Claire

I’ve drank this a few more times since my last note, and I have a few more thoughts! This is a strongly floral and sweet tea, and it’s a little astringent and nutty which I think is what reminded me of Lipton. The liquor itself smells really floral and malty at the same time, and is a deep gold color. I’m also getting more bitterness as the tea cools. This is an interesting tea and really beautiful to watch steep. Deep green curled oolong leaves unfold with tiny osmanthus flower pieces.

I decided to give this another chance tonight, since I have a little bit left in my sample bag. This time I tried steeping it for 2 minutes at 175, instead of the usual time I give greens (about a minute).
The leaves for this tea are really beautiful and live up to their description, dark green, long, and slightly curled. I just wish they had some flavor. I’m not sure if there’s something I’m doing wrong or if this is just an incredibly mellow variety of green tea. I get a little vegetal and grassy flavor out of it, but even that is barely there. The tea gets a little bitter as it cools.

Brewed this up for my to go mug this morning. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Darjeeling, maybe a few months? Or longer? JasonCT’s review of this inspired me to have some again!
The leaves after brewing were a beautiful light brown that unfolded nicely. I thought this was slightly malty and a little astringent, but mostly it tasted very floral and I got a little bit of the toast flavor I noticed yesterday in the Laoshan Black. I tend to like black teas on the maltier more “robust” side, but this was very good!

Note from drinking this in the morning:
Today I tasted things that I didn’t taste the last time I had this tea. First, I got hit with the flavor of honey. Then, the cocoa I remembered from last time. And finally, TOAST. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been gluten free for quite awhile and I may have forgotten the taste of toast a bit, but this tasted just like really good toast. So delicious that I chugged all of it in my first class, then thought to myself, perhaps I should order some more Laoshan black…

Ok, I’ve been trying to think of how to describe this tea, and this is the best I’ve got: Lipton, if it tasted better, and was slightly sweet. The leaves themselves are dark green with small pieces of what I’m assuming are the osmanthus flowers. It’s kind of fascinating because the flavor is SO familiar and yet different at the same time. If you’re a fan of oolongs, samples of this are inexpensive from Upton. It’s worth a try just to see the amazing variations within Chinese oolongs.

A short and unsophisticated little note about this tea:
Our housemate doesn’t like hot beverages, but does like looking at the tea I make, so earlier this week I found a nice cheap pitcher to make iced tea for him. Last night I brewed up my sample of this as iced tea, and we both tried it today.
Success! Not a lot of sophisticated flavor, but as an iced tea it’s very refreshing, and reminds me of those bottled ItoEn teas that are all over San Francisco. They all taste the same to me even though they’re supposed to be different teas.
The housemate is happy and has been enjoying cups of iced tea today!

I finally got around to brewing up my sample of this, and Rayn and I each had a cup with lunch. It was so delicious! We both loved the creaminess and heavy ginger flavor (especially since our soup had fresh ginger in it). Our only regret was not having more of this tea to make with coconut milk.
Rayn has really fallen for the Chocolate Phoenix Chai as well, and I asked him which he would like to get more of if I put in another order. He said hmmm…both? What a helper. ;)

This is my first time trying a Korean green tea, but for flavor I’d give it a solid B. Beautiful dark green leaves unfold when this tea steeps. I confess I ignored Upton’s directions to steep this for 3 minutes(!) and only let it steep for 1 minute. I think the flavor is fairly pronounced at just a minute, so I can hardly imagine what 3 would be like!
This is a slightly grassy green with a hint of bitterness, which I tend to like. The flavor is really vegetal and I definitely taste seaweed and a hint of the corn mentioned in the description. Overall this is a smooth green with a slightly sweet aftertaste. I think I’d probably drink this again. :)

Two things today, tea and a rant. I’m writing about tea first so anyone who wants to skip the rant may do so. ;)

Tea: I like this! It’s very grassy and slightly bitter, similar to a sencha but a little more toasty tasting. My brain is preoccupied tonight so nothing more to say about this tea for now, which brings me to…

The rant: I took my last midterm today. It was a literature identification quiz, for non English literature majors this is something I probably have to do at least once a quarter/semester. A professor gives you a portion of a text and you have to identify the title, author, and sometimes the date they wrote it or date it was published. Last year I took an Elizabethan poetry class where I got A’s on both tests (out of at least 30 sonnets to remember and some other texts).
The professor said she felt this test would be “quite easy”. I honestly have no idea how I did. She only gave us 1-2 lines, or in the case of the novels we read, 1-2 sentences from which we had to identify the title and author.
She wrote an email a few hours later stating most people did poorly, and she didn’t know why. I wrote back to her (and apparently a number of other people did as well) stating 1-2 lines is really an unrealistic expectation. Her response is that she would “come up with a plan of action to boost this situation” and that all the lines were things she discussed or read out loud in class, so if we studied we should have been able to recognize it.
Well, I know a professor I’m never taking a class from again.

Now, rant hat off! Thanks for letting me blow out some steam, Steepster.

The first steep is a bit weak, but promising. The liquid is a dark yellow with a strong floral scent. The flavor is very floral and I can definitely taste the lilac note, along with a bit of buttery-ness and cinnamon. Nice mouthfeel on this oolong as well! I’d consider this a decent everyday oolong.

Studying for my last midterm tonight, and so relieved that they’re almost over. The professor said our test tomorrow won’t even take the whole class period (75 minutes), so that’s promising as well. :)

Decided to give this another try tonight. I feel like it smells really promising, a lot of strong floral notes wafting up from the cup. The flavor just doesn’t stand out.
I was also thinking today that I’d rather hand out a “grade” for a tea than a set number; so this would get a C+. The tea also starts going bitter as it gets cold.

Having a cup of this to unwind after a long day of school. I love the toasty flavor of genmaicha. When I was a young girl we always had tea in the house, and my mom was really fond of green and white tea. I think that actually made her a progressive tea drinker for back then (late 80s/early 90s). Some cups of tea remind me of curling up on the couch with a book and a cup of tea, watching the rain outside and listening to it splash against the roof.

Good genmaicha is one of those teas. I have really enjoyed all of the teas I’ve tried from Verdant and I think the quality is excellent for the price.

This is good! Not super impressive, but like the pouchong from Adagio for the price it’s not bad.
This is a vegetal and grassy cup of green, and unlike the description the liquid in my cup was closer to a pale green than yellow. This actually reminds me more of a good sencha than dragonwell. It’s a bit sweet.

Note: don’t eat some kimchi right before you taste tea. It takes awhile to actually taste the tea!

Ok, and now about 10 minutes later…
This has a very faint floral scent and a nice buttery flavor. It reminds me a bit of some green teas with a bit of vegetal flavor on top of the butteriness. It’s not the most amazing pouchong I’ve ever had but for the price it’s pretty decent! Nice understated florals. I think the 2nd steep may end up impressing me a bit more.

Mmm. Such a delicious and beautifully floral oolong. I think this calls for another tea poem:

Come drink with me and have my tea,
And we will all the pleasures see
That black, mate, green, and white
Herbal or silky oolong delight.

Thanks to Chris Marlowe, and now back to work for me!

Midterms continue and I have a lot to do today, so it’s time to drink some black tea!

First thing I noticed: this tea smells like chocolate and a hint of malt.
I began sipping and thought that not only does it taste like chocolate and malt, it’s also spicy-sweet and creamy. I really like malty black teas and this has just the right amount. Smooth drinking with loads of dark chocolate flavor.

First of all, the scent of this tea both dry and liquid is absolutely stunning. Beautiful florals and a strong orchid scent.

I have one of these steeper type things where the tea leaves have a lot of room to brew, and I can watch the tea as it steeps. This may just be a superstition, but it seems like every high quality tea I make in it floats to the top. All of the leaves floated to the top during the first steep. On the second steeping, the steeper was literally full of unfurled leaves. Beautiful.

The first thing that hits me is how sweet this oolong is. Not in an unnatural/cloying kind of way, but the level of sweetness I would expect in a very good tieguanyin. The liquid is lightly creamy as well. It tastes orchid-like, and for some reason I thought of dandelions a few sips in, possibly due to the hint of vegetal flavor, a faint reminder of grass.

Absolutely fantastic. Thank you, Verdant Tea.

Yay, my sense of smell is returning! This tastes very minty to me today along with the chocolate and chamomile. I’m also getting a hint of warm spiciness.

I made this in my to go mug this morning before I took a philosophy midterm – I hardly felt like I tasted it until it was cold. Apparently my mind was actually focused on something besides tea.
As a lukewarm/cold tea, this was sweet with strong florals. Very honey flavored!

No notes yet.

My last cup of tea of the day as my sense of smell returns.
I really love genmaicha, and this does not disappoint. The smell, both of the dry tea and the liquid is very nice with a hint of astringency, though I may have steeped it for too long. It’s nicely vegetal and grassy with the familiar toastyness of genmaicha. Another great tea from Verdant. :)

This is my very last few teaspoons of this tea. Goodbye delicious green tea! My sadness is slightly remedied by the fact that I have so much tea still to drink.

I can’t smell anything so this won’t be the most exciting tasting note ever because…all I can taste is chamomile today with a little bit of chocolate.
This is still really delicious, but come back to me taste buds! I miss you.

My taste buds are a bit off due to sick, but woah! The chocolate and chamomile are so interesting together. At first I went sip…sip…what the heck does this taste like…
And then I thought, oh it tastes like the name! The tea smells very dark chocolate and as it cools I’m definitely tasting mint.