Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yabao & Green Tea & Tulsi
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Unique and unexpected. This version of their amazing Eight Treasures Winter blend has been altered to emphasize the surprising similarity with a Valentine’s tradition – candy hearts. If you break the flavours down, this blend is complex – sweet and almost candy-like,with lively citrus, warming vanilla and natural wood and pine.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I probably say this every month, but I’m always so excited when my Amoda Tea box arrives! I was especially excited for this month’s tea box because I had read on Steepster that this would be a “special” blend box, similar to what we received in December. This month, Amoda Tea teamed up with another one of my favorite tea vendors: Verdant Tea!
And this special Eight Treasures Valentine Blend from Verdant Tea is the first tea that I’m tasting from this month’s Amoda Tea Box. Having previously tried their Eight Treasures Yabao Blend, I felt pretty confident that I’d enjoy this Eight Treasures too.
The ingredients of this blend are similar to the previously tasted and reviewed Eight Treasures, with a few notable differences: this blend has juniper, tulsi and burdock, while the previously reviewed tea has goji berry, marigold and honeysuckle. The result is a drink that tastes slightly warmer … spicier. The previous tea had a more floral and fruity taste – I’d liken it to a “springtime” sort of flavor, while this tea that sits before me has more of a warm “wintertime” kind of flavor to it.
I taste notes of marshmallow from the yabao and these mingle nicely with the vanilla notes. The above description suggests a “valentine hearts candy” sort of taste, and I get that. It does have a sweet taste that is vaguely reminiscent of those little hearts that say “Be Mine” or “Kiss Me” on them.
I also taste the woodsy notes that the description suggests and these notes give it a very winter-y kind of taste: imagine a cozy fire crackling in the fireplace and sipping on tea with your valentine! This tea inspires thoughts like those.
I found that my second infusion was even more delicious than my first – the sweet notes seemed more intense and those “candy heart” notes were better defined in the second cup.
This is a really delightful blend from Verdant, and this box from Amoda Tea makes me a happy subscriber once again.
Eight Treasures Yabao Tea from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh & Green Tea
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Yabao is an incredibly intriguing tea, evoking marshmallow sweetness, spice, and even cooling cedar notes. By combining it with a light sun dried green jasmine from Yunnan, and whole vanilla bean, this brew steeps up perfectly smooth, thick and velvety. The floral elements of the vanilla and honeysuckle are extended to the aftertaste with marigold and rose petals, and the spice of the yabao is sharpened with goji berry. This well-integrated take on the traditional “Eight Treasures” is sweet but nuanced, and great hot or iced.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This Eight Treasures Yabao Tea from Verdant Tea is absolutely delightful! Then again, I was expecting nothing less from a company like Verdant Tea. I can’t recall ever being disappointed by a tea from them!
This blend takes the natural creamy sweetness of a Yabao tea and combines it with vanilla bean to enhance the rich, creamy notes and the decadent sweetness. These two components together would be enough to send this tea drinker into a blissful tea experience, but, this is EIGHT Treasures … so Verdant Tea didn’t stop there.
The jasmine green tea adds a little bit of a vegetative taste and a distinct jasmine note. The floral tones are further accentuated with the addition of marigold and rose. I don’t notice the marigold a lot, but, the rose has a distinguished flavor. The tasting note from Verdant Tea suggests an “orchid” note and I am getting that here, although I find that I taste more jasmine and rose than orchid.
I taste the goji berry and the berry adds a tart, tingly sensation toward the finish that offers a nice contrast to the smooth, creaminess of the vanilla and marshmallow notes of the Yabao, and the sweet flowery tones. My first few sips I noticed a slight “resinous” taste … and as I continued to sip, and after reading the tasting notes from Verdant that suggest a Cedar note, I realize that this is the resinous note I was noticing at the start. Slightly woody, slightly earthy … with an invigorating crisp, cool sensation.
The most surprising thing about this tea is just how good it is iced! I was astonished by it’s iced flavor. It is sweet and fruity and very refreshing! The next time you place your order with Verdant … add this tea to your shopping cart – you won’t be disappointed!