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I’ve been racing through tea today, because the power could go out anytime and it makes me greedy for hot things :P This one has been easy, sweet, and calming to just keep refilling through the day.

I got a sample of this with my last Verdant order, and had trouble describing it. Very different from an un-aged Tieguanyin! If I were tasting this blind, I probably would have thought it was a roasted oolong, but a very rocky/mineral tasting one. It did give me a little bit of the happy energy that pu’erh often does though. A very interesting experience, certainly :)

Drinking Laoshan-style at the office (green leaves in the bottom of a glass mug draw some attention!) to make way for the new order coming soon :) Drinking the Laoshan Apothecary Green helped me learn to recognize the spicy-sweet notes in the this, as well as the leafy green ones

I just pre-ordered the Autumn Dragonwell Style Laoshan Green that should be coming out in the next week, so it seemed fitting to drink some of my actual Dragonwell today, to prepare :) I was much more relaxed about making it this time (last time I definitely fretted about doing it “right”). A heaping tsp of leaves was enough to cover the bottom of my glass mug, pour sub-boiling water along the sides, then straight down the middle to stir up the leaves – drink as soon as it’s cool. The leaves all sink to the bottom after a few minutes, which makes for easy drinking.

The flavors are sweet, grassy, mineral, rather juicy… none of the dryness, so far, that I was getting last time. My palate isn’t up to cashews or cherries :P but this is very enjoyable.

Got a sample of this in my last order – it has a lovely true jasmine scent, and big fluffy silver needles. The taste is surprisingly smoky, and there’s a hearty – almost brothy – texture. I just dumped the whole sample in my mug, started drinking once it was cool enough, and plan to re-steep by adding water through the day. I think my steeping practices peaked in diligence… awhile ago, and are shamefully casual now. I jest – it’s more that I’ve learned enough of tea culture to articulate my own philosophy, which hinges on appreciating and sharing tea rather than fretting about it _ If it tastes good and makes me smile, then I’m doing it right.

Lime + cheesecake matcha! Not exactly was I was hoping for (key lime pie) but still quite good – more like that opaque green jello you get sometimes, in the jello salad or the layered jello desserts :P

Prepared hot, with milk and a dash of honey. Matcha seemed finicky to me at first, with all the whisking, but now that I’m used to the prep I love how quickly I can get my caffeine fix in the morning, compared to waiting for tea to steep :D

Guys! Guys. This is a really good combination. You know how rooibos is kind of sweet, and kind of mild, and earthy, and almost spicy at times. And how pumpkin is also sweet, and mild and earthy, and then pumpkin pie has spices? You see where I’m going with this. There is some serious synergy in how the rooibos and the pumpkin pie flavor go together here, and the color is GORGEOUS and the whole thing is CAFFEINE-FREE so I get a pumpkin pie roobois latte for my bedtime snack.

The backstory is that I’d been over caffeinating a bit with Red Leaf’s matcha promotion so I decided to try the red matcha, which is powdered rooibos and thus caffeine free. It is very light and powdery,almost chalky in texture, and the color is a pastel version of normal rusty rooibos color. I’d say it has an even finer texture than the green matcha, and it mixes in really easily in comparison – a bit less tendency to clump.
This is ok plain, but it really shines latte-style with a bit of milk and sweetener (I like brown sugar or maples syrup); rooibos is slightly sweet on its own, definitely not bitter, but a little sweetener enhances the pumpkin pie flavor – less like just spices, and more like PIE! This is definitely one of my favorites so far!

You can buy this at http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pumpkin-pie-matcha.html