Xingyang Silk Road Spice

Cool Summer Mountain Morning

This weekend was the Boulder Tea Festival which I’ll write about in more detail as I review the tea’s that I tasted, the brilliant sights, sounds and people I met.

Boulder sits at the foot of a granite rock mountain (which explains the name of the town). In Summer during late afternoon, dark clouds form over the mountains, then thunder and lightning echo’s through the canyons bouncing off the rocky hills. Crackles and crashing followed by short downpours of rain or sprinkles. Noone bothers about it in this picturesque town.

Yesterday we had a good bit of rain…enough to make the sky dark blue grey and the Rocky Mountains look shrouded in mist.

This morning the air has been cooled enough to open all the windows and freshen up what is usually too warm by 10am. I have missed writing on Steepster and reviewing tea while I was sick last week. The rain has rinsed the dust away (maybe I’m like a piece of aged Puer.. and needed a rinse!).

This Xingyang Silk Road Spice is my third packet in the Alchemy Blend Starter Kit. The ingredients are 2008 Xingyang Shu Nuggets (good for my stomach), Organic Spearmint and Peppermint, Fennel and Cinnamon…all favorites of mine!

Not having any fear of a good dark brew, I decided to steep the leaves 3 minutes…and then…I forgot what I was doing…and remembered at about 6 minutes….eek!
Was this a disaster?!
Nooooo!
The wet leaves smelled so minty…the cup of almost black/brown tea was mint/cinnamon scented and tasted rich, warm and mellow with a natural sweetness from the Puer and cinnamon.

My mouth felt cool from the mint and warm from the fennel and cinnamon at the same time. I could breathe in and out smiling at the duel effect.
I sat for a moment, enjoying the air coming through the open window so clean and fresh from the rain the previous evening. Being still and letting myself think about the taste led me to remembering some of the Greek food I like to eat and the YiaYia’s (also spelled Ya-Ya for Greek Grandma) at Church who lovingly prepare dishes passed down from one generation to the other. Dishes often made with mint and cinnamon (and other things…hum).

I got bold.

I went to the frig and picked up a lemon and cut off a piece of zest (peel), then went into the cupboard for some honey.
I wanted to create a cup of Greek Tea!

I steeped my tea 3 minutes again (not 6), sweetening a little bit with honey and dropped a piece of zest in the cup. Yes, this was good! Opa!
I went and made some up for a cold brew.

The silky smoothness and warm, cool feel of this tea is so fine and soothing for the stomach. Impressive!

My love of these Alchemy Blends keeps growing and growing!

I was a little unsure about steeping this in my gaiwan, due to the smaller bits of peppermint, spearmint and fennel. And while these do kind of “make a mess” in my gaiwan (it’s usually just a pile of wet leaves after I’ve infused, but now I’ve got little wet leaves strewn all over my gaiwan), it is worth it because it tastes really good.

I’m on my fifth infusion of this tea now, and it is really quite a remarkable tea. The first infusion was probably my least favorite of the five. It was lighter and the flavors were more of an individual flavor rather than harmonizing into a cup of tea with notes of cinnamon, mint, and fennel … which is what has happened with the subsequent infusions.

I also noticed with the third and fourth infusions, an cocoa-ish note began to emerge. It tastes absolutely incredible in the midst of the spiced licorice sweetness and the cool, crisp flavor of the mint and the earthiness. It all comes together in such a magnificent way.

This one should be on everyone’s Must Try list. It is really good.

I’ve been drinking this one all day (just leaves in my cup.. adding water as I run out). So it’s official ladies and gents: cannot be oversteeped.

I love how springy-boingy and fresh this feels in my mouth. Not a trace of heaviness, dirtiness, fishiness- nothin but sweet flaky yumminess topped with a bit of mint and cinnamon sparkle. Do you know any other shu blend that could sit in a cup like so and still be delicious, 8 hrs later?

Best comparison is with Rishi’s Vanilla Mint Pu’er, which I got from time to time at the now-closed Teashop nearby. I enjoyed that one’s taste, but inevitably after awhile, it started to build up with sourness and stingy dirt (unpleasant), usually before i finished one mug. This certainly turned me off of curling up with the mug all day. No such thing here.

I therefore believe this blend is the Perfect Expression of This Concept (pu’er+sweet+bit o’ mint).

All is balanced. All is yummy. Time to refill my mug….

I can’t believe I didn’t put any notes on this one yet. This tea is one of my favorites. It’s great hot, it’s fantastic cold, it cannot be oversteeped and it tastes soooo good. If you like mint I hope you had a chance to try this. I can only hope that it will come back next summer. I think (I hope) I have enough stocked up to last me that long!!

Throughout summer I was cold brewing this, and I would cold brew it several days in a row. And then when I felt I couldn’t get much more flavor out of it cold, I would brew it hot for a few steeps before discarding it! You can brew it for long steeps or short steeps or at boiling or at a lower temperature and you know what? It still tastes delicious!

This is one of those very few teas that I can drink close to bedtime and still sleep well. I loved this for after dinner. Even my husband who is not a fan of tea enjoyed this for after dinner. He was afraid it would affect his sleeping though, but I’m more caffeine sensitive than he is and I don’t really feel any side effects…except on an empty stomach.

Even with that I typically feel hungry in between breakfast and lunch during school and I pack a banana and an apple and it will hold me over until I can go home for some real lunch. This tea helped me not feel so starving during that time. I wouldn’t get “hangry” (feelings of anger due to being hungry).

Mint, I love mint of any kind. Cinnamon…real cinnamon, not that hot candy cinnamon flavor. Fennel, which I’m typically not a big fan of, was well done. Puerh, it wasn’t very strong and for this I would say it’s a good introduction into puerhs. Oh and it’s naturally sweet and delicious and I’m going to go drink some more now!

So the Xingyang 08 nuggets are one of my favorite shu’s and this blend uses some of the signature ingredients found in other Verdant blends I enjoy. However before opening the packet (not remembering the ingredient list) I was expecting more spice. This is cool and fresh and minty, a great digestive tea and a potentially nice intro to pu’er for a mint lover. I’m not getting much cinnamon from this, but if I listen/taste very carefully I can find it, but its very mellow. That’s probably best for this summer blend, it just plays on the natural cinnamon notes of the shu. I started with short steeps and have worked up gradually to a minute, but I feel I need to draw this out even longer reading the results of others below, so will continue exploring today.

Edit: This is amazing iced! I mean seriously freaking delicious! I can smell and taste the cinnamon and there is more natural sweetness that comes out. I made a single glass last night and a big pitcher this morning (from steeping a mug at a time hot at 3 mins, 5 mins and 8 mins). I was using the same leaf the whole time and feel I got a ton of tea out of it, being such a generous pu’er. I totally recommend ordering this, doing a quick rinse, trying a cup hot then switching over to iced. You could probably make two or three big pitchers out of 1/2 an ounce (three full nuggets, some smaller pieces and the spices for me).

Liberteas Thanks!

At first I could primarily smell the fennel when it was dry and when it was ‘wet’ I could smell the shu and fennel with a little cinnamon.

When I sipped it I could taste all of those along with the mint!

This is brothy and herbally yet refreshing and filling. YUM!

Thanks to Invader Zim for this wonderful sample…and many others ;)

Let me begin by saying that this tea is absolutely Amazing!! When I saw this tea on Verdant’s website..I was thinking, “this must be a very weird tea”..Oh BOY was I WRONG!!! This tea is fantastic with subtle hints, of peppermint, fennel, cinnamon and the Pu-erh blending together in perfect symphony ;) ( you can re-steep this tea for many hours..I steeped for 8 infusions so far ;) It has become my daily dinner drinking tea and have ordered a large amount for daily drinking!! What are you doing still reading this review……Go buy some from Verdant…RIGHT NOW ;)

Bought a sample of this on a whim because it was being, at least temporarily, discontinued. Not flavours I care for, just insatiable curiousity! Therefore unless it’s fabulous, no numerical rating from me, because mint and I usually do not agree.

Brewed, the aroma is, to be honest, revoltingly of mint. Yep. I’m less enthused to try this one now that I’ve smelled it, but past experience tells me that sometimes aromas to not dictate flavour. So I’ve crossed my fingers… eh, nope. In this case, it’s pretty accurate. Lots, and lots, and lots of mint. A nice refreshingly minty aftertaste (which I don’t seem to find with many mint teas), but I’m not getting any other flavours aside from the pu’erh base. I neglected to rinse this tea, but I doubt that that would have had a great deal of impact on the flavour unless it perhaps brought out the pu’erh a bit more. The second infusion smells like pu’erh (I would almost be inclined to call it “fishy”, but not quite) and again, mint, although the flavour is more pu’erh than mint this time. Still not getting any of the other flavours.

Ah well. This one is not a blend for me, and that’s ok! I had no expectation that it would be, so at least I only have a cup’s worth left to finish off! I do have to say, though, that I’m disappointed to not be able to discern any of the flavourings aside from mint (although I can tell there are both spearmint and peppermint here).

Rally glad I got a chance to try this before it was sent off for the season. This is a really refreshing blend! I really like that the spearmint isn’t dominating the cup (though I’m doing a few more steepings so we’ll see) its a refreshing kind of tea. Wish I could say more but I’m busy focusing on this tea….mmmmmm

While reading about all of the teas on the Verdant website, my initial reaction to this tea blend was disinterest. I kind of go through phases with mint, I grow several varieties, & right now I’m just not that into them. So initially I didn’t have any interest in this one.

Then I found out the current blends were all going away, to be replaced by more fall-like blends, & it was like, “I guess I’d better at least try them all before they’re gone.” Besides, I’ve enjoyed everything from Verdant so far, so I got some of this, & a few others that also didn’t initially peak my interest.

The first steeping (3 minutes) looked like soy sauce. It was very smooth & mildly sweet, but the main thing I could taste was MINT. In my face.

1. (5 minutes) The mint has calmed down a little, the color is a little more red, the taste a little sweeter from the fennel, the puerh & spices a little more forward. I think I was expecting a spicier brew, but it’s still nice.
2. (7 minutes) Still substantial, smooth, & mildly minty. I’d like to add that there isn’t a single hint of bitterness here, I can tell that the Puerh base is a crystal clear brew in itself, & I’m thinking I’ll have to add that to my ‘next’ Verdant order. I think this will be especially nice cold-brewed, as the mintiness will add an extra-refreshing quality.

Wow my sinuses must be completely plugged. I can’t smell the dry or wet leaves, and the only thing I can really taste is the barest hint of mint and a tingly sensation on my tongue that must be from the mint and cinnamon. Bummer- I was hoping this would help clear my sinuses. I will try this again when I can actually smell and taste!
#stupidheadcold

It looks like Xingyang nuggets are a perfect background for anything :) While I really enjoy brewing herbs and spices on their own, the presense of this shu in the mix takes away unnecessary sharpness from the liquid and adds a whole ton of depth to it :) Great stuff!

This is my first experience with a Shu. I thought I’d ease into it, by trying a blend. I picked this one because of the recommendation another Steepster gave it. It is dandy! The interplay of spearmint with the cinnamon and fennel works very well. Though, without having any knowledge of other Shus, I don’t know what to say about this one. Still, I like it. I’ll be repurchasing this one sometime soon.