Verdant Tea

Hello, Steepsterites!!!! Sorry that I dropped off the face of the planet. I’ve been super busy with wedding planning, trips to visit family, handling what feels like a million problems at work, and still trying to find time to work out and remain sane.

I don’t think I can keep up with the rate at which I tea blogged and read/liked everyone’s posts. I haven’t even drunk a cup of tea in over a month! Well, unless you count the disgusting cup of overly sweetened iced green tea I had yesterday from Panera. Yuck. Tasted like lipstick. Anyway, I’m not disappearing forever. I’ll pop on every now and then, just not quite as often as I used to (i.e. not daily). Nonetheless, I apologize if anyone has been left feeling neglected. I promise it’s not on purpose and I still love all of you, even if I can’t like all your posts!

Okay, well here’s a long anticipated tea from the generous Kittenna!!! Golden Fleece, you are my heart’s desire. I can’t believe how long you’ve sat in my cupboard waiting to be steeped. Well, your wait is over!

The dry leaf aroma is a jumbled compilation of the other teas that Kittenna sent. But the brewed tea aroma? Malt and bread and cocoa. Ohhhh yeah! This is the tea of my dreams! Well actually, my dreams have been quite strange of late. Most are set in an apocalyptic world with someone trying to kill me. I often wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. So much for restful sleep.

Anyway, time to actually taste it. Ohhhh, this tea is incredible! Exactly what I could ever have hoped for and more. It’s the perfect Yunnan black. 100% complete yum factor. Who knew a tea could be so flavorful after a quick one minute steeping? I’m going for quality over quantity so the second steep was for two minutes. Mmm, this tea is sweet and silky and surprisingly frothy when you pour hot water over the leaves.

There’s also a hint of darkness. Not full bitterness and definitely not astringency. But there’s a subtle darkness to the cup, perhaps leaning towards bitterness but not completely there. This is interesting and quite unexpected. The first cup was very smooth. Maybe I should have used less than boiling water? Or maybe I should have gone for the gong fu method of brewing instead of Western style.

I’ll try 195 degrees for 2.5 minutes for the third steep. Yay! All traces of darkness are gone! Now I’m left with a cup of the Yunnan black I love. However, for that earlier odd hint of darkness, I feel compelled to lower the rating a tad. I was expecting 100, so maybe my high expectations tarnished the evaluation. But it is still amazing, and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to try it. Without Kittenna I wouldn’t have had the chance. Thank you sooo much!!

Amazing. And if that one word isn’t enough, I’ve outlined my entire tasting experience with this tea below. Seriously though – Amazing.

The leaves smell incredible. They are so fresh smelling, with some creamy overtones and some sweet hay notes.
For the first steeping I did around 4 seconds (after the initial rinse). The flavors are very smooth. OMG this is lingering on my tongue. This has serious body that comes out in the finish. There is a light jasmine flavor that gives way to a carmel aftertaste. It is the caramel flavor that lingers buttery afterwards. There is a hint of some kind of vegetal sweetness at the back of my throat. And this is the first steeping? Woohoo!
Finally! A really nice tea :) This is so exactly what I have been looking for.
For the second steeping I did another 3-4 seconds.
Wow! The liquor smells absolutely incredible. It is just sweet, buttery, toasty… it literally smells like buttered toast in my cup. But there is that fresh greenish scent on top of that that keeps it from being cloying or overbearing. I’ve been chasing down a tea that is like an oolong I had years ago. This tea is the kind of tea I’ve been looking for. This infusion is even thicker and toastier than the first.
Flavorwise, this is even more buttery with some seriously vegetal notes coming out. They blend together like fiddleheads in butter. Seriously good pairing. There is a slight salt note too under here, I think related to the buttery flavor.
Third infusion: scent – even greener and more buttery. flavor – a little more flowery. the butter flavor toned down and the overall taste got smoother and subtler. This infusion is more like the first than the second. There is an interesting spicy flavor here, an almost earthy pepperiness.
Fourth infusion: I brewed this one for 7 seconds. Scent – more creamy, less buttery. Flavor – more floral, nice creamy aftertaste (literally – I’m tasting cream here!)
Fifth infusion: I increased steeping to around 13 seconds. Scent – a drier toasty scent, slight caramel notes. Flavor – a little fruity, like frozen peaches. Slightly warm woodiness.
Sixth infusion: 20 seconds. Scent – buttery and woody. Flavor – Caramel, woodiness, and cedar notes. Darker, woodier, like a wet forest, toasty and creamy. Salty/sweet aftertaste.
Seventh infusion: 25 seconds. Scent – very lightly floral and sweet. Flavor – It’s funny, I’m really just getting straight up cream this time. No real other notes. Just a nutty creamy taste.
Eighth infusion: 35 seconds (I went by color here). Scent – Yay, the smooth buttery scent is back. Green and buttery, with that brussels sprout with butter kind of note. Taste – the fruit flavors are starting to come out – it’s kind of like popping an entire rambutan in my mouth. There is the sweetness of the fruit flavor mixed with some astringency of the outer shell/rind. Interesting…
Ninth infusion: 52 seconds. Scent – Buttery, vegetal, slightly woodsy. Flavor – I’m getting much woodier flavors at this point. There is a hint of sweetness that comes out at the end – almost salty and sweet at the same time. This is a completely different tea than the first five or so steepings but it is good in its own right. I like the finish of nuts and cream.
Tenth infusion: 1:05 Scent – Buttery and floral this time, like candied violets. Sugary almost. Flavor – Floral, nearly minty, and of course, buttery. The floral taste is really purple and zingy. Violets, I think.
Eleventh infusion: 1:25 Scent – Buttery with walnuts. Taste – Walnuts again. There’s some astringency feeling here that contributes to that. Walnut infused unsalted butter on toast. That’s this steeping. Oddly specific? Yes. Totally accurate? Yes.
Twelfth infusion: 1:50 Scent – Buttery creamy walnuts. Slight slight hint of blossoms.
I’m thinking of the Ezra Pound poem, In a Station of the Metro – “The apparition of these faces in the crowd / Petals on a wet, black bough.”
That would be the scent profile – wet blossoms on dark rain infused wood of a walnut tree with a hint at the creamy nutty flavor of the walnuts themselves. Flavor – Nutty. Walnuts. Bark. It tastes just like it smells. Perfect. Modernist tea. I am totally in “The Burial of the Dead” mode now, picturing the rain pouring down (lit geek note: I am one of the few who will argue that the rain actually comes in The Wasteland. Therefore, for me, my rain association is valid). Back to tea.
Thirteenth infusion: 2:15 Scent – very faint. Again, rather nutty/buttery. Taste – this last steeping just has a nice subtly warmth to it – a nuttiness. This one is less astringent than the last, so it’s still reminding me of rain and trees, but now it’s a much more “garden” like experience. Not so much bark flavor/feel as a smooth sweet taste.

Wow. Really, that’s all I have to say. This tea was incredible. It was the most amazing way to relax after a frankly awful day. My broken finger still isn’t anywhere near healed and I got my pupils fantastically dilated (the doctor said he had never seen anyone’s pupils go like mine did) and got nauseous taking my pain medication on an empty stomach. Woohoo! Awesome day! Anyway, taking the time to sit an experience this tea was just wonderful. I learned that tea can still be fantastic and I’m just extremely picky about the tea I like. It was really disheartening drinking teas that were fine, I couldn’t complain about them, but they weren’t the tea I was looking for. I’m so happy to have found this tea and excited about the other teas that just arrived from Verdant Tea, waiting in the cupboard.

I’m excited to be trying this tea for the first time. I don’t have to get up early tomorrow morning so I can treat myself with some caffeine tonight! The dry leaf smells a bit like those fish food flakes. I actually don’t mind it, but it was a bit of a surprise!

First infusion: It has a nice and mellow scent with no fishy notes at all. I mostly taste a kind of sweet wood. It is almost a little like a mild black tea. I detect a little bit of honey sweetness at the end of the sip. I like the earthy flavors of this first cup. Wood and flowers.

Second infusion: This tea is still rather mellow. Nothing really sticks out at me until the end of the sip when I taste some peachy flavors. I love peach notes in oolong teas! Yes, the flowers are still here as well as a very, very faint presence of bread.

I will update with more information if I continue with more infusions. I’m pretty exhausted from today so I’m not sure if I will continue sipping tonight. I think this tea is fine and reasonably tasty, but it leaves me wanting more flavor.

This is SO SO SO SO Good!!!
Now THIS is what I’m talking about!
Chocolate
Malt
Caramel
Vanilla
Cinnamon but only ever so slightly
Creamy
DREAMY!!!!
Yes in fact I do get all these flavor elements and what a lovely wonderful much needed grounding tea right now!
Everyone’s schedule in this house is chaotic with exception of mine so I am the one doing backflips to accommodate everyone else after 10 years of being the only one working in the house and everyone accommodating ME lol
Its nice to have more income indeed and wonderful WONDERFUL that my daughter is working not one but TWO jobs September 31 of last year will be a YEAR since her neurosurgery!!
Amazing I am proud and grateful!
Still OMG make the noise STOP!!!!
LOL
everyone is bouncing off the walls and I am needing much more grounding, center, and focus to do MY work which is being fit into when I can get it done.
SO with that said – OH YES bring it on – THIS is the perfect tea for this. I am glad I got a sampler and now I am off to get a BUNCH of this!

This is one of the Verdant teas that seemed like a must-try. I am only in the middle of the first steep and I feel like I must start talking about this immediately! I used about 3g for my medium sized mug, and gave it a rinse like they suggested. Then steeped for 25 seconds. It starts off honey sweet and leaves a cinnamon-y tingly feeling on the tongue. To me it is distinctly sweet potato, but it’s a sweet potato loaded with spice and served with something meaty and fruity at the same time. ?? It’s amazing! My mouth feels like its in the middle of a turkey dinner!
Second steep 40 seconds. Pretty similar to the first steep but that spice is a bit more prominent.
Third steep 50 seconds. I am eating lunch with this steep so the notes are difficult to distinguish but it doesn’t seem to have lost any flavor.
This is delicious!

WHAM! “Hi there.”

That’s the sort of introduction this tea gives you. Seriously.

I received this generous sample from the lovely WifeyWoman. I have a soft spot for Yunnan hong cha…but this is no soft tea. It’s a full-flavored, woody, malty, peppery kick in the face. And, by golly, this morning I needed that. Way more full-bodied than the average Dian Hong, and not as nuanced as a Yunnan Jin Cha, this occupies a Midgard populated only by manly teas.

I got this as a sample from Azzrian. It’s been sitting for a while just waiting for the right time to brew it. When I saw that Verdant was going to be discontinuing this tea, I knew I had to try it. Nothing is more disheartening than try a tea sample you really like, only to discover it’s no longer available.

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to rinse the tea or not. On the website it says you should, but here it says you don’t. Since I was lazy, I decided not to.

The tea turned out absolutely delicious. You can definitely taste the mint and chamomile. I’m not the biggest chamomile fan, but it works here. I’m having a little harder time detecting the cocoa, but I like how the black tea undertones are working for this.

The second infusion didn’t have quite as strong of a minty flavor, but it’s definitely still there. This is an interesting tea, and I’ll be sad to see it go, but interesting to see what new stuff they have in store.

Ummm… so for the first time, I’m guilty of not remembering who gave me this tea! I think it was Indigobloom? But there’s a small chance it was Sil. Thanks, whoever! :D

Anyways! Felt like a pick-me-up this morning, and some black teas seem to upset my stomach a bit (or at least the thought of drinking anything astringent/bitter is offputting), and I saw this baggie sitting around and figured, why not! I’m having a lazy morning inputting work data at home after an AMAZING night last night seeing Wicked (OMG!!!) with the boy.

I only saw gongfu-style instructions for this tea on Verdant’s website, so opted to go with a slightly modified version. I used my whole little baggie of leaves (so maybe 3 or so grams) with probably a bit less than 8 oz. water, and bumped up the infusion times a little from the recommended 10 seconds.

First infusion (20s, somewhere near boiling): I’ve not had much success with the darker oolongs from Verdant, so wasn’t sure what this first infusion would leave me with. The wet leaves in the brew basket smelled quite strong and almost burnt, so I was a bit worried! Luckily, however, for no reason! If anything, this is a little weaker than I would have liked, but is an absolutely lovely oolong! A bit sweet, creamy, and characteristically woody. Quite delicious!

Second infusion (15s, approx boiling): Unfortunately I didn’t save any of the first infusion to test this one against, but it tastes similar, only perhaps a bit stronger, more creamy and flavourful. There’s perhaps a bit more creamy honey sweetness this time.

Hopefully I get to a few more infusions later in the day! I think I’ll try 30 or 45s next to see what I can coax out of these leaves.

Thanks again, sample-giver! :P

ETA: Third infusion (near-boiling, 45 seconds) – I’m drinking this one cold, and got a interesting chocolatey flavour from it. Pretty tasty. Fourth infusion (near-boiling, 1 min) isn’t that great to me. Perhaps it needs a longer infusion. Nice oolong aftertaste, but the rest is rather lacking.

Just slurped down the rest of my cold brewed tea that’s been in the fridge for several days. I added a little milk; let’s just say it was worth the wait.

I saved the leaves from my first try of this tea and put it in the fridge to cold brew. 2 days later, it is delicious! The spices leave my tongue tingling! I am sipping it but I think I am going to leave it for another day and see how amazing it is tomorrow. XD

I am so thrilled my Verdant order came today! I ordered over 20 sample sizes of teas I had been wanting to try. This is the first I am trying of the bunch! And I am not disappointed. I am drinking it straight up, no milk or honey this time. I am pleased with the balance of spice in this blend. I like the spice to linger in the aftertaste, and this certainly does. But it’s not too strong either, and it has a really tasty chocolate undertone that must be from the Laoshan black base; I ordered a sample of that as well but haven’t tried it yet. This is just amping up my anticipation to try the rest of the samples!

I can’t understand why I have not left a tasting note on this before.
I thought I would simply come and log this as I am having it as my morning tea and just make a note to see my previous review on it. Alas no previous review exists that I can find!
Not from me I mean.
However after reading over some of the lengthy amazing reviews of others I am highly intimidated to even make a remark worthy of this tea.
Soothing to say the least.
A true embodiment of what a quality tea should taste like – if only more did!
This is a tea that makes you feel “Im not worthy”.
It is sad it is gone, I hope more is available someday.
It is like others have said – like drinking silk – its mouthfeel can only be described in that manner, its not milky, I suppose you could say creamy but creamy does not do it justice. It just slides through the mouth, lingers on the taste buds romantically then slips into your throat and just slides down.
The result is an aftertaste similar to nothing you have tasted before because with each sip new flavors evolve as if your taste buds and the tea have a little game they are playing and only they know the rules.
I will miss this tea when I have my sip down. For now I have just enough to covet and stash away for a rainy day.

The best word to describe this tea: different. I mean that in the best way possible. It’s like going to work and looking out your window right before lunch to see a man crossing the street with a llama. Uhhh, what? Your taste buds get a similar vibe here with how unique and unexpected this tea is.

When I smelled the damp leaves after pouring some tea into the cup, I closed my eyes and was brought to the middle of an endless field of wheat. The smell of sesame seeds was distinct, and I loved knowing this was going to be a different tea experience than I am used to.

My first few cups were insane — sweet notes of grape, that sesame seed flavor, and a feel that I can only describe as being refreshing like a good vegetable. Not vegetal as is a flavor in greener teas, but a feeling akin to a very refreshing vegetable (I’m assuming this is me experiencing what others are referring to as the avocado notes). There is also a strong tingling texture on the tongue very similar to Big Red Robe. The aftertaste leaves a floral taste in the back that feels like a flowery mist.

On the third and fourth sweepings things mellowed out drastically. The flavor tasted like a light dancong with a hint of spice and sweetness. To be honest, I became a bit disappointed as everything died down severely (except the tingling texture) while some astringency became quite apparent. I figured it had turned into what tasted like an exasperated oolong.

Then, out of nowhere on the fifth or sixth steeping everything changed dramatically again. The astringency was for the most part gone, and an overwhelmingly full flavor of delicious dark chocolate took over. Think of the llama — Uhhh, what?? Yes. Dark chocolate with the malty qualities of black tea. The texture is weaker than in initial steepings, but it is still quite tingly. In a few more later sweepings, a slight citrusy aftertaste has developed.

All in all, this tea is truly rich. Like a generous man giving what he enjoys to his friends, this tea gives out all its various favors to all who come near. This is evidenced in the leaves as they go from black to green the more you steep them. In a beautiful way they selflessly give all they have to offer to willing drinkers.

Thank you for this tea, David. I now have a dilemma — on our honeymoon a few months ago my wife bought me a new yixing teapot. Do I use it for this tea or for Shui Xian? Ahh what a wonderful dilemma, indeed…

Appearance & aroma of dry leaves:
long shaped, green wirey & white buds mixed in. Light vegetal aroma smells like green tea.
Appearance & aroma of wet leaves:
Very bright green colour young, leaves and little buds if any smells like a nutty japanese green similar aroma to Mae-da En sencha possibly.
Colour of liquor:
Very pale green not much of a change throughout 4 steeps.
1st infusion Brewed in a 4 ounce gaiwan with 3.5 grams of tea 20 secs:
Light buttery vegetal flavour not bitter or astringent at all, don’t know what a snap pea is but this definitely reminds me of a snow pea. So Duckler was spot on for that one.
2nd infusion: 27 seconds
Slightly cloudly liquor with strong vegetal flavour very light & slightly astringent & bitter but in a positive usual way you expect from a green, little weird for a white

Once again Verdant Tea upends my bias against white teas. This tea has got a lot of heft for a chinese white. Its buttery and brothy and tastes just like baked asparagus, even the slight tang. It definitely needs to be watched while steeping because it can get bitter fast, I’d stick with 2min at most. I’m not used to a white tea with such flavor and if I didn’t know I would probably think it was a very light green tea. Also over time there is a nice grape flavor coming through. I know I can always depend on Verdant Tea to pick top notch teas even when I don’t fully love that particular kind. A great tea and I always serve it to my white tea only friends.

The dry leaf and the brewed tea smells very vegetal. Not really floral like I expected from a white tea. The leaves are really cute looking, curly and bright green when steeped.

First steep, 20seconds. I am getting boiled spinach with slightly salted butter. No hint of floral, but it is creamy.

Second steep for 25seconds. Maybe a little bit sweeter with a little bit less vegetal taste. More creamy in a way.

Third steeping for 25seconds. The aroma and taste of snap peas with a silky smooth finish enters my senses at this point.

Fourth steeping for 35seconds. This is probably my favourite steeping, it is lightly vegetal with creamy notes. I am not sure if I am getting soymilk, almond, or vanilla but there are maybe hints of each one.

Fifth steeping for 35seconds. Much the same as the fourth

To be honest, this is a lot more vegetal than I was expecting for a white tea. However, it is a tea of exceptional quality and flavour.

I decided to go with the basic but oh so yummy Laoshan Black. This is of course highly recommended.

having a cup of this right now YUMMY! it’s better now that the website has clearer instructions on how to brew it properly :D

I’m trying this again. I opened the bag and it smelled a lot better this time around than the first time. Yes, it a lot better this time around so maybe it just needed to breathe a bit :D or my senses just needed to recover (maybe they were overwhelmed) whatever the case this is quite good :D

I think I did something wrong with this one… it’s okay but not great. I love the Laoshan village chai though so it must be just me. I’ll try this one again later.

This is not real Dancong.