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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!

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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!

This was a free sample I received from Zen Tea. The dry leaves are beautiful, green and white curled leaves. The aroma is that of a light vegetal scent with floral notes, a mineral note, and a hint of a smokey note. The taste is just as good. It doesn’t taste overly vegetal like a lot of green teas can. This is vegetal, but more like sweet roasted vegetables with butter on them. The green vegetal notes you would expect are there, but hiding, the roasted vegetable notes definitely take precedence here. It’s good, really good. There is a soft floral note. And in the second steep I can get a hint of the mineral and smokey notes, just hints of them. There is no bitterness or astringency. This tea reminds me of Laoshan green tea from Verdant but not as creamy.

Thank you Zen Tea for this lovely sample!

I’ve been playing around with my new yixing that I got a few weeks ago and I’m drinking this western style. I have two yixing teapots, one little 3.7 oz from Zen Tea and a 10 oz one from Teavana that I got a while ago but mostly because I liked it, not for its actual purpose. so, that one is dedicated to Jasmine silver needles and the smaller one for dancongs. The Teavana one is surprisingly absorbent.

Anyways, this tea. I can taste the puerh just fine, the nice pastry notes. I just realized I don’t think I’ve posted a note for the puerh by itself even though I’ve been drinking it…later. This tea now. I like this puerh by itself, so that’s a plus. I hate licorice, but I can’t taste it in this tea, a blessing in its self. I’m not a big fan of ginger, I like it, but in small amounts; i find it easily overdone, same with peppercorn. They are not overdone in this blend. The peppercorn is light, the ginger is warming, the elderberry adding a taste of sweetness. There is a slight numbing sensation on the tip of the tongue that tingles slightly in the aftertaste, from what I’m not sure, I just know it’s there.

I find that I really Verdants puerh blends more than the puerhs by themselves. I have enjoyed all the puerh blends that I have tried, too. I have to admit, this is my least favorite puerh blend that I have tried from them. Even at that, I still really enjoy this tea.

Playing with my yixing teapots, my typically mug I use for western style brewing, and my new teacups from Verdant.
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Someone mentioned I should try this tea, I’m pretty certain is was Jim Marks. I was drinking some oolong and mentioned how I like the lighter roasted ones and he mentioned this one. Out of the lighter roasted oolongs, I prefer dan congs. I’m glad I did try this one.

The dry leaves are a nice dark brown with the mineral-stone notes that I find in all da hong paos. But this one also seemed to have a slight floral note. When steeped, the leaves are actually green with the edges being brown. There was the obvious roasty mineral-stone notes. There was also a hint of a stone fruit.

The taste of this tea is very nice. It’s, again, lightly roasty with mineral-stone notes. There is a juicy quality and some pastry note. I’m also getting a slight floral note that I had smelled earlier. This is a light tea, it’s not in your face with it’s flavors or roasty notes. It’s soft, like a classy lady who wears a dress tight enough to let you know she’s a woman, but loose enough to let you have some imagination. She’s not throwing it all in our face or letting it all hang out. She’s quiet, but not without a mind. This is a very lovely tea that yielded many steeps, and I tried it western style. I’ll have to brew it gaiwan style to see how the flavor profile changes over many steeps with less water. Thank Jim Marks for recommending me this tea!

Beautiful emerald green, twisted leaves with a strong vegetal aroma. This tea is naturally very sweet, highly vegetal with hints of creaminess. There’s nothing spectacular about this tea, nothing fancy about this one. I find it is a good everyday green tea, especially if you like the strong vegetal notes.

Backlogging.

This was a sample provided to me from Rachel!

I was so excited to try this tea, especially with all the rave reviews! I opened the bag and smelled genmaicha with a hint of the marshmallow root. Brewed up it’s very much genmaicha with sweet marshmallow root added to it. It’s good, it’s unique, it resembles a marshmallow treat, but I’m not finding it nearly as good as most others have. I’d just rather have a gemaicha tea and eat a rice krispies treat. Thank Rachel for sending me some of this and allowing me to try it!

Backlogging

I’ve enjoyed the Guava Pineapple white tea from Republic of Tea, so I decided to to pick some of this up and give it a try. I bought it a few months ago and I remember not being impressed when I tried it. So, I decided to pick it back up and see if there are any changes.

Unfortunately, no there weren’t any changes from tea or my palate. At first sniff the tea has a honey scent and a slight floral scent with hay underneath. But there is a very odd sour scent that is very off-putting. My best guess is that it’s the additional flavoring that was added to the tea.

Upon steeping it still has that odd sour scent, but there is still the other notes of hay, honey, and floral. Tasting reveals the same. There is a nice honey mouthfeel to this tea, hay notes underlying with some hint of a floral note. I could taste the paper of the teabag too. But there is still that sourness that seems to overlay everything no matter what.

It’s still a drinkable tea, but not one I’d get again. I passed it off to my sister who loves flavored white teas and doesn’t mind teabags as much as I do. She thought it smelled delicious when I opened it for her, so she’s already off to a better start than I am.