Verdant Tea (Special)

Well… this one tasted how I expected an “8 treasure” blend from Verdant to taste. Prominent yabao, which is ok as I like its creaminess and different flavour, and other random herbally flavours. I like this one more than the Love & Joy Blend, but it’s not one I’d pick up. A cup of yabao every now and then is all I need (and preferably, it’s the pear-yabao that was part of a 12 days of Christmas swap in 2012). Anyhow, again a good selection IMO, because most people will not have tried yabao previously, and it’s pretty easy-drinking here.

Hmm. Not my favourite, that’s for sure, but this wasn’t too bad. I think I’m just not the biggest fan of herbal blends, and that’s that. It does taste as the description indicates – the chamomile is apparent, and there’s an appley aroma/flavour to the tea. I could also pick out a bit of cacao, but I’m not sure the combo quite works for me; apple and cacao? Chamomile and cacao? I actually think that if the chamomile was a bit more masked, I would enjoy this more – although I’ve learned to tolerate chamomile in blends, I don’t much care for it when I can really taste it strongly, which I can here. I might try this at a bit of a shorter infusion time to see if I came tame the chamomile a bit. The frankincence is also noticeable here (I only know this because of its inclusion in a previous Verdant blend, otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue what to taste for), but i

Second infusion, for I’m not sure how long (4 min?), was similar in flavour, although something else is poking out a bit that I don’t care for. I would have said something like juniper, but that’s not in this blend, so I’m not sure what it would be. I’m not familiar with all the ingredients (particularly linden leaf/flower), so it could easily be something like that.

I haven’t seen anybody’s else’s reviews on this one (because I’ve been lazy, I see that they are there), but I was pleasantly surprised by this tea. I put maybe 2 or so tsp of tea in the filter basket, and gave it a 45s infusion to start – quite delicious. No fishiness (that’s usually shu anyhow), no strange flavours, just creaminess and that wild sheng flavour that I’m familiar with. I’m drinking the second infusion now (I let it go for a minute), and I’m still pretty blown away at how good this is. This may in fact get me back into drinking my shengs from Verdant that have been sitting a while – I’ve given quite a few to my mom, who likes them more than I, but I think now’s the time to try them again myself.

Although the tea description indicates a “bright astringency”, I can’t say I’m catching any astringency at all; this is just smooth, sweet, nutty, and VERY enjoyable. Great selection, Amoda/Verdant – a perfect intro pu’erh, but with plenty of nuances for experienced drinkers to enjoy as well.

This one surprised me. I don’t know why but I was expecting not to be super into it, some vaguely recollected notion I haven’t been wowed by the few Verdant pu erhs I’ve tried so far and also didn’t love Master Han’s Wild Picked Yunnan Black. While this didn’t blow my mind completely I really enjoyed it, particularly the first steep. I was amazed at how overwhelmingly creamy and sweet it smelled, that whole “how can this be just tea leaves?!” reaction (it reminded me a little of my awe at Verdant’s Shui Jin Gui Wuyi Oolong, one of my all-time favorites). It was so full of aroma and surprising color and body for something only steeped 10 seconds (there’s Verdant for you!). And it continued to be flavorful for many resteeps, though the creamy sweetness recedes and something more savory steps in, with some dry woodiness I kind of like. There’s a good chance I didn’t wash my cup out well enough between this and the Della Terra Dirty Chai earlier in the night because the last few steeps had a weird (this sounds so gross but it’s true) band-aid-like aroma (a clean new band-aid!), that sort of plasticky sticky smell.

Another fail this February for me in terms of the Blends boxes from Verdant. That being said, I’m sure there are those who will really like the blends, so don’t like my wonky tastebuds dissuade you from wanting to try them out. Overall problem with this one? WAAAAAAAYYYYYY too sweet for me. Unbelievably cloying sweet. I thought about trying to cut it with another tea, but i’m far too lazy for that sort of thing ;) So the rest of my half of the tea will be parceled out to others who will hopefully like this one :)

So this is another miss for me in this month’s verdant box. For starters, i’m not a fan of their jasmine white. This is less offensive to me than the lavender, blergamot failure, but it’s still not a win.

I Also don’t understand verdant’s steeping parameters. it’s always 1 min…though to be fair this month there is a 2 min steep happening there. With this one, all i’m getting is chamomile, with hints of jasmine….the goji berry flavour is nowhere to be found. oh well… one left to try tonight and see how that one rates…

2/28/14 5g/waterchestnut yixing/190F Toasty goodness! Many many steeps of roasty nutty good tea.

2/17/14 Tea failure. I didn’t notice that we’d bought different water than usual until I took a sip of this tea and tasted nothing but flat dishwater. I’m disappointed especially because the leaf smells fantastic, and I am yearning to taste the tea properly but I can’t get for the right water until tomorrow morning. Commence wailing and gnashing of teeth.

i’m pretty sure dinsoara and i aren’t the only two people on steepster who have this in their cupboard. Come on people fess up! That being said…this will NOT be in my cupboard for long. this one is destined to visit some other sucker…er i mean tea lover. But sil? WHY would you do that to this poor tea? well let me tell you…this tea has nearly everything i hate about life in it. First off….it’s a green tea. Which, on it’s own does not make for hatred, but wait..what have we added here? BLERGAMOT! gahh!! the dreaded evil flavour to kill them all… bah! and then… just for a real kick in the face, to make SURE i would hate this tea, because after all, i can sometimes get past the blergamot in some teas…. what did verdant do?

sigh they added lavender. A flower that has no place in anything but bath products..and even then…only bath products that aren’t going to live anywhere near me. When my mother and i went to france for a month..it was almost impossible to avoid. and now.. it’s here.. in my tea..looking so pretty and innocent…hanging out with blergamot as if to say.. suck it sil… we’re in this together…

….all that and i’ve only opened the bag to measure out a spoonful into my mug.

brewing….waiting….the aroma takes over my house…my other half calls from the other room…WHAT IS THAT? are you putting on lotion at this time of the day? I thought you hated lavender…

no dear…it’s just that this tea and i have a date…i can’t let it win…

BEEEEEP goes the microwave… crap.. GAME ON!!!

alright tea… i’m on to you… i WILL drink at least a sip of your deadly poison.

cautious sip… noseful of blergylavender…GAH!

I’m pretty sure is what it would taste like if i started licking lavender soaps randomly in those tacky gifts shops…maybe add a little spinach and a squirt of orange and hey look…it’s a tasty soap salad.

feck. no thank you.

buries the rest of her half of the sample in terri’s teabox mwahahahahahahaha

(why can’t i rate a tea zero? also…not rating this as low as i want to, because admittedly some of you out there might actually enjoy the taste of lavender and blergamot…together in a taste hot green mess. At least the tea is pretty? cough)

When I made this today I had it confused with Mandala’s Special Dark and so I let it steep for 10 minutes both times.

And you know what? It still worked out wonderfully.

I re-steeped this three times, and it was really good! It still surprises me that 10 seconds is the right amount of time to steep, but apparently it is. APPARENTLY.

It started off as sweet and lightly creamy, but progressed to a woodsier brew. I probably could have kept going with it but I dumped my leaves into the sink and then figured it was time to move onto a different tea. But I am learning to enjoy puerhs more and maybe there’s something to Sheng.

This tea really made me happy I grabbed the Amoda box because I likely would not have had it any time soon and getting pushed out of my comfort zone is just what I need!

Unusual tea, this one. I get mostly chamomile with hints of cocoa, something floral, and a sweet berry-ish flavor – I’m thinking this is the huge pieces of goji in the mix. I doubt I’d ever go out of my way to buy this, however it’s pleasant enough this afternoon as I prepare to go grocery shopping.

Surprise Tea!

(And sorry if the name of this gives away the surprise to those with subscriptions, but I’m not sure how to handle these things. Before I just added them in and never tagged it Amoda but someone has, and I DO see how that could be a useful thing especially when there are exclusive blends…)

Anyway, I was surprised by this tea, but I am enjoying it! I didn’t care for Silver Buds Yabao as I couldn’t get more than slightly sweetish water from it, but I did like Eight Treasures more, and I can see that this is similarly flavoured. The rose petals are not overpowering, thankfully and I do get sweet nectar and spices with the gentle rose flavours. I probably WILL resteep this at least once since I was careful to only steep 8 oz, and I have the variable kettle keeping my water warm for the next hour.

I guess I’m happy I didn’t cancel my subscription. This isn’t a tea I would have purchased but I do like it and am glad to have been reminded that I did like the other Eight Treasures blend too!

I’m pretty excited about the other two – especially because one is a Sheng (which I’ve never had? I don’t think?)

Also, this tea is foresty. Why isn’t forest a flavour?

Spoiler Alert on February’s Amoda Box!

I was so, so, so excited when this showed up in the mail today because yay — Valentine’s Blends!

I’m so incredibly less cynical about the holiday than I was when I was a teenager, but still don’t do anything special for it. I don’t really go out of the way to make myself miserable anymore either though, so there’s that. I pretty much like all holidays now because gifts are so much fun to give!

Amoda said this tea has a ‘surprising similarity with a Valentine’s Day tradition — candy hearts’ and I’m not sure I’m quite getting there with this.

I really like the yabao in this, because Verdant’s yabao has always tastes like wet cedar planks, with a bit of pepper and glimmering bursts of marshmallow sweetness.

The jasmine adds a delicate floral note and another element of sweetness, while the vanilla makes it thicker on the tongue (more noticeable on consequent steepings). I think the Tulsi and burdock also ramp up the savory-esque cedar/wood notes a bit more as well. It all kind of blurs together and it’s a bit hard to pick out individual components, but I think this blend actually works.

Subsequent steepings yielded a slightly altering wood-tasting profile that emphasized pine instead of cedar.

So well I guess in a way, this does kind of remind me of deconstructed candy hearts — a little woodsy, with a slightly drying mouthfeel, and a good amount of sweetness. I still really I think it’s more like a canoe ride alone on a lake surrounded by only pines and cedars at the break of dawn. It’s beautiful.

Happy Heart Day, Steepsterites!

Second steep, and this is a bit more enjoyable — although I fail to get anything even remotely close to candy hearts. I get cocoa first, jasmine strongly, then a touch of rose and honey. There’s still some granularity to the brew that puzzles me and a few other flavors that I’m finding hard to place. I doubt I’ll steep this again – it’s just a weird tea, and one that falls outside my “must try” interest.

Spoiler Alert! :) Happy Valentine’s Day, and The Day of Zero Sleep for MissB. I’ve been up all night, and will likely need to stay up a few more hours at least to deal with straggler media outlets for the day, and then, finally, I can sleep. Woot!

As for the spoiler: this is part of Amoda’s February box, and I just had to drink it today (it seemed fitting). If I forget to review this now, I likely will just forget altogether, as I have a good handful of teas I’ve had the past few days. It’s a bit of a blur…

Interesting brewing instructions for this one: 40-50 second steeps, 208F, 1 tbsp per 8 oz cup. Well, I deviated somewhat, because of how much was allotted for the most part: 1 tbsp for 12 oz. and a 50 second steep. It brews up surprisingly fast and with a yellowish-green tinge, and with a wonderful green tea jasmine scent.

It tastes differently than I expected. Something floral (jasmine?), something with depth (cocoa?), I almost want to say uncooked pu-er too, and then doubt myself. There’s also something granular about the tea, something that stays in my mouth after the sip. It’s a weird tea, in a good way though – I need to play with this a bit and see how it evolves over the re-steeps.

First of all, a big thanks to Naylynn for sharing some of this with me even though I see she really liked it. Always hard to let go of something you really like. :) Lovely tasty black tea base, bergamot nicely balanced with some clove and cinnamon spice. Very enjoyable. Definitely enjoyable tea. For me it works well to throw in a mug and go! Some teas need a more delicate approach.