have frozen bananas, almond milk…maybe I’ll try it straight next time & see if I like that better.

I sampled this tea yesterday at the London Tea Room (LTR), & it was quite tasty, especially with a little stevia (yes, I carry stevia around with me everywhere I go, & teabags, but you knew that…). The name makes you think it’s just mate & chocolate, but there’s also some puerh in there, adding depth, along with some vanilla & a little coconut. It was good, & it had promise, so I bought some.

Every morning the countertops in my kitchen are clean when I wake up. By evening they are littered with a selection of cups, saucers, miniature bowls, spoons, various brewing implements, etc. Every tea must have it’s own way of being brewed & served (to myself, mostly), & this one is no different. I want a Latte, so I’m using my tall ceramic cup that has its slide on heat absorbing band.

So I brewed 1 Tbl of tea (to make it strong) in about a cup of hot water for 4 minutes with a little stevia, meanwhile heating up some coconut milk (I did not measure it, sorry). Then I swirled them both together in my preheated cup, & yum! It’s nice & creamy, like a mild cup of hot cocoa. I might use even more tea next time, simply because I go for BOLD.

Last week I got a new tin of Meditative Mind from the Tea Spot, & while there I ordered a few sample sizes of teas I’d like to try.

Shagadelic English Breakfast?? How could I turn that one down? Old hippy chick that I am, a name like that was not to be ignored!

This is my first tea of the day, I’m on my 2nd cup. I had one cup brewed 3 minutes, plain, & it is bold, full, nicely balanced. A slight undertone of orange peel taste (even though it’s just tea in here) gives it a mildly acidic taste, but not uncomfortably so. I could drink this regularly!

2nd cup brewed 4 minutes, add stevia & drink 1/2 of the cup, swirling the malty flavors as they blossom forth. Add coconut milk to the 2nd half of the cup, ah creamy goodness!

Good morning everyone!