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I wasn’t too impressed with this tea the first couple of times I tried it, finding it fairly bland and tasteless. All of the positive reviews baffled me so I figured it must be me…and it was! I have lately gotten into the habit of brewing green teas uncovered as many greens fare better that way. But this tea works much better with the lid on. I added enough leaves to cover the bottom of the gaiwan, poured in 175F water, and let it go for 2 minutes. This time, the tea was much better. Creamy spinach and green been flavors emerged along with a faint sweetness. Still a very light tea brew though. I may have to experiment with water temperature and brew times, but this is an enjoyable tea for sure.

I had the last bit of this tea today and decided to do a farewell review. After playing around with the brewing parameters, I went back to Verdant’s gongfu guidelines and this time, combined the infusions before drinking. The combined short infusions really brought out the tea’s flavor. Thick mouthfeel, sweet and juicy florals. It’s also best to let this tea cool a bit before drinking. That floral notes really came through once it cools to room temperature.

The first time I brewed this tea, I winged it with 1 tsp of leaf and 4 oz of water in my gaiwan at 175F for 1 minutes. The resultant brew was weak and somewhat vegetal. Even the second infusion with hotter water and a longer steep time turned out weak.

I got better results by following TeaVivre’s guidelines and steeping 2g of tea. I loved the aroma of the dry leaf, nutty and deeply vegetal. But the tea liquor didn’t have the same complexity and flavor that the aroma did. It tastes like a standard Chinese green tea. The flavor is faintly vegetal, mostly chestnut and a few buttery undertones. There’s no bitterness or astringency a characteristic shared by all of the TeaVivre green teas I’ve had so far which I think is a good thing. It’s much lighter in body than most green teas, almost like a white tea.

Not a bad tea, but not one I would return to.

My foray into Chinese greens continues with this unique, long leaf tea from TeaVivre. Their Long Jing dragonwell is already amongst my top 5 green teas and this one looks like a dragonwell with extra large leaves.

What stands out most to me about this tea is the smell of the leaf, both dry and wet. The dry leaf smells faintly of kombu and when the leaves are wet, they smell strikingly similar to dashi (fish broth). Thankfully, very little of the dashi aroma made it into the cup. There is a note of seaweed in there which is oddly contrasted with a fruity note I would describe as melon or pear. Not much vegetal flavor and virtually no astringency at all.

Overall, a very delicate and light-bodied tea. Quite different than the green teas I’m used to. I prefer grassier tea but I wouldn’t refuse this if it were offered to me. Definitely worth a sip and I’m glad I got to try it. I brewed this in a 150 ml gaiwan using about 7.5 leaves (roughly 1 gram) and got 2 good steeps out of it.

Picked up a sample of this at Adagio the other week. I brewed it hot even though the instructions said to cold steep it. I’m wondering if I should have just followed the instructions on the bag instead. The dry leaf smelled promising in the bag – very blood orange and citrusy – but once steeped it developed a sour, potpourri-ish flavor that tasted like orange Kool Aid. Adding a little sugar helped but still couldn’t rescue it.

It’s not as revolting as some other Adagio herbal teas I’ve had, but pretty lousy nonetheless.

Peach seems to be one of the most ubiquitous flavorings used in tea these days yet most of the time it tastes artificial and cloying. This tea from Lupicia though is the first I’ve had that tastes like a fresh white peach. It’s a subtle peach flavor and I’m cool with that – I prefer lightly fruity tea. It may not be for you though if you’re looking for a powerful fruity taste. The peach flavor lasts through multiple steeps and although the oolong base isn’t detectable, it mingles with the rose to add a hint of floral in the background.

I had this with a pomegranate and pistachio Turkish delight and it was the perfect accompaniment. Thanks to Equusfell for another great sample.

This is one of those teas that tastes better when you combine all of the infusions. I brewed it gongfu style following TeaVivre’s instructions (rinse, 30s, 30s, 35s, 45s, 1m, 1.5m). I poured all of the infusions into a pitcher and tasted them as I went along. The individual steeps were unimpressive. Flat and slightly bitter with some unexpected milky notes. Combined though, a honeysuckle sweetness began to emerge. The milkiness was no longer there but some bitterness remained in the after taste. This was a meh sorta green oolong for me. Palatable, but nothing to write home about. Glad to have finished my sample so I can move on to other teas.

This is the 3rd dragonwell I’ve had this week, the other two being Teavivre and Yunnan Sourcing. All 3 had very different flavor profiles:

Verdant – sweet with a hint of fruitiness
Teavivre – fresh and grassy
Yunnan: – vegetal with more astringency

This was definitely the sweetest dragonwell of the bunch and had an interesting fruitiness that tasted weirdly enough like banana. After the 2nd infusion, the fruity notes begin to fade as the tea takes on a smooth, more vegetal flavor.

Of the three dragonwell I sampled, I preferred Teavivre as it brewed the cleanest and most balanced cup.

Thank you to Equusfell for sending me a bit of this to try!

I had been curious about this offering from Verdant for a while now and thanks to a swap with Equusfell, I finally got my hands on some and it sure didn’t disappoint! This tea reminds me of why I love green tea. It has a crisp, clean taste to it with notes of vibrant spring vegetables and no hint of bitterness or astringency at all.

Having tried this side by side with Verdant’s other signature green tea Dragon Well – an excellent tea in its own right – I enjoyed the Laoshan more. Although both are similar, this had a mellow sweetness and refreshing finish that I really liked. Just a all-around lovely green tea.

Got this recently in a swap with Stephanie. Simply put, it is THE most incredible flavored oolong I’ve ever tasted. From the first steep to the last, it bursts with sweet, lychee juiciness. And the aroma smells exactly like the flavor profile. I was amazed at how long the fruit flavor lasted. Most flavored teas are good for only 1 to 2 infusions but this bad boy kept going strong into the 6th/7th steep!

This is one of the few teas where the flavor actually tastes like the fruit. It’s intensely fruity, something I ordinarily dislike in tea, but here the flavor is just so delicious and perfect.