Verdant Tea

Woke up way earlier than was my plan. I decided I wanted something warm to drink, but with the hope of going back to sleep I chose this over caffeinated tea. This is one of my favorite herbals. I sometimes think the fennel is going to be too much because the smell of it is so strong, but it’s always well balanced with the mint, ginger, and licorice root.

I couldn’t fall back asleep, but having a quiet house all to myself is a treat in and of itself.

I had this today with my lunch. It’s such a refreshing and invigorating blend. I like the bite of the pepper up front and then the lingering sweetness of the fennel after the sip. This is one of my “happy teas” that I drink when I’m feeling down (or when I want something yummy to drink with my lunch).

This is such a lovely blend. It taste amazing. I really like the mix of peppermint and spearmint and how it combines so nicely with the holy basil. It’s perfect for when I want an herbal late at night, but I’m not in the mood for something fruity or overly sweet.

Happy day after Thanksgiving, everyone. I woke up this morning, and my stomach rebelled at the very thought of food (note to self: pie at 11pm is a bad idea). After looking in my pantry and seeing this sitting on the shelf I knew it was what I needed. Delicious, tummy soothing wonderfulness. It may be a day late, but I am seriously thankful for this tea – and for tea in general!

Oh, this is lovely. If I pay attention I can pick out the different herbs, but I’d rather jut sip and enjoy. It’s so fragrant, and I like the way the ginger makes it’s presence known after a few sips. This is a tisane I could sip all day long and not tire of. Not a bad idea now that I think of it….

Magical is one word I’d use to describe Chocolate Phoenix Chai.

I wasn’t really sure what the expect when I got this tea (I just wanted free shipping).

I’ve had other chocolate chai’s before. Most of them are just a standard chai with chocolate flavor attached.

This chai is different. The chocolate flavor feels natural to the tea. Everything blends together well to create a comforting and warming tea. It doesn’t have a massive kick of spice, and it doesn’t have an overpowering chocolate sensation. Chocolate Phoenix Chai has the right amount of everything to make it a wonderful tea.

The description above suits the tea perfectly.

I drank it with milk and sugar (I don’t have honey). And it was delicious. I loved all of the different flavors that came out. I also tried it with condensed milk. The condensed milk hid some of the more subtle flavors, but it was still good (something I’d cuddle up to bed with).

All in all, I’m ordering more before they run out. Definitely sharing this with friends and my next tea party.

WEll, I finally got arround to trying my sample of this tea. It’s been sitting burried under a lot of other, larger bags, but that’s not a good excuse. The first infusion was prepared with my Finum brew basket and just steaming water, which was let to steep for three seconds. The result looks more like a white tea than a green tea, butthe taste quickly removes my doubts. The flavor is sweeter than any white tea that I’ve ever had, with just the lightest hint of grass. I also totally agree with David about the creaminess, which really stands out as you transition into the aftertaste, where it lingers for a good minute on the roof of the mouth. Truly and exceptional green tea.

Second cup, also 3 seconds. Teh result isn’t quite as sweet, and the flavor profile is a lot more complicated now, but I’m not sure what exactly I’m tasting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great cup of tea, it’s just that it’s in the middle of a transition, so I’ll reserve judgement until the next cup.

Third cup, same as the previous two. The flavors are settlying out, with an interesting nutty flavor that is vaguely similar to cashews being quite noticable. Again, I agree with David about this being similar to genmaicha, but ther edifferences are what makes this tea interesting. The nutty flavor is a bit less refined, and it’s sweeter than most genmai cha, and the grassiness is less prominent. Overall, it’s a vey interesting experience.

Fourth cup, preparedd with the same wter temperature, but steeped for 6 seconds. The tea is back to beaing subtly grassy and very sweet. The creaminess is also back, which is a wonderful surprise, and and interesting spicy flavor has begun to assert itself. This tea seems to have a lot more depth than I initially thought.

Music of the day – Existential Blues

Link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cGTq3nOwI

A strange yet funny song from the Dr. Demento show, which a friend’s dad pointed me to earlier this week. I had a hard time listening the first time, since I was laughing so hard.

Using up my last little tuocha of this. I’m going to have to order this one after I have substantially reduced my current amount of tea- I don’t have as much as some ( ;) ) but my tea drawer is overflowing and I can’t in good conscience buy more tea while I still have some that may be going stale. This is a tea that I want to keep in stock, I think. It will be a good introduction to puerh for my friends!

We are finally getting rain! There are about 8 fires right now about an hour from my parents home in Minnesota. It was so dry fires were being started from weird things, like lawn mowers. After this rain dumping it should be much better! Tonight we may even get 1-3 inches of snow!! (happy dance) We didn’t get much snow last year. If its going to be cold, may as well have snow to make it fun!

I’m glad I waited for a chilly rainy day to try this. It is perfect for my mood! It is absolutely delicious!
I can’t believe how much corn I taste in this. It is savory, woodsy, brothy, and leaves a tingly aftertaste. This is only the third puerh I’ve ever tasted, and so far it’s my favorite!

I highly recommend this tea to puerh newbies like myself. As far away from fishy as you can get, and not really earthy either.

Note: rinsed twice according to Verdants instructions.

Enjoying this on a (wonderful) lazy morning before I go to work. I love the spiciness of this blend along with the hint of chocolate and floral oolong. I didn’t notice this last time, but the aroma smells very chocolate to me along with a hint of vanilla and spice.

Today was a rough and long day, but I’m very happy to say that I got to pick up my Verdant Tea order! And I even nabbed it from the post office before school, which meant I got to brew some of this up in the morning (and then again when I got home, and again just now).
I love this tea. The choice of floral oolongs is absolutely perfect. The chai is delicately sweet which comes out more as it cools. I taste dark chocolate, vanilla, and spicy coriander, almost reminding me of peppercorns.
This is so delicious.

This tea was fantastic, great flavor, lots of nuances, held up for a number of infusions (though the first was clearly the best). If they weren’t already sold out, I’d be ordering more and stocking up. But really one of the best oolongs that I’ve ever had – if more comes available I will easily put in a 4-6 oz order, I liked it that much.

I’m a huge fan of Verdant Tea and will keep buying from them for a long time to come, but this tea didn’t really do anything for me. That said, no one loves every tea they try.

Yay! My water doesn’t taste weird after filtering and double boiling it lol. Hopefully the chlorine in it dissipates pretty soon. Anyways, the boyfriend requested either an oolong or white tea today, so I made us a few cups of this. I have enough left for one more round in my gong fu pot after this one. A delicious creamy tea, definitely will be getting some of the new spring tyg when it comes out! See previous notes :)

This oolong is still ridiculously awesome. On my oolong kick, so I decided to gongfu some of this tonight. Yes, it’s a bit late for caffeine, but I realized I haven’t drank this in ages and it’s already about 6 months old :( and I’ve also been crazy tired today even with caffeine so I doubt I’ll have trouble falling asleep. This tea is perfection. Tonight its silky smooth, cream, delicious, soothing. It’s helping my headache a bit too, and im currently lounging in the recliner with a pillow surrounding me and my tea and my boyfriend watching my bf work diligently on our lab. Night steepster! Oh, and see previous notes on this perfect tea. :)

Ahhh I just had to have this creamy wonder of a tea today. The weather is in another weird funk, up to +1 today and it was -12 C or lower all week and windy and snowing. Yeah, now bright sunshine and warm. So this called for a spring tea!

I don’t drink this tea enough. I really want to try the fall version of Verdant’s tieguanyin soon! This is pure, creamy, delicious light greens. Perfection. Buttery. There’s some later sweetness in the sip, definitely a bit of orchid. I’m brewing this in my gong fu glass pot, and it definitely is making a difference than using the brew basket. Space for the leaves to expand! Ahh, I will savor this for a while before dinner. Oh, and I did a quick rinse as well. Anyways, please see previous notes on this lovely tea :)

Yay tasting notes are back! Back logging this from Saturday, the boy and i had about 8 steeps total, i think starting with around 15 secs, it was very good as always!

This is the tea I am having to celebrate being done my crazy busy week! I’m also super stoked about my new Yixing teapot that I ordered this week! :D love this tea as always, haven’t had a really good oolong in ages it seems, thank you Verdant. Fresh greens with butter and honey aftertaste, delicious!

Ahh so pleased I nabbed a bit of this before it sold out for the season! Verdant, how have I never heard of you before steepter!!!

This tea. Ahhhh. From the dry, fresh vegetal scent, to the creamy green scent of the wet leaves, to the even creamier and smoother taste, this tea is, simply put, elegant. It’s a fresh spring morning, with the flowers all covered in dew. I can taste a hint of something floral in the aftertaste, maybe a lilac or orchid, and a bit of honey in there too. So refreshing! An excellent treat for today, since it’s miserable, rainy fall weather, and supposed to snow maybe this week, blargh. This tea also made my headache diminish immensely! Ah, I’m ready for a few more infusions!

Overall, a superb tea. Verdant, you have done it again, and I am already thinking once I am out of this that I will have to get some of the autumn pick! Thank you for such a lovely tea on this cold, dreary day!

Sipdown! It’s been so long since I’ve had this tea I’d forgotten how much I like it.

This is really good! Floral, fruity, creamy, sweet. I think this would be pretty good iced. It took me some time to finish my first cup (easily distracted :P ) and the last few swallows were cold. When it’s cold it seems especially creamy.
2nd steep was tasty as well, the sweetness toned down a bit and I could taste more of the berries.
Overall, I can see this one being addictive. Very pleasant!

Having a cup of this before bed with the guy after a lovely 10.3km run in misty rain after work :) we both enjoy the rain, so it was great! This tea is also great, I haven’t had it in a long time. This batch is definitely quite fruity, with strawberry and almost a peach note to me. Smooth mouthfeel, soft, sweet jasmine tea. And I’m so relaxed and sleepy I doubt the caffeine will bug me tonight lol. Still one of the greats for jasmine tea IMO. See previous notes!

Also – LOL, I read a note I wrote on this 3 yrs ago and I had it while watching a show on Yunnan, I am pretty sure that same show was on tonight and it’s what made the bf request this tea tonight haha! And I even craved a Yunnan Black tea at first but too much caffeine so I decided to have a cup of this with him. Exact same thought process lol, what are the chances?