potatowedges

Hand Picked Autumn Tieguanyin (2011) from Verdant Tea

potatowedges drank Hand Picked Autumn Tieguanyin (2011) by Verdant Tea

Backlogging from several days ago.
1 T leaves to about 5 oz water
1st steeping (5 second rinse): Strong vegetal aroma with a little floral sweetness. As I walk over to dump off the rinse water into the container I use to water my plants (they love it!), I can smell the deep, green, grassy aroma of cooked veggies…maybe asparagus. On a slightly related note, I’ve always preferred the bottoms of asparagus to the tops—they don’t get mushy and have much better flavor. Which made me an oddball of sorts. Go figure.
2nd steeping (about 5 sec): Lilac! Fresh spring greens, cut grass, spinach from the garden, lilac. Mmmm. Upon sipping, it’s slightly vegetal but mostly smooth and creamy.

2011-12-22 12:32:28 -0500

I Like This

4 likes

1 comment

People who liked this

Comments

E Alexander Gerster 2011-12-26 12:31:59 -0500

This is an amazing tea!
I get the asparagus, creamy spinach and lilac flavors too. Sounds horrible, tastes great! :)

Profile

Bio

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.