Good News Mi Lan Dancong Black is now available on the Verdant Website
Pre-release Preview Review Thank you David Duckler for this Sample
Last week I received my order of Laoshan White Tea…so happy to open the Verdant box. There was a note from David Duckler and 2 pouches of samples with handwritten labels that both said ‘Pre-release Preview’ and the name of the tea!
I’ve waited days to try the first tea. No distractions. I wanted to do a proper job of being quiet and still. Sometimes I tell a story with a tea review. A vision will come easily. Today, I had many visions of moonless phosphorescent lagoons and tropical flora. An Island lived on and others traveled to. The visions were many and mine alone. I don’t know why.
The flavors and tastes I am able to share with more ease.
Here are the directions:
4 tsp. tea leaves, 4oz. boiling water
rinse 1 second
steep 3 seconds and add 1 second for each additional steeping
(I followed this method for 3 steepings then switched to Geoffrey’s method of 6 oz water and 8 seconds on the 4th steeping)
The wet leaves smelled initially roasty and vegital, then more and more like tobacco.
The color of the liquor began as a light gold then changed and remained vibrant golden ocre and clear.
Steepings:
Flavor discriptions:
1. Shock! Is this a Black tea or a Dragonwell?
The first taste was such a surprise of sweet, succulent juiciness.
I was caught up in a rush, cream and floral smashing at full force then zoom…all the way to roasted pork loin with crispy skin and the scent of sugared stone fruit at the bottom of my cup. Wow! That was fast! Like the first Star Wars hyperspeed to warp speed…then jump to Lightspeed!
Pause
2. I experienced a little tannin and bitterness for a split second up front. Then, it was all gone. A sweetness swooshed around me like a golden cape of perfect burre blanc sauce with salted yellow plantain. Thick, sweet… ending with freshly sliced mango dripping with fruit sugar. Impossible! This was so tropical for a black tea!
I had to stop and catch my breath!
3. The tea smelled like risotto with a hint of saffron. This was the best flavor. There was no bitterness and the tannin was way back on the tongue. Sweet, honey, creamy with the mango lighty coupled with D’anjou pear. Um um um lick your lips good!
4. Following Geoffrey’s (Business Manager at Verdant) sensibility, I steeped the leaves a little longer to see what would happen.
Ok…
This was the first time I could absolutely tell this was truly a black tea. (I thought there was a mystery involved earlier. A cloak was disguising this Black Dancong.)
Now I remembered some black teas from Napal. Those lavish border blacks that have fruity lightness and are deeply rich that I adore.
The sugar noted in earlier steepings had become wildflower honey and there was a new nutty, salty, pecan flavor in the background that was so light and delicious. The previous fruit and a new floral softness was playfully dancing in my cup as if they had always been present together.
At that moment, all of it came together. The swirl of all three previous tastings and this final one ended with clarity…. of settling down.
I have never experienced a Black Tea like this one. It was like an oolong, a darjeeling or dragonwell and then not. Then again a Black Tea!
Some tea’s are exquisitly Beautiful! Full of private visions!
Some Sparkle!
This Mi Lan Dancong is one of those special tea’s filled with Radiance.
