Eight Treasures Yabao

I’ve had my eye on this tea for ages—in fact, it was the first Verdant product to make me go “OH GOD I need to order from here immediately.” Sadly, the second tea that almost pushed me over the edge (Thai Ginger Fire) is now discontinued. But hey, at least I finally got my paws on some of this! That $10 off coupon was just too tempting.

I made this two ways: I cold brewed some leaves (buds?) last night and then steeped them Western style this evening. I wanted to do fancy gaiwan style but I had to do a photoshoot and there were lamps all over the table where the tea setup would go. Oh well, I got a full 2 ounces of this so I definitely have tons to play around with! I actually drank the hot tea before the cold brew, so I’ll start there.

Hot: This smells like pure, heavenly jasmine. Given that it’s the first ingredient, not surprising! I was a bit worried because it smells like JUST a jasmine tea, but the floral scent was hiding a lot of depth. Yes, there’s jasmine—sweet, lightly perfumey and perfect—but there’s a whole lot more going on as well! There’s a soft sweetness and an underlying berry taste (probably from the goji berries, but I don’t have enough experience with them to go “oh, this is goji!”), and a strong plant-y presence. It’s not grassy or even vegetal, it tastes like… plants. Like fresh leaves! It’s really interesting, especially with the jasmine, and it gives the tea kind of an outdoorsy feel. Like one should drink this on the porch of a cabin in the woods, overlooking golden fields as the sun goes down through the trees. Lastly, there’s a bit of a bite at the end of the sip—grapefruit, though it took me a while to identify it as such. It’s got that hint of acidity that brings everything together!

Cold Brew: This was done before the hot, so I suppose it got the majority of the flavor…. not that the hot tea was lacking in any of that! This is quite different cold, more softly floral and grassy. The grapefruit does add bitterness, moreso than in the hot tea for sure. But it’s cut by an almost creamy sweetness, possibly the vanilla? I didn’t get any berry taste this way (which is odd, they sat in water for 12 hours!) so I think it is definitely the vanilla beans. And oddly enough, while the floral taste hot was all jasmine the rose comes into play more this way.

I honestly don’t know which way I like it more—both bring out different flavor profiles, and I adore them both! This tea is definitely a keeper. Like, an “I must have this in my cupboard at all times, I’ll eat ramen for a week to afford it” kind of keeper.

This is a beautiful tea. The colors! The lovely sweet floral aroma! It’s a tea for fairies! I love the pinkish tint in the brew. Possibly from the goji berries? The final brew is jasminey and nectary. There’s the herbal flavor of the flower petals. A smooth and subtle tea for sure. It reminds me a bit of a concoction my mom makes for me when I am sick. Chrysanthemum, goji berries, dates and honey. Good for chest colds, I’m told. This version from Verdant is more sophisticated of course. It leaves you tasting your cup over and over trying to figure out the nuances.

On an unrelated note, started watching Downton Abbey. I’m finding it both fascinating and frustrating. I usually hate shows about social politics. Why can’t we all just get along? There are enough lovable characters to keep me watching though. For now. If it gets too much more frustrating, I’ll have to stop. Can’t wait for Sherlock to come back!

Good golly Miss Molly, this is delicious! That was my first thought upon the initial sip, and it hasn’t changed much.

The appearance of this tea is very pleasing to the eye. There are the big silvery, fuzzy buds mixed with dried goji berries, green tea leaves, marigold petals, rose petals, citrus peels, and dried elder berries.

The dry smell of this tea is wonderful. It’s fresh and crisp yet creamy, with cedar and pine notes and floral notes. It’s like a forest on the edge of a wonderful flower garden. Wet the leaves smell mostly of cedar, pine and floral; while the infusion smells of cedar, rose and jasmine.

Taste is wonderful. Cedar and pine notes with rose and jasmine floral notes. It’s creamy yet is light. It’s sweet and sparkling. There is a sparkling feeling on the tip of the tongue at the beginning of the sip and moves to the back of the tongue and touches the throat at the end of the sip and lingers for the aftertaste. I get the goji berry and citrus notes mostly in the aftertaste.

In further steepings the tea takes on mostly cedar and pine notes with the sparkling quality and still retains some creaminess. It loses the floral notes by the third steep, being predominant in the first steep. It gains some spiciness in further steepings mostly in the aftertaste.

I steeped this gaiwanish-style. I don’t have a gaiwan, which is why I say gaiwanish. I used a 5 oz cup with a infuser basket with 205F water. The first steep was only about 5 seconds and now I’m up to about a minute.

I can’t recall what steeping I’m currently on, somewhere around 8 I believe, and I don’t intend on stopping. This is one tea that I will definitely be reordering. It is absolutely wonderful and I suggest everyone to try it if it is geared toward their tastes, but don’t ask me for any, I am not sharing this treasure!!

It’s been a long & busy day. Lots of black teas in the morning, lots of running around in the afternoon, & then I played for a wedding this evening. I just got home, unloaded my harp & gear, & am ready to settle down, but I wanted something with a little lift, as I don’t plan to sleep for awhile, just to chill.

The description of this tea, & the photo, did not originally appeal to me. It’s a little to happy, confetti, pastel party time looking. I know, that sounds ridiculous…. When I found out the Verdant blends were getting ready to change, a part of me said, “You know, you have to try them all, at least a sample”. “ok”, I said, because I was sort of looking for an excuse to place another verdant order anyway.

I’ve been kind of out of sorts for a few days, so when I opened this tea & took a whiff, it was aromatherapy for me. Sweet, cotton candy marshallow dreams, with jasmine, vanilla, & other yummy flavors. And it is a much more beautiful tea than the photo on the website lets on, very fairy-like (& I like my fairie stuff), very happy looking, which is what I needed this evening.

After steeping, it is a really nice, mildly flavored cup of lightness, like a nice deep relaxed breath. I feel like it’s so well balanced that none of the flavors are really in the forefront, everything is nicely blended. I’m probably going to wish I’d ordered more of this (I think I got 1 oz), but it’s not like I don’t have enough tea around here (if you only knew). I will savor this, probably as a bubble bath time tea, a tea to drink while journaling, & I’ll be sure to have a cup in my sunroom when it snows.

I plucked this sample out of my basket o’ teas on a whim — I just wanted something warm after a cold wet night or running errands. 2 scant tsp in 8oz of just less than boiling water for 3 min. I am impressed that it did not taste overbrewed! (At first I thought this maybe was an herbal, so I didn’t pay close attention to time and temp.)

The jasmine, vanilla, and citrus notes were strongest when it was hot. As it cooled down towards lukewarm, I noticed the black pepper and rose (?). Noticing 5 out of 8 flavors without even trying is very good for my lazy undisciplined tastebuds!

I cold brew resteeped it, and will report on that later in the comments.

This tea is so pretty! And it smells so good. I love the mix of things in here. Smelling it hot, I want to try it iced!

I get a variety of flavors in here. Toasted marshmallow, roses and orchids, jasmine, goji. I’m starting to really enjoy floral teas after finding out I actually do like chamomile, and this is definitely floral.

Definitely getting a glass of this cold steeping in the fridge ASAP. I may just have to steep this again!

Ok so first off…apparently i forgot how hot my tea traveller keeps hot water, so I kinda of burnt my mouth on this one. That being said, i do NOT like this tea. Rather than it being the jasmine that’s throwing me off, which I thought might happen – it’s the rose petals. They are coming on strong! I almost feel like this is a rose petal tea more than it is anything else.

I’m glad i got the chance to try this in sample size before it was discontinued. I feel like i might enjoy the winter 8 treasures yabao so I may give that a shot since it doesn’t have the rose petals.

I actually wish it tasted more like the initial scent of this tea. That smell was so promising when i opened up the package!

Yum yum yum – this is all sweet and fruity and delicate and full-flavored at the same time. Like a good flavored white tea! I might have to try the Yabao on its own, because I’m having a hard time tasting the difference between it and a good white tea. The dry leaf is gorgeous, very fluffy with all the flowers and fruits and big buds.

Has anyone else had the Raspberry Champagne White tea? I know Red Leaf sells it, and a few other companies – this is like what all of those are trying to be :D That’s really the best description I can think of at the moment. I’m really glad I ordered this, and sorry it’s already gone… oh well. Out with the old, in with the new!

8oz water, 2 tsp tea, 3 steeps so far

Thanks for letting me try a bit of this one, Azzrian!

I’ve been pretty bad about paying attention while drinking new teas lately – so many distractions! Tonight my roommate was practicing a presentation for tomorrow on me, and I drank the whole cup before I had realized. Whoops.

All I remember is that it tasted like a light version of the Silver Buds Yabao, which I’ve previously had, but with a bit of a jasminey/floral flavour as well. It was actually quite pleasant to drink. I didn’t really taste the goji berries, or anything else, but as I said, my attention was directed elsewhere! We’ll see where the second cup leads!

I bought a sample of this with my last Verdant order because the mix of flavors intrigued me. The dry leaf is certainly gorgeous, with the mix of colors and shapes of everything in this blend. I smell the jasmine and the vanilla most strongly from the dry leaf. Somehow I managed to not realize that this contains jasmine and vanilla together, which historically have not worked in combination for me (for some unknown reason), so let’s hope there’s enough other stuff in here to balance them.

The steeped tea smells jasmine-y and vanilla-y, but also a tiny bit fruity and perhaps a hint of rose. The flavors are thankfully blending quite well together. The main impression I get is one of creaminess, followed by a lovely floral amalgamation (jasmine, rose and some orchid notes together). There’s a sort of light herbiness to the florals, which I’m guessing is mostly yabao making itself known, though I don’t get any specific cedar notes. All in all it makes for a very pleasant and relaxing cup… though perhaps I need something to wake me up now! But anyway, I found this quite tasty, even though it contains a flavor combo that doesn’t often work for me. Yay Verdant, once again.

Had this with dinner tonight. I love jasmine and this tea had a nice smooth jasmine taste. I didn’t need any sugar with this tea. I was very excited about the jasmine so I didn’t pay enough attention to the other flavors which I will do next time.

I’ve never had a tea from Verdant that wasn’t good!

Roses and orchids and jasmine oh my! I can’t stop inhaling the vapors of this liquor. It smells like the purest perfume (I’m actually seeing white flowers when I breathe in) balanced with one of my personal favorite scents: cedar. Somehow the tea found its way to my lips and took me by surprise, I actually gasped. This is sooo heavenly, it tastes just like it smells and more. Reminds me of the lilies of the valley that grow under my parents oak tree. White choral bells upon a slender stalk, I can here my mother singing. I love Yaboa on its own, for its sparkling sweet hay notes, but this, this is nothing short of alchemy!

So after my caffeine hiatus, I am allowing myself one cup. Stomach, please behave! I have all this lovely Verdant tea that I NEED to try!!

Anyways, onto this lovely looking tea! Beautiful! There’s so many colors and flowers and beauty present in just the dry tea! I’m super excited to try this :D. Dry smell: very floral, which I am loving right now, as it’s cold and miserably raining outside, this is taking me back to summer! Also a touch of something woodsy in there, which I like.

Wet smell is still very floral, but very light. I’m picturing a mossy covered log with flowers growing all over the place in it! I steeped this for 2 mins at approximately 175-185 degrees.

Now for the taste, ohh this is soothing. So fresh and relaxing at the same time..there’s a lot of floral taste, with maybe a hint of something a bit spicy. The aftertaste is very smooth and creamy, mmm I get sugar and yes, a bit of the vanilla I think! Some honey and orchid present as it cools too! This is a very delicious tea, and for my first time having the Silver Buds Yabao, I like it. I’m excited to try the plain silver buds to distinguish the flavor!

Overall, this is very, very nice. Warming and calming. Just what I needed today (had a rough midterm, ugh). Will definitely have to try the winter blend, as I only have enough for one more cup from this sample pack :(

OMG! IT’S BACK, IT’S BACK, IT’S BACK!!! I just finished off my last bit from last summer that I had been hording. But now that it is back I can get more…….. when my budget is back.

The smell of the dry leaf is like smelling a bunch of hand picked sweet flowers and nectar; sweet and airy. The wet leaf becomes deeper with damp cedar notes backed with warm vanilla. The taste of the tea is’t self is simply divine. It is like drinking the nectar of sweet flowers drizzled with vanilla and a tinge of tingly spice left on the tongue When it is iced the vanilla becomes more of a creamy texture with the jasmine and Yabao more present making it tasted like flowers that have been plucked from a cedar forest that still have morning dew on them.

Overall this is a great crisp, light, and floral tea that is sweet enough on it’s own and in my opinion embodies spring time.

NOTE: While this tea has green jasmine tea it isn’t over the top or dominating in flavor. It is more of a sweet jasmine then a dry floral one. So jasmine wienies (like me) don’t need to worry.

You can read my full review here: http://tunesntea.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/tea-eight-treasures-yabao/

Specifics
leaf: 2tsp
Pot: Glass
Water: 8oz

Thank you momo, for including this in your sample envelope sale! This is certainly a unique blend! I’m wondering how it is classified as a pu-erh tea, because to me it mainly looks like a floral and fruit blend. The blend looks like a rainbow! The main flavors I get here are floral and vanilla. Jasmine mostly! I would think the flavor would be very light, but it is very full. It kind of reminds me of the David’s milk oolong I had the other day. I’m starting to think the “treasures” are Verdant’s teas!

Rose and marshmallows! What a strange tea, but I like it so far. Since I can’t try this in a gaiwan right now, I put 3 tsps in my Perfect Mug steeper and steeped for 2 mins initially. This is REALLLY floral in scent, even for my tastes, but the florality (is that a word?) backs off a bit in taste. I am curious as to how the next couple steeps are going to be. However, I won’t rate this tea until I’ve tried it in a gaiwan and with a cold steep. Those seem to be the most popular and best methods for bringing out the nuances of this tea.

This is really good! Floral, fruity, creamy, sweet. I think this would be pretty good iced. It took me some time to finish my first cup (easily distracted :P ) and the last few swallows were cold. When it’s cold it seems especially creamy.
2nd steep was tasty as well, the sweetness toned down a bit and I could taste more of the berries.
Overall, I can see this one being addictive. Very pleasant!

While better than pure Yabao I still don’t understand what is this tea all about >_<

It smells like orchid,roses, honey and dried apples. Taste: bright, rich, smooth. I had it after a meal and it was perfect.

oh my this one is delicious. its light, but at the same time the flavors are very complex. there is alot in this tea, and it’s hard to taste everything, but they meld very well.