Terri HarpLady

This is a sipdown of the generous sample sent to me by Ysaurella!
It is delicious, & when I place an order someday with Mariage Freres, this will be on it! It is a tasty almond sugar cookie!
Thanks again Ysaurella!

And so it comes to this.
The Moonlight White cake was roasted winter squash, even some roasted green beans near the end…
The Silver Buds Yabao was a creamy cooked grain…
And Golden Fleece is the golden mushroom gravy poured over the top…buttery, sweet, savory & earthy, so satin smooth, so satisfying.

It also feels like a flaky buttery pastry, not physically, of course, but it brings that to mind for me. The mouthfeel of this tea is so thickly satisfying!

Everytime I drink this, the flavor automatically just seems SO familiar. It’s a cooked breakfast cereal: Cream of wheat, or maybe steel cut oats, cooked overnight in the crockpot. There is a pool of butter, a drizzle of honey, a puddle of soymilk, & a sprinkle of cinnamon. It’s a winter morning’s bowl of soothing porridge, bland but warming.

Someone else described it as a Snickerdoodle cookie, & I can agree with that as well. It’s very pleasant, & there’s a hint of pine. Where the Moonlight white cake was roasted winter squash, with roasted green beans being added in later steepings, this is like the bed of grains you might have underneath it.

I joined the verdant tomc back in Nov. I sample each month’s selections, & then I hoard them. It’s a habit I’ve been trying to break, in more than one area of my life. So as of a few weeks ago, I’m trying to make an effort to work my way through my entire stash, including the TOMC. Today I’m focusing on November, & this is one of the teas from that offering.

I’ve reviewed it before, & while I was sipping it today, I made a few notes in my tea journal (I have journals for everything).
dry smell of canned milk
wet smell of winter squash
steeped: mildly sweet, soothing, tastes like carmelized winter squash.
After drinking through several steepings, I checked my notes on steepster from previous steepings, & I’m pleased to say that they were pretty much the same!

Another sipdown, bringing me closer to my next Butiki order
:)

Time for some green tea. Verdant has the best green tea I know of.
I used to drink a lot of green tea, but I don’t drink it as often now. I have a theory about that. For a number of years I was completely free of all substances (just for the record, before that time I spent several years of wild & crazy partying). So, no sugar, no caffeine, etc.
I only drank herbals teas.
Then I discovered green tea, which I initially didn’t like the flavor of, & in fact, the effect of the caffeine freaked me too.
But good addict that I am, I kept drinking it, & grew to love the lively sensations.
Then it was orchid oolong…green tea became less interesting…
Then a roasty peach oolong…
Then iced ginger peach black tea…
Then hot & bold black tea, the love of my life. Malty, sexy, Yeah!!
Oh, & now puers…earthy, lively, 3rd eye opening, energizing!
My theory?? Oh yeah…Uh…well… it had something to do with caffeine content, along the lines of the tendency of addicts to develop a tolerance to their drug of choice. Of course, now we know that caffeine content isn’t as predictable as originally thought, so that probably shoots down my theory, which was that as soon as my addict brain got a hold of something more potent, it started saying, “I want more of THAT! The other stuff is boring.”

First Sipdown of the day!
I served this to my first student of the day. Most of my morning & early afternoon students are adults of various ages. I knew that she would enjoy this one, & I also had a cup. It’s yummy creamy goodness!

So I finally opened the TOMC box & started looking through it. This tea was in there, which I already have in my cupboard, which at first irritated me, but ultimately, it’s more tea for me to drink, & it is a tea I enjoy, so really, it’s a good thing!

I enjoyed multiple steepings of this, western style, while cooking my breakfast. I’ve already reviewed it a few times, & it is good.

BTW, everytime I see Master Han’s name on a package, I think of Han Solo. If he had been the one to study with Yoda, he would have become Jedi Master Han! :)

I thought I had reviewed this already, but I guess not!
My daughter Ari & grandson Kyzer came over & we fixed 2nd Breakfast, so of course, this was the appropriate tea for the occasion! Irish breakfast, sweet potato, vanilla, & cinnamon! Add stevia & yum!
Ari is the kitchen manager for a restaurant that serves amazing waffle-based dishes, both sweet & savory, & I’m helping her to come up with some waffles that are gluten & dairy free. We sampled 3 different recipes:
1 The almond flour pancakes from elenaspantry.com – these are my go-to paleo pancakes for when I need a treat for breakfast, any time of day.
2 A variation on the above recipe, substituting half of the almond flour with Hazelnut flour. I once made pancakes that way, & they were a real taste treat!
3 The pumpkin waffle recipe from paleOMG.com – This one was the winner, hands down! NOM NOM NOM! Her recipes rock, & although these waffles were a little more tender & fragile, they were out of this world!
Bring on the bacon, the maple syrup (just a little), & the tea, of course! Bilbo would have been proud!

I had to go deposit some checks in the bank, & I always enjoy a sweet tea to drink when I’m driving, so I brewed some of this Chai. It’s actually a fairly decent Chai, at least in my opinion. Tasty with stevia.

I’m backtracking through my day.
My student ‘D’ is a middle aged college prof who enjoys tea, so I’ve gotten in the habit of making tea to share with him during his lesson. Today it was this green, which was just right.

So I know I’m not the only person here that is a member of the Verdant Reserve TOMC. My March box arrived on saturday (according to the online tracking it was delivered friday at 3:30, but that wasn’t true). I’ve had a busy couple of days, & only today did I finally have time to just relax & breath, & sample something from the box. I picked this sheng first because I’ve been dragging all day, & I realized I really needed some Sheng.

It’s a loose Sheng, & real appealing visually, with shades ranging from a dark olive drab to charcoal. The aroma was of lime (the fruit), with a vanilla quality, but not in the actual smell, more in the way it made my nose feel. The wet aroma was of bright winter sunshine.
I followed the instructions: 5G + 4oz (rinse) X 4 sec
I like to pour 1 cup to savor, then combine the next 3 in a little glass pitcher. I sit & enjoy & when the pitcher is empty, I do it again.

The first steeping was the texture of unglazed porcelain.
Citrus up the the center of my tongue, hinting of lime.
A very ‘clean’ sensation.
2-4 a highly mineralized clay, which would seem drying, but somehow a sweet juiciness also was there, transforming the lime to tangerine.
My tongue started tingling.
5 Very bright taste of sunlight
6 – 8 Polished stone, or glazed porcelain. There’s something about this tea that reminds me of the texture of unsalted rice cakes, with an aftertaste of almond, & now I’m thinking of those awesome Nut Thin almond crackers. Yeah!
9 – 12 Now a vegetal taste starts coming up. I’m also thinking of lime again, but this time it is the lime used for making corn tortillas.
I’ll probably steep a few more rounds later, but I’m starving now, so time to fix something to eat!

I feel better now than I’ve felt all day!

Heading out the door to let the chiropractor work his magic.
I’ve enjoyed this tasty tea! Sil’s post about it reminded me that I was still hoarding the final cup.
First Sipdown of the day!

Of course!

Another sipdown of another sample!
I just got home from a performance with the UMSL University Symphony Orchestra. The highlight of the performance was a cello concerto, Schelomo. The young man who played it was amazing, I feel honored to have been part of the orchestra tonight!
So I’m having this tea to wind down, & also getting ready to start on my taxes in a few minutes. I have to tell you, this tea brewed beautifully! The chrysanthemum floated to the surface & looked so perfect, that I took a pic & posted it on my FB. If you want to see it, go to https://www.facebook.com/terri.langerak.

Anyway, a beautiful evening!

KS posted about this a little while ago, & I realized I still had one Tuocha left, and with the damp & cool weather we are having (which I’m not complaining about, my garden loves it, even if my body doesn’t), this seemed like the perfect choice for my next cup.

Thanks KS for bringing it to mind, and thanks again to Angel @ TeaVivre for the sample. As soon as my finances allow, I am planning a TeaVivre order, & I’d like to get some of this I think.

It’s a very soothing, earthy, grounding cup. The flavor is of a really well aged compost, tobacco, a hint of vanilla. I wish the rose flavor was more prominent, as I do like my roses!
It’s a sipdown. I’ll resteep a few times, of course.

I like this Keemun. Truthfully I like the one from TeaVivre better I think, but this one is nice too. Honestly, they are 2 completely different teas. This one has a hint of smoke, a nice body, & although I’m drinking it straight up, I know from experience that it is also good with a little stevia, & even a little almond or coconut milk occasionally.

This is such a nice bold cup! I don’t really feel that it compares to a yunnan, more like an Assam in my opinion. Definitely what I needed to start moving today!

It’s been a LONG day!
I started the morning with Anxi Fo Shou again, simply because I was at Tony’s & it’s so convenient to take there, & it’s tasty! Western style.
Since it’s St. Patricks day I had a cup of Irish breakfast (Adagio…uninspiring) with breakfast.
Then it was “Road Trip”. I had a concert out of town, so I brewed up 2 things to drink on the road:
1. a 12 oz mug with Irish Breakfast & Cream (both by Adagio), adding stevia & french vanilla coconut milk creamer. It was my attempt to create an Irish cream flavor, but lacked the whiskey. None the less, it was ok…
2. A 16 oz insulated mug with Bilbo Brew, also from Adagio. It features Irish Breakfast (are we picking up on the theme yet?), sweet potato, vanilla, & cinnamon. I added stevia & creamer to that too. I like to drink sweet stuff while I’m driving. I’d like to report that Colin Farrell magically appeared in the passenger’s seat while I was drinking all the Irish themed teas, but the teas weren’t entirely worthy of his appearing & saying something like, “pass me a sip, then, lass”

I drove 1.5 hours, set up, was fed, drank a cup of ‘bagged’ english breakfast. My gig was fun, I sold some CDs, made some money, & then loaded up, refilled my mug with a double dose of english breakfast tea bags, & hit the road. It was a long horrible drive. I don’t really like to travel much at night, & I hate driving on the highway when it’s raining crazily, with intermittent hail & lots of wind. This is one of the only times in life when I become a woose. Gratefully I finally got home, unloaded my gear, had a strong chamomile concoction with extra valerian extract added. Checked my FB, checked here.
Now I’m going to bed. Hopefully I won’t have nightmares about driving in storms…

I thought the water would never boil! Finally, my first cup of the day!
I’m steeping this western style again: dump the whole package in a cup, steep 3 mins, with subsequent steepings @ 4 & 5 mins. It’s very satisfying this way, & although I enjoy it in a Gaiwan as well, this is easy & I want easy.

The gig I played today went very nicely, then I returned home & took my Harley out for a spin. It was such a nice day, 70 degrees, & Ruby (1200 custom sportster, lava sunglow red) has been stuck in the garage forever. It always seems like the days when it’s beautiful weather I’m playing a gig or teaching, & the days I’m free to ride it rains.

So we buzzed around town, it felt so good to feel the wind! When I got home I went on a crazy tea frenzy! I pulled out the Nov TOMC selections, & actually followed the suggestions for once.
First I Steeped Mt Banzang’s Sheng. If I could buy a whole cake of this, I would, but at $300 the answer is no.
Then I made some Autumn picked laoshan green. It really is a lovely contrast. The Banzang is rustic, smoky, tangy, tongue numbing & 3rd eye opening, then the laoshan green is so fresh tasting, buttery greens. I sipped back & forth between 2 Gaiwans, & then did a few more steeps on yesterday’s Big Leaf Sheng too. The next part of the suggested instructions was to mix the sheng & green together, 3G green to 1G Sheng. So I had 4 Gaiwans going. Finally, “add a pinch of the toasted rice to each one”. That took them all over the top!
That was the end of my tea drinking for today :)

Headed to the bubble bath with this wonderfully bold & chocolatey tea.

Good morning Steepsterites!
I’m up earlier than usual, as I have a concert today at noon to play.
I’ll play a mix of Irish & Classical, and I woke up hungry, so my morning routine order is a little switched: Breakfast & tea, bubble bath, yoga (that’s usually first), warm up on my harp, then hit the road!

So far I have only enjoyed this tea Gongfu style, which is the only recommendation on the Verdant website. I made the mistake of brewing Yu Lu Yan Cha in a mug as if it were Laoshan black, & the results was not pleasant, at least not for me. So I’ve been a little hesitant to make that mistake again, Fo Shou. (Sorry…couldn’t help it)

But what the hell! Tea is all about the experience, all about the experiment, right? As in tea, so in life, right? So I went for it. I opened the little red package, it’s roughly a Tablespoon, dumped in the steeper basket, & added hot water. I let it go for 3 minutes, just like Laoshan Black. It was AWESOME! 2nd cup steeped 4 minutes, 3rd cup = 5 minutes.

I’m a happy camper! Now I know that I can take this tea either way, & that just made my day!

There is a big pot of stew waiting for me, but after reading Bonnie’s Sheng post, I wanted some.

This is a super ‘clean’ tasting sheng, very mellow, with a nice energy about it. I already did a more extensive review, commenting on the tangerine peel flavor, so that’s all I’m saying.
I’m gonna relax & enjoy this for awhile.