Marshall Weber Send Message

Another one that might benefit from lower temps. Not bad on the initial tasting though!
Also fairly strong with moderate bitterness and basically no sweetness. Not quite as complex as I would like, though. Furthermore, the mouthfeel isn’t anything special to me. It is a nice tea, however, and I enjoy drinking it for sure!

Too bitter for me. Medium-low astringency. Will adjust brewing parameters on next session and report back. Need to try lower leaf/water ratio and lower temperature. Flavor is potent for sheng anyways. Other than the overwhelming bitterness, the flavor was nice.

Another review from the Great Steepster Shutdown of 2023. Will flesh it out on trying the second half of the sample.

Wasn’t crazy about it tbh. Definitely not worth almost $1/g. Unique flavor, but perhaps just not for me. I’m open to having my mind changed when I try the other half of the sample.

Harvest: Spring 2022

Tried this tea over the Great Steepster Shutdown of 2023.

HOT DAMN! Best black tea I’ve had, hands down. Worth the price a million times over! So sweet and strong of a flavor that I thought it had to be a blend or something. Like drinking liquid s’mores and a molten lava brownie mixed together, except way better!

Lasts 12-14 infusions easily, so it has wonderful length too!

I am really loving Verdant Tea’s offerings.

Harvest: Fall, 2022.

From a fresh CLT order. First time trying their teas. The flavor did change some over the 10 infusions I did to become more my style, but still not in love with it. Pretty thick mouthfeel with a mildly bitter aftertaste in the initial infusions. Leaves still appear quite green.

Flavors transition was raisin + floral → bitter + vegetal + bread + cream → (infusion ~6) pineapple, honey.

Definitely like this tea and it’s the best of the CLT samples. However, the price tag of $0.75/g for a cake seems outrageous to me. It is simply not that high in quality. Sorry, CLT.

First Dancong and I am blown away!!! Definitely enjoying it more than most of the yancha I’ve tried tbh. The roasted notes dont come through in the brew like most yancha. The flavor is subtle yet complex initially, and becomes more potent past infusion 3.

I’ve never known what an orchid smells like. I do have a recently acquired Phalaenopsis orchid in my apartment, so I spent some time trying to smell those flowers. The smell was not apparent at first, but I did eventually pick up a mild and pleasant smell with my nose. On re-tasting the tea immediately afterwards, I can see why people think it gives off an orchid aroma.

The mouthfeel is quite enticing here. It is hard to describe. Feels somewhat wet while the tea is in your mouth, but after swallowing, I can’t really say that my tongue feels like it was wet just a second ago. I find with most teas that my tongue is either left overly dry and craving more fluid, or feeling like the tea still lingers and my tongue is still wet. It is as if this tea strikes the perfect balance of astringency to just fall in the middle of these two.

The aftertaste is also a fascinating experience. Even after the tea has left your mouth for a bit, certain aromas and flavors (especially grapefruit) and a tingling sensation pop into existence as if out of thin air! It also lasts many minutes after I’ve swallowed the liquor.

As the infusions progress, some honey flavor comes out of the tea, but is not present for the first 4-5 infusions to my palate. Longevity was great at 12-13 infusions for me.

DEFINITELY buying more of this when I run out.

Harvest: Spring 2022
Location: Wudongshan, Guangdong

Dry leaf: fruity, roasted.
Wet leaf: malt.
Flavor: honey, grapefruit, orchid, floral, sweet, melon.

Got 50 g of this just in from Verdant and I definitely like it! Most complex and unusual ZSXZ I’ve had. Very smooth and very sweet, with only a touch of bitterness in the aftertaste and minimal astringency.

I prefer the flavor profile (although less complex) of OWT’s ZSXZ, but this gets the same rating because it lasted more infusions (at least 12) before weakening.

I like the tea a lot and will enjoy drinking the rest, but doubt I would reorder at $0.35/g. I could see repurchasing if it were closer to the $0.20-0.25/g range.

Harvest: Spring 2022

Dry leaf: pear, orange, sour.
Wet leaf: malt.
Flavor: graham cracker, maple syrup, walnut, sweet, brown sugar.

Beautiful smell to the leaves, but the flavor is not quite as complex as I would like.

Low astringency.

I feel like this tea would probably be amenable to cold brewing, but I do not care to order more to try it honestly.

Dry leaf: chocolate, malt.
Wet leaf: same.
Flavors: honey, sweet, hazelnut, bitter.

Seems fairly weak in flavor to me overall. Tried 8 infusions with the last one for 90 sec. That gave a bit more umph, but still not much. Predominant flavor throughout is earthy woodiness. Aroma of the liquor is mildly fishy.

The main highlight is the mouthfeel. It feels very thick and watery, almost what I would imagine one of those edible plastic water balls to feel like.

Another sheng sample from W2T that is pretty good! Not as complex as Fade to me, but still a smooth, nice tea. More fruity flavors dominate this tea compared to Fade, although similar fruity flavors are present in both.

Mouthfeel is fairly full, but with higher astringency than Fade. Not as nice of an aftertaste and mouthfeel doesn’t change as much and is less interesting overall.