Invader Zim

These pearls are smaller than normal pearls I’ve had, but that doesn’t mean they lack flavor. They are small, marbled green and silver, and smell softly of sweet jasmine. The jasmine is not overpowering or perfumey or fake in any way. Brewed, the infusion is a pale golden color with the soft sweet jasmine emitting from the cup.

I did not steep the pearls long enough the first time to let them fully unfurl, I usually don’t otherwise you get a soapy bitter jasmine green tea. So, after letting them sit for about a minute and a half, I removed them only partially unfurled.

The taste was a soft, sweet jasmine with underlying notes of apple, melon, a hint of hay, and a soft buttery/creaminess. It is a very lovely jasmine pearl tea and did fully unfurl after the second infusion. I was able to brew them a solid four times before the flavor started to drop and diminish. I got to six steeps before I declared the pearls done of their flavor.

I did not have any of the premium jasmine pearls to compare these too, so I cannot say how much different they are to each other. All I can say is that these are really nice and really good and that jasmine lovers should at least get a sample of these and try it themselves.

I prefer non-flavored green teas, but when I go to my parents I like to dink flavored green teas because their water is so terribly hard, even filtered. So, I decided to try this one since I know 52teas does a magnificent job with flavors, the price isn’t too much, they taste great with my parents water, and the flavors always sound intriguing. The only thing I don’t like about 52teas is that their teas for the most part are very limited.

Anyways, this tea I really liked. You can taste all the flavors from the sencha, to the peach, to the cardamom. None of the flavors over power any of the others. I found this tea to be sweet, earthy, smooth, almost creamy. The cardamom really goes well with the peach and the peach goes really well with the sencha. Then again, I am biased toward sencha. The cardamom does not remind me of chai in this either, in case that was holding anyone back. Also, the peach does not taste fake in any way, shape, taste, or form. Definitely a good flavored tea no matter how terrible your water may be!

Another awesomely awesome tea from Mellow Monk. This tea is sweet, grassy, tangy, citrusy, earthy, buttery, smooth, creamy, and yummy. The taste of this tea depends on the amount of yuzu peel to tea ratio I steep. Sometimes, it tastes more sencha-like, where it’s more sweet, grass, earthy, smooth. Other times, I get more citrus and tanginess and it tastes almost like a creamsicle. I really like it.

I typically make a flavored tea for my thermos when I go to school, and this one holds up really well in it. Again, my only gripe about this is the amount you get for the price, but I’m really enjoying Mellow Monks teas! I also would like to apologize for the sudden surge of notes and that they are so short. As I’m sure most of you know, sometimes life gets in the way of what you would like to do…in this case too much school prevents me from visiting you awesome people. But, there’s always some really awesome teas that you just have to share with everyone, and I had a slight break to let you all know about some of these awesome teas I’ve been drinking!

After having had Top Leaf, someone suggested I try this one. I’m glad I did. This tea is fantastic. It’s predominately grassy and seaweedy, it’s brothy, and has that wonderful umami taste. Yum! I’ve been drinking this almost every morning for about two weeks now. I can also get it to resteep very well at least four times before the flavor starts to diminish. I love this tea so much, my only gripe is that it’s not all that cheap for the amount you get, but I do love it, and I do like their eco practices.

I found this tea to be similar to Verdants’ Fuijian White Jasmine. The jasmine in this is very nice and floral with no honeysuckle. I found the floral in this one to be more garden floral, not hot, humid summer floral with honeysuckle. I could also taste the white tea too, melon, sweet, and hay notes throughout. I found this to be a very nice balanced jasmine tea that isn’t overpowering with its jasmine taste.

A new jasmine tea from Verdant…how could I not try it?! The dry leaves look like green buds with silvery-white hairs on them. The smell is very dominantly jasmine, with hints of grannysmith apple and pineapple. The taste is soft creamy jasmine with notes of other florals, and hints of grannysmith apple and pineapple.

The biggest differences I’m finding between this white jasmine and the Yunnan White Jasmine (also offered by Verdant) is that this one is not quite as creamy, there are other florals in this one (almost like the jasmine is growing in a garden), and there isn’t honeysuckle notes in this one. The Yunnan is jasmine and honeysuckle. There was also a lot of fizziness on the tip of the tongue. The Yunnan jasmine felt like jasmine and honeysuckle growing wild in the humid summer; while the Fujian jasmine was a tame version of jasmine growing in or next to someones flower garden. I also found the Yunnan version to be creamier.

I know this is supposed to be just the Fujian version, but I’m finding it easier to explain it by comparing it to the Yunnan version. I hope it helps. Also, I brewed this Western-style today in my teapot. Yesterday, I had brewed it in my mug. I works well both ways, I just need to try it gaiwan style to see if it produces any differences. Either way, another excellent white jasmine tea!

Drinking some of this tonight. Had a long week, my brain is fried. I had five finals this week; two Monday, two on Tuesday, and one today after my annual medical appointment. Because this week is finals week, a local yoga place I love is having free yoga classes all week. Today was the first day I could go. I needed to go. I was so glad to go.

For an hour and a half I sweated harder than I ever have doing any other exercise, including running. I love yoga, so I guess I put more into and I get more out of it. Afterwards there was a 30 minute meditation session. I stayed for that as well. The yoga instructor for todays class is the one I prefer to go to, he plays the harmonium…it’s beautiful. Plus, he gives out hugs…who can pass up free hugs?! I came home afterwards in complete bliss, but I still felt a little twinge creeping back up into the front of my head from all the stress over the past week. I wanted something soothing, something that I didn’t need to focus on, something without caffeine. I went for this tea. I found that adding honey really makes this tea shine.

I wasn’t able to fully go back to that blissful state, that twinge in the front of my brain is still there, hopefully after a good nights sleep it will go away. Until then I’m drinking this and listening to this video, which is the one I find most resemble what my yoga instructor plays and sings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wgkgXR_LMg

I’m sad to see this go. Is this where I say sip-down? This tea is fantastic. It’s not like any other white tea out there that I’ve ever encountered. It’s a lot like Summer Laoshan Green, but lighter. It’s super smooth and creamy, I love it. This was my morning and early afternoon partner today for studying…finals are coming.

This is another one from the reserve club. I brewed this one in my yixing, which has a 4-8 second pour depending on how full I fill it. I used 205*F water and went on for 12 steeps. The when I opened the bag I mostly smelled the roasty notes. The dry leaves are mostly shades of brown with a few olive colored leaves thrown in. The wet leaves smelled roasty and cinnamon apple. The infusion was a nice dark golden color and smelled roasty and woodsy.

The tea started out almost like a Mi Lan. It was very juicy and held roasty notes along with fruity, floral, woodsy, melon, and a campfire minus the smoke. It was quite nice. This lasted for a while and around steep four I started to get an interesting thickness in the aftertaste in the back of my throat, this lasted and got stronger as the steeping continued.

Shortly thereafter, the tea started to mellow. There were still roasty notes and a juicy quality, but not as strong. The floral notes started to get stronger and the fruit notes started to fade out. An herbaceous and vegetal note started to come in too around steep 6. Also, the thick aftertaste in the back of the throat started to consume the top-back part of my palate and had a slight almond taste to it.

Then steep seven changed completely. The tea went very floral on me, gardenia, with a note of melon dew, and a vegetal note. The thickness was slowly crawling forward, coating my tongue. No note of fruit or juiciness, no roasty qualities either.

Steeps seven and eight were the same, but a spice note started to come in, focusing on the tip of my tongue. Cinnamon, or nutmeg perhaps, I couldn’t be sure.

Steep ten through twelve did another 180 on me, going back to the beginning steeps, although it was mellower this time. It sounded the return of juiciness, with notes of fruit, spice, with a hint of vegetal hanging around.

I really enjoyed this tea and how it changed. It’s what I like and look for in dancongs. Their ability to have so many notes, the ability to change so drastically, their ability to surprise you in pleasant ways!

This was another sample I received from the rewards points. This is another dancong I have never tried from anyone, and I have no idea what the translation is. I doubt it can be as amusing as the “Big Hemp Leaf” (Da Ma Ye) that I had the other day! I brewed this the same way, in my 3.7oz yixing that I have dedicated to dancongs. It has a pour rate of 4-8 seconds depending on how much I fill it with water. I did 12 steepings at 205*F with mostly 6 second steeps and made my way up to 10 seconds by the 12th steep. I do find a hint of bitterness with this because I can’t do 2-4 second steeps, but it’s tolerable and doesn’t take away from the rest of the tea.

The dry leaf was charcoal color with some olive color mixed in. They smelled wonderful. There was a floral note and the best way I can describe the rest of the scent if a grilled stone fruit (like a plum) with cinnamon on it! The infusion was golden and held notes of roastyness, a sweet spice, floral, and fruit.

I didn’t find this tea to change dramatically, no whiplash, no wtf moments, no what am I drinking moments. This one rode quite smoothly for me. Sometimes one note would fade in and another would fade out, but nothing drastic like with the Da Ma Ye dancong I had.

It started out fairly floral, with a nice amount of stone-fruit (again I’m going with plum here), and a small pleasant roasty note. These notes (besides the roasty note) lasted throughout the entire session. Sometimes a juiciness would appear and the stone fruit would become a little stronger, sometimes the floral note would come in a little stronger. But those two notes remained fairly constant.

Very quickly a citrus note appeared giving a taste of citrus peel and some pith to add just a hint of a bite, but not making it off-putting, just making itself known. With this citrus note, a note of tree bark came in. Trust me, I know what tree bark tastes like, when I had dendrology class (tree id class), tasting and smelling the tree bark and under the tree bark was a useful way to ID some of the trees. If you’ve never tastes Sassafras or Sweet Birch, I suggest you go do so.

In the earlier notes a slightly thick mouthfeel came in the aftertaste. Not nearly as thick as a tieguanyin, thick enough to still taste everything else and be pleasant. This came in around steep three and lasted for the rest of the infusions but did mellow out the further I took this tea.

Eventually the citrus dissipated and a sweet spice note came in, cinnamon or perhaps nutmeg. It grew stronger as the steeping continued and became more cinnamon than nutmeg.

I like this tea, it was a very nice, well mannered tea. It was like this is what I have to show you, to offer, I hope you enjoy it. It did so without shoving anything in your face or being cocky or being overzealous about it. While it may not have taken me on a fantastic roller-coaster ride, it did take me around to see some of the less visited sites along the scenic route, and I cannot complain one bit.

So, I did a terrible thing today and I have no idea what possessed me to do it. I went to Five Guys and got a cheeseburger. Granted this doesn’t sound terrible, but I eat fairly healthy. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve eaten fast food, about a year ago I think. Anyways, I ate the burger and now I just feel sick and sluggish and like crap. I decided to help ease my tummy and the lump of crap I had just ingested, and so I went for this. I find puerh with mint and cinnamon helps ease my tummy a lot.

This is definitely helping to ease the rock that refuses to digest and help make me feel slightly less sluggish…I’m just glad the day is done. The taste is not so much chai, it reminds me of a cheap version of Verdant’s Xingyang Silk Road Spice. There’s some nondescript shu puerh, mint, cinnamon, and vanilla. It’s not bad, but there is this odd taste in it. Fake vanilla or some sort of fake flavoring. Ever since I started buying mostly from companies that use real flavors I have found I am able to sense that fakeness more easily. Kind of like going without fast food for so long makes me feel the bad effects even worse when I do eat it!

I got this one as a sample a few months ago and never reserved the time to try it. Well, I had a lot of free time today and decided to give it a go. It’s funny because I just finished 10 steepings when the mail comes in, I got the reserve month package and this happened to be in there! So, now I have more!

To start off, I used my 3.7oz yixing I dedicated to dancongs. It has (depending on how full of water it is) a 4-8 second pour. So, usually I put the water in and immediately start pouring out.

When I opened the package I was immediately greeted by a wonderful scent! It smelled like juicy grapefruit with wildflower honey, a touch of maple syrup, and the slightest hint of some spice…sweet cinnamon perhaps? There was another note that was predominate, but I couldn’t place. After getting the package in and reading the description, I concluded that it’s the honeydew melon.

The wet leaf smelled roasty, dark floral (orchid), maple syrup, wildflower honey, and fruity. By fruity I mean grapefruit and honeydew.

The first infusion was an explosion in my mouth! There were notes of roastiness, honey, maple syrup, a wonderful juiciness of grapefruit and honeydew. There was an interesting orchid note and creaminess that I can only describe as resembling a tieguanyin.

The second steep was more orchid notes and creaminess with a hint of a vegetal note. This was definitely tasting more like a lighter version of a tieguanyin than anything. There was even a thickness of mouthfeel that lasted well into the aftertaste.

Third steep was super thick, mouth coating.

Fourth and fifth steeps went back to being super juicy, the tieguanyin effect was starting to back off. The fifth steep I started to taste that hint of a spice element..clove? Nutmeg perhaps? It was very faint, so it was hard to tell.

The sixth steep went back to tieguanyin. Then the seventh steep was super juicy! I feel like I’m getting whiplash here!

The eighth steep decided to take it easy on me and was a nice balance between super juicy and thick mouthfeel lasting into the aftertaste. The mouthfeel was coating my entire mouth, but was focusing on the tip and sides of my tongue.

Ninth steep was a huge explosion of juiciness again! It was so juicy it felt like I had just bit into a ripe plum or melon where the juicy runs down your face! There were notes of orchid (as usual), orange and grapefruit, the honeydew, and a hint of clove.

The tenth and final steep I took with this started to go back to tieguanyin. The mouthfeel so thick and heavy. The aftertaste so long lasting. I also got a hint of almonds in the aftertaste with this one. I’m taking a break from it for now since my head is swimming and the bathroom and I are becoming close friends!

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.

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/feralanima/DavidsChoiceJasmineHand-rolled003.jpg
http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/feralanima/DavidsChoiceJasmineHand-rolled001.jpg

I like genmaichas, but I don’t drink them a lot because I never really have a craving for them. The only time I really want some is when I go out to an Asian restaurant (usually because it still tastes decent after they boil it). But I figured I would give this one a try. I got a mere ounce knowing that it would last me a while, and it is, although I’m starting to go through it a little quicker now!

It’s been a cold, rainy, dreary day. I woke up at 6am this morning to go stand out in the (literally) freezing rain for three hours to learn how to do tree plots. I needed something soothing and warm pronto! I grabbed this. The first cup I downed just to get some warmth back into my body. Sometime during my second cup I started to get feeling back in my fingers and toes. Then I slowed down and actually tasted the tea!

This tea is incredibly smooth, creamy, and buttery. It’s reminiscent of buttered popcorn…heavy on the butter. The toasted rice isn’t the normal toasted rice you find in genmaichas. This one is sweeter and nutty. This tea is thick and savory, I feel like it should almost be viscous (not a bad thing, I promise).

I love the movie 16 Candles, and I have this scene stuck in my head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS7s3Wq2ggk
Because today, it’s my birthday! Oh and guess who just got a monthly reserve tea package in today!

ETA: I lied, the package I got was actually the free David’s Choice reserve samples I got from accumulating so many points on the Verdant site!

I redid this one using my new yixing I dedicated it to (not the bad one I just got and found out was a fake). I know it’s still absorbing a lot of the flavor but I wanted to see how much different it tastes this way. I used boiling water, did a quick rinse followed by ten steeps, most of them at 3-5 seconds. At steep 9 I went up to 9 seconds, at steeps 10 I went up to 10 seconds.

Steep one was mostly roasty, sandalwood, juicy, fruity flavor.

Second steep was the same but with a hint of jasmine and a citrus texture to it.

Third steep got a little interesting. It was sandalwood, a dark floral note, a citrus texture and juicy mouthfeel. It seemed there was a hint of melon at the tail end, but it was so fleeting. By the time I even formed the thought of melon, the taste was there and gone.

Fourth was the same as three but with the dark floral note turning into orchid and something silky creamy starting to peak in. Possibly the orchid?

Fifth steeping was more woody than sandalwood, with orchid, jasmine, juicy, a note of clove, a silkyness to it and a citrus texture, with that ever fleeting hint of melon.

Sixth reverted back to sandalwood, orchid, clove, juicy, and silky.

Seventh was the same as the sixth, but the mouthfeel was beginning to become thicker, mouth-coating. Also, the jasmine made a fleeting peak at me at the tail end of the sip.

Eighth steeping started to become a softer sandalwood, the orchid becoming more prominent, the mouthfeel thicker.

Ninth, I should stop soon, I’m starting to feel buzzy from too much tea and no food. This was the same as number eight but with the addition of the sparkling citrus coming back in for a minute. One more, then I need to stop and get some food!

Tenth was soft sandalwood, orchid, silky, with a thick heavy mouthfeel that coats the entire mouth and lasts forever like a greener oolong does.

I’ve been drinking this tea for about four hours straight, no food in longer. I’m hungry and shaky and jittery. I love this tea and the yixing seems promising, but I need to stop and eat, like now. I’m one of those people that bounces off of walls when they have too much caffeine…it’s worse on an empty stomach!
This is me right about now! ZOOM! ZOOM!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXd20B2Oj5U
Or for those who want to skip straight to the ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM! part!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NnkhMGXrp8

Reusing the leaves from before I decided to try this western style. I find this helps cut the bitterness. I found it to be much more pleasant, but also less complex this time around. It was still complex, but not as much as it had been before. This time I had notes of light sweet tobacco, dirt and earth, a little bit of smoke, a hint of peppercorn, and a hint of bitterness in the aftertaste. The bitterness is cut down a lot. I still never did find the jerky I had smelled in this tea earlier though. I want to like this tea and I do like this tea, but that bitterness I just can’t stand. I think (hope) that if this ages then the bitterness will go away. But I only have a sample of this and I don’t think I will let it last long enough to age!

I’m leaving the rating off for now since I’m not sure how I want to rate it yet.

Backlogging

Dry aroma is sweet, vanilla, cold crisp winter earth, sweet tobacco, and jerky. The wet leaf aroma is earthy, smokey, sweet tobacco. It reminds me of when my dad and I used to sit on the porch in the spring watching the sunset while listening to classical music and he would smoke. Good memories.

No brewing instructions for this yet. So, I brewed this gaiwan style, boiling water, starting with 5 second infusions. First infusion was lightly earthy, like wheat fields that have already been sowed. There is a touch of vanilla, and a bit of peppercorn on the tip of the tongue that lasts into the aftertaste.

Second steep I get something that tastes like dirty potato skins, this is not a bad thing, sometimes you just don’t get all the dirt off! The vanilla was still there, as was the peppercorn. The bite of the peppercorn was a little subdued this time instead in your face.

Third steep was bitterness, ashy, and somehow juicy.

Four steep I lowered the temp down to 175* and didn’t preheat anything. I find this a good tactic when tea starts to become bitter. This steep was smokey, sweet tobacco, vanilla, juicy, creamy, dirty potatoes, and still some bitterness but not as bad. This was probably my favorite steep, getting all of these flavors, even with the bitterness!

Fifth steep, following same steeping parameters as #4, was juicy, bitter, and dirty. As it cooled I got a woody note, but the bitterness was too much, time to take a break.

I’m still trying to find that one sheng without bitterness or ashy notes when brewed gaiwan style. Unfortunately this isn’t it, not yet yet at least, maybe when it’s a bit more aged though.

I’m not going into much of a detailed note on this one as I see that there are a few reviews that go into pretty good depth with it. I will say that when I first tried this tea I was not impressed. I didn’t care for it at all and was ready to give it away. I tried Bonnie’s advice and mixed it with a puerh. That helped a little bit, but I still didn’t care for it.

Over the weekend my husband got sick and has passed it onto me. I started drinking this last night. I did it western style. I put a generous amount of farmers market honey at the bottom of my cup and proceeded to brew this. This my fellow Steepsterites, this is the nectar of the gods when you are sick. It tastes so much better, it makes me feel a little bit better even though I know I am not. And the nice amount of honey sitting in the bottom of the cup that hasn’t mixed in is just delicious. I get the feeling I may finish this before I have the chance to pass it off!

I’m leaving the rating off of it because I don’t like it when I’m healthy, but it’s good when I’m sick…so I’m not quite sure how to rate it, so I’m just leaving it off.

Another sample I received from Zen Tea!

This one is a sencha base with gojiberries, lemongrass, cornflower petals, blueberry and pomegranate flavoring. Dry, it smells fairly potent, it’s sweet and tart, and pretty to look at. I can smell the pomegranate and blueberry quite predominately. Wet, the leaves gain a slight grassy scent to them.

Taste is sweet and tart. Not quite as potent as the dry smell though. This tea is dominated by the blueberry and pomegranate flavors. If I search I can find the lemongrass. I can’t say I taste much of the sencha base, if at all.

I can’t say I’m impressed with this tea. It’s not bad, I just like to taste my tea base. Unfortunately, I cannot in this blend. Maybe I’ll try this cold brewed, I might like it more that way. Even with me not caring for this tea, I have to say that I’m still impressed with Zen Tea. This is only one tea that I don’t care for out of five different teas I’ve tried from them. The rest I thought were all delicious! One out of five isn’t bad, plus I got an awesome yixing from them. I like this company!

This was a free sample I received from Zen Tea!

It’s a small sample package, but it seems like I have enough for three cups worth. I’ve found with senchas that less is more. More leaf does not equal a better, stronger cup. It’s supposedly Ichiban Cha or first flush. Now, I like senchas, but I’ve never really been able to tell the difference between different pickings. Then again, I’ve never tried them side-by-side. So, I can’t say for certain that it is, only taking the word of the company, which I believe.

The dry leaf is a dark rich emerald color that smells sweet and grassy. The wet leaf is a gorgeous bright emerald that smells sweet, grassy, and buttery. The infusion is an amazing ghostly yellow-green color. It reminds me of Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf tea when infused.

The taste is amazing. It’s wonderfully sweet and grassy. There’s a smoothness to it with notes of butter and a hint of saltiness with a wonderful umami taste! I like this better than Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf.

My husband is sick and I let him have some and he more or less downed it. He said it was more for the warmth than the taste. But, since he is sick, I’m bound to get it and I can already feel my throat is scratchy after waking up this morning. This seems to help soothe it. I don’t know if it’s the warmth or the tea itself, I don’t care, it’s good either way!

I absolutely love this tea. If I could choose only one tea to drink for the rest of my life it would be this one. Jasmine tea is what started me on this wonderful tea journey. While my tea base preference may have changed a few times, it’s still my favorite tea.

I came home today wanting tea (what’s new) but I had a headache and I wanted something different. This one called to me, but I said no. So, I went sniffing through my teas trying to find one that would pop out at me. It never happened. I opened my canister of this and it was instant bliss.

I brewed it up in my yixing with my little teacup…which I just realized match without me ever having intended to do so. I drank my first little cup and instantly felt better. My husband came home, he’s coming down with a cold, I offered him some and he drank a few cups…more for the warmth than the taste, but hey I’ll take what I can.

For a jasmine, this is soft and sweet with a creamy mouthfeel. Sometimes I can taste the pepper bite in the aftertaste, today I’m getting something closer to cinnamon. Even though this is a bud tea, which should contain more caffeine, I always feel more calm and relaxed. I try to save this tea for something, but it’s more of my go-to tea than anything else, not that I mind.

Here’s another picture of my yixing and teacup matching each other! I really do love them, and this tea, they go so well together!

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/feralanima/100MEDIA_IMAG0114.jpg

I got this one from Azzrian!

I was a bit worried about this one. I don’t typically like cucumber or melon flavored teas, they just never seem right, somehow sour, like overripe fruit. I opened the bag and didn’t get much of a scent. Brewed up I can smell the cucumber and the mint, the mint is light.

The taste is a little odd, I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I can taste the cucumber, but it’s more of the cooling sensation that you crave in hot summer months than actual taste. It’s not gross or sour or anything bad, it’s just not what I was expecting. The mint is there, but it is, like the smell, light. I think the mint is spearmint, it doesn’t have that bite or herb-y taste to it that peppermint does. This is much sweeter, it might be part of the hint of blueberry sweetness I get in the tail end of the sip.

I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it. It’s good, but it’s different. It’s very true to cucumber flavor too, this is what surprises me most. It re-steeps well, I’m on number three. I think I may have to cold-brew a small mug of what’s left of the sample.

Thank you Azzrian for sharing this with me!

I’ve got a bit of a rumbly in my tummy. So, I made some of this because of the puerh and the ginger in hopes of settling my stomach. While I still have an occasional rumble, my stomach does feel a lot better. Maybe I should add some peppermint to it and see how much better that works. This is one of the better teas I’ve had to settle the stomach. All of the ones I found that work contain puerh, ginger, or mint.

I am, as are most others, constantly looking for that one chai, the perfect chai. It has lead me to this tea. I have high hopes for this one because of the base teas used, a mi lan dancong and a mi lan black tea. I have yet to try the mi lan black tea by itself, but I did get a sample for basing it off of this tea. But I love mi lan dancong from verdant, which makes me hopeful in itself, plus there’s the lack of so many overpowering spices. There’s only a few. Plus, the saffron, marigold, and vanilla added to make this super creamy has me giddy.

I open the package and I smell the chocolate, vanilla, and cardamom as the predominate notes. There is a bit of ginger, the heat of it almost makes this smell like a Mexican hot chocolate…yum! There dry leaves are pretty to look at as well. The mix of the mi lan teas and lots of marigold petals contrasting.

I brew this western style, 205*F at 1 minute via Verdant instructions for this. The wet leaves smell juicy and cardamom-y. I can smell the dancong and the black tea. I can smell the chocolate, the creaminess, and a fruity-floral note.

The infusion is a nice golden color. It’s lighter than I would have expected it to be, but it’s still a rich gold. The infusion has the most spectacular aroma…homemade pumpkin pie! Oh good lord, I could sit here all day just sniffing this! I can’t get past the pumpkin pie smell to get anything else, then again I don’t want to! I love homemade pumpkin pie, it is my favorite pie, my favorite dish of the autumn season!

When I finally stop sniffing my tea enough to get a sip out of it I am not necessarily bombarded, but my tongue is trying to taste everything at once! At first there is that juicy quality from the dancong. There is a stone fruit note followed by cardamom. Then there’s vanilla, creaminess, a stone-mineral note, honey and caramel sweetness, a hint of chocolate, with the heat of ginger in the aftertaste. Whoo! and that was only the first sip!

I added a little bit of farmers market clover honey and I found it made it too sweet. The natural honey-caramel notes makes this tea sweet enough that I didn’t need to add any sweeteners. Then I added some milk. I added too much, although it did help to bring out the chocolate note more.

In the second steep I got more chocolate, more cardamom, and the ginger moved to the tip of my tongue lasting into the aftertaste. The juicy quality wasn’t quite as strong, but the vanilla and creaminess was still there. I didn’t add any sweetener to this steep, but I did add some milk, less this time. It made it taste more like a chai, but more watered down at the same time. This chai seems too light to be able to really handle milk, but that’s ok because this is delicious without any!

The third steep I’m starting to taste the pumpkin pie I had smelled earlier…this makes me happy! I’m not adding anything this time as I’m finding it better by itself. While this is a delicious chai, I am still on the lookout for one that holds up to milk well as I seem to prefer chai lattes. I do have the Laoshan chai from Verdant, but have yet to try it.

The one thing I found very interesting about this tea is that while tasting all the notes and trying to taste it as a chai, my mind and tongue kept trying to taste the dancong notes by itself! This is an excellent tea even though it’s not what I was looking for in a chai! Great job Verdant!