Daniel Pollard

Backlog from yesterday. Nice copper colored liquor. Brewed in my gaiwan (4oz), 4g/4oz of boiling water. Quick rinse, then a short 3 second steep. Very chocolate-like aroma. Some dark malt and roast notes as well. Very smooth cocoa nib flavor. Mouth-coating, no astringency. Delicious.

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This was a sample from David at Verdant Tea, tucked in with my last order. I brewed it at 4g/4oz water. Rinsed once with 212F water, then steeped at the same for 2 seconds. The liquor is a nice shade of brown with red hints. Semi-hazy. The aroma is all about the malt. Mainly wheat. It’s a very inviting aroma. The flavor is a bit more complex. Again, lots of malt. Hints of the maliard reaction coming across as caramel malt. Some brown sugar. The mouthfeel is full and silky smooth. No astringency. Some diacytel-like butter character throughout. With all this wonderful malt it reminds me of evaluating malted barley at work. I’ll have to order this!

Brewed western style. 4g of leaf rinsed once with 208F water then steeped in 8oz at 208F for 1 min. The aroma is… Interesting. A little off putting to me. Notes of marijuana and brass mixed with roasted nuts. Quite a thin mouthfeel with some astringency throughout. Very earthy flavor, roasted nuts, some black coffee. I’ll have to revisit this one later.

Brewed western-style. 5g in 8oz water at 205F. Hard to tell the color of the liquor since it’s in a slightly colored mug. The aroma is BIG. Jasmine, jasmine, and more jasmine. Did I mention jasmine? Extremely perfumed almost soap-like. Not overly appealing to me, but I knew what I was getting into when I ordered. Very smooth mouthfeel. Flavor wise I don’t get much of the Silver Needle, just lots of Jasmine. It’s very relaxing to just sit and sip.

3 grams/4 oz. Rinsed gaiwan and cup with just boiled water to preheat. First infusion steeped for 2 seconds. The liquor is a beautiful red copper. Lots of floral notes mixed with cocoa nibs and hints of spice in the aroma. Very rich mouthfeel. No astringency at all. Some clove and spice at first, quite earthy overall. A bit of cocoa on the the finish. Very enjoyable.

Update: Later infusions change considerably. The mouthfeel thins slightly , and the finish becomes more drying. The spice notes become the primary flavor, with hints of smoke.

Phenomenal. I preheated both the gaiwan and my cup with boiling water. Weighed out 4g of leaf for 4oz of boiling water. Quick rinse and decant. Steeped the first infusion for 2 seconds. The aroma is similar to malt extract, oxidized/honey smell. Caramel notes abound. The liquor is slightly hazy but a nice shade of brown with hints of red. Extremely smooth mouthfeel. Absolutely no astringency. Some spice in the flavor. Very well integrated. Lots of complex caramel. Delicious.

Sample from @VerdantTea. Rinsed once with 205F water. Infused for 2 seconds, decanted, infused again (for 4 seconds), and decanted into the same cup. The color of the liquor is pale yellow and perfectly clear. The aroma is slightly floral with some biscuity malt. Extremely pleasant. Similar notes in the flavor; slightly sweet biscuit, a hint of honey. Very drying on the finish. An enjoyable cup of tea.

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On my fourth infusion. The sweet cream aroma has backed off significantly, leaving a nice pastry (almost shortbread) smell. The flavor reminds me of brown rice (but very subdued).

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Steeped per Verdant Tea’s instructions. 4 grams of leaf in 4 oz of water. Quick rinse. 2 second infusion. Beautiful colored liquor, like gold sunlight. Some haze, but not enough to detract from the appearance. First impression of the aroma is a soft grain character. Similar to wheat or spelt. Some sugar-like sweetness as well. The taste bears this out. Wow. So soft and smooth, beautiful texture. Some grassiness, and honey as well. The aftertaste lingers nicely. An inviting and delicious tea.

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Brewed per @VerdantTea instructions. Very pale yellow liquor. Big sweet cream aroma. Bordering on warming cream/milk in a saucepan. Reminds me of English custard. Some fruit notes. The flavor is a bit strange as the aromas are also present as flavors. So I almost forget I’m drinking a tea, and I expect a thicker mouthfeel. The tea however has a wonderful texture. Very smooth. Nice floral notes. The aftertaste is drying on the front of the tongue but has a lingering sweetness on the back.

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Steeped per the brewing instructions provided by Verdant Tea. 4g of leaf in 4oz of water. Boiled then cooled to 170F. The aroma of the leaves is intoxicating in the bag and only becomes more so after a wake up rinse, steep, and decant (I’m using a gaiwan). With a 5 second steep (second infusion) the liquor decants a very pale straw yellow, very clear. I get a lot of sweet green pea in the nose, some other young green vegetables, and a zingy aroma that reminds me of the smell of raw sugar. The flavor seems quite delicate; some slight sugar sweetness, faint young green vegetables. The body is more substantial then I would have thought. This tea coats the mouth, and only dries out a tiny bit on the finish. Very refreshing.

Update: 9 infusions and it’s still tasty

Second infusion. 4g/4oz water at a boil. The second infusion is much darker than the initial. The first steeping was a nice clear red liquor. Now it is opaque and reddish brown. Lots of dark malt and hints of chocolate in the aroma. Quite a lot of earth in the nose also. First taste is some stale black coffee and dirt. But not in an unpleasant way if that makes sense. The flavors fade quite quickly to a fleeting chocolate with slight astringency.

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