Verdant Tea

Something about this 4th member of the Alchemy Blend Tasting Sample Kit makes me want to start cooking Thai food and watch a subtitled Asian movie or get up and belly dance with a scarf around my hips.

While this is definately NOT a Chai…this Apothocary Green IS a cleaver marriage of vegital buttery bean, sweet mint and feisty cardamom and coriander.
It is important to follow the steeping instuctions. When the brewing says 45 seconds…that’s exactly what should be done. This is potent and if left untended the spices and mint could overpower the green tea which would be shameful. As a 45 second steep there is so much flavor that my mouth was fully alive with pops of cool mint, buttery vegetal green bean and a slight spicy finish on the first steep.
As the tea cooled, the spiciness from the cardamom increased and there was a bite of heat with the cool mint.
The second steep was simular to the first but smoother and spicier with less green vegital taste.
My creative side took over….dancing around in the kitchen!

I steeped the 3rd time in MILK! Wow this was so good! Like mint tea and spicy risotto! Buttery, fragrant…so delicious…so I added ice and that was fabulous too!

I’m going to play with this tea some more. There is something about the flavors that makes me want to be creative.
I would love to see what other people come up with. Infusions with rice maybe? Sauces?

Love these blends!

Well, I had like 4 cups of this yesterday and finished my stash…so…another sipdown I will miss very much!

It was lovely while it lasted!

After David’s MARVY Surprise Yesterday of a Karate Chop to the Taste Buds – I decided to try this one out to begin my day! I’m on my 2nd cup already and I’m really liking this!

A blend of Black, Oolong, Pu-erh, and White teas…I’m game!

I can totally taste individually and as a harmonious combo of the Black, Oolong, and Pu-erh. The white is slightly noted in the background, but not overly so. This is amazingly creative and the loose leaf ratios of each are done awesomely – in my opinion.

I haven’t been sleeping well the last several weeks. It’s my dogs. Mostly the one…Riley…he wakes me up at 3 – not sure what changed – he never has done this prior to a few weeks ago. I’m a Night Owl…I usually get settled in around midnight or 1. With Riley waking me up at 3…that isn’t fun…on top of that DH gets up for work at 3:30-ish and leaves shortly after 4. My alarm is set for 5:55 but I haven’t been making it that long lately. Riley either wants water, has to pee, wants to eat (he’s a piggie), or just wants to lay on the sofa. And that’s where I end up…on the sofa. Tremendous.

This morning in addition to lack of sleep Suzie (the other dog) bolted out of a dead sleep on the sofa and lunged at Riley – which I refer to as the “Bitch Attack”…I jump off the sofa and had to pry them off each other. 99.9% of the time these two dogs LOVE each other…but when the “Queen of the Castle” is in a dead sleep and the other one is too close to her she sometimes freaks.

So while this was happening…I could feel various tendons and muscles ripping in my neck, shoulder, and back. OYE.

So…yes…long story and way too much info…I totally needed a special tea to help me start my day!

This is IT!!!

This is certainly on the verge of a Karate Chop AKA Ninja Tea but not as in-your-face as the other GEM from yesterday. Perhaps I will refer to this one as The Round-House Kick :)

Malty-Chocolaty notes first and foremost are overly welcome and appreciated.

There are some cinnamon powdery hints throughout (even more-so in the 2nd infusion)

It has some odd but lovely creamy flavors that move like a football-stadium-crowd-wave throughout the sip.

In the first infusion – not really in the 2nd – I could taste reminiscent flavors of wet noodles as well. Also in the 1st infusion there was a completely different texture than in the 2nd infusion. It was somewhat grainy…much like a Gluten-Free Pasta Alternative or something. I found this very different, interesting, and likable.

This is a real work of art! Another wonderful offering from David and Verdant!!!!

This was my first experience with Big Red Robe. I’d heard a lot of hype about it, and was skeptical as to whether it could deliver, notwithstanding. It did. Furthermore, this tea has salvaged my interest in oolongs. I recently experienced a few that were underwhelming. This one changed that. I’m usually not given to fanciful descriptions, but this tea seems to warrant it. The scent is earthy and soulful; reminiscent of the smell of hot iron and rain on the horizon (if you can imagine those two). I’ve enjoyed three cups, thus far, and it has held up swimmingly. This is another tea that I’ll be repurchasing. It is absolutely worth trying.

Thank you, David at Verdant Tea for this free sample!

I’m really excited to try this tea. I’ve heard great things about he Laoshan Black tea from Verdant, and loved the Aged White Tea Cake I got. Now here’s another white tea for me to try.

Leaf Quality
The leaves are thin, curly, and an almost black-green color, with little strands of white in the mix. When I opened the sample pouch, I could barely tell what the dry leaves smelled like. After some time, I began to notice traces of Cinnamon and Vanilla. When I brewed the leaves for the required 20 seconds, they showed a beautiful color. Light and dark green leaves intertwined with pale yellow leaves. The leaves smelled grassy, sweet, and slightly vegetal. I’ve reviewed quite a bit of vegetal teas lately.

Brewed Tea
As quick as the steeping was, the brewed tea yielded a very nice, but very light yellow color. It smelled sweet, but it tasted much sweeter, and silky. It was a very smooth brew, with a very light flavor. I got a honey-like aftertaste.
Second Brew
Again, the flavor of this tea was very light, as was the color. The second brew did not have the same silkiness as the first steeping. The vegetal notes only showed in this second steeping. However, the vanilla notes I mentioned earlier also showed up.

I’m glad I got to try this tea. It’s character was complex, flavor light, and was very sweet.

I love this tea!

I’m so very sad I finished this one this morning. I ended up re-infusing until I couldn’t taste anything! Booo who…

It’s going to be a hell of a day! I needed something awesome to start my day! This was that tea! See previous notes!

So…THIS tea…is like a TEA NINJA…it karate-chops ya in the taste buds!

I tastes roasty and toasty but a bit like dark chocolate, too. In the middle of the sip I picked up some jasmine notes but they quickly faded. THEN…wait for it…Avocado! I can taste Avocado! Seriously! But then…there is a bit of dark chocolate again…or carob even. It makes me think of Jason Mraz’s famous Raw Vegan Avocado Chocolate Mousse!

Just when I think I have this flavor figured out it throws me another karate chop…malted milk flavor and fruity-goodness! What the heck?

And not only THAT…but I can pick up characteristics of both black tea and oolong teas! There are malty notes but then there are specs of charcoal notes trying to pop thru.

There is so much going on with this – I can barely contain myself! AND…I LOVE that!

As it cools at room temp for a tick…I can start tasting some lovely, delicate spicy flavors…WOW!!! What a conversation-piece! This tea makes you think…this tea makes you talk…this tea makes you question everything you thought you knew!

KARATE CHOP to the taste buds!

LOVE it!

Thank you to Bonnie for this sample. You are most excellent, m’dear.

It looks like bits off an ear of wheat. Well weird, so naturally I wanted to taste it, but I have held off until I was in a fit state to do so properly. So, I have set up my books and laptop in the kitchen next to the kettle and am getting on with some work while taking time out to enjoy this tea. I should probably focus solely on the tea until my eyeballs are swimming but that is not practical, alas. Enough of my wittering on. What’s it like?

The aroma of the wet leaf reminds me of pine resin and freshly baked oat biscuit (that’s cookie to some of you!) with cinnamon. Behind that is a hint of spring, apple blossom and fresh rain. Yikes, look at me going over the top with the descriptions! The liquor is practically clear too. And the taste? There’s that pine again, something peppery at the back of my tongue, a hint of apple and a lingering sparkly, peppery aftertaste. It reminds me of champagne in tea form. This is feelgood tea. I love it and it is going on the shopping list.

Last night I went bowling with a group of friends. I’ve only ever bowled candlepin (little balls), but most of the other people had bowled regular. I think candlepin is a MA thing… ah well. I wasn’t the worst, so that’s okay.

We all came back to our room afterwards, and I (of course) offered everyone tea. My friend Ana said to me “Hey, can you show me how to drink not-bagged tea?”

I was so proud.

I brewed a pot of this for us, and she loved it. Another tea convert…

There’s a DAVIDsTea 3 hours away, just over the Canadian border. I sense a road trip in our future.

The last time I had this, I found it to be very astringent, very malty, and wheaty.

Rifling through my stash, I was searching for the Jing Xuan by Red Blossom Tea Co, but it wasn’t in the box it should have been in and I didn’t have the time to search through the other box. So I grabbed this one, thinking, It’s okay, but it’ll do.

Steeped under decidedly unscientific parameters: slightly less than boiling water, a pinch of silky leaves, for maybe two to three minutes tops. I didn’t time it or look at a clock, so I’m not sure. I’m estimating more on the two minute side.

And I actually really like it. It’s not as heavy or dark as it was before. It sparkles with a mineral sort of sweetness. It’s kind of reminiscent of the Jing Xuan. The bready notes are there, but they don’t dominate the flavor.

I’m starting to believe in picking the right tea by fate, or whatever you call it – a tea that you grab because it’s the only one available, or you don’t have time to search for the one you want that turns out being perfect – it’s not what I wanted, but it was what I needed. It’s happened twice now. But maybe I’m just more grateful for fantastic tea or more sensitive to flavors in times like this.

Spoilers for Steepster Select’s final box… I probably shouldn’t post this yet, but I’m excited.

This is the first SS box I’ve gotten. I was about to brew a cup of Teavivre’s Fengquing Black Dragon Pearls (quickly becoming my favorite black) when the mailman showed up. Okay, I’ll see what’s in the box. I’ve never tried a Verdant tea before, but I’ve been dying to.

So I saw this and immediately decided to brew up a mug. The dry leaves are really soft and smooth, and almost remind me of plastic. And they have a strong, unique scent – sort of like dark chocolate, malt balls and whole wheat bread. It’s enticing.

Steeped, it’s a deep chocolate brown. I’m liking this already. My sister, who’s sitting across the living room, just asked me “Are you making brownies?” No, Jenny, it’s my tea. “Oh. Is it brownie tea?”

First sip: dry astringency and wheat. It’s still a bit hot, so it wasn’t a proper sip. Trying it again: dark, bitter chocolate with wheat in the background. I think I steeped it a bit too strongly, but that’s totally okay. This tea is somehow dry and smooth all at once. Delicious.

Great Scot I’m a dimwhit about time! My daughter Annalisa came over this morning to help me look over some wordpress blog formats and I forgot all about the tea steeping in the teapot for oh…about 7-8 minutes or more! (most likely 10 minutes!)
So far (and this is the honest truth) I have yet to screw up a Verdant tea steep time and end up with undrinkable tea. Why is that? It could be that the tea is the right kind to screw up. Maybe not though.
Mint and fennel and Puer was on the safer side for long steeping (huge sigh of relief). My daughter doesn’t drink Puer or sweeten her tea or add milk or any dilutants so what would she say?
I poured two big mugs of inky brown tea and snuck a wee sip first to test for bitterness.
Waaaow! Not bitter at all! It tasted sweet, minty and very drinkable without adding anything to it. Amazing!
My daughter drank her mug of tea and liked the flavor (she doesn’t fake it if she doesn’t like it either!).

I added milk and sweetening to make a robust latte…so good!

Cool Summer Mountain Morning

This weekend was the Boulder Tea Festival which I’ll write about in more detail as I review the tea’s that I tasted, the brilliant sights, sounds and people I met.

Boulder sits at the foot of a granite rock mountain (which explains the name of the town). In Summer during late afternoon, dark clouds form over the mountains, then thunder and lightning echo’s through the canyons bouncing off the rocky hills. Crackles and crashing followed by short downpours of rain or sprinkles. Noone bothers about it in this picturesque town.

Yesterday we had a good bit of rain…enough to make the sky dark blue grey and the Rocky Mountains look shrouded in mist.

This morning the air has been cooled enough to open all the windows and freshen up what is usually too warm by 10am. I have missed writing on Steepster and reviewing tea while I was sick last week. The rain has rinsed the dust away (maybe I’m like a piece of aged Puer.. and needed a rinse!).

This Xingyang Silk Road Spice is my third packet in the Alchemy Blend Starter Kit. The ingredients are 2008 Xingyang Shu Nuggets (good for my stomach), Organic Spearmint and Peppermint, Fennel and Cinnamon…all favorites of mine!

Not having any fear of a good dark brew, I decided to steep the leaves 3 minutes…and then…I forgot what I was doing…and remembered at about 6 minutes….eek!
Was this a disaster?!
Nooooo!
The wet leaves smelled so minty…the cup of almost black/brown tea was mint/cinnamon scented and tasted rich, warm and mellow with a natural sweetness from the Puer and cinnamon.

My mouth felt cool from the mint and warm from the fennel and cinnamon at the same time. I could breathe in and out smiling at the duel effect.
I sat for a moment, enjoying the air coming through the open window so clean and fresh from the rain the previous evening. Being still and letting myself think about the taste led me to remembering some of the Greek food I like to eat and the YiaYia’s (also spelled Ya-Ya for Greek Grandma) at Church who lovingly prepare dishes passed down from one generation to the other. Dishes often made with mint and cinnamon (and other things…hum).

I got bold.

I went to the frig and picked up a lemon and cut off a piece of zest (peel), then went into the cupboard for some honey.
I wanted to create a cup of Greek Tea!

I steeped my tea 3 minutes again (not 6), sweetening a little bit with honey and dropped a piece of zest in the cup. Yes, this was good! Opa!
I went and made some up for a cold brew.

The silky smoothness and warm, cool feel of this tea is so fine and soothing for the stomach. Impressive!

My love of these Alchemy Blends keeps growing and growing!

David sent me some of this and I must say the color of the contents blew me away! The Rose Petals are a purple red – vibrant and bold in both color and taste. I could see and smell the citrus contents and while sipping on this little gem KNEW there was more than ‘just orange’ within. Orange AND grapefruit? AWESOME! The black tea base, which I LOVE and have reviewed separately, is chocolaty, malty, and slightly crusty!

The reasons I LOVE this offering?

It has the Verdant FAMOUS Laoshan Black Tea Base. Another reason is because David didn’t skimp on the ingredients…that’s for sure! AND, of course, the creativeness of pairing these flavors together! I really appreciate that! PLUS…the unexpected creaminess that lingers on to the aftertaste! A Delight!!!

This Pu-Erh was fascinating. I liked it. I want to give it another, more thorough tasting. I’m not sure how many grams I loaded into my steeper, but the first steeping had a very smoky flavor. It was full bodied, and delivered exactly what I anticipated. The second steeping was close to the first, only a little fainter. The third steeping disappointed me, a little, as it seemed to “fall off.” Still, I rated it highly, because of the first two steepings. They held the sort of earthy, smoky flavor I expected. I think that if I procure a gaiwan, load up a little more tea, and brew it in the “gong fu” style, then it may deliver the sort of Pu-Erh experience for which I’m looking. I’ll try that, then update my notes.

This is my first experience with a Shu. I thought I’d ease into it, by trying a blend. I picked this one because of the recommendation another Steepster gave it. It is dandy! The interplay of spearmint with the cinnamon and fennel works very well. Though, without having any knowledge of other Shus, I don’t know what to say about this one. Still, I like it. I’ll be repurchasing this one sometime soon.

Michael approves!
Always a happy sign to me, when prefers a straight tea to a flavoured tea ;) (I love myself lots of flavoured tea, but I’m always surprised when he likes a straight tea – and so is he!)

He’s a slow convert. Oh well, I have lots of time!

Until then, here is my photo shoot/blog review: http://www.daisychubb.com/review-yanxins-reserve-04-shu-nuggets-by-verdant-tea/

Um, wow. This is more than amazing. TeaEqualsBills ,how did you know?! This has been on my mind since the very first tasting note popped up. It got me insanely excited about puerh, and then here it is, right in front of me. I can hardly believe my eyes! I’m in love and I haven’t even sipped it yet! THANK YOU!!!

I’m going to go into detail on my blog, and the post should be up Friday. Until then – there are some unmistakable sweet and light notes on the first steepings. Angel food cake for reals! I’m even imagining notes of small, colourful sprinkles – it’s just so rock sugar sweet! Yum!

A truly changing tea, each steep unlocks another layer of goodness and new flavours. An amazing tea that anyone afraid of puerh simply MUST try.

A very generous sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie. Also my first Verdant, strangely.

The Tulsi on this seems to be the most prominent flavor to me, followed by the mint and coriander. I seem to be experiencing this tea backwards from everyone else, like it was made for me by the Time Traveler’s Wife.

It was a very good quality blend, an interesting combination of flavors that was fairly enjoyable. I’m glad I had a chance to try it, but I don’t see myself stocking this one.

Thanks again, Anny!

This is a sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie, thanks!

I definitely get the cardamom, coriander and holy basil. I think the mint is more subtle than the above. The green reminds me of veggies. I’m not sure I’m that fond of this combination. It just doesn’t sweep me off of my feet. I would say I think it is a quality tea. Thanks for sending me a sample Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie!

This tea will age nicely.

I went to Verdant Tea’s website, and followed the steeping directions carefully.

This tea was very easily separated from its former cake shape. The leaves didn’t even break or snap when separated at all.

Leaf Quality
Excellent. The dry leaves were sort of fluffy. Fuzzy leaves with pale-green underneath. They smelled very sweet, and almost grassy. They were very light, and I needed to add what appeared to be more leaves than usual, to make the proper brew.

Brewed Tea
I brewed this tea twice. The first time, was as the website specified it. The second time, I experimented to see if it would taste different. It did. With the directions from the website, the tea leaves yielded an extremely light- yellow, and crystal clear drink. The smell was wonderful. It was sweet, with elements of honeydew, and a sweet vegetal aroma. The taste was light, and harder to grasp than the smell.
My Method: I took 5 grams of the leaves, and put them in a clear teapot. I brought water to about 80 degrees Celsius, and poured them over the leaves. I know that white teas can handle steepings of 3 to 4 minutes, so I decided to stop steeping at 3.

With this method, I got a very floral, and sweet cup. I hadn’t noticed the floral notes using the website’s directions. The liquid was also a more yellow-green color, but still very clear and light. There was a nice sweet-earthy taste at the end of the cup as well. I really like that the character changes well (a sign of great aging potential).

I think I’ll buy the whole cake to let it age.