Verdant Tea

All my pretty Verdant teas just seem so intimidating to me, sometimes. Or I don’t want to waste them, or something, so I end up hoarding them. Hence why there such big gaps in my tasting notes. I love drinking them and should do so more often. This is my official reminder to myself.

I steeped this western style yesterday (1 tbsp to 8 oz. water), and the rich scent was almost overwhelming. It reminded me of a dark rye bread – grainy with the savory unsweetened cocoa note. This steep is always really strong and it never did tone down into sweetness. That’s what the second steep is for.

Really the second steep has always been my favorite. Thats the one where the chocolate turns sweet and the bread note combines to create brownie in my mouth. I know from experience that I can get more out of the leaves but…this steep is always best.

I suppose if I used less leaf I could probably turn that second steep into the first one, but I do love that savory to sweet transition. It’s like dinner to dessert. All in one cup.

Seriously. I’m going to try that trick where I leave this by my Breville and see if the convenience gets me to drink this more. Because I really, really should.

I ordered 4 oz. of this tea based on a sample that was AMAZING, but my first cup of the new batch brewed western style was kind of disappointing.

I think it must have aged a bit though because when I made this today (1 tbsp. leaf, below parameters, no addivites) it was beautiful! Chocolate biscotti is what it smelled like brewed…I couldn’t get my nose far enough into the cup. The taste was smooth, unsweetened cacao powder layered over malty black tea. Just like that elusive sampling I tried a while back!

Second steep, at six minutes, was cinnamon brownie. Both steeps didn’t need a thing added, which makes me very happy..and glad that I have a healthy amount of this to get through. It won’t take me long, I bet!

So, I think I want to name my gaiwan Midori. It means green in japanese and I am apparently unable to muster up anything more creative. But I think it looks like a Midori. I do have a problem with anthropomorphizing inanimate objects, actually. Can you tell? :)

Anyway, after doing the initial rinse, the leaf smelled SO. GOOD. Chocolate and the blackened potato note I recall from having this before.

1st steep = 15 seconds. Now the leaf smells less like chocolate and more like char. The liquor smells similar. It reminds me of the Anxi, actually. The taste however is cocoa powder and honey, with just a little of the burned note hovering on the periphery. This is much more complex than the Anxi ever got for me.

2nd steep = 25 seconds. I am working on being faster with this but I can’t seem to just add an extra 3 seconds on per steep – it takes that long for me to get the lid on the cup sometimes, since I get easily distracted watching the color seep into the water. The liquor smells and tastes predominately cocoa now, and is honey colored. This is really encouraging! I’m still really hoping for some cinnamony notes to come out because that cinnamon + chocolate combination was the thing I loved about my initial Lao Shan black experience, and what was missing from this batch the first time around. Fingers crossed!

3rd steep = 45 seconds. THERE IT IS. OMG happy happy. Cinnamon brownie I missed you! I’m probably going to go even slower than normal drinking this steeping because it’s my favorite. This is the whole reason I bought Lao Shan black. The leaf has gone back to smelling like just cocoa powder, and the liquor is lighter than

4th steep = 1 minute. Mmm. The liquor is even lighter in color but this is all baking chocolate. The cinnamon is gone, but that’s okay – it’s kind of fun knowing that I’ll only get to have it for that one small steep – that makes it even more valuable of an experience.

Sigh. I took so long to write this that my Breville’s turned off and I don’t have enough in it to start it boiling again. I’m being lazy – too lazy to refill it apparently. So I’ll keep the leaves and probably try for a few remaining steeps later tonight.

Yay for more playtime with Midori!

Enjoyed this last night with my mom.

Not really sure what happened, though, as it wasn’t as good as I remembered. The first steep was very starchy and roasted, like I remember, but I was really hoping for that second steep – chocolate and cinnamon – to emerge as wonderfully as it had before. I did the same steep times and everything, and after six minutes it was weak so I added the bag back in, but it still just never approached the yumminess that was before. The only thing I think I did wrong was not using the brew basket on the Breville, so maybe the leaf to water ratio just was a little more dilute this time around?

Eh – I have 4 oz. to play around with (thanks to my highly suggestive nature and that thread on the discussion page, gah!) so I’ll get it right and my mother will really know how amazing this tea can be!

I really need to get a gaiwan. I think this every single time I try one of Verdant’s teas.

The smell of this dry….guh. It is a rich, dark scent – malt and cocoa, everything I love in a black tea. I only ordered a sample size of this but based on the smell alone I already know I will be ordering more. Once steeped, it is just as heavy on the cocoa – the smell is practically pouring out of my Breville and I want to figure out a way to bottle it, seriously.

As I pour the first steep into the cup, this loses some of the distinctive cocoa and turns a touch more roasted edamame. It also smells starchy, like slightly burnt toast, or the blackened ends of french fries. I was worried I oversteeped but really the texture is so smooth and buttery and not the least astringent that I’m fairly sure this is the way it’s meant to taste. And surprisingly, it works for now. Onto the second infusion!

This steep, at 6 minutes, is a lot lighter in body. The roasted bit is gone, replaced with honey and remnants of the cocoa from before. And then fresh baked (not burnt) bread. Almost like a brownie…oh my gosh this is so good! I love this steep even more than the first! It is beyond amazing.

Supposedly I can get two more steeps out of this so I’m definitely going to give it a shot, but it’ll have to be tomorrow for the sake of my bladder. I definitely see why this is rated so highly – absolutely fantastic.

This has decided me – I’ll get more of this and a gaiwan and live happily ever after. :)

Aroma of dry leaves: sweet and creamy chocolate
Wet leaves: tangy cocoa, leather, coffee

Taste: very malty and woody; beer-like. Tangy/pointy orange peel, more beer, soft cocoa, hint of cream
Aftertaste: orange peel, cloves

Additional flavours in later steeps: cloves Version 2.0, pepper finish… so much pepper. This isn’t chai? Burnt wood

Awesomeness level: pretty awesome.

Can CrowKettle handle the manly power of this tea? Nope

Objective level of this note: going down with each additional word

Prevailing thought while sipping: where did the chocolate go??

An Ode to Tea challenge – H

Not much new to say here but this is gone now!  I really enjoyed it while it was fresh but who knows how old it is now.   It counts for H anyway!
2021 sipdowns:  57

Additional notes: I feel like I ignore the Verdant teas in my stash the most for some reason… even though they have always been really good teas! Luckily I only have a few sample sizes of Verdant tea. I had a craving for this one today and was happy I looked at my past tasting note. Otherwise I wouldn’t have remembered to steep this one for less than a minute. THEN what a coincidence, I get an e-mail from Verdant today saying the new harvest of Tieguanyin is in stock! It’s funny how that sometimes happens. Maybe I have TEASP. Anyway, this is certainly a delicious oolong but the age might have made it slightly less nuanced than it was before. But I really have to learn to not amass so many teas at once because they are better fresh. I DO try to only keep in stock way less than 50 grams of most teas, just so I don’t have an abundance of one tea. Usually each tea only has a few teaspoons. I sell or swap the rest. But it still seems like so much.

I was craving a nice oolong and I’m pretty sure Verdant has nice oolongs. So thank you to Azzrian for sending this one! I really appreciate it! Just the color of this tea alone reminds me of summer — a lovely green, like the grass buried under all that snow. The smell of the leaves is promising very sweet and vegetal! I steeped for 25 seconds but after a taste, I didn’t think it had enough flavor, so I went for ten more. The taste matches the fragrance! Very sweet, creamy and vegetal… not floral or peachy… yet. I haven’t really mastered how to “rinse” leaves yet, so the leaves might have left the tea with a tiny bit of tanginess because of that. If this isn’t a creamy milk oolong, I bet the milk oolong that Verdant could find would be crazy good.

Second steep // 35 seconds // This cup is less creamy and more fruity and floral. The vegetal flavor is gone. I’ll never stop being amazed at how the flavor of oolongs can change.

Third steep// 45 seconds at boiling // I think this one may have overdone the time/ temp so I would suggest not steeping this long! The flavor was there, I just feel like I ruined it. Many Verdant teas really don’t need that long.

I like this one, but I think I liked the other Verdant oolong that I’ve tried better — Mi Lan Xiang Phoenix Mountain Dancong, unless I just entirely ruined this one. I think the first steep was the best because it was the creamiest!

I hesitate to review this tea, given that my palate and/or my ability to articulate how tea tastes lags so far behind the other contributors. But I bought a modest quantity of this the last time it became available and found that it tasted primarily of mushrooms. You wouldn’t think that this would be particularly alluring (in a tea, that is, I like to eat mushrooms). Yet now that I’ve used it all, I find often find myself craving it — in vain, since it’s only ever available in limited quantities. It’s a lovely darkish golden brown color and the pale brown spindly leaves are cool-looking, but I just miss that mushroomy flavor. I steeped it for about 1 minute, and got 3 good infusions out of each batch.

I did NOT sleep enough last night. Day from hell yesterday, nearly everything that go wrong, went wrong.
Underwire broke, power outage while straightening my hair, battery died in my jeep, lawn mower ran out of gas, burnt supper. I was ready to lock myself in my room. So, anxiety kept me awake last night, as well as fb.
Today is a new day, this tea will help me get through it all.
I still want to be a house wife so that I never have to see 6am again.

I had to make this today. In my hazy morning fog I botched the first package. It’s embarrassing to say how, so we’ll leave it at that. lol
Second packet was perfect. Had the first steep while i packed my lunch, second and third came to work. It is bold and unique. Thank you verdant!

I am in love with this blend and, I think, with Verdant Tea. I have tried many a chai and none have had so much flavor and balance. It’s either there is barely enough spice or too much and the cardamom tries to kill me. Maybe I am hard to please but none have got it completely right yet but this one came so so very close.

I did three steeps even though it was pretty late and I know that sleep is probably a very unlikely event as a result. I did not drink this tea with milk but I did add a pinch of sugar.

First steep-The perfect mix of spice and beautiful black tea. The initial flavor was all cardamom and spice. The spice wasn’t overwhelming but very pleasant with a natural sweetness. I don’t know why but cardamom is one of those spices that my palate can pick up right away even if there is just a little bit in the blend. This tea is proof that you don’t need to add a bajillion cardamom pods to make a good chai. The finish was all black tea flavor. I was actually pretty thrilled I could taste it because it sometimes gets lost in chai.

Second steep-The cardamom is actually started to die down a little leaving the black tea and other spices to shine. I still got the cardamom but not a lot. I also started to taste more of the burdock root, ginger and clove. The Laoshan Black tea was front and center and if it’s this good here, I will be writing a glowing review in a couple of days. It’s so chocolaty and malty. It’s probably the best black tea base I have ever tried.

Third Steep-All clove and ginger. Very good because those are my favorite spices. They work well with the black tea base. This was my last steep because tea after 1 am is never a good idea.

This is my first try of Verdant Tea’s blends and I am very excited to try the other ones I bought. I wish I had bought more than a sample of this one because it could become a staple.

1.5 tablespoons for 375 ml of water

Lemony note. Delightful mint taste. Great flavour combination. Hot wax-burning candle aroma in the taste.

Personally, I would prefer a stronger licorice flavour.

Thanks to Indigobloom for sharing this with me!

Sipdown, post super bad midterm. Want to crawl in a hole ugh. This is an excellent comfort tea, even though there was not much laoshan black at the bottom of the bag. It’s still rich and smooth and warming. Thank you tea, for making bad days a bit better. See previous notes on this excellent tea.

Mmmm this is delicious as usual today. I have a little under a cup of this left, but I am going to my friend’s this weekend to get my latest Verdant order, which included Chai Spice and Laoshan Black so I will take a stab at mixing my own :D I also realized through this whole bag, I haven’t yet tried this stove top! Haha and I didn’t even add milk to any either, so you know it’s a good chai when you’ve gone through it all without adding anything! Love this, see previous notes on this excellent tea :)

Having a few cups of this tonight as I read my novel for my exam next week. I’m actually reading a novel, haven’t in so long, and it’s not even too bad for a school one. So cozy and chocolatey, i almost added a bit of honey for extra decadence, but I refrained lol. Can’t wait for skiing tomo!

Made this in my travel mug today because the weather is having a major freak out, wind, snow, gahhh. Also had another frightening encounter, a lady in the washroom was blankly staring at the faucet, asked if she was ok and she angrily glared at me, another girl asked too and she swung at her! Had to call campus security but by the time they showed up the lady was gone… I hope she’s okay, she definitely was not in a right state of mind…the girl she swung at was pretty shook up too.. And last week a guy was passed out on the floor between class change and no one did anything so I called 911 but then he got up and they didn’t have to come luckily. Both happened between the same class change too just different weeks. Ugh things like this really scare me :( anyways sorry for the off topic rant, just been bothering and worrying me.

Back to the tea. This is comforting when crazy things happen. Thank goodness for tea. See previous notes :)

I have been sleepy all day, I think i’m burning out from school. Thankfully I have this tea for a spice and caffeine burst. Hopefully I can get studying for my midterm tomo! And I’ve decided my next verdant order will be black teas and black tea blends. This is on the list, I love this tea! See previous notes :)

This tea is delicious in a travel mug! Laoshan Black, you are amazing. This is chocolatey, spicy, and decadent. I have been working on a lab for approx. 3 hrs now and this has been a wonderful companion to keep me from going crazy. I think I will have to order another few oz of this tea….I can see myself drinking this quite often, especially since its robust enough to handle my Timolino! See previous notes on this awesome tea!

My Verdant order came! Woot woot! Only a week late haha, silly Canada Post, I’m very pleased it came today, as I had an email all typed up to send out to find out the status of this glorious package. But it is here! And my car started so I was able to go get it! Happiness :)

So as it’s sooo cold here and I will be having another late night, this was the tea I needed to have first, without a second thought. I brewed it up for 4 minutes with boiling water. The dry smell is nice and gingery and CLOVES. Yumm. Very chai smelling.

The wet smell – oh my goodness. I thought my other chai tea smelled like ginger snaps. THIS smells like ginger snaps! SOOO YUMMMYYYY. AND! I can actually smell that Laoshan Black in there! Yes, I haven’t had it in ages, but that distinctive rich chocolate scent is mingling with the ginger snappiness. This smells heavenly!

THIS, my friends, is a CHAI. YES. This is a VERY GOOD CHAI. It is spicy, it is warming, and that awesome Laoshan Black makes it rich, decadent, chocolatey underneath the spices. This is excellent. Yet another Verdant win. I’m so happy I decided to get an oz right off the bat of this :D oh, and let me add, this excellent taste is without anything added. No milk, no honey, and it’s done western style. I can’t imagine the amazingness if this is done on the stove. Mmmmm I might add some honey to the end of this cup to see what happens, but this can definitely hold it’s own.

Overall, a delicious spicy blend of decadence and warmth. How David blends these, I will never know.

ETA: As this cools, it tastes more ginger snap like, and the Laoshan Black continues to show itself and man oh man, this is excellent. I wonder if it holds up to resteeping..

ETA again: yes, you definitely can get another steeping out of this, and it is still going strong! Even a bit spicier I think! Excellent tea :)

Mmmmmm. . . Got my January tea of the month club box today. I made this, stove top, without a black tea base because I worked late.
Holy crap this is good. Spicy and smooth and damn I love Cardamom!