Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
The complexity of this fresh spring harvest Tieguanyin stands up to the rich flavors of our autumn harvest, and the sweet floral notes of our last spring harvest. Indeed, we must admit that this may be our most exquisite Tieguanyin yet. We sometimes wonder why the farmers part with something so precious, but hope that you will join us in appreciating the new crop.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I suffer from allergies. I actually have the symptoms year round, but when spring comes they are worse. I don’t even have to look at a calender to know when spring is here. I can feel it in my sinuses. Fortunately, I’m able to keep my severe symptoms somewhat controlled using medication that I take every day, and choosing raw, locally harvested honey helps too.
Of course, none of this has to do with this tea. I just thought I’d mention it to explain of the worst part of spring, at least for me. What’s in this cup that sits before me is about what is best about spring: The first harvests of the year! Yay!
I began sipping this before I read the tasting notes on Verdant Tea’s website, and I was surprised to note the vanilla-esque flavor to this tea. It is so strong that if I didn’t know better, I’d swear it had been flavored. The vanilla plays to the natural creamy tones of this tea beautifully, creating a very sumptuous experience for the palate that reminds me of a rich, cream-filled pastry.
Once I get over just how amazing the vanilla notes taste in this cup, I start to explore some of the other flavors. A exotic honey-like taste that is a little more savory than sweet – imagining the flavor of honeysuckle where the savory elements were the focus while the sweet, floral tones were off in the background. And yes, I agree with the aforementioned tasting notes, there is a saffron-like flavor to this as well.
As I near the bottom of this, my first cup, I notice a tingly sensation on my tongue – like the cool, crisp feeling that I’d experience if I were sipping a pure peppermint tea … but without the strong minty taste. There are hints of a mint-like flavor, but, they are quite subtle and almost hidden amongst the other notes of this tea, however the tingly sensation near the finish becomes more pronounced as I sip. Very intriguing!
With the next cup (the results of infusions 3 and 4, combined in one cup) I notice the vanilla tones tapering somewhat. It’s still quite creamy and sweet, however, I find the vanilla and buttery notes seem to have melded to become a sweetened cream taste rather than a distinct vanilla and butter taste. More vegetative notes are emerging now, as well, not really grassy, and not really vegetable, but, more of an herbaceous green kind of taste. The honeysuckle like notes have subsided, and I taste more of a distinct floral note that is more orchid than honeysuckle.
The third cup (the combined fifth and sixth infusions), the creamy tones have disappeared, allowing room for a lighter, crisper cup that tastes very spring-like to me. The floral notes are well-defined, and I taste more fruit notes now than I noticed before. Juicy, sweet fruit notes! The tasting notes from Verdant Tea suggest a mango-like flavor, and I don’t know that I taste mango as much as I taste a very tropical fruit-like flavor, with hints of berry. It is sweet and very refreshing … and it is quite unlike the first cup! I love the flavor transitions of this Tieguanyin!
Really quite an amazing tea!
Wild-Picked Yunnan Jin Jun Mei Tea from Verdant Tea
Tea Type:
Black Tea
Where To Buy:
Verdant Tea
Product Description:
A malty, savory black tea with the crisp sweetness of Jin Jun Mei and the buttery thickness of Dian Hong…
This wild-picked budset tea provides a uniquely rich and savory cup. In early steepings, the malty profiles of barley and wheat are in the foreground, with the sweet creaminess of butter. These savory flavors feel somewhat like fresh-baked whole-grain toast with a touch of sweet cream butter melted on top. Yet the aftertaste betrays the fine budset quality of the tea through a smooth sweetness, as though a touch of honey was spread on the buttered toast.
In later steepings, the savory grain flavors are more subdued, replaced by an unexpected crisp flavor, and slight sparkling peppery texture. It may be a bit too metaphorical, but this tea almost tastes sunny in later steepings. There is a bright warmth, coupled with the brilliant red-orange of the tea in the cup that suggests morning sunlight.
Tasters Review:
Sure! I LOVE any and all types of Teas but there is a soft spot in my heart for Black Teas, first and foremost. I start each day with at least one (many times – many more – than just one) type of Black Tea. On top of that – I do LOVE a Good Yunnan Black Tea! So when I saw this one from Verdant – I knew it was going to be something special!
I have to admit – when I tried this at first – I then sampled it each day until it was gone! It didn’t last in my stash for long!
This has a hint of pepper but is a bit smooth and creamy – especially at the end of the sip. The toast-like flavors are great! It’s savory. It has hints of wheat and/or barley, sweet corn, and woodsy notes and I think they are great! The 2nd and 3rd infusions are sweeter.
This makes a great cup…or in my case…CUPS!
Mi Lan Xiang Phoenix Mountain Dancong from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Mi Lan Xiang, literally “Honey Orchid Fragrance” is a real understatement for this tea. The aroma is absolutely heady and enveloping, like walking into a temple burning sandalwood incense with lotus flowers strewn about, and a faint whiff of pine sap and honeydew melon.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t know why I am sitting here in utter amazement. You’d think that by now, I’d come to expect an exceptional tea from Verdant, and really, I do expect just that, so I guess what I’m trying to say is that such an expectation would render me not so surprised when the tea is indeed exceptional.
But here I sit, astonished and really, quite bowled over at how good this tea is.
The aroma of the dry leaf should have tipped me off. It smells incredible, and is quite like it’s described in the above “Tea Description.” I smell notes of burning incense, flowers and melon. I also smell something not mentioned in the aforementioned tea description: freshly baked goods. My mouth began watering as I stood there, in a daze by the smell of such a delectable fragrance.
I steeped this the way I would normally steep a quality Oolong tea – in my gaiwan, using short steeps following a quick rinse, combining the results of two infusions in one cup and savoring the mixture.
The first cup offered notes of spice and wood. In my first couple of sips, I did not taste a “lotus” like flavor, but as I continued to sip, the lotus flavor developed. I found this first cup to be more savory with hints of a honey-esque sweetness underneath, rather than the other way around. Many times, with Oolong tea it tends to be quite sweet with notes of savory to contrast the sweetness, here it’s the other way around with more savory tones and the occasional sweet note to contrast the savory qualities. The sip finishes dry with a mineral-y kind of taste, and the aftertaste starts out clean, with more of a melon-like sweetness developing in the aftertaste as I continue to sip.
The second cup is smoother, with more fruit tones. Citrus-y, with a tangy astringency at the tail. The description on the website suggests a grapefruit-like taste and I’d agree with that assessment. I am experiencing less mineral at the finish this time, and the finish is less dry … in fact, I’d describe it as almost juicy. The sweetness is less like honey this time, with the sweetness focused more on the fruit notes. I am finding the woody tones developing, and the floral notes becoming softer in this cup.
With my third and final cup, I noticed the flavors becoming a bit softer and smoother, and yet … somehow richer. The fruit notes are well-pronounced now, and the spice tones have become more significant. The floral notes are not completely gone, but I find that I notice them primarily at the finish and in the aftertaste, and not so much during the sip, which seems to have become mostly about the fruit notes, a hint of wood and earth, and a lovely set of spices.
A lovely, complex cup. Definitely a tea I’d recommend to all who enjoy a good cup of Oolong. It is worth the effort to infuse it multiple times, as each cup produced becomes an adventure.
Spring Harvest (2012) Laoshan Green from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
The nuance and texture of this early spring picking is one of the most fine and complex that we have seen from Laoshan Village. The body is perfectly smooth, silky and creamy, while the aftertaste lingers in the back of the throat with a sweetness that only an early spring tea could achieve.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Apparently this spring was quite cold in the Laoshan Village where this tea is grown, resulting in a smaller harvest of this tea. It also resulted in a sweeter, richer tea, and that much is evident from tasting it. This is one of the most remarkable pure (unflavored) green teas I’ve tasted.
While I noticed the oat-like qualities of this tea with my first tasting, what really blew me away was the sweet, creamy aspect of this tea. It was thick and rich, almost like a high-quality green Oolong might be, with a delectable creamy taste and texture that reminded me almost of a fine Milk Oolong. But … even better, because with a Milk Oolong, there are some distinct floral notes that cut through the creaminess and with this tea, there really isn’t that sharp floral tone to cut through the sweet, creamy notes.
Now, I’m not saying that the floral notes of a Milk Oolong are bad. What I am trying to say is that because there was such an indulgent, creamy flavor and texture to this tea with hints of vegetation, what this Spring Harvest Laoshan Green tea did for me is transport me to one of the happier memories of my childhood – visiting a friend’s family farm, and having a delicious, home-y breakfast complete with the most amazing, fresh cows milk. Not fresh from the grocery store, or fresh from the dairy farm kind of milk, but fresh from the cow that was able to graze in the grassy meadow kind of milk. The flavor of this tea reminds me of that deliciously, pure, unadulterated milk with hints of grass in the background.
No, this tea isn’t as creamy or thick as fresh milk, but, the flavor reminds me of that sweet, delicious taste of fresh milk. I was so excited to be drinking something that reminded me of such a delectable memory.
With my second cup, I was able to put aside my memories and focus a bit more on the tea. Yes! I do taste the oat flavor here, reminding me a bit of warm, nourishing oatmeal with a touch of creamy milk mixed in. It has a very soothing quality to it. Further steepings became less creamy, and more vegetal, but still intensely sweet.
What a delicious journey this tea provided. Although this spring’s harvest was a bit smaller and the result is a more costly tea, the deliciousness of this tea is worth the price … think of it as an investment in good taste!
Tong Tian Xiang Phoenix Mountain Dancong from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
This Dancong offers a full and engaging tasting experience. In early steepings, a crisp mineral or stone quality dominates the texture with a rosewood quality on the sides of the palate. Soon, a mouth-watering juicy note of apricot makes an entrance and continues to build up a thicker body for the tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have tried Dancong teas in the past, but I don’t think I’ve tasted one quite like this one.
The first two steepings produced a flavor that is very mineral-y, I can almost feel the minerals on my tongue! This experience was a little jarring – ok, quite jarring – because I found myself having very little to say about those early sips except for the taste and texture of mineral. As I continue to sip, I notice fruit tones – yes, apricot, just as the description suggests.
These first steepings are thinner than I expected from an Oolong, but that is not meant to sound like a bad thing, because I find the texture to be quite interesting, especially the almost grain-y kind of feel on the tongue. The flavor is light but it teases the palate with flavors to come: more sweet, juicy apricot, hints of wood, and a honey-esque sweetness that slowly develops in the background and then begins to wash over the palate with every sip.
With the third and fourth steepings, the mineral texture and taste remained, but it had softened somewhat, allowing for the apricot notes to shine through more distinctly. The sip starts off soft, almost silky, and soon develops a mouthfeel that reminds me a little bit of a Darjeeling tea with its light, crisp quality and dry, somewhat astringent finish. Even with the astringency, I find these steepings to be remarkably soothing, especially at the start with its silky soft (it’s almost fluffy!) presentation.
Later infusions become softer in texture. The mineral-y taste and texture is but a memory, and now I have a tea that is much more like an “Oolong.” That is, much more like what I might expect from an Oolong. The flavor is sweet and slightly creamy. I notice hints of spice and wood which meld together in a taste that I want to describe as “wilderness” – it is as if I can actually taste the “wild” in this wild-picked tea.
Quite remarkable, really, this tea. But really, as Verdant has proven itself to offer nothing but the best, I expected nothing less!