Verdant Tea
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I was craving an oolong this morning so I decided on give this one a try. I decided to use my going of teapot. I rinsed my leaves (1tsp) twice.
Steep 1: steeped for 20 sec. It tastes earthy and sweet. So much honey, but its also creamy. In the aftertaste I get some grapefruit? Mmm yum I love the refreshing aftertaste.
Steep 2: steeped for 30 sec. In this steep the honey is stronger and I am starting to get a taste of floral. The grapefruit is still present in the aftertaste :)
Steep 3: steeped for 40 sec. There is more floral this time but a bit less honey. The grapefruit in the aftertaste is a bit less in the aftertaste now.
Steep4: steeped for 50 sec. The floral continues to increase with each steep but the creamy taste from the first steep has returned and is quite a bit stronger. There is still some honey and grapefruit.
I was definitely surprised with this tea regarding the grapefruit. Gonna have to get more of this.
Preparation
How does this tea note have any notes? (Unless I have missed it some how.) I made some this last night and found it to be lovely. It tastes strongly of clover honey and leaves a wonderful creamy soft, and dewy mouth feel. I wrote a full review on my blog, but short story is I am going to pick up another ounce of this on my next verdant order.
http://tunesntea.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/tea-flowering-green-jasmine-tea/
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Backlogging: and so I parted with the very last sip and fond memories of this fine tea! Nobody should really pass this by and by all means get a hold of some everone!
Preparation
Ah yes banana leaves – good note there!
Why thnx Azzrian! The aroma and flavor reminded me of roasted banana leaves, the filipino/malay dessert “suman” or roasted sticky rive wrapped in banana leaves came to mind that got me thinking it was banana leaves. Though at first I thought it was kinda close to a steamed rice smell.
I’ll have to look for that in my next steeping.
I love those sticky rice in banana leaf desserts. When I have them, we steam them & then drizzle them with coconut milk.
Ever since trying Pu-Erh I never thought it I would get hooked to it! Here I’am some years later writing about it and find it so lovely! Now, this Pu-Erh came with my sample of Yunnan Black (another wonderful tea), it did not came in pressed chunks but broken down to every leaf. The leaves are finely aged to shades of brown, it has a nice earthy,woody,wet leathery, almost irony smell accented with slight smokiness that alludes to a Lapsang. The brew in succession of 4 steeps all gave a slightly astringent and sharp taste that kinda bites(in a good way) on the tongue. It has an almost starchy component almost like eating raw noodles, and it mellows out at the last steep to a plummy taste that hits the back end of the palate to give it smoothness to the minerally and earthy flavor. Throughout the the steepings there are some subtle spice notes mainly ginger and some pepper with a brown sugar like aroma. Quite a tea and Cheers!
Preparation
I’m backlogging this one from yesterday.
I’d been avoiding trying this sample for a while now because it’s a “chai”. I spent a few weeks in January experimenting with my own chai masala blends and getting headaches, as far as I remember, every time I drank one. I never get headaches, and it’s still puzzling to me what was going on.
First, I’ll say that this did not give me a headache. Even though for the second steep I poured the boiling water into my gaiwan and promptly walked away and forgot about it.
This is a really good chai, and I hope they bring this one back! While their chai spice is good, I think they also should carry a chai for people like me who are often too lazy/intimidated to make a decision about which tea to blend said spice with…
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So I gave this a go last night after a bad tea was had. This one more than made up for the other tea. Plus I LOVE elderberry mixed with puerh! I really miss the old alchemy blend Verdant used to make, but this one is very similar and might be a needed addition to my tea stock! It has just enough spice and kick, but not too much to make you not want to drink it.
Yep… in the world of pu’erh, I am still so much a newbie. Perhaps with enough consumption, I’ll be able to distinguish beyond sheng/shu (like I can now distinguish a bit between different straight black teas), but until then, my palate remains terribly unrefined.
I still find that sheng is much more to my liking; it doesn’t brew up nearly as dark and inky as many shus I’ve tried, and the flavour tends to be more sharp and spicy than a mellow shu (and also, I don’t tend to notice things like earthiness and fishiness, which I still have trouble with).
Anyhow, I attempted to use about 2 tsp of this cake for my ~8-10oz. cup, and gave the pu’erh a 15 second rinse prior to a 30 second infusion. I’m quite pleased with the results – pleasant, light flavour (but lots of it), and that characteristic “sheng” flavour. It’s also quite smooth, which is very enjoyable. Unfortunately… that’s about all I can tell you. I’m enjoying it while reading/writing about antioxidant activity assays, and it’s a welcome distraction, heh. Hopefully I’ll have the chance for another few infusions later this morning, or tomorrow.
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Is that what your thesis is about? Antioxidants? Sounds interesting… I have a chemistry background.
Her thesis is on asparagus grin
Sil & Tealizzy – yep, asparagus, but more specifically, the genetic variation in phytochemical content and retention of phytochemicals during cooking. Of course, the phytochemicals in question are mostly of note due to their antioxidant capabilities, so I did a few antioxidant activity assays for my cooking trial. It was a part of my project that had been tacked on mid-way, so I hadn’t written a lit review about it yet, which is what I was/am doing. :D
Blahblahblah….asparagus….blah blah blah :)
I kid of course ;)
Nope, that’s ok… My boyfriend and his mom do the same thing, but I kind of wish that they would at least try to understand instead of assuming it’s too complicated!
lol i actually wouldn’t mind reading your thesis sometime :)
It’s currently at about 47 pages :D Which includes my intro, much of my lit review, and my materials and methods. No results, discussion, figures, tables, references, extraneous front matter…. hahahahahaha it’s going to be long .
Your thesis sounds interesting, and you get to do cooking too! Fun! I totally understand about people not even trying to understand what you do. Good luck with the write-up!
That sounds like a good essay. I always wondered if vegetables lose some of their minerals and beneficial properties when they are cooked. I know the broccoli pretty much gets destroyed when you boil it (in flavor as well).
When I cook, (if boiling that is) I try to use the water in something else like a sauce or soup etc. Dunno if that saves any antioxidants or anything but I figure it can’t hurt!
OMG that is so cool!
Well, it was interesting before I spent two years on it! :P And yes – nutrients are definitely lost when veggies are boiled, so it’s actually in general not the best way to cook them! Steaming is better. So yes, Indigobloom – using the cooking water from boiling is actually a good idea based on some prelim results I have – the one phytochemical I was looking at was definitely lost from the spears… and ended up in the cooking water! Didn’t get destroyed, just leached out. Sadly I didn’t get to test all the cooking liquid as I wanted; it was cut from my project due to lack of time.
Hey, at least you are doing one. I about choked on my tea when I read that you typed up 47 pages. I already have a hard time doing 2000 word research papers for school.
LOL a sign of how tired I am – I actually meant 57! 16.5 of Materials & Methods + 40-ish of Lit Review. I should go home and sleep…
I think pretty much anything is really neat until you spend 2+ years full time on it. :)
aw that’s sad your project had to cut the water study out! interesting to know, I’ll have to tell Mum.. she always boils veggies
Mmm dry this smells of orange, and jasmine!!! Why oh why did I only get a sample of this?! The tieguanyin tastes so good as always. But with the orange, jasmine, saffron, and Frankincense, it has gone to a whole new level of deliciousness :) this tea is so refreshing, and calming yet energizing all at the same time. I could for sure drink this everyday! The orange makes it feel so light, the jasmine so calming mmmm I love how all these flavours swirl around in my mouth. I need to have more of this, I sure hope verdant has it again soon!
Preparation
It’s been so cold in the Napa Valley! We never get weather like this. When we take our dog out in the mornings, the normally spongy earth by the oak trees is crunchy and sparkles. My thermostat is set to 80, but the house will only get as warm as 65, and that is in the late afternoon. The weather made this a perfect blend to have this morning, because it is the quality, grown-up version of the Sleepytime tea I used to drink as a child on cozy winter days. Yum.
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I don’t drink a lot of flavored tea now, but growing up we always had Celestial Seasoning’s Sleepy time stocked in the cupboard. I can’t help but make the connection here with the minty-chamomile flavor. If I reorder this, I’m going to label the canister “Wakey Time”. And, yes, I’m aware that I am the only person who thinks I’m funny…
I’m actually shocked at how much I like this, because I am usually someone who is about 100% camellia sinensis, but this is a great blend.
Preparation
I’ve noticed that with all the oolongs I have tried Verdant has the most fragrant ones. I just brewed a cup of this and I’m waiting for it to cool and the smell is lovely. Nutty and a little sweet. I’m the worst at describing flavours. I’m only on the first steep and I love it.
How did you rate a tea from the first steep only???
I often do that. Since the first steep is the steep I will always get to. It’s not like the rating can’t be changed later if something happens in later steeps that warrants a bump up or down.
What Sil said.
It’s like love at first sight! :)
So this one got a touch oversteeped today too. Closer to 2 min than I would have liked. However, it didn’t suffer too badly. Still rock sugary and delicious. It’s edging towards astringency/too strong, but I am only aware of it because of my poor sore throat, which is extremely sensitive to the least bit of non-smoothness. (So in other words, this tea is absolutely delicious and my throat is messed up.)
Glad this one still tastes good in spite of its age! Gotta sip these greens down more quickly next time. Still a few good cups of this one left.
My favorite oolong :)