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Fruit Herbal Blend by Verdant Tea
While the Aged Tieguanyin and Dong Ding Oolongs are a nod to the year of the snake, the lunar new year also represents new beginnings. The schisandra base of this blend is something we have been pondering all year. A potent Chinese medicine and a bizarre example of a fruit that naturally contains all five flavors in the Chinese flavor spectrum, the challenge of blending a harmonious tisane seemed like a perfect way to kick of the year of the snake.
Just as fine oolongs like the Five Year Aged Tieguanyin
and the Dong Ding span the spectrum of flavors and
deliver a complex multi-dimensional tasting experience,
the schisandra berry is sweet, spicy, sour, salty, and bitter.
This blend highlights every element of flavor while
maintaining an overall warm and comforting feeling. Try
this on its own in the evening for a caffeine-free tea, or
add a very small pinch to steepings of either oolong for I
full-bodied cou nter-flavor. This brings out the creamy
and elements in both oolongs.STEEPING TIPS: Try this blend all on its own with two
teaspoons or about 5 grams of tea, steeped in 8-16
ounces of water for three minutes. Or, add just a one
gram pinch to an infusion of either oolong for a unique
flavor experience.Schisandra berry, juniper berry, burdock, cinnamon, hibiscus, coriander, lycii berry, clove, vanilla bean, frankincense.
This is part 3 of my Feb TOMC tasting extravaganza. To be honest, I wasn’t real excited about this blend, due to my unfavorable experience with another blend that had Frankincense in it. But I figured,“what the heck, I’ll try anything once.” And so I did.
The dry blend has a sweet earthy spicy aroma.
As for the tea, the burdock takes the front seat, & behind that is a fruity spicy flavor. It’s actually not bad, but probably not something I’d purchase.
Sipping this, this morning blended with the 5 year aged tieguanyin. Wonderfully compliments one another. The creaminess of the oolong is in perfect balance with the spice of this blend. Happy Friday!
I had this lastnight in order to not consume caffeine immediately before bed.
Definitely reminded me of sweet and sour pork.
Tangy, sweet, a touch bit spicy with an edge of bitter.
I didn’t think I’d like but but I kinda do…
Onto my second steep now. Again.. I kinda like it. I would definitely not have purchased this on my own as I like TEA tea.. but eh, I’m not upset I have it now. It’s interesting.
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
