Verdant Tea

Still working my way through November’s TotM leaves (they come near the end of the month now, rather than mid-month, so it “feels” behind at the moment until I get used to this schedule).

I remember when this was one of the “reserve” release teas about half a year ago and I’m excited to see this is now part of Verdant’s day to day offerings.

This is a delightfully light and complex wuyi. There’s very little roast here and yet it doesn’t drift all the way into tieguanyin-like floweriness. There’s some bright floral notes, but it is the wet stone which still dominates.

There is a beautiful smooth thickness and a long finish which ends in a kind of almond spiciness rather than the flowers which is very pleasant.

The wet leaf and cup aroma are very powerful for an oolong tea.

Dark oolong with a roasted floral aroma. This tea has that roasted baked floral flavor you get with most of the Wuyi Mountain oolongs. It is sweet with a little fruitiness on the back end.

Dang… this is some good tea. I thought there would be an odd transition of roast/rock oolong to buttery green oolong. It didn’t work that way, which is fine. I ended up getting a rather smooth steep after steep of a roast/wood taste with small texture and nut notes. This is lighter than a normal Big Red Robe and a bit smoother. While this was nice, I think with the TGY title I would want a buttery texture that is more noticeable or the TGY floral notes behind the BRR. This has a lot of potential if they execute it to have the notes of TGY and not just a slightly lighter taste with a higher smoothness to the tea overall.

This tea has a pleasing aroma of sweet hay. It tastes sweet and malty with flavors of sweet potato, brown sugar, and a hint of cocoa. It is good but not impressive.

I had this tea a day or so ago and something about it, I still can’t put my finger on it, just struck me really wrong. Maybe a spice I couldn’t place? Maybe the base? Maybe the combination of everything? I don’t know but I was really looking forward to this one and I just wasn’t enjoying it. I am glad it is a favorite of quite a few out there, but not my cup of tea.

Dark oolong with a roasted floral aroma. This tea has a rich flavor profile with notes of roasted floral, chocolate, and oranges. It is a very interesting mix of flavors.

This tastes more like a green than an oolong but I’m not complaining. It’s still delicious. It’s got a rich green asparagus taste to it and nutty sweetness. Nope, not much like an oolong but still an excellent tea. I brewed it in my mug at 190C , the temperature I always used for oolongs. Maybe I should have gone a lower temperature since it’s so close to green tea but it still came out great. I brewed for one minute and it’s perfect.

Again, had over the weekend as one of the November TotM samples, and so it will have to wait until second tasting for detailed notes.

But the one thing that stood out was how floral this rock oolong was. Not a tieguanyin by any stretch, no. Nothing like that.

But compared to Big Red Robe, or to the Mei Zhan it definitely had a flower thing going on.

This came as one of the TotM samples for November, along with four other wuyi style oolongs that I look forward to reviewing.

I tasted this one over the weekend so I don’t have formal notes. I provide those next time.

But I will at least say that this one caused the wife to suddenly say “you know, I’m realizing I really like these rock oolong teas”. She’s a serious tea drinker, but also “likes what she likes” and doesn’t try too many wild and crazy things, so finding a new category she knows can be a go-to is a big deal for her.

We’re looking forward to all these samples.

Damn, this is some good raw.

I was expecting some astringency to wake me up a bit since I’m exhausted from frisbee golf today… but no, there is no astringency. In fact, as weird as this sounds, I am eating chocolate along with it because the texture has a bit of silk/cream to it which is making me one happy happy person.
The leaf is ugly though which made me already think negatively of it, but again… looks are deceiving.

Not bad. I don’t know that I love the rose petals, but it’s not bad.

I probably won’t drink all of every steep I try. I’m on steep 3 and mostly I’ve been playing with taking photos of pouring the tea…

I found this towards the back of the Pu storage, and I can’t remember if I like it or not. The leaves are mostly broken up and fairly dark. They give off a dry and smoky scent. I plucked a handful and tossed in the warmed yixing. The scent darkened and spread out to a heavy wood and smoke. I could hint at some light sweetness in the background. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves give that bitter greens scent that has some bite to it. The brew begins soft and sweet with some subtle tones. I’m hinting at some light pepper in the background. The second steep I over did by about 10sec and it made a huuuge difference. The brew hit me real hard and sent goosebumps down my arms. Also, I experienced a lot of head shaking and a big woooef sound escaped me, haha. The later leans more toward the pepper side with a nice sweetness that lingers. This tea has a consistent hay and dried grass tone, and the drink grows lighter as the session progresses. Surprisingly, I was picking up a “yerba mate” taste at about the fifth steeping. This flavor consists of herbaceous, dry grass, and straw. The brew gives the dry sweet texture until it falters off. The qi is a nice light and steady feeling. The sensation is very slight and almost unnoticeable. I’m indifferent about this brew. I think it’s a decent daily drinker.

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The dry smell of this tea took me back to the barn at my house growing up. It smells exactly like horse feed pellets, it is amazing how a scent can take you back to a time in your life instantly like that. The steeped tea has a malty hay aroma. It has a sweet malty flavor with notes of hay, malt, molasses, and a hint of chocolate. I really enjoyed this tea, flavor and nostalgia in one cup.

After letting the dry leaves sit inside a prewarmed gaiwan for a minute, it definitely smells of Sheng… leather, wood, earth and a faint aroma of flowers and sap.

The first infusion is sweet and smooth, with notes of sandalwood and a hint of honeysuckle. The taste and aroma also remind me of summer trees in the rain. It has a silky texture, and while there are hints of dryness in the woody finish, and little sparks of white pepper flavor, there’s also a good amount of lingering sweetness, and a taste of golden raisins.

By the second infusion, the wood note is coming through much more, and the peppery note in the finish, while overall it is less sweet.

I won’t go much more deeply into this review except to say that if you’ve had good young sheng, this is good young sheng, and it has all the tastes and aromas you’d expect from your typical sheng, so that’s that. I have no idea what the asking price is, so it may be a good deal, but the flavor profile’s not one that is particularly memorable to me, so I’ll probably pass on ordering some.

“I so badly want to say… ‘would you like a cup of tea?’”

I finished playing Undertale yesterday and I couldn’t stop crying my head off. I can’t get it out of my mind. If you like classic NES style nostalgic video games, or RPGs, or good humor, or good feels, or happiness, or peace in the world, or anything good, please pay the paltry $10 and play this game. It is life changing. I can’t drink a cup of tea now without thinking about its ending and its message. I’ll leave that to your curiosity if you haven’t played it. If you do you’ll know what I mean.

On to the Tieguanyin.
The fragrance of these dry leaves in a preheated gaiwan is very rich. They smell like flowers, honey, camphor, and maybe even cinnamon. The wet leaves are similar but have an even stronger aroma and the addition of vegetal, buttery notes.

The first infusion of this tea taste very buttery and creamy, lightly, floral, and has a surprise ending that tastes like peach and really lingers on the palate. Wasn’t expecting that!

Eerily, this tea infuses a very pale green color, almost colorless. It’s very cool. The leaves are giving off a more honey-sweet floral aroma after the second infusion, and the flavor of this infusion is more floral with notes of evergreen trees and clove. The third infusion is really buttery and sweet with a hint of tartness. The flavors of flowers and honey permeate with a very warming feeling.

Repeated infusions are similar and just as generous. This is the best Tie Guanyin I’ve tried, so I know where I’ll be buying mine next time I need to refill.

I was looking through my cupboard/s trying to decide on a brew to wake me up, and this stuck out to me. I was trying to decide between this or a 2008 Bulang. This won for some reason. I could just taste the sweet liquor and it just sounded “thirst quenching”. So, into the gaiwan these little guys went. I always loved the look of Yaboa. They are so alien looking. These buds give off a strong hay and wheaty scent. I washed them once and prepared for brewing. The liquor is so clear; it’s as if I’m drinking the hot spring water. I give the steeped little buds a scent and pick up that iconic hot hay. I can hint at some fruit notes in the background and just a pleasant dryness, like steel cut oats. The liquor deepens to a slight golden, but it remains translucent. The taste is juicy! This brew instantly hits my taste buds with an oily sweetness. This is exactly what I needed to get my morning started. The nectar succulence mixes well with the light woodiness and brings my spirit up as it quenchs my thirst. I really enjoy Yabao. Every time I brew some up I recall the first time I discovered this peculiar “Puerh”. I was always fascinated by the colour of the tea. I think that is my favorite part of this brew. I was able to steep this for quite some time before I had to go to work. I love that this brew is so durable; I was able to leave in the gaiwan and still yield a sweet and smooth drink. This is a good Yabao offering, and I’m glad I rediscovered it.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/_EqIfIzGY0/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

These curly little black leaves are gorgeous. After putting them into a preheated yixing pot, they have a very malty aroma and smell heavily of oats and dark chocolate, also raisins. The aroma of the wet leaves is very complex, earthy… somewhere between tobacco, prunes, dark chocolate, wood ashes, and a cellar.

The first infusion is incredibly mellow and sweet. The sweetness really lingers, with notes of stone fruits and cocoa and a rich bready background like sweetened porridge or oatmeal. There are hints of malt and dark chocolate in the finish. The repeat infusions have been less sweet and a little more cocoa tasting, but overall it is still a rather nice tea. That first infusion really impressed me, and I thought immediately I’d have to buy some, but the repeat infusions were more dark and bittersweet and not as smooth as I tend to go for, so I will have to think on it!

Sometimes I lose a review while typing it in here, usually because I accidentally close the browser. Oh well.

In a nutshell the first few infusions of this green tea were very sweet, with a nutty, buttery kind of taste and an undertone of asparagus. It was really smooth and enjoyable. The first infusion tasted like sweetened oats. The vegetal tones took a back seat to the other flavors and did I mention it was really sweet? I enjoyed this green tea a lot. It smelled like malt, and had just a subtle aftertaste of it.

I’ve been drinking a lot of Da Hong Pao lately to season a vintage unglazed Taiwanese clay pot I got recently. I am planning to only use it for Wuyi oolongs, probably DHP more than others.

This DHP starts with the expected aromas of roast, flowers, and spices, or what comes off more like camphor to me. Sipping the first infusion, it’s really mellow and smooth, subtle floral tones with a prune like fruity flavor.

The second infusion is more floral and lacks the fruity sweetness of the first. It’s rather perfumey, a very concentrated kind of floral taste, hard for me to put my thumb on what type of flower though. Maybe jasmine (something pungent like that) with a hint of rose or orchid?

The third infusion is much less intense again. It’s smooth with dried fruit notes, undertones of floral, and a hint of cooling sensation in the finish. A longer fourth infusion has brought out more spices in the aroma and a more rich and deep fruit flavor.

All in all, a good tea. To me, it’s a simple tea, not a complex one like some other Da Hong Pao I’ve had, so if you like simple, straightforward, dependable tea, well this one is good and hard to brew wrong. I still err in favor of more complex Da Hong Pao for this, which is largely the reason for my rating. If you are looking for really complex and striking Da Hong Pao, I’m afraid this is probably not the one to choose, but… Verdant has a 5 teas for $5 deal that currently includes this tea if you are a first-time customer. That includes shipping if you live in the US, China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, so definitely give that box a try if you are new to Verdant tea. This is my first time trying teas from them, as I just bought that box, and I’m very happy they offer it. It’s always nice to try new teas without breaking the bank.

Just finished this one off. It was lovely! Smooth and rich with a full, nutty flavor and a wonderful creamy mouth feel.

This is sweet and creamy, and very good. I particularly like how mild and forgiving it is. I dislike astringency and therefore don’t love many green teas, but not a bit in sight here!

I am drinking down the last of this tonight. I couldn’t decide on what I wanted to drink, I had time to gong fu and this was sitting in the pile of one more cup/session. I can’t believe I haven’t written about this one yet. Tonight this is magic. Super juicy and sweet. There is very little bitterness. I remember this not working for me every single time I made it, but tonight it is hitting the spot. I think this maybe my first time to brew in gwiawan for this one which was probably my mistake before.