This was an okay blend. I only had a sample, and I would not buy more, even if it were in stock.
My boyfriend was the first to open the package. He took a big whiff and turned to me with huge eyes. “It smells like Christmas!” He was right! It smelled amazing, and like delicious Christmas spices. He’s not a big fan of taking the time to look up the steeping directions online, so he steeped it without rinsing the leaves. That was probably a mistake. The spices were too strong and didn’t meld together nicely. Instead, it just tasted like a flat mixture of spices. Nothing stood out, nothing was of note. He dumped the leaves without resteeping it.
I tried this again the other day. I have some notes that I wrote, though I didn’t get to log it right away because our internet was out. I looked up Verdant’s directions and did two quick, 1-3 second rinses. The first rinse smelled so amazing, I had to take a quick sip. It tasted like gingerbread! Mmmm. I then steeped the leaves, I think for 2 min, as per the website instructions. Hot, there is a ton of cinnamon and ginger flavor. I can feel the cinnamon, slightly gritty in the back of my throat. As it cools, the vanilla comes out more. For something that is called a citrus blend, I’m really not getting any citrus at all. I have written down, “It’s like a spice cookie.” It’s a fairly creamy tea, though it still doesn’t stand up to the amazing smell of the dry leaf. I put in white sugar with the last half of my mug, in the hopes that it will help me distinguish between flavors, but it doesn’t really improve things. It’s not bad but also not exceptional.
Second steeping: It’s very flat, like dried, ground spices in water. I’m not getting any of the creaminess of the previous steeping, and not very much tea base. I added brown sugar and milk after just a few sips, because there wasn’t anything really going on with the tea. The brown sugar and milk help, it becomes a little richer and more like a winter dessert.
Overall, it was a decent tea. However, it was lacking that “Wow” factor that I’ve come to expect from Verdant.
