MissLena12

Having a few cups of this tonight as I read my novel for my exam next week. I’m actually reading a novel, haven’t in so long, and it’s not even too bad for a school one. So cozy and chocolatey, i almost added a bit of honey for extra decadence, but I refrained lol. Can’t wait for skiing tomo!

I made this for the 5 hr drive to the US today, finally made it to the bfs cabin! Beautiful here, can’t wait to go skiing, also must resist the urge to order tea here for cheaper shipping! Lol i don’t think it would show up before I leave anyways :p anyways, this is yummy and still going and it’s one I brought too for the fresh orange taste. See previous notes!

4 hr road trip to my boyfriends parents today and this with some honey was perfect for the long ride. I brought 5 of my favorite teas for my week in the States, sadly this isn’t one I could fit in (it’s in a tin rather than a bag) but it was tasty for the trip. See previous notes on this tea :)

I really hope Verdant never discontinues this, although considering it has ‘Winter’ in the name, they probably will. :( I love this tea. It is my favorite I think. I made a cup from leaves from my 2 oz bag, and it smells soo tasty, so many rose petals and goji berries. And of course ginger is my favorite, and this has it in it so yeah, that could be a factor of why I love it as well. Added a dollop of honey, this will be perfect to wind down my day. See previous notes on this awesome tea!

Yay it’s reading week and I am going down to Montana to ski for the week on Sunday!! Huzzah! I am treating myself with this delicious tea, and this is also a SIPDOWN, although I have 2 beautiful ounces of this tea on its way to me as we speak :D I love this, using my gongfu again with 2 rinses and steep times of as short as I can make them (so about 5-6 seconds probably lol). Also got distracted by the guy driving around the parking lot behind the apartment through the same puddle over and over! Haha it was quite entertaining, especially when a woman came out of the office building by the lot and asked what he was doing lol then he took off. Anyways, this tea once again is excellent, not quite as full of honey as last time but still delicious. I didn’t rinse for quite as long so this first steep is pretty potent, but I know it will mellow into pure sweetness and more honey and last for many steepings, think I did 10 with the last bunch. See previous notes on this tea, probably my favorite black tea!!

I wanted a more exciting tea for my 200th note but ah well this is what I’m having. I just wrote my midterm and it was miserable and tough and i am praying the prof marks easy. Or else I probably failed it. :( but i have my standard breakfasty tea at least. The bottom of the bag is near. I will have to maybe pick up a tin of this. See previous notes on this yummy tea.

So I had to have a rose tea today lol so yes, I brewed up a cup of this one to help me with this studying. UGH I am having a time to focus today I tell you. Anyways this is lovely and always makes me feel romantic, so good for today, except that my impending exam kind of kills those nice feelings lol. Anyways, this is the one of my two rose teas that I chose for the occasion. And this is close to a sipdown, probably another few cups then another bag of my many DavidsTeas done! Also, where the heck is my matcha order :( shipping has slowed significantly since the new year. Don’t know what’s up, maybe customs is being more fussy. But back to this, see previous notes on this tea :)

I’m falling asleep studying for a dreadful midterm tomorrow, so as much as I didn’t want to have caffeine, I made a cup of this matcha, hot water and sugar. I am hoping (although unlikely) that my big matcha order will show up tomorrow, it has been in Canada since Monday, but hasn’t arrived yet here. Sigh. If it doesn’t show up tomo I have to hope no one takes it from the apartment because I’m off to the States for a week as of Sunday…fingers crossed it shows up tomorrow!! See previous notes on this matcha.

ETA – I fell asleep for 20 minutes anyways. Thank goodness its reading week after tomo, i need to get caught up on sleep asap.

Happy Valentines Day! I made this in the morning because I wanted something sweet, I should have made rooibos de Provence for today though, it is more valentine appropriate with all its flowers. But this one is still my favorite rooibos so it’s all good. Unfortunately I will be studying tonight and not doing anything on this sappy day haha but what can ya do lol, at least this tea is good :) see previous notes on this lovely tea!

Made this in my travel mug today because the weather is having a major freak out, wind, snow, gahhh. Also had another frightening encounter, a lady in the washroom was blankly staring at the faucet, asked if she was ok and she angrily glared at me, another girl asked too and she swung at her! Had to call campus security but by the time they showed up the lady was gone… I hope she’s okay, she definitely was not in a right state of mind…the girl she swung at was pretty shook up too.. And last week a guy was passed out on the floor between class change and no one did anything so I called 911 but then he got up and they didn’t have to come luckily. Both happened between the same class change too just different weeks. Ugh things like this really scare me :( anyways sorry for the off topic rant, just been bothering and worrying me.

Back to the tea. This is comforting when crazy things happen. Thank goodness for tea. See previous notes :)

Another oldie, dug out from my stash! I still quite enjoy this tea, for all its quirkiness. Salty and fresh, just like the ocean. And ginger in it, of course I like it heh. I need to have this more often. This is a very unique tea and an acquired taste, but I think it’s quite yum. See previous notes :)

Woah, I haven’t had this tea in forever! Time to get drinking some of these that have been sitting at the back of my stash hidden away. For some reason, most of my plain oolongs are back there lol. This has a delicious buttery flavor, but that sweet aftertaste still throws me off a bit. Regardless, this is a tea I should drink more often, as it tastes alright and I love the little rocks that it is shaped like too! See previous notes :)

I didn’t try any new teas yester so I’m not going to backlog from steepster having its small fit all day lol. So this is in my mug today, a bit weaker than I’d like but liking the ginger and orange. I’m slowly making my way through this bag, but this tea has grown on me so much that I think I’ll keep some in my stash for those days I’m craving a warming yet fresh cup of tea. See previous notes :)

So it is my birthday today, and I wanted to have a special tea. I was between this one, Master Han’s Yunnan Black and the legendary Golden Fleece that I have yet to try. However, this one won out because it has been sitting there in my drawer, a nice large brick, just waiting for a special moment. And today seemed like the perfect time to break into it. Also, I decided that it’d be a nice tradition to have a gongfu session of this tea every year on my bday, and I can see how the aging is going in a semi-regular fashion, although I will probably have it more often now that I actually got into it. But this will hopefully be my birthday tea for many years. :)

So I had to break into this beast somehow. I scrolled back through my tasting notes to find Bonnie’s suggestions and also went to Verdant’s site and watched David’s video on how to break into pu’er. So I tried using a flathead screwdriver first to pry into it sideways, but that wasn’t working and was just making dust, so I tried a knife like Bonnie said, and the sharp tip did the trick. I also cut a small corner off. I have no idea how much I put in my gongfu pot, but it seemed like enough to make a good few cups.

I did 2 rinses for about 15-20 seconds with boiling water. Then I steeped for around 10-15 seconds for the first, going to try to keep to that for the rest of the steepings. The liquor is a beautiful dark red, and it smells so good, like caramel and vanilla with that lovely earthy note! This smells nice and rich and tasty, I prefer the scent of this to the xingyang 2007 actually.

Mmmm this tastes so nice and warming. A lot of caramel and sweetness in this one, but there is a nice burst of earth and maybe a bit of fruitiness even to this steeping. Something fresh behind the sweetness. It is also quite smooth and this is making me feel pretty good and relaxed. To me it is definitely sweeter and a bit smoother than the xingyang. I like this.

Overall, this is a very nice shu. I am very happy I finally opened up my brick of this and found that I like it, because I have a lot of it to drink eventually! I’m excited to have more cups of this and have a nice relaxing day drinking this tea and trying to not worry about school. Happy this was my choice of a new tea on my bday!

So I wanted to do more sipdowns today but after looking through the choices I had only one cup left of, none caught my fancy. This, however, has been on my mind for the past few days, especially after Indigobloom`s note on it. I wanted to do this gongfu at first, but I am feeling exceptionally lazy today, maybe because I did a lot of gongfu brewing with my pu’erh yesterday, so I decided to do western. Also, I want to save my leaves, only have 7 g of this :(

The dry smell was quite chocolate and yum, reminded me of Laoshan Black. I steeped for 1 minute in boiling water. The wet leaves were BAM, pure honey, I was very pleased. I love honey, had a lovely honey toast for breakfast, so this was very promising.

Now for taste..this is pretty delicious. I do get the sweet potato that others have mentioned, and although I am not a huge fan of them (aka NEVER eat them haha) this tea tastes quite delicious. There is a strong honey taste and lots and lots of chocolate, but it’s a different type of chocolate than the Laoshan Black. That one was more rich and decadent, this one is more of a honey sweet chocolate with some grain. Not as much malt, but in the last bit of the sip it definitely is present. This isn’t as thick as other black teas either, more along the lines of the Mi Lan Dancong for mouthfeel. Regardless, this is a darn tasty cup, and now I want to try it gongfu at some point to see what happens to the flavors.

I will have a few more cups of this today, going out for bday sushi with friends tonight so don’t want to be too waterlogged, might have to save some steepings for tomorrow.

Overall, this is a nice, sweet black tea. Lots of honey and chocolate, yet lighter and a bit different from the other Verdant Black teas. Oh, and I feel the caffeine in this one hehe :) thank you for yet another excellent tea, Verdant!!

ETA: I actually enjoyed the latter half of the cup a bit more than the first half, it just zipped down and now I will have to make more. It is even more honey, if that is possible, and smoother too? Mmmm ok this is a darn good tea.

Sipdown! I’m going to get through a few samples today hopefully! I’ve realized that if I drink my samples sooner, I can order the teas I really like before they sell out! Would have been nice to get an oz of this to have, just because it is so unique! Today it smells very springy and fresh, there’s a nice tang of spruce in the aroma that seems more pronounced today. Mmm the taste is still nice and fresh and woodsy and sparkling. I wanted to brew this gongfu today but I don’t think I had enough leaves left for it, so I made it western style, with 1 rinse for around 25 seconds. Hopefully a new batch or variety of this tea shows up in the spring, so unique and tasty! See previous notes on this tea :)

Sipdown! So as I placed my early-bday-present-to-myself tea order with Verdant today (The FUIJAN WHITE made me do it!) I have decided to sip down some teas. I ordered 2 pu’erh samples, and I still have that brick sitting waiting for me to open, so I thought this was a good choice to start off sipping down this weekend.

I am making this gongfu style today, did 2 rinses, and man, does this ever brew up dark. I poured it out of my little teapot as fast as I could as well, I know it was over 4 seconds in the water though, I need to get a gaiwan at some point. Nice and dark and rich. I have only had the first steep so far, and I am anxious to find that point again where the tea just turns into silk. Not quite yet, a nice, robust brew as of now. I will enjoy sipping this all afternoon until I have to pick up my brother from the bus and drive him to my parents an hr and a half away lol. See previous notes on this lovely tea from Verdant!

ETA: This is definitely my preferred way to drink pu’erh. It tastes the most caramelly and is reaching that soft mouthfeel rather quickly. Happy I’m slowly figuring out how to make pu’erh, well, at least this one!

In my travel mug today! My stomach has been a bit blah today with cramps, and this is helping a lot! Also only steeped 5 mins and this is holding up well in the mug :) tgif! Hoping to get all my school done today and tomorrow so I can actually do something for my bday Saturday night. See previous notes on this tea :)

I’m having this as my wind down cup of the evening. I drank that Verdant white tea all day and got so much accomplished! I am very happy this crazy week is finally finishing up. Anyways, this wasn’t as coconutty as other cups, which I am actually kind of happy about, I don’t like overly sweet teas..there’s a bit more of a mild apple flavor in this cup, must have got a good ratio of coconut, mint and apple :) a good cup for winding down a busy but decent day! See previous notes on this tea too.

I finally decided to break into my sample of this tea, my boyfriend wanted to try some as well. I have been wanting to hoard all my new samples of Verdant teas that are discontinued, but I am telling myself “there will be more new teas you will want to try, so you better drink some to make room!” So here I am, sipping this lovely tea.

The dry smell is faintly of hay and flowers. It is very clean smelling, and the leaves are a little bit fuzzy :) I used approx 190 C water and about half of my 7 g pack for about 5 oz in my gongfu pot. The bf and I are splitting each gongfu and having half a cup.

The wet smell reminds me so much of spring! And summer! Early clover blossoms, fresh hay in the fields and barn, bees humming away in the flowers, honey…ahhh this smells just perfect.

First steep was for 20 seconds. The liquor is perfectly pale and clear, with the barest hint of a light golden tinge. My boyfriend said it looks like water. But this is definitely not just water. There is a wonderful fresh hay taste to this tea, followed by a crisp linen feel. I can actually kind of recognize the base of Yunnan Jasmine Silver needles now, that crisp flavor was also present in that tea. Mmm and that floral goodness is in there, definitely honeysuckle, and some actual honey too maybe.

The second steep – 15 seconds. Following Verdant’s page. Now the liquor has some color, light yellow. Oh, and the wet leaves just smell INTOXICATING! So sweet and floral! I want to sniff them all day! This steep still has the hay taste, but more honey, and a lot thicker. I can see the bread resemblance in the mouthfeel a bit. Also a tiny bit of rose at the back of the sip, not much nutmeg. This is a heck of a complex tea. I don’t think I’m doing it justice with finding all the nuances, but it is very very good. I’m going to have a bunch more steeps of this, but I think I will leave off here so this review isn’t insanely long haha.

Overall, this is a beautiful white tea. This is thick, soft, spring like. This makes me think of bees pollinating flowers. This puts me in quite a nice place. Very happy I got a chance to try an aged white tea, thank you again Verdant for an outstanding tea.

ETA: Man, my review already is pretty long. Haha.

Mmmm I need to get more Earl Grey Cremes! I have seen a bunch of discussion on the boards about them, and have read some great reviews, and I really want to get more! I’m finding that this tea is quite delicious and hits the sweet spot just right for me, not too much, just a rich creamy flavor with some nice EG. I definitely prefer an earl grey creme to just plain earl grey I think. Once again, I steeped this for 3 minutes and it is perfect for me :) please see previous notes on this yummy tea! Oh, and upping rating a bit as I am growing to like this a lot.

I have been sleepy all day, I think i’m burning out from school. Thankfully I have this tea for a spice and caffeine burst. Hopefully I can get studying for my midterm tomo! And I’ve decided my next verdant order will be black teas and black tea blends. This is on the list, I love this tea! See previous notes :)

This came with me in the timolino earlier today, not too bad, I still think for my mug I like the Green and Fruity for a rooibos though! This is such a treat still though, I need to try out the Lime Chiffon soon!

Oh, on a sad note, albeit unrelated to this tea, I was going to order a bunch of the Dulce and Banana from DavidsTea before it sold out in the last chance tea thing, but it’s already gone. :( lol

Backlog – I had a cup of this while engorging on that plastic nacho cheese with peppers in a jar and Tostitos while watching the Superbowl. What a game! I could really care less about who wins, it’s one of 2 football games I actually watch during the year (the other being the grey cup haha) but at least it was interesting and close, especially with the power outage! And the boyfriend was impressed with how much I actually paid attention to the game, so that’s always a plus haha. This tea actually wasn’t quite the right fit, I probably should have had some cleansing ginger or matcha while eating that awful (but unfortunately tasty to me) cheese lol. Anyways, it’s a good creamy cup that I prefer having before bed than in the afternoon. See previous notes on this tea :)