potatowedges

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potatowedges drank Laoshan Village Chai by Verdant Tea

I got an ounce of this when I placed my first Verdant order. I finally got around to trying it yesterday, and I had it with about 3 parts water to 1 part soymilk. It cooled off super quickly because of the soymilk, but I put it in my lovely travel mug and it still stayed fairly warm. I sipped it during breakfast with a dear friend from the summer yesterday—she had just gotten back into town, I was just about to leave. It was great to catch up. The chai tasted very nice, but I think I had drowned it out some with the soymilk, and I would have liked it to be hotter.

I had saved the leaves from my fantastic, amazing day spent with Autumn Laoshan Black the other day; I had gotten 15 delicious infusions from them and I finally had to go to bed! I figured it was a shame to compost them just because of that when they had so much more to give.

How does this connect? I put the not-yet-spent pure leaves together with the chai-spiced ones from yesterday and brewed it all gongfu style. I now can taste all the smooth, spicy intricacy of this delicious chai, coupled with the beautiful base of the Laoshan leaves (which are perfect for this kind of thing, by the way). It’s so complete on its own that I don’t think I’ll drink this with milk…

2011-12-22 11:50:36 -0500

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I’m a college tea drinker.
I cook feverishly.
I draw.
I make movies.
I knit.
Someday I wish to own chickens.

I love tea because of the complete sensory experience it offers me. Clock time fades away as I lean into my cup, watching the delicate cascades of steam waft up from the brew. Peace. Stillness. Feeling centered. It’s my meditation…

To give you a little background on my tea preferences (which will put my ratings into perspective)…

I love teas that are strong without bitterness and have earthy flavors to them, like rooibos or a really good black tea. (A few favorites in this category: Toffee Almond Supreme, Popped Rooibos, Oh Canada, Nutcracker Sweet.) Vanilla, cinnamon, and nutty are some of my favorite flavor notes. After about a year of warming up to greens, I absolutely love them—from the sweet, nutty, green-tea-ice-cream-like to the bold, grassy earthiness of Gunpowder Temple of Heaven. I also enjoy a nice white every once in a while. Fruity teas aren’t my favorite. I do have a few fruity teas that I love though, like TeaSource’s Green Tea with Pomegranate, Lemon Solstice, and Blueberry Fields.

I drink all of my teas unsweetened; if a tea needs sweetening, I usually don’t like it. A couple of notable exceptions: I sometimes sweeten straight green teas and matcha, and I drink my chai with soymilk (but no other sweetener). I sometimes like my black tea with a little dollop of soymilk.