Verdant Tea

What a unique flavor (⊙０⊙)
I’m not sure exactly what to make of it. It smells like weeds and weedy-flowers (like lemon verbena maybe). The taste is like weeds and garden mulch, very earthy! It’s smooth with no detectable astringency. The first few sips did not do me well and I made some funny faces at it, but the flavor started to grow on me after that. I think this is a tea that I can learn to appreciate given some time, but for now I am undecided.

I shared some of this tea with my dad, who likes tea but usually drinks Lipton. He took a sip, and said, “Wow. I could drink this all day.” He also said it reminded him of Guiness beer. He was very impressed by its resteepability. Very happy in my tea sharing success!!

Oops, this sample never got added to my cupboard, well SIPDOWN anyways! TerriHarplady inspired me to finally try this tea, and I thought I’d better, because if I love it, I will want to order some while it’s in stock lol. Also, I now have my gaiwan, and this tea is perfect for it!

I had one of the little red packets of tea containing 5 g, so I used the whole thing. The dry smell is really strong! I didn’t realize it was in 2 bags at first, and I could smell it through the second! A very nutty and rich aroma. I attempted a rinse lol, that resulted in a mess of tea, as I tried to pour it on the cup and back on the gaiwan to warm everything haha, so tea everywhere, contained on a plate at least lol. The steeped smell is sooo chocolatey. A bit of malt in there too, but so much dark chocolate! The nuttiness isn’t there as much in the smell now, but I do get some caramel and a definite likeness to Laoshan Black. Oh it smells good, I just am sitting here smelling it like a mad person haha. I also probably steeped it for a bit longer than I should have, due to fussing with the gaiwan, it was probably closer to 8-10 seconds.

As for the flavor, wow, I wasn’t really expecting it to taste like it does. My brain tricked me into thinking it would be like Laoshan Black, but this is different, although there are similarities. It’s a giant POW of dark, dark chocolate, with caramel just loading the aftertaste with sweetness. Like, SO SWEET. Wow, this is something!! I think I get some coconut flavor in there as well. I don’t really know what scotch tastes like, so I can’t tell if that’s in there yet, and I also haven’t eaten walnuts lol. Maybe those will show up in subsequent steepings, if I can pick them out. This is just the richest chocolate cake. My goodness, it feels so early in the day for cake!

Overall, so far, this is a spectacularly flavored tea! I can’t get over how crazy sweet the aftertaste is! It’s like a honey caramel flavor that just sticks to my mouth! This is super yummy. I will enjoy many steeps of this today, it is cozy for this windy day that looks like it will storm. I might just have to pick up a bit more of this in my next Verdant order (not for a while lol).

Perfectly nuanced and spiced. Above all the flavor, it is very creamy.

Using a gaiwan with this tea is one of the most amazing tea experiences. It starts off complicated, lots of spice, pine and wood notes with a hint of sweetness. By the end it is purely toasted marshmallow, one of the most amazing, perfect and natural progressions. The spice and pine slowly wear off and the sweetness gets more pronounced each time.

Om NOM nom slurp…burp…
I’m on location at The Bottleworks, home of the Schlafly beer brewery. I don’t drink, but their food is good too. I’ve been pigging out. The tea selection here is the Numi box, which is usually acctable, but currently mostly empty. Luckily I had an envelope of this in my purse, & my little portable brew basket, so I’m happily slurping.
This is such a lovely black tea, so rich in flavors: chocolate, caramel, nuts. I can really agree that it resembles German Chocolate cake, & I really love it. It also resteeps well. I,ve enjoyed 3 steepings @ 3 min, 4, then 5. Satisfying!

The name says Autumn, but it tastes like spring greens! It tastes leafy, sweet, and almost floral. When I smell it I swear I smell just the faintest touch of jasmine, but I don’t taste it. As it cools it picks up a little butteriness. Overall it leaves the impression of fresh spring air. Very refreshing.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this chai!

So I don’t know which one I have, but there are two different ones on Steepster, as Kittenna pointed out, I believe. Since I think I posted on this one before, I’ll continue to do so.

I have a whole 2oz. bag now, and it’s mine! All mine!!

This is truly my favorite chai. It’s complex, well-rounded, and the base has that roasty toasty goodness from laoshan black. Absolutely delicious! And a great way to start my completely free Saturday!

This is for the 2013 harvest as I’m not apt to creating new entries for each year unless someone already has that done. I’ve come to recognise that as far as greens go, i’m best to have small samples for when i want a green straight tea rather than buying actual ounces of tea. I like green teas but they require a certain state of mind from me to really enjoy them. Blacks are still my go to tea.

This is a really lovely tea. I’ve been drinking it this morning while i get ready to meet up with raritea to visit doors open toronto for a wee bit and head to the king edward for late afternoon tea. It should be a really nice time and it looks like the weather is cooperating even if it is a bit cooler than i’d like. My over all impressions of this are that it’s light, slightly floral but not in a way that i don’t like, there’s a sweetness to it as well…I’ll likely be finishing this off over the weekend so more to come.

SO GOOD! Really delicious blend. I have no words.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

Today has been a long rainy day. Was very slow at work but I have been very sore so thankful for my cancellation. Two clients was perfect for today. Also was able to get some much needed dry needling done yay! I have been very tense and stressed lately and this tea seemed to be just what I needed. It smells amazing. Very flowery and sweet like clovers. Mmmm this taste amazing! It’s very calming and relaxing. It tastes like flowers with raw sugar and some woodyness. It’s even kinda creamy with a hint of vanilla. I definitely need to buy more of this!! It’s so savoury! I think I’m going to make a second cup. I also made some iced tea for tomorrow if its nice out.

What, I haven’t made a note on this yet? I’ve had this at least 3 times Western style, and it was awesome! Today, it is my second tea to christen my new gaiwan, as I actually don’t think I’ve ever brewed a white tea gongfu style, even in my little tea pot!

I have no idea how much leaf I used, I just covered the bottom of the gaiwan. I poured 175 degree water in for a few seconds, and poured it out. A few leaves in the cup, but I got them out so it wouldn’t get too strong. My goodness, this smells like JASMINE. Like soo much jasmine, in that short of time! There’s like a bouquet of it in my small cup! Oh, and the dry leaves smell very nice, a bit similar to the Yunnan white jasmine by Verdant, but there is a subtle difference that I notice, but can’t pick out anything specific about it. Just that it’s a tad different. The liquor is a very light color, just the barest hint of color.

This tastes perfect. Just perfect. I can definitely taste a fruitiness mixing with the jasmine, it is so fresh and just pure. It might be my brain wanting to taste the pear note, but I swear it’s there!! Haha, a crispness that reminds me of summer days actually, in the late afternoon with the sun lower on the horizon, and a big apple tree nearby. Sometimes I get strange associations of places that I don’t even know if I’ve been to, just a picture in my mind I guess lol.

Overall, this tea is really good so far done gaiwan style, I should eventually make a note for western. If I recall, this has a bit more flavor in the gaiwan so far than western brewed. I love jasmine teas, and this one definitely does not disappoint. Can’t wait for the bf to try it this way as well, as he LOVESSS jasmine white teas, and actually requests the Yunnan white quite often. He will probably enjoy this quite a lot.

My son Rowan and I enjoyed this steeped up in my new gaiwan set that arrived today: http://verdanttea.com/teas/crystalline-glaze-gaiwan-tea-set/

Beautiful set, beautiful tea. At first I thought my water was too hot, but now that I see the soy milk description, it really is spot on. It doesn’t taste quite as vegetal as some of the previous harvests, it was softer all around but it still has the signature bean quality and a lovely sweet aftertaste that surprised me when it first hit my tongue.

Very grateful Verdant included this generous sample as I await another order of just tea which I think is on hold for, well this tea… it still says pre-order on the website. Patience, I have plenty of tea to tide me over.

Nothing bad to say about this tea. It is Robbust and tasted fresh.

I have never been one for jasmine teas or any of the fruity floral teas…so this was Perfect for me since it didnt really have n.e. of that kinda stuff really. It was bold and seemed to be picked and processed at the perfect time.

One thing I will say is it got me revved up a bit, a lot of caffeine…not in a bad way, just something to point out. Oolongs are that way more than some of the other teas I drink, so I expected it.

I will keep buying this tea if it is out there. Tieguanyin is the best Oolong I have found and its nice to have it hand picked as it feels a bit more authentic.

Brewed twice. By 4th steeping the leaves opened up and I was brewing it for about 2-3 minutes at a time…

I even iced it, it was amazing!

After transferring this tea from the bag to my tea tin I was struck with the bright green color and delicious smell of these leaves. They are practically bursting with life! I am so excited to try this tea.

It is immediately apparent to me that I did not buy enough. Another Verdant order? So soon? It’s very tempting.

The tea smells like nothing I’ve smelled before. Amazing! It’s so hot, but I want to drink it so I’m scalding my mouth. I need to slow down and savor this.

While I sip I’m reading the article on the verdant website about visiting Master Zhang’s fields. It’s a lovely experience and I almost feel transported there, until it gets too noisy outside and I’m abruptly brought back to real life.

This tea is delicious — almost perfect, I’d say! I am filled with gratitude that I discovered steepster and that steepster led me to Verdant Teas. Verdant, you have a huge fan on the west coast! I know you are opening a tea room, but what about a traveling tea caravan or food truck? There was a traveling van that stopped by Occupy Oakland that was giving away free tea. I’m not saying you should give it away, but you could travel the whole continent and share your lovely teas!

Yay! The cocoa canela did the trick..I am now much more awake,and decided to tackle using my gaiwan! I ordered the tall pond gaiwan from Verdant as I have super small hands and would probably fail at using a regular gaiwan. Anyways, this one is super cute, 4 oz capacity I think. I watched David’s video on how to pour from a gaiwan and it was very helpful. I even practised a few times with just water to try to get the hang of it lol. I must say, my hands are almost too small for even this tiny gaiwan. But onto the tea I have brewed with it!

The tea I made is actually the fall/winter version, not the latest spring, although I did get that in the TOMC today as well. But I need to drink this one a bit first, I have a full bag of it! So my unorthodox, inexperience gaiwanry resulted in not much spillage, but a few more leaves in the cup than I would have wanted lol, so I fished them out with a spoon, although I know you can make this tea in a glass with the leaves just chilling in there, so I wasn’t too concerned. But I didn’t spill much! Hooray! I don’t think my steeping was quite 3 seconds lol, as I had to put the kettle back and the lid on before attempting to pour it..but the cup is pretty good nonetheless!

I can’t remember if I’ve reviewed this tea before, but I quite enjoyed it, apart from the one time I miserably overleafed and it was rather bitter. However, today, man, this is sooo lovely. Even though it’s not the spring batch, I am feeling the spring with this cup. Lightly vegetal, with a sparkly note of something delicious, something a tiny bit sweet. It reminds me of the rain outside on the fresh green leaves, all perky and cool and fresh.

Overall, a delicious tea. I will continue to use my gaiwan this afternoon for a few more steeps of this, and I will probably try another tea as well today, maybe a new spring one, or my beloved Eight Treasures Yabao, which also arrived today. NEW TEA/TEAWARE OVERLOAD! :D what a good start to the weekend!

ETA – Second attempt: Less leaves in cup, but more spillage on the plate I put under my teacup lol. Practice makes perfect, I will find the balance!

I didn’t really like this Chai too much, and didn’t even log any except the first cup.

I tried brewing up the last bit of it today, and it just wouldn’t do much – it looked watered down. So I added some Andrews & Dunham Assam and that gave it much more body.

But now I’m out of the Phoenix. But that’s a little more room in my cupboard.

Okay, let’s try this again. Steepster just ate my note.

Anyway, what I want to say is:

Mmmmm, buttery! This tea is really buttery! And thick! I also got a vegetal note like corn. It’s bread-y and sweet also. I steeped it maybe 4 or 5 times at 195 degrees for 30 seconds each. In later steepings, there was a bit of spice…maybe the peppercorn that Verdant notes. I didn’t really get raspberry or pound cake, but if I think really hard, it might have been there in the first steep. I’m just so thrilled to find a truly buttery tea. On the shopping list it goes!

My 200th note! Woooooooo!!

I’ve been slowing down my tea drinking lately due to my busy schedule! Sadface. I have been sharing what tea I have been drinking with my boyfriend, who appears to be enjoying the tea adventures.
I decided to make this one as I knew it was delicious… absolutely delicious.. and he really liked the Laoshan black, which has a somewhat similar flavour profile (though still very different).
Success! Another tea he loves.
Delicious chocolatey malt with big red robe mineral notes that I adore. What a lovely tea.

Now I’m off to Thailand for 3 weeks! I’M SO EXCITED

i’m sure you tea pros probably wanna throttle me by now.
all i do is yammer on about fictional characters and whimsical moods and my cat’s pretty fur and i barely ever really talk about the tea. not like some of you can. AND THIS IS NO EXCEPTION. cuz i made the tea. i drank the tea. i liked the tea. but i’m really not getting much of the deep details from it. some people drink a tea and then they talk about it like it’s a 5 course meal in the rain by a fire! i feel a bit left out.
but i am a diligent student. and if i put in the time i’m sure it will pay off eventually. and if not that’s okay too. but incase it does pay off, i have more of this tea to drink! i’ll save it and try it again in a few months when i feel more susceptible and receptive.
until then, me and my tongue are gonna go pump some tea iron.

This morning, I am enjoying the last little crumb of this tea, that I received from Sil
One of these days I am going to just have to break down and order from Verdant.
This tea makes me want to bake something.
It smells a little like bread baking. (one of my favorite smells in the world)
There is a sweetness to the smell and taste that reminds me of brown sugar.
Then at the back of the throat I get a tinge of clove.
Very lovely tea for any time of the day.
I have throughly enjoyed it, Thank you Sil for sharing:)

wow. um. i must really not like chamomile.
i mean, everyone likes verdant mostly, and i figured why not get this sample, cuz heck there’s chocolate in the name. but um no thank you.
there was a whole dried flower in the bag and i’m really not into it.

i now have two boxes going. they are 12 × 16 × 6 size boxes. one box is samples & swaps i have tasted and the other is samples & swaps i still need to taste. this might be adding to my tea blahs. it kinda looks like a big task when i have it all piled up like that.

jeez i wish i had brought a giant matcha latte with me today. that probably would have fixed me right up!

also, sleeping more instead of staying awake and reading sherlock slash until 2am would probably be a good idea too.