Daylon R Thomas Send Message

Thank you Verdant for the really early delivery!

I was amazed how quickly it came. Dang.

Anyway, I got some tea selfishly for Christmas focusing on the Roasted Oolong to restock… I missed it terribly. I also decided to try more Verdant Blacks for the bucket steepster list. This one was good, and all the notes apply…but I was not as amazed as I thought I would be.

This tea is the quintessential Yunnan Black. It had the usual sweet potato taste with a few more nuances, and I honestly don’t get the sweeter caramel chocolate notes until the middle steep and the last brews. It starts off dry and spicy Gong Fu with 5 sec increments in 6 oz of 190 F, and it gets more sugary in the later steeps. The “chocolate notes” were a little closer to “cocoa” for me personally, but there were brown sugar notes and caramel notes later on. The spicy first notes were again more sweet potatoe-y, and vaguely like clove, but more so nutmeg. I got eight decent cups out of the brew, and I actually liked the longer steeps later on at 3 and four minutes after a few of the early Gong Fu rinses.

This actually the first time that I agreed more with the Verdant notes. The cedar I get along with the peppercorn, vanilla, definitely the malt, and toasted wheat. The honey….kinda. It was more like sugar for me.

Conclusion? A good Yunnan that is worth its price, but some of the notes here on steepster were a little bit exaggerated, or at least did not apply to this season. The minerals and spices were the most prominent notes early and the sweeter notes in the later session. I wish I saved some for western because I might bring more sweet notes with the malty ones….which is weird because Gong Fu is usually sweeter. Would I recommend this tea? Yes, but only expect it to be special for the slight spiciness and for where it comes from.

Thank you so much for the sample!

I was okay with this tea although I was impressed with it. It was a complex one because of its balance with florals and the toasty roast, but it was faint overall like butter on crispy bread. The florals were more prominent steep two and three gong fu, and some caramel notes were there, but butter and toast were a bit more accurate with a side of pleasant charcoal. It was sweet, but faint and nutty like almond, and a little bit of dry like thick cashew. The roast and faintness of some of the florals with bare fruity notes were what made me a little bored with the tea personally.

Rasseru-this Song Zhong was awesome. I’ve had fewer teas with the sheer immensity of grapefruit taste. It was super juicy, sweet, and had just enough charcoal, wood, and florals in the background to make it incredibly satisfying. I slowly drank it at first to savor it, then finished the rest of it in three sittings because it was good western, gong fu, or even grandpa with fewer grams. Higher grams gong fu was more complex, but it was still easy going with less leaves. Gong fu was best, but man was it good. Thank you so much for letting me be a pain in the but about it because it was awesome. :)

If only this did not run out of stock. I had an awesome jasmine note pop out of this one, and it was becoming one of my favorite yanchas I’ve had period.

Disclaimer- I love ginger, and I love lemon, so people who do not like those things look the other way. I frickin’ loved this tea although it was in expensive sachet form. I also liked the oolong component and was glad it was not too present. When I had it, I really was tasting it more like I do a Darjeeling since it was, so I was grading it more by Darjeeling black standards and its flavor than oolong standards. It was vaguely woody and floral, but malty enough to provide a smoother background. The Lemon was more sweet than tart thankfully, and the ginger got stronger in the second steep..and I really liked with the lemon. It also was great with honey and a good remedy tea.

This really isn’t a super complex tea, but for a fru-fru sachet bag for a cold winters day with bad allergies, this tea is awesome and convenient. I’m half tempted to get more for the tough Michigan months ahead in Jan-March. 85 for quality, though I drank it almost daily because it felt so good on my throat and was so good for my citrus spice cravings. Cost is the biggest bugger about it. For those who do not like those flavors, stay way. It has been flavored, so health nuts be warned… though the flavor was very natural tasting.

There’s more that I could write about this one, but I’ll say it was more floral than I expected, and compared to more expensive Dianhongs in the past. It does have a usual sweet potato malt like others, but the fruit and cocoa notes together in the background made it a little more sophisticated than what the price might suggest. I’m not going to say too much more now but I will in the future.

What-Cha re-released this tea as a traditional oolong online….though I could be wrong. Correct me Alistair if this is a different crop.

Anyway, I was okay with this tea. It was a complex one because of its balance with florals and the toasty roast, but it was faint overall like butter on crispy bread. The florals were more prominent steep two and three gong fu, and some caramel notes were there, but butter and toast were a bit more accurate with a side of pleasant charcoal. It was sweet, but faint and nutty like almond, and a little bit of dry thick cashew. The roast and faintness of some of the florals with bare fruity notes were what made me a little bored with the tea personally.

It is a nuanced one, but I don’t know. I think I might have liked the new style more.

eastteaguy got to this one before I did.

Anyway, vague notes of chocolate, woody anise (barely there), with more present notes of buttery apricot, honey, autumn leaves, and mega loads of orange blossom amidst its general muscatelness. I’d say this tea is a little lighter than the usual muscatel Darjeelings I’ve had, but it has a malt quality if brewed for four minutes (2 grams) and it is very, very buttery. There were days where I could down this, and other days were I had to drink it slowly. I liked it best around noon to four personally.

Again, a bit more of a snobs tea, but still very approachable and doable in a more traditional western fashion, albeit better with a little bit of sugar, or straight for purists. I prefer it pure, but I am a mad health nut before hatter.