Verdant Tea (Special)

I can’t believe I still have all of the green teas sent out last spring from the verdant TOMC & reserve TOMC. This is one of them. I enjoy them, but I tend to drink other teas instead. One of my goals for April is to drink green or white tea each day, so that I can start working my way through these.

This one is tasty. The leaves are pressed flat, resembling dragonwell in their appearance. The flavor is rich & thick (I’m on the 3rd steep), kind of nutty, & of course, green! I know that’s a lame & generic description, but I’m trying to get some work done around here, hahaha

I enjoyed this tea earlier today with a student. As I mentioned yesteday, I’m not a fan of the Dragonwell steeping method. The teas tend to get too astringent for my tummy when I steep them that way.

On the other hand, I love my glass test tube steeper, & with the other 1st picking tea it was perfect at short steeps. This one wants to be in the water longer, so maybe next time I’ll try the dragonwell method with it after all.

It definitely has a more mineral profile in the flavor, & a slightly ‘dry’ feeling, but not dry in the sense that my mouth is dry, but more in the sense of an almost powdery sensation & almost lemony feel in the later steepings.

Thanks to Stephanie, I’m going to renew my commitment to drinking up all of my green teas. This one is from last June’s Reserve TOMC, & I’m grateful to say that it still tastes just as fresh & green as it did a year ago. I shared several steepings with one of my college students today, & there is just enough for one more sessions, so it goes into the sipdown box, to await my next Sipdown Extravaganza.
4G + Test tube steeper (6oz?) X 30/45/60/etc
Drank in those little tiny 1 or 2 oz double walled glass ‘jello shot’ teacups.

The month is almost over & I’m finally drinking this one.
The flavor is SO green! I went with the test tube steeper, short steepings, & it’s so rich & full it reminds me of Matcha!

Sitting in a garden, surrounded by delicate spring flowers, eating a cream puff…or maybe a bowl of whipped cream…yup, that pretty much describes this tea :)
Sipdown
ps…after several steepings, you notice that your neighbor is mowing the grass…

This is not a sipdown, but it had to happen.
I have a new harp students whose parents are from China, & her Dad & I have been talking about tea. He likes Tieguanyin, so I served him some of this one today. He loved it!
It really is a wonderful TGY, such lovely florals & aroma, & it was fun to share it. This one is from the Reserve TOMC, last June.

This is one of the Reserve TOMC offerings.
The dry aroma is incredibly sweet, & brings to mind the color orange, like the Day Lilies blooming in my yard.
I love the color green, it is my most favorite color, & one of my favorite things about Tieguanyins is the amazing almost irridescent green. This one looks pretty much the same as other TGYs: Beautiful!

I followed the recommend steeping parameters, using my test tube steeper (I LOVE that thing), as it allows me to control the steep time a little better.

The first steeping was a pale yellow, delicately floral, & in my mind I saw a field of buttercups.
The second steeping became even more floral & sweet, & I thought of when my kids & I used to make candied violets.
The Third steeping created a scene (in my mind) of tiny spring flowers: violets, wild strawberry, wild onion. Tiny flowers bloom all over my yard & my neighbors yards in the early spring.
Beginning with the 4th steeping, the florals began to gradually diminish the be mixed with a growing green flavor & a creaminess as well.

This is a lovely Tieguanyin. As with the other Reserve TOMC teas, I’m not sure that it’s really that spectacular, but it was a pleasure to drink.

I’m not super fond of Sheng Puerh.
I know that’s not something one should admit, but there it is…I’ve said it!
Why? Some are too timid and some too ashy for my taste.
I mentioned this to Lily Duckler and got an “Aha, I know just the sheng’s for you!”, which I hope she’ll enlighten me on at some point. I have an open mind!

Peeking at the flavor profile for the Haixingtang Sheng I was intrigued. It sounded like a Sheng Puerh I might like (skeptical comment but truthful).

Method: Fat Gaiwan, 4 oz water to 5 grams leaf. 1 Rapid rinse.

Chose to follow a 5 second steep, increasing 5 seconds each pour.

Visually: Sparkling clear champaigne gold liquor.

The first taste was so light that I could barely detect anything other than a bit of savory, spinachy something.

Unsatisfied, I gulped a big swig of tea which washed my mouth with the round flavor of vanilla bark. Something very distictly puerh’ish, a bit earthy with heat on the tip of my tongue.

The aroma of steeping tea smelled like spanikopita and vanilla pudding wafting through my kitchen. Sweet and savory!

I filled my cup again, the spinach gone, the texture smooth and refined.

Steep 3 changed to creamy spinach and spicy heat (odd how the spinach flavor came and went). I let the cup cool down, and tasted raisins.

The 4th steep was creamy, smooth and green vegital but not savory.
At the far back sides of my palate, I tasted CLOVE! The flavor was completely isolated from the creamy vegital taste.
Then, the tip of my tongue tingled the way ginger heats the mouth.

Again, I steeped the leaves and poured a glistening cup of Puerh.
I was puzzled about the aroma and flavor of the tea. The vanilla I tasted wasn’t Cookie or Pastry vanilla, but something different.

This was familiar in my taste memory, an experience with the scent and flavor if I could just remember!

Passing the Gaiwan in front of my nose, then sipping the tea…I remembered where I had smelled the scent, then the taste of the vanilla.

Months ago, I went with my granddaughter Schey to the local Hooka Bar! The scent and flavor was something like the vanilla tobacco…grassy, vanilla yet smooth.

Sounds odd, but there it was.

I quite liked this Sheng actually.

My apologies for the static structure of this review which when I began, was interrupted by several phone calls…ugh.

A new Steepster sent me a note that got me thinking. I’ve assumed that most people know who I am because I’ve been on Steepster for a long time, and so I chatter on with my stories, which makes no sense to newer arrivals.
My apologies.
In an effort to catch up anyone who may need to time-travel to the present…
I’m the OLD LADY of Steepster! Yes,65 and proud of it!
With health issues (migraines and fibromyalgia)…I live a happy, frugal life in Colorado (close to my daughter and her big family of 3 biological, 5 adopted and various foster children!).
My social outlets are a friendly local tea house (Happy Lucky’s), Church, writing on Steepster and a blog. I write about tea and tell stories most of the time in run-on sentences. Often, I’m opinionated but I never mean to offend anyone. I’m a lover of life and and a beginner learning about tea!

Sipdown, 107. Sad sipdown! This has become one of my favorite white teas, and one I really enjoy drinking.

The first few steeps of this today were super sweet and marshmallowy, even though they were so pale I could hardly tell there would be any flavor. Ye of little faith! They were delicious. Later steeps yielded a bit of squash and and honey. I have a few more detailed notes on this one, so I will just end by saying that this is delicious, I am sad that it has finally been moved to the out of stock section, but am intrigued that it hasn’t been “archived.” Maybe there will be another picking next spring? I can hold out hope!

I read through my previous note for this one and I really think I don’t have much else to say about it. That was a very thorough note, haha. I will say that I am going to rate this one now because it is really quite lovely. Tons of marshmallowy sweetness. If there is still some of this around when I make my end-of-November order, I will likely include some.

I got up early this morning to go birding and climbed a lot of big hills. Saw a baby Barred Owl, which was amazing. But now I am exhausted; it’s warm outside but cool in our house; all of these things seemed appropriate for a white tea, and I admit I have been quite curious about this one. I recently decided, upon tasting several whites from Teavivre, that Silver Needles are my favorite type of white tea.

The dry leaf on this is some of the most gorgeous leaf I’ve ever seen. The leaves are ‘plump’ and large, and covered with the softest downy covering that felt like the finest velvet. Beautiful. I don’t have a gaiwan and can’t justify a purchase of the one I want right now, so I decided it would be fine if I brewed this one in my ru kiln gongfu pot. My rinse was almost colorless but I took a sip anyway… you never know when a tea will provide an amazing rinse. This one was not super flavorful, but it does have some light, creamy, hay notes popping through as well.

Even my first steep at 10 seconds was quite light in flavor, although it was quite tasty. I think I had expected more sweetness from this, but instead it is more like a dry white wine. The flavors seem like they should be sweet but the tea itself is not. I do think I get a sense of marshmallow from this, though it’s more the pillowy-ness than sweetness. Later steeps were thicker, more squashy and also more like clover honey. I am getting a bit of the breadiness that I have gotten from silver needles in the past, but not a lot. A nice, smooth white tea that isn’t too hayish nor too green. I did get some interesting cucumber notes as well in late steeps.

I very much enjoyed this tea, and now I am feeling the buoyant energy of a white tea. What a pleasant afternoon tea.

My final tea of the evening has been this Sheng, from last spring’s Reserve TOMC.
7G + 5 oz yixing (rinse) x 15/30/45sec etc…
For starters, this one has a fresh pine forest scent, which is very appealing. The early cups are instantly pine & camphor, & then maybe 4 steeps in there is also a sweet mint quality to it. The later steepings still remind me of Hominy (grits), taking on a butteriness as well. I’m not done drinking it just yet, I think I can still get a few more cups out of it, but this is the end of it, as this is a sipdown!

I finally got a chance to relax & run through several gongfu steepings of this one today. The predominant element was a clean earthiness & a minty fresh sensation.

Edit: AND the flavor of Hominy (grits). That came up in later steepings.

I’m just getting started on a yixing session with this tea. There is an orange peel like quality to it that today brings to mind the old Constant Comment, which in my gramma’s house was considered the ‘fancy tea’, lol. That is not to say that this tastes ANYTHING like CC, but it just made me think of it.

Meanwhile, Some of Us were whining yesterday about the last of our zhu rong & running out of Vanilla Citrus Spice, & I just looked at Verdant’s site & they are BACK!!! YEAH!! Guess who is getting ready to order some tea?
little terri says it’s our reward for getting our taxes done, & Ms Theresa just agreed (which is amazing, cuz she can be so disagreeable, especially when it comes to spending money!)

First Sipdown from the latest Sil Box.
It’s not a true sipdown, because I think I have some of this from the Reserve TOMC, but I’m counting it anyway.

This is a really tasty Sheng, which I’ve been drinking whilst paying my bills. I’d like to linger over it for a another hour or so, but I have a gig to get ready for. See previous review for a better description.

Thanks Sil!

From the May Reserve TOMC.

This is a nice smooth & sweet sheng, with a mouthfeel similar to what you get after eating citrus, most notably a tangerine peel sensation. There is also a creamy aftertaste/feel. The flavor is mild, green, a little sweet, & a slight bitterness of cloves. I’ve been enjoying it for awhile, & will continue steeping a little longer. I have had better shengs, but this one is nice too.

Okay, so I’m drinking the first cup of this (brewed Western style because that’s how I roll) cold because I’m intimidated by it and I’ve been staring at it for the last 7 hours now without taking a sip. I have to drink 750 ml of it in the next 2 hours though or I’ll have to pour some out before I go home. I don’t like leaving liquids in the pot overnight.

An hour later, I forget myself and start drinking while talking and I made the most horrible face and had to interrupt myself, coughing. I do not like this tea at all. I liked the sheng version of this cake, but the shu version does not agree with me in the slightest. The ‘earthiness’ (the best word I can find, though it’s not exactly what I’m looking for) is just not to my taste at all. Still on the search for a shu that I can drink.

From last year’s Verdant Reserve TOMC, the May edition, I started steeping this & realized that I’m just not really in the mood for a white tea.
Regardless, I’m sipping one steeping after another of this oh so pale golden liquor, with a light flavor of cream & sourdough bread. I really need an energy boost, & I need it now, so I’ll probably whip up something Assam like for me next selection. Meanwhile, sipdown.
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I’ve been working on my taxes for a couple of hours, going through receipts & stuff, in preparation for opening Turbo Tax & entering all the info. Every year I say I’m going to spend an hour once a month doing this stuff & although there have been a few years when I did & my taxes were quick & easy (or at least as quick & easy as it can get when you have a home office), this is not one of those years. In fact, although this isn’t my worst year ever (it was a nightmare, back when I was new at this), it’s one of those years where I just threw things into a file draw, without any sorting, & hence it’s taking me weeks to do what could have been done in one day.
Add to that, I relocated my office a few months ago from the 2nd floor to the first, & I still haven’t really begun to unpack everything (most of it is piled in the corner of my bedroom in boxes on the third floor). But luckily, I did set up my tea shation in my office, so I have tea.

So this tea is from the Reserve TOMC from last spring. It is actually very nice, with a creamy kind of texture, sweet & light, & the one taste that really stood out to me at some point was sourdough bread. I did 4 steepings at 30sec/60/90/120
& I might still do a few more. The last steeping had a nice tanginess to it.

This is one of the selections from Verdants Reserve TOMC for May. I’m just finally getting around to sampling these!

I have not been a huge fan of white teas. Generally speaking, I find them kind of boring. This, however, is a lovely tea that I’ve been enjoying for the last hour or so, while returning phone calls & doing (much needed) office work. I’m pleased to announce that my office has finally reached a point where I was able to set up a tea station. There is still much to be done, including deciding which tea-wares & teas will reside up here on the 2nd floor, but I did post a first photo on FB, for those who would like to see it.
https://www.facebook.com/terri.langerak?ref=tn_tnmn

Now for this tea. The aroma is very gentle & of hay, clovers & cream, an odd combination, to be sure, but there it is.
This is the most flavorful white tea I’ve ever had, with a unique floral taste, fresh cream, marshmallow cream, pastry, & hint of clove. The color of the brew is a pale apricot. Later steepings have a spicy, crisp, & sweet character.
The tea itself is also beautiful, with very clearly defined leaf/bud formations, clipped with just enough stem to hold them together. It’s also a nice sturdy white tea, in the way that Golden Fleece is a nice sturdy Dian Hong. The leaves are thick & well formed, not fragile & dried out looking like so many tea leaves tend to be.

I followed the recommended steeping parameters, using my test tube steeper, which I love especially for green & white teas.

Sipdown, 127. I have a huge pile of shengs to sipdown from the reserve club, but I decided to start out with this tea, which I discovered was also sipdownable.

Mmmm, fujian black tea. Lovely. I realized that I have only had this tea western style for some reason, but today it’s gongfu time. I drank my rinse because it was quite dark and I couldn’t just throw it away. It was sweet and malty, with notes of sweet potato and a hint of pepper. The second steep was much more robust, with quite a kick underneath that honeyed breadiness. I might have let it go a few seconds too long for my taste, but it’s still really good. The other day I was eating at a brewery and they were brewing a beer at the time, and there was an intense smell of the malty boiling mash. This kind of reminds me of that. Third steep was smoother and sweeter, back to a nice malty black tea. So glad to have gotten the opportunity to savor this tea.

It’s going to be one of those mornings. I couldn’t fall asleep for a little while last night, so this morning I am exhausted. I had a bowl of matcha, and then, because I was waiting a bit around the house this morning, I decided to break into one of the reserve club black teas I have. Brewed western style, of course (I don’t have the energy for gongfu in the morning, especially not this morning), which seemed ok to me since I knew it would be a black tea. First I thought of having the Qimen (keemun), but I sniffed it and it smelled smoky and keemun-y to me in a way that was not appealing. Perhaps another time. This one, however, smelled honeyed and perhaps a hint chocolatey, and I immediately chose it.

I’ve never actually had a jin jun mei tea, even though I have loved all the Fujian blacks I’ve tried. I can’t remember why, but I think there was something about the descriptions of some of them that didn’t appeal to me. I steeped this one up and it smells very malty, with a bit of molasses grains but not as strongly as a tan yang, say.

The flavor is lovely. Very bready, very malty. There is kind of a honey-ish flavor, but while that can mean a natural sweetness in some teas, it is definitely not in this. If anything the tea is slightly drying and a touch brisk. I was struggling this morning to try and figure out what that extra something was to this tea, almost a vegetal quality, and then I saw sweet potato notes and that was totally it. Almost a cross between a Fujian black and a Yunnan black. This was quite tasty and I would definitely try another JJM in the future, not to mention enjoying the rest of my packet of this tea.

Sipdown, 123. Gongfu session of the day. This was such a lovely jasmine tea. I had a ton of steeps of this, all of them delicious. I don’t feel like it is more extraordinary than other pearl-type jasmine teas, but it is tasty. And those twists are quite cute.

I love jasmine, and I was super excited to get this tea in the Reserve Club package a while ago, so why have I never opened it until now? Well for a while I didn’t have a good way of brewing green teas at home, but that’s still just an excuse because I’ve had my variable temp kettle for a month now. It is true that I haven’t had a chance to really sit down with any of my reserve teas lately because I’ve been running around a lot on the weekends. Also, I think I wanted to brew this one in a gaiwan (instead of my small pot), although I don’t have one now. But today I finally decided to break into it, and I am even drinking it western style (though with many infusions).

Of course, my taste buds still seem to be a tad compromised from lunch, so who knows how this will go. The first infusion was lovely and jasmine-y, but not anything more outstanding than some good quality jasmine pearls. I am looking forward to doing these more gongfu style (and I won’t rate them now). Right now they are beautiful and delicious, if not mindblowing.