Verdant Tea

This came from Terri HarpLady – thanks!

I was waiting for the right time to try this… today was a lazy day, but a good day. I finally got to sleep!

The first steep of this, and I can smell the Laoshan black in here. Bready and rich and dark, it dominates the smell. When I first take a sip, it’s all perfumy dry rose, and that goes well with the astringency of the black. It’s very smooth.

The second steep, and it’s completely different. This is oranges and dark chocolate. What was dry and stiff and powdery and polite is now warm and inviting and rich and smooth.

It’s such a wildly different experience that I can’t decide which I prefer. It’s a fantastic tea.

The first time I tried this, I was quite sick and couldn’t even smell the leaves, let alone taste it.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I opened the package and inhaled deeply. I can’t believe I couldn’t smell it before! Very minty. The good kind of mint, though; also smelling sweet and a bit spicy. I am very excited to try this again!
The tea is a dark rust color. I can smell both puerh and mint. First sip is very minty. I have had minty teas before that were just disgusting; this one is sweet and pleasant! The cinnamon in this blend is just right. Just a few sips in and I am enjoying this very much.
Second steep +30 sec. A little darker in color than the first steep. Still smells minty but more of the puerh is coming through. Taste wise it’s the same way. There’s a bit more earthiness coming through but the mint is still the first thing I taste.
This is delicious!

Wow my sinuses must be completely plugged. I can’t smell the dry or wet leaves, and the only thing I can really taste is the barest hint of mint and a tingly sensation on my tongue that must be from the mint and cinnamon. Bummer- I was hoping this would help clear my sinuses. I will try this again when I can actually smell and taste!
#stupidheadcold

This is from Summer 2012. It came courtesy of Autumn Hearth

I’ve been hoarding the last few cups of this in my stash. It’s so good I don’t want to waste it. At the same time, it’s been a long time since I’ve had any really good tea.

I’m having a hard time breathing today so I’m trying to stay away from caffeine. I don’t want to make anything worse. And I decided that I’ve had a rough couple of weeks. I deserve some good tea.

Brewed Western-style, ~2tsp /16 oz. 30 sec first infusion.

So light, but it’s so thick and creamy and delicious. It’s sweet and sparkling. It has that nuttiness that I love about Dragonwell. And ohhh the lingering aftertaste.

Breathing is good. So is this tea. :)

Ooh, today’s a good tea day.

Didn’t teach today – stayed up till 1 with my roommate complaining & bonding, and then had to get up at 6 for class. So that wasn’t happening. Instead I sat at home with the gaiwan and the kettle.

This is light, but deliciously sweet and creamy. It was a swap from someone, but I can’t for the life of me remember who sent it. I’m sorry!!

A very well blended tea that has ingredients of Bergamot,Jasmine flowers,Frankincense and Oolong Teas that blend together in perfect harmony to create a blend with a very bright,cheery, sunny and refreshing experience. NO ONE blends teas together in such perfect synchronicity as Verdant teas, their Alchemy blends are simply Exquisite!! The first thing you notice after drinking this tea is an elevation of your mood, it brings about a “Sunny Disposition”, the perfect tea for the transition in seasons to colder and gloomier weather ;) Early steepings are very bergamot/lemony, with subtle hints of jasmine and frankincense to balance out the Oolong that it is paired with. No component of the blend becomes “Unruly” at any time, and blends together like a fine perfume, in perfect harmony, with each subtlety and nuance creating the perfect symphony !!

I’ve been saving my Verdant teas for a special occasion. I have been so busy, so unable to turn my mind off, I know I can’t appreciate them.
I decided to kind of take today off, after I fell asleep midday and kind of burned out. So tonight is a night to relax, watch the Daily Show, and drink this tea.
The leaves are adorable they are like something from a woodworker’s bench, little curls of tea, spiraling like wood planeings.
Brewed up for the first infusion, this smells refreshingly interesting. I’m not usually a fan of green teas, but I keep trying. This smells nice – a little bit buttery, a little floral, as if you could eat the creamy sweet scent of gardenias.
I’m picturing a summer porch where wisteria grows (I think there was a children’s book about a porch of wisteria that was guarded by a cat? I’m picturing the cover illustration here), in the summer. The porch rails are painted white but chipping off in places. The wisteria and the latticework cast mottled shadows in the creamy light. A wickerwork basket of green beans sits on a white wicker chair with a flowered cushion. A couple of small yellow flowers sit scattered upon the beans. The afternoon is redolent of half remembered snippets of hiding in gazebos and dreaming under bushes. Seriously. I’m getting a very defined synesthetic image from this.
The flavor was interesting. It was very vegetal, with an artichoke like back of throat feel. I honestly think I just don’t care for green tea that much. I found it nice but not very complex, certainly not living up to the aroma or some of the other Verdant teas I have tasted.
That said, I did make three infusions and enjoyed them, but I did find the flavor profile fairly one dimensional.

I was a little skeptical of this tea before trying it, and that’s because I was a little disappointed with the Laoshan Green when I tried it. I mean, it was a good tea, I just think that Verdant’s poetic descriptions can get my hopes a little too high sometimes.

This one, however, was even better than I thought it would be. This tasted how I imagined the Laoshan Green would taste. This was what I wanted. It’s extremely smooth with luscious silky mouthfeel. The prominent notes are green beans and maybe a little bit of spinach (but not in the same way as a Japanese green). Besides that, there’s a pleasant mineral taste that fades into a sweet, delicate finish. But there is more to this tea flavor-wise that I just can’t put my finger on. There’s something enchanting about it. It’s the definition of refreshing, and this has been my go-to tea lately for moments of calm and meditation. It just puts me in a great, relaxed state of mind.

I absolutely LOVE this tea.

This is review of a generous sample David gave me on my first order! My first thought when drinking this tea is that it is incredibly smooth. There is absolutely none of the bitterness that usually pushes me off oolong tea; it is clear I will be buying some of this on my next order. I caught undercurrents like honey and just a hint of what might be banana and spice; after swishing it around in my mouth, I taste just a hint of maltiness. In summary all the flavors of this tea come through perfectly; I will be buying some of this tea, and I don’t drink much oolong.

This tea is bold, minty, flowery, and slightly spicy. I enjoy this tea quite a bit on its own but I just found out I really like it mixed with Laoshan Black. I used 1 tsp. Chocolate Chamomile Curiosity and 1 tsp. Laoshan Black. The result was a tea that is smoother and stronger than Chocolate Chamomile Curiosity but much more flavorful and interesting than Laoshan Black on its own.

This tea is also very interesting as an iced tea. I do think it’s slightly too herbal on its own for my liking. I haven’t tried mixing it with Laoshan black while icing but I imagine it would also be wonderful.

Note from drinking this in the morning:
Today I tasted things that I didn’t taste the last time I had this tea. First, I got hit with the flavor of honey. Then, the cocoa I remembered from last time. And finally, TOAST. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been gluten free for quite awhile and I may have forgotten the taste of toast a bit, but this tasted just like really good toast. So delicious that I chugged all of it in my first class, then thought to myself, perhaps I should order some more Laoshan black…

Midterms continue and I have a lot to do today, so it’s time to drink some black tea!

First thing I noticed: this tea smells like chocolate and a hint of malt.
I began sipping and thought that not only does it taste like chocolate and malt, it’s also spicy-sweet and creamy. I really like malty black teas and this has just the right amount. Smooth drinking with loads of dark chocolate flavor.

Behold! My new mug!
http://instagram.com/p/shlY55FIQK/

I added a little extra plain Laoshan Black to this Chai, and it’s near perfect. I am really digging the flavor this morning. It may be 79 degrees at 8am with a high of 97 predicted, but my heart says it should be fall. Chai tastes like fall to me. The only thing that would improve it is goat milk, I think, but I hate buying a full thing of super expensive goat milk just for random cups of chai, because I don’t always want that taste!

All gone now. My last teensy pot of this was brewed and enjoyed. After having the Adagio Masala Chai with the goat milk, I checked to see what other spicy teas I had, and pulled it out. It was quite good as well. I am sad that I am now out.

Backlogging from yesterday.

Hubs and I whipped up a psuedo-Indian dinner last night – I made calrose rice as sticky rice, we had lentil soup and chicken cooked with sweet curry powder over it, with sticky rice and mango for dessert. I decided that I wanted some chai to go along with it, and brought out this sample. I’d tried it once before, but for some reason I remembered incorrectly, and thought I hadn’t liked it before. I figured I would give it another try and if I “still” didn’t like it I’d bring it to work and foist it off on a coworker.

Brewed it up and before decanting it from my ingenuiTea into my cup I frothed some Almond and Coconut milk with some Splenda and it made an awesome cup. I had my hubby (who I have only been able to get to like Twinings loose leaf Earl Grey so far) to taste it. He liked it! He ASKED FOR A CUP! :D

The almond & coconut milk really complemented the spices. I’m looking forward to having the rest of the sample!

Oh my, this is good. I opened this up this early afternoon and sipped it while watching Felix Baumgartner jump from the stratosphere. That was very cool.

The tea doesn’t have the spicyness I normally associate with chai, but it’s a very good, very enjoyable tea. It’s a very gentle chai I suppose.

Frothed a small amount of stevia and half and half, then added the chai after steeping it in my ingenuiTea.

I am defnitely getting some maltiness – it’s more chocolatey than the chocolate chai as I did it yesterday in the gaiwan.

Patiently waiting on my first cake of puer! Considering the price, I couldn’t resist picking up a cake :) Now I just have to figure out how I want to store this tea…I will break off around probably 15-20 grams, about enough for 4 short steeping sessions(with around 14-18 steepings for each session, it’s by no means “short”) and the rest will go away for around a year. I am hoping I can keep to this plan, and try a little bit each year to see how it changes over time!

I am hoping it comes tomorrow :)

This tea is certainly a yummy one, and one that I’ll be savoring for as long as I can. The quality is apparent right from the beginning in the dry leaves. They have this elegant appearance, with graceful twists and a variety of shapes. The dark brown-black color gives ode to some hidden power the tea possesses while the brittle nature of the texture play on it’s many subtle flavors. Smelling the leaves results in a heady, rich aroma of roasted hay and that characteristic Wuyi scent.

Add water and the leaves give off an incredibly intense aroma of pine sap, musty notes, and burnt oak logs. The resulting liquor smells of Da Hong Pao, is sweet and thickly floral, with undertones of sandalwood. A sip from the first steep explodes with flavor: ripe bananas, honey, malt, florals, and sometimes I can even detect a touch of cocoa. The mouthfeel is extra thick, leathery smooth, and so very juicy. Into the next couple of steeps, the fruity flavors from the first steep become more prominent and develop into tastes of dark berries and add tartness, complementing the sticky sweetness of the banana and honey flavors nicely. Sandalwood flavors also become apparent, and the liquor’s aroma expands into something that reminds me of a holiday candle. It’s nice, homey, and reminiscent of late autumn afternoons.

Into the fourth and fifth steeps, the banana flavors subside and a creamier mouthfeel develops as woodier flavors take control. Berries become less pronounced and a thick prune-like flavor rounds out the wood. In the next few steeps, the taste becomes spicier, musty, peaty, and earthy, transforming into more of a pu’er with a rounder, thicker body. At this point the aftertaste has become fruity and sticky with undertones of this weak black tea flavor. The steeps round out in the ’teens with sweet, licorice-like flavors and a subdued ripe fruit flavor.

From now on, when someone is going to ask me when I discovered tea, I’m not going to tell them about the first time I had a cup of Silver Needle or a smooth Oolong or even when I walked into Teavana and started asking questions and walked out feeling like I had reinvented myself and started walking down a new path in life. No, it won’t be any of those.

I’ll tell them that I discovered what tea truly is on the day I opened my pouch of my 2012 Autumn Laoshan Green and inhaled the aroma. That was the moment I realized what tea can be, what I had been missing out on, when everything I thought I knew about what tea was shifted. That was the day everything changed.

If that sounds intense, that’s because it is. I’ve never had an experience like I did when I saw the handwritten note from David, thanking me for my order, making a personal connection that I didn’t expect. Not when I smelled the dry leaves, when I caught a whiff of the leaves steeping, when I saw the most delicate, beautiful liquor the color of the first stages of oxidized apple flesh, like a fading memory you don’t want to forget. I’ve never seen a color like that.

The leaves smell like dark chocolate and earth. There’s a bright sugary smell mixed with pumpkin and cedar. Its sweet but heavy but delicate. It smells like a contradiction that makes sense.

The wet leaves emit farm fields. Not dry dirt and twigs, like I smelled in my first Pu-erh, but real soil, actual dark earth, musty and deep and gorgeous. Its like I could smell the farm where this was growing. I’ve never been transported somewhere I’ve never been through my sense of smell. My memories have been triggered by shampoo or perfume that makes my heart hurt for the ones I’ve loved and lost but (and this is going to sound crazy but I don’t care) I had this image of somewhere that probably doesn’t exist of a tea farm, of hands picking the leaves off the plant. There was a connection, a transcendant experience that I thought was just a figure of speech (“the smell whisked me away to…”) that I’ve never had. It was like I was on drugs for a moment.

The sip. Its buttery smooth, butterscotch, cool melon, honey, pear, faint vanilla, warm cedar, calm spinach and fresh leaf. Its milky and smooth and light and my god I don’t deserve this. I can’t believe I have this. This is what tea is.

I needed this. I’ve been tearing myself up over her and why she won’t catch on and see that I’m worth it. I keep telling myself that “all I need are books and tea…and someone to share them with me” and I want to believe that its her.

Anyway, this tea couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. I found new bands (“Green or Blue” and “City and Colour”) that are helping me through this, the leaves are melting their colors down the trees, and I finally got my diploma in the mail, making my second Masters officially irrelevant ;)

This is the tea that allowed me to redefine what tea is to myself. Thank you David and everyone at Verdant. You’ve got a customer for life.