Verdant Tea (Special)

Got some vegetable planting done today, and now I am going to relax with this tea this afternoon. I was super excited to see this in the may reserve club package because I love a good dian hong golden bud. The leaf on this is cute, rolled into little semi-balls. It has a hint of cocoa to the smell, but also a bit of rich hay and honey.

Brewed gongfu. I drank my rinse, because that’s how I roll with black teas. I can never rinse in less than a second anyway, it must take me at least two. The rinse was quite light but sweet and flavorful still. Definitely wildflower honey notes, along with a slight buttery sweet-starchiness of a sweet potato chip. Later steeps intensified those notes with a smooth, creamy texture. Quite a nice dian hong and a pleasure to have today.

Much better than the usual Yabao from Verdant. This one I actually like.

Thanks to Sil for this one.

The dry tea leaves are beautifully twisted in to small braids. There is a strong sweet floral jasmine fragrance.

The tea tastes like a slightly sweet jasmine tea on a base of mildly creamy green tea. Very delicious jasmine tea.

I steeped for one minute. The jasmine braids only slightly unfurled. Many more steeps to come of this one.

Thanks Bonnie for sharing this tea with me.

Dry – Sweet, VERY aromatic floral, TGY characteristic bitter-sweet floral, fruity and cinnamon.
Wet – Vanilla, Sweet corn, floral-fruity, nutty, mineral, faint cinnamon, buttery.
Liquor – Pale green.

1st steep – 10secs – Initially sugary sweet, vanilla, floral-mineral TGY taste that is well balanced not overwhelming. As I slurp, several notes appear but vanilla, sweet corn, butter and bittersweet floral are the most apparent. The sweetness is sugary or ‘clean’ at first but becomes more fruity/floral that lingers.

2nd steep – 15secs – Sweet, floral and mineral TGY taste that is well rounded and goes down smoothly retaining a lot of sweetness in the mouth and showing off some of the mineral and somewhat nutty notes. This taste lingers in the tongue and seems to travel to the back of the throat. Floral-vanilla sweetness lingers in the aftertaste.

3rd steep – 15secs – Sweet, nutty, floral bittersweet TGY taste that is very aromatic and pleasant, slightly creamy mouth-feel. As it goes down it is mineral and floral that becomes sweeter that resembles vanilla. The aftertaste is sweet and complex with notes that combine well.

Final Notes
I was able to several more steeps that were really enjoyable. What I liked about this tea is how well balanced it is. I think this is the trait I enjoy the most in good tea whether cheap or expensive, a well balanced tea is very enjoyable and even memorable.

Thanks again to Bonnie for sharing with me. I really liked this one, complex and subtle and overall very well well balanced. I’m sorry I took so long to review; but I’m kind of glad I did, since I had the time to truly sit down and enjoy it.

I am enamored with this tea! I’m not going to go into a flavor profile right now, as it is complex, but for me this tea is a keeper!

And I must thank David, and everyone at Verdant…I purchased 3 of the two ounce portions as allowed when the tea was released for purchase, which would be an estimated 170g of tea. Imagine my surprise when I saw two of the original 100g boxes staring at me as I opened up my package! Also the note with a mention that as I purchased a bunch, that they figured they would include the two boxes for me :) As per all of my interactions with David and the Verdant Team, they continue to go above send beyond what is expected!

I feel I am going to be having a very tough time with this April Reserve shipment…A Wuyi, a shu puer, and what looks like two black teas…ugh, I have a feeling I am going to love each one, and I may be parting with a sizeable sum of money in the near future stocking up on these teas!

I decided to try to finish up some samples that had been languishing. I still have enough for ONE more cup of this fella. I really like it but apparently I was not in the mood this afternoon like I thought I was. Maybe its just too hot and humid outside for warm smoked tea?

Mmm, this is the best lapsang I’ve ever had. (not that I have had very many :P) Thanks dinosara! :D

Third day of spring and it’s snowing here near Seattle. And right when my body was starting to expect the spring temperatures. I really need a warming brew today. Surprisingly, when deciding what that should be my mind didn’t go for the spiced black teas I normally reach for on a chilly day — it went straight to this. It seemed the perfect reason to use up the second half of this Reserve Club sample.

This tea embodies warmth. The second that smokey aroma starts wafting out of the cup I feel like I’m huddled around a crackling campfire. And someone is making a s’more because I can smell their burnt marshmallow melting the bar of chocolate it’s dripping over. It’s so nostalgic and warming to just smell. And it’s commandingly strong; I’m still catching whiffs of it all around the house almost 3 hours after my first brew.

At first sip this tea tastes like the smell to me — smokey. And while that’s okay it’s not something I find myself wanting to drink a lot of. But by the second and third sip that smokey taste almost immediately turns into a rich dark chocolate aftertaste. I can’t taste it when the tea is on my tongue but it comes up immediately after the sip and lingers there forever. Five minutes after my last sip I can still taste that rich dark chocolate, but as time has passed it’s become a dark chocolate spiked with citrus or berry, I can’t decide which.

I’m 7 or 8 steeps in right now and that dark chocolate flavor is still lingering there every bit as strong as it was on the first, but the first taste has mellowed from smokey to citrus (something I’m rather thankful for).

This was the perfect brew to start my chilly day off with. It’s so rich and warming. If it weren’t for the price tag on these reserve club teas I’d definitely restock this one, but alas, my budget forces me to leave it as a pleasant memory after today.

Sipdown, 148. With the June reserve club coming in to increase my cupboard size, I thought it would be appropriate to sipdown some of the older reserve offerings I have. These teas tend to languish for multiple reasons: 1) I love them and want to hoard them because they are rare, 2) I don’t love them so I don’t think about drinking them often, and 3) I just don’t have time to gongfu very often. Tonight we came home slightly early so I decided to have this one in the evening.

This is one that I like ok but don’t love. I just haven’t picked up the palate for piney-ness and such. To me it really reminds me of walking a forest, in the cool weather, after a rainstorm. I love that scent, but it just doesn’t translate to delicious to me. But who knows, maybe in a couple of years it will!

I picked this one to try next because I am intrigued by Verdant’s Eight Treasures Yabao blend, but I’ve never had a Yabao before. Then I thought, wait, I do have a yabao, from the club. But then I found out that this is pretty different from the silver buds yabao that is used in the blend. Nonetheless this will be a learning experience!

The dry leaf smells sweet and a bit smoky when warmed. I did a quick rinse, then a 4-second first steep, which is quickly becoming my default for gongfu almost regardless of the tea. The resulting liquor is light tan in color and smells like pine wood and a hint of smoke. In the flavor I get the piney-ness, but also a juiciness that is hard to resolve whether it is fruity or vegetal. I think it is savory and brothy, but also slightly sweet and woody, which is where the confusion is coming in.

Later steepings remind me of cooked spinach and that smoked pine-barrel note hangs on in the aroma, if not the taste. This is a really interesting tea, although not quite my style. Nonetheless I did enjoy my tasting session with it. Now I am more interested to see how the silver buds yabao is similar and different.

Sipdown, 199. Yup, I added all the teas I got while I was gone on my trip and hit exactly 200… until I brewed this one up that is.

Spring sprung while I was away, and it is a lovely day out. I have a lot of new teas to try but I decided that I wanted a tea that screams spring, and this is totally one of those teas. Taiwanese oolongs are always so springy to me, with their light florals and sugar snap pea flavors. I actually found my tea mascots right before I left, so I pulled them out today. I hadn’t been able to find them since I moved and I had forgotten that I wrapped them up in an old cardboard tea box from China (guess I thought there was tea inside). Here’s a photo of them: http://flic.kr/p/ebfpea
I still really want a slatted draining tea tray, but I’ve made my peace with using a plastic tray until I find one.

Mm, the steeps of this tea are so fresh and green it is the essence of spring. Sitting here at the window, watching the birds eating and singing, looking at the daffodils and bluebells in my backyard, this is a great tea for this afternoon.

Spring cleaning day at home, mostly because we have someone coming to stay with us for a week so our house had to look presentable. Now that it’s mostly done, I am relaxing with this tea from the Verdant Reserve club package from March.

I typically like Taiwan high mountain oolongs, but I don’t typically looooove them. They should be among my favorites (I love floral, green oolongs) but they are typically maybe a little too green for me. Of course I was still very excited to try this one from Verdant. The dry leaves are tight little balls and smell fresh and green and floral, and an interesting, almost licorice note comes out when the are warmed. After a brief rinse, the leaves smell vegetal and floral, like I would expect from a Taiwan high mountain. The flavor of the first steep is like sugar snap peas and very sweet corn, with a floral aftetaste of light lilacs.

Later steepings were much more vegetal, light leafy greens with florals dancing around the edges. The leaves have expanded so much that I am no longer getting that much liquid out of the pot.

This is a very good example of a Taiwanese High Mountain oolong. Like I said before, I tend to like these teas but not love them, and this one fits the pattern. A pleasant and very spring-y tea that makes me look forward to upcoming nicer weather!

Sipdown, 115. Another sad sipdown, this one sadder because it is never coming back into my stash. At least, this particular tea; if I ever come across a light oxidation tieguanyin again I will have to look into it. I did manage to get a bit more of this from the wonderful Sil, so I got a change to drink some more. The scent of this one teases the complexity of it’s taste. When first brewed, the aroma wafting over was relatively roasty and much like a normal, traditional TGY, but as it’s cooling to drinking temperature the sweet, floral notes are coming out. Mmm, I agree with my previous tasting notes on this about the flavors. Bready and a bit sweet, not very roasty but a little “bakey”, and freshly green at the same time. A lovely oolong.

Sipdown, 146. Quick, I need a sipdown because my Verdant reserve club box is out for delivery!

This is one I am sad to see go (but it was also the only sipdownable tea I had among the reserve club packages at home). It is an aged TGY, but so unique because there is no roasting involved! So it still has the greenness and the florals of a green TGY, but it also has a thick, hearty breadiness. I get some sweet green apple notes, kind of like an apple bread. I am spending the afternoon gongfu brewing this one, and very much enjoying it. Hmmm, I wonder if any of this is left on Verdant’s website?

Western-style brewing this one to see at from all angles. This is such an interesting tea. When steeped western style, it smells much like a lightly-roasted Dong Ding oolong. But the flavor is so different! There aren’t really any roasted notes in the flavor. It is sweet and juicy and lightly floral. My first steep was so tasty that I drank it down pretty quickly! The second steep (6 minutes) is pretty similar to the first but brighter and juicier. I still haven’t decided whether I want to buy more of this one or not, but it is really quite delicious.

The second tea I am having gongfu today. I was very intrigued by this tea from the March reserve club. Tieguanyins are probably my favorite type of oolong, but I usually am not super into the aged varieties. But this one was interesting because the description mentions that it was never roasted, and was not taken out and roasted each year like many aged tieguanyins.

The resulting tea has hints of floral aroma along with a sweet breadiness, like a sweet challa or tsoureki (Greek Easter bread). There is definite sweetness in the flavor as well, and it grows in the aftertaste and as it cools. Mmm, sweet bready notes, though a somewhat surprising lack of butter, which I might have expected. In the second steep some tart, juicy appley notes come out to play, and now I get something like an apple pastry. Definitely a unique tea, and I am definitely enjoying it. No roasting for me!

This tea (#82) is still amazing. Sweet and floral and delicious. I do love Verdant’s green TGYs, and I swear their bags must be magical or something because all of the teas that I have stored in them stay tasting fresh so long. This is pretty old at 2 years (ancient for a green TGY!), but still tastes nearly as good as the day I bought it. I would say I should drink these down faster but I don’t seem to need to.

I don’t usually begin my morning with an oolong, but when I do, it’s a reserve TGY.

This is so lovely, as always. Floral and sweet like fine honey, lightly buttery, crisp and clean. I drank this one eagerly, and just now looked into the bottom of the cup for the dregs but found nothing. Ah, over too soon.

So my desire to try my TGYs back to back was strong enough to brew this one up this afternoon. Might even bust into the Autumn Picking later, although the reserve club oolongs are at home.

There is a desire to hoard teas like this because they are so valuable and once they’re gone, they’re gone. But really, when you think about it, that’s not really the case. Yes, this particular tea will be gone, but there will be another picking next year, and exploring them year to year is a much better way to think about your teas. Anyway, that’s just my philosophical musings for the day.

I actually think I prefer the Early Picking TGY to this one, even though this is the higher grade tea. This one is slightly less floral in the immediate sip, although the florals are certainly present in the aftertaste. There is less creaminess to this one, more greenness. Slightly less buttery. Although all of those things are certainly present in this tea to an amazing amount, so that’s not to say that this is lacking in those qualities. Just that the Early Spring Picking has that much more of those qualities. I’m interested to keep sipping through some of these TGYs that I have, since I have quite a few!

I apparently forgot that I brewed this one western style the first time I tried it. Oh well, western style again! I will still have enough for a good gongfu session as well, thankfully. The last time I had this I was operating under the mistaken idea that I preferred the autumn picking of Verdant’s usual Tieguanyin over the spring picking, when in fact I actually preferred the spring. So I cam in to this thinking that I would inherantly like this better as a a spring picking. Just goes to show you what preconceptions can do to your tasting experiences.

This is really an astounding tea, now that I really taste it. So floral, so creamy, so honeyed, it is the essence of spring in a cup, pretty much. This tea is everything about why I love the fresh, green tieguanyins so much.

Also, apparently I blew past my 1000th tasting note this weekend. I remembered that it was coming but then completely forgot about it once it came. So here’s to 1005!

I drank this one western-style this afternoon too, again to figure out if I want to order more of it.

I was also super thrilled to see this one in the reserve club package from February because Tieguanyins, particularly the newer style green ones, are pretty much some of my favorite teas. The scent of the dry leaf was really wonderful, green and floral and buttery. And its so bright green! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an oolong that bright green.

This one was really, super green. Incredibly floral, while also buttery and a bit creamy. Sweet like fresh, crisp sugar snap peas. It is definitely a spring picking and you can tell. Really, quite beautiful. But really, this reminded me of a Taiwanese high mountain oolong more than a Tieguanyin! Very very lovely and a joy to drink. However, I think I typically enjoy the autumn pickings a bit more than the spring ones because they tend to have more butteriness to them.

I’m drinking the end of this tonight for a double sipdown. I’m doing a gong fu session alongside the original Laoshan Black. Feeling grateful for all of the good tea I have been able to drink. :-)

This was the second pot of tea I brewed for Casey and I today. He really liked the Laoshan Black and requested a similar tea. Casey strongly prefers this to the original. I’m still not sure. It is certainly sweeter and smoother, but the aftertaste is somehow a little vegetal to me. I have enough for one more pot of this, and I do hope that Verdant produces special versions of Laoshan Black again.

Sometimes tea is a mindful, humble, meditative practice for me, and sometimes it is a hedonistic act of self-indulgence. This afternoon it was the latter. I brewed a big pot of this precious tea western style and ate some chocolate-covered raisins with it. I had no one to share it with, so I watched some Futurama. It was a perfect Sunday treat. Now back to work :-(