teabird

I got to host an impromptu midnight tea party this weekend! We had folks over for my boyfriend’s birthday, and a couple were curious about my tea cupboard so I offered to make some. I ended up going through 4 different teas over the course of the evening, including all 3 TOMC oolongs, and had maybe a dozen people try them :D

This tea was the favorite by far, somewhat to my surprise. My personal favorite would be the Anxi Fo Shou (the only non-oolong I made for them), closely followed by the Mi Lan Dancong. But I guess the buttery texture and lack of astringency in the Tieguanyin really won over the newbies :P A couple of people did prefer the Mi Lan, but they still found it bitter in comparison to this. So this tea is getting points for general popularity.

A friend stopped by in concern at one point to make sure that I was having fun, not feeling obligated to play hostess. It was really enjoyable though, getting to share something I love with so many different people!

Yummmmmm I made an audible sound of pleasure at my first sip of this today. It has such a fantastically sharp/sweet/fruity flavor and aroma. It’s very reminiscent of fresh pineapple in character – that enzymatic quality – though the flavor isn’t exactly pineapple.

Do you know, I used to think roasted oolongs were boring? HA.

Going back to the Autumn Tieguanyin after this, it tastes very vegetal, though still sweet; very smooth and mild in comparison. Granted I’m comparing late to early steeps here too – the tieguanyin is almost-but-not-quite steeped out.

The Mi lan is just amazingly fragrant in comparison – a little bitter too, actually. It’s not bad, but has me wondering if my water was too hot, or if it will mellow out on later steepings.

1.6g leaf, 3oz gaiwan, 1 rinse + 1 steep so far

Stuck inside in Boston today, at least my TOMC box came from Verdant yesterday. Starting with this one as recommended (and because it’s the only one I haven’t tried – I know I like the other two!). I’ll have to do a better tasting note later, because I’m having trouble with the flavor details, but I can say that I really like it :P I’m not always a Tieguanyin fan, but this has more than the typical vegetal/buttery notes – more sweet flowers, and a creamy texture. Definitely sweet. Tasty! Now on to the Mi Lan…

3g in 3.5oz glass oolong pot, ~8 steeps so far

Weird day… I wanted a strong, brightly flavored, easy-going tea to cheer me up a bit. This fit the bill. Intricate and strongly flavored teas always help me stop and savor the moment.

No notes yet.

Steeped this western-style at work today – an indulgence,as I usually try to do my “good” teas at home, where I can gong fu, but I needed the boost. I also added a pinch of the schisandra blend, which really turns up the volume on the flavor. This is not my usual morning tea at all, but I’m finding it very vibrant and quenching today. Flavor notes are sour, sweet/floral like a green oolong, and a little umami; there’s a very full and creamy mouth-feel. I find myself enjoying the flavor for several breaths after sipping. On to my second steep already!

2tsp oolong, 1/4tsp schisandra, 8oz water

I held off on drinking this one for awhile because it sounded so strange, and smelled mostly like juniper when I opened the bag. Then, a couple weeks ago, I got a cold :( and couldn’t probably taste anything because my nose was stuffed up. This was still sitting out on the counter, and I decided to see if that “five-flavor” bit would make up for having no sense of smell. Much to my surprise, it did! The sour flavors were most prominent, but I also got sweet, savory, and bitter. This tasted more interesting than anything else I drank while my nose wasn’t working, so for that alone I like it. It tasted pretty good later too (when I no longer had the cold), and added an interesting dimension to the dong ding oolong that also came this month, but the taste without smell was what really impressed me :D

sigh… drinking the very last of this today. I dragged it out for a long time, saving this one for special days and adding some extra laoshan black to make it go farther! Hopefully David will decide to offer it again later this summer (hint hint!) :)

Clearly I should start logging some of the treats I’ve been getting through the tea club instead of just bemoaning the loss of my favorites ;)

I have so much updating to do! But I just moved house, and everything is very hectic, so I haven’t been taking the time with my tea that I’d like to. I joined the Verdant Reserve Club for February and haven’t touched the teas yet, because I’ve had no time to do it propery :(

So, today at least I had some Tiger Assam at the office – strong, but not fussy. I kept the first steep to 4 minutes, with milk and sugar. The second I just let sit for awhile, and it’s perfect for drinking straight. Strong rounded flavor, slightly sweet but also astringent enough to make you sit up and take notice.

After tomorrow I should have internet at the new place :P and can log all the tea I drink during this snowstorm we’re supposed to get…

No notes yet.

Drinking this more western-style today, with one 5g pack used for an 8oz mug, brewed in a glass teapot until it looked and smelled strong enough to drink! It doesn’t really taste like the Imperial Breakfast Blend, but the experience of drinking it is similar – strong but not harsh, sweet and rich… coaxing you to get up and face the day. I might even try the next steep with milk!

New verdant monthly order! I’ve gotten pretty bad about logging my teas lately, but it’s been a lot of laoshan green at the office, mostly. This is a lovely experimental black tea, more robustly flavored than the Yu Lu Yan Cha (my only complaint there is its subtlety), but a similar flavor profile to both than and Laoshan black – chocolate, caramel, cream, but also a roasty flavor like dark ooolong to give it strength where those others fade away.

Anyone who likely Wuyi oolong and black teas should give this a try, or if you like Laoshan black but just wish it had more staying power.

My gaiwan is tiny (I was gifted with a pair for Christmas, both hold about 3oz)so I only used half a 5g packed on this, and plan to mix the other shortly with the chai spice mix that was this month’s 3rd tea. This is a lovely warming, hearty trio for the cold winter!

This has really come to be one of my favorite blends, so I’m bumping the rating a little. I love how the bergamot flavor melds with the buttery oolong and sweet jasmine and goji. The frankincense and saffron add a background complexity. It’s just a really pleasing tea, and I like how the flavors change on re-steeping as well – more citrus and fruit.

I got my first Tea of the Month box from Verdant today! I already have some of the other two (Silver Buds Yabao and Golden Fleece), but am happy to have more, and this one was entirely new. And entirely unique! The dry leave is very pretty, large flakes off of what was clearly a cake, silvery white and green and some almost black.

The early steeps were more like a normal, if strong and complex, white tea – floral, smooth, mouth-filling. I’ve steeped about a dozen times now though, and it’s getting quite dark and caramelly as I let it steep longer. It’s like a cross between white tea and roasted oolong, or yunnan buds. I can see why this was paired with the Golden Fleece, the later steeps are quite similar. But this is more vegetal – I’m definitelygetting the winter squash flavors.

Very interesting!

I’ve been down with a cold for most of a week now, on the upswing (I think), so tonight we’re going from tea to hot toddies. This one started with a cup of Harney’s Decaf Hot Cinnamon Spice, then got a spoonful of honey, a dash of Apple Pie liqueur, and a large splash of apple cider. Good for soothing the throat and clearing the sinuses!

Oh wow, as soon as I poured water over these leaves I got a huge waft of juicy fruit – pineapple! Maybe kiwi? A dash of carmelized sugar, or dark honey. The flavor does not disappoint either. I used the first steep to rinse, and have made 3 more so far.

This doesn’t fit neatly into my categories of dark and light roasted oolongs, but I’m pretty ok with having to expand my classifications :P This doesn’t have the heavy, nutty, dry, roasted flavor Iget from Formosa oolongs, but neither is it buttery and vegetal like a green one. It has the floral notes of a Tie Guan Yin, but then shifts to honey, fruit and incense.

It is getting a little toasty in later steeps (10 now), but still lots of sweet incense and dark fruit now, like cherries or blackberry pie. Aftertaste is very much like pineapple! Sweet, but also has that enzymatic tingle.

I have a bad habit of forgetting my gongfu teas through the day, so to make sure I got all 18(!) steeps out of this one, I alternated making a cup to drink, and immediately making another cup that I poured into a jar to chill and drink iced later! So I actually got to taste the later steeps this time :) and I’m glad I did, because it started getting rather like a pasty, with flavors of grain and butter.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

I got this with a chai sampler awhile back, and it’s been sitting in my cupboard because I liked the vanilla mint one much better. This one I recall being very spicy, yet a bit weak in flavor overall. But now, after the great pu’erh blends I’ve been having from Verdant lately, I thought it might be quite good with a little beefing up. I added about half a teaspoon of Maiden’s Ecstasy – a loose shu pu’er from Samovar – to a couple teaspoons of the chai. MUCH better! Now this has actual body and heft, but I can still taste all the chocolate/coconut/spice from the chai. This is very warming, now, and good for a cold windy day.

Smells like honey, and a bit of sweet potato. This really tastes a lot like the sweet potatoes I had at Thanksgiving last week – they were pureed with butter and spices and probably some brown sugar. So good! The tea also has an astringent bite on the very front, that quickly smooths out into a honeyed sweetness.

I’m drinking this one at work, western style, but I feel better and better about the decision to rechisten my one little yixing pot for yunnan black teas, as time goes on. They have such variety, and nuance, and have really become my standby tea over the last couple of years. Of course, I’m almost out of a them at the moment, but that’s just an excuse to buy more :D

2 level tsp leaf, 8 oz water, 4 steeps

No notes yet.

I really love this more than I expected to, as with most of Verdant’s blends. I’ve been drinking it all day – hot and iced since I remembered to stick some in the fridge early on. Spicy and herbaceous, with a fresh sweetness like a garden in spring, this is immensely refreshing.

That’s the last of this :( I really hope Verdant comes out with a new breakfast blend soon. I love the flavor and the philosophy here: “The sensation of drinking the tea should make you want to start the day.” I am decidedly not a morning person, but this tea always makes them easier.

I got a sample of this awhile back and the second half has been waiting around for me to drink and review it. This tastes just like what it is – a tea that is typically turned into a rich, fruity oolong processed instead into a black tea. All of the fruit and floral notes carry over, but now there is chocolate as well, and a hint of smoke. This may not resteep as many times as an oolong, but I would still prepare and drink it similarly – high leaf-to-water ratio, short time, drunk straight.

This is incredibly light and complex for a black tea, definitely one to make you stop. Take a breath. Take a sip. Relax and enjoy, for a few minutes.

I have the Autumn 2011 picking here, with flavors of honey, jasmine, chocolate, and juicy fruit.