This is a tea I received from using the rewards points to get David’s Choice of five samples on the Verdant website. I received the package yesterday, but I didn’t have the chance to try any right away. So, today, this is the first one I picked to try. It’s jasmine, how was I not supposed to pick this one first?!
For this brewing, I used a five ounce cup with a brew basket, and 175*F water. These samples are only 7g, so I get about two separate steeping occasions for these, this one I may be able to stretch out to three. I opened the bag and was surprised! I was expecting to see jasmine pearls, when in fact it looked like lightly rolled silver needle buds, they resembled snails that were softly scented with jasmine. I hope the picture is able to depict it well enough. But they were actually kind of cute! I hadn’t seen a tea quite like this before.
The wet leaves didn’t fully unfurl the first steeping, which was about 30 seconds. But the aroma was wonderful! I could smell the wonderfully soft and sweet jasmine underlaid with honeysuckle, and a fleeting note of something citrus…orange maybe?
The infusion was pale and smelled of soft jasmine and honeysuckle. I was getting something else too. I couldn’t pinpoint it, the best I can describe it is when you go up to smell and flower and the aroma you get is that of the flower, but in the background you can smell the stem and leaves on it too. This is similar to what I was getting, not just the flower, but the rest of the plant too.
so the first steep, at about 30 seconds, was amazing! There was the soft jasmine and honeysuckle with the note of the rest of the plant and a hint of something citrus again. Then there was this amazing fizziness to the entire thing! Some of you may have gotten some from Verdant’s Yunnan White Jasmine…well that’s got nothing on this! The fizziness was throught my entire mouth, centered on the tip of my tongue and lasted well into the aftertaste! Wowza!
The second infusion was abut 45 seconds. I watched in amazement at the little snails slowly wiggled their way out of their shells; their dance was wonderful to watch. This steep was silky jasmine, honeysuckle; that strong fizziness throughout, and the rest of the plant note. The citrus seemed more like orange yet still fleeting and added a sparkling texture to go along with the fizzing. There was a linen-like aftertaste that coated the tongue, not unpleasant. A nice cooling sensation appeared in the aftertaste. When you eat a mint and every time you breath in you can still feel it; that was there in this tea. There was a darker note this time too. Maybe there was last time but the fizzing took too much of my attention away! But the darker note seemed like it was a part of the jasmine, almost melancholy-like. When you feel bright and happy but there is something darker hiding in the recess of you mind; that is the feeling this conjured.
Third and fourth steeps were about 20-25 seconds. I don’t think I steeped these long enough. Everything was still there from the second steep, just softer and less pronounced.
That second steep absolutely blew my mind away. I have been playing with jasmines for a while and this is the best one I have ever had. I’ll have to see if there is some way I can get more from Verdant. That makes me feel greedy though, I should be thankful for being able to try this, but I can’t help wanting more, to be able to experience this tea again. Thank you David and everyone at Verdant for allowing me to experience this tea. It really is amazing. This is the first tea I have ever rated 100, because I thought it was impossible to find that perfect tea, I have been proved wrong. Thank you.
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