Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea (From Verdant Tea: The first batch of this tea sold out, but a new autumn harvest of it is now available.)
Product Description:
This is one of the pioneer black teas from Laoshan. The village only started experimenting with making black tea out of their uniquely bean-like green tea a year or two ago. This batch is the first made by the phenomenal farmers we work with. It is malty, chocolatey, perfectly smooth and honey-like.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about the Autumn Laoshan Black here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is incredible!
As I sip this black tea from Laoshan, my first thought was that I am noticing many similarities between this and a Fujian black tea: both are very rich, full-bodied, with a sweet, chocolate-y undertone.
But as I continue to sip, I begin to take note of a malty tone as well as a honey-esque flavor, and these are flavors that I probably wouldn’t experience from a typical Fujian black – which is more likely to have a caramel sweetness and a powder-y cocoa-like profile. That is to say, a well-stocked tea cupboard should have both of these teas in it, as I don’t think that one would replace the other.
The flavor is incredibly smooth, with very little astringency and no bitter taste to it … with the exception of a slight bitterness from the chocolate-y undertone. It is just barely there, but, when I focus upon the chocolate notes, I can taste that hint of bittersweet. There is a pleasing flavor of spice to this cup as well, I am picking up mere hints of cinnamon and perhaps even a slight peppery note as if a few Yunnan leaves had managed to sneak in to the package of this tea. There is also a deep roasted flavor to this … reminiscent of charcoal. Not smoky, exactly, but, more of a deep, roasty-toasty kind of taste.
The second infusion brought some interesting changes to the cup. The body is lighter than the first cup, which is not surprising, but, what is surprising is how this slightly lighter texture has allowed the spice notes to express themselves fully. This tastes quite cinnamon-y now, in fact, you might think that you accidentally sprinkled some cinnamon in the cup! The cinnamon is sweet and melds with the honey notes quite nicely.
A remarkable black tea, I highly recommend it.
Dragonwell Style Laoshan Green: Autumn Harvest from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Product Description:
Hand picked in high altitude, naturally mist-shaded tea gardens, withered in the shade fanned for several hours before being hand pressed into spears in a wok over low wood-fire.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I first tasted this tea, I was surprised, and checked the label again. I could have sworn it said Dragon Well on the label… and it does! But it says Dragon Well style, not Dragon Well (or Long Jing). And yes, the dry leaf does look quite similar to a Dragon Well tea. The leave are long and appear to have been flattened similar to a Dragon Well. The color seems to be a bit brighter green than many Dragon Well teas that I’ve encountered, and there is a little something more to the aroma of the dry leaf with this tea. There is something warm, toasty- perhaps nutty? – and slightly spiced to the dry leaf fragrance, and these are not scents that I typically experience with a Dragon Well. It sure smells interesting, though!
With the combination of the first two infusions in my cup, I notice a sweetness that reminds me immediately of brown sugar. Like a raw brown sugar … not a caramelized sugar or processed brown sugar – but that pure, molasses-y flavor that you only get when you taste raw brown sugar. The vegetative notes are softer than expected, and remind me a bit more of a baked bean than a “green” kind of taste. I also detect a nutty flavor, as well as a banana-ish kind of taste to it (the tasting notes on the website suggest a bananas foster flavor, and I get that, except that the warm cinnamon flavor is missing).
With a taste this good, you know I had to take the tea out for another infusion or two! The combination of the third and fourth infusions actually produced a flavor that reminds me of butter rum lifesavers. I took a few sips just to see if my mind was playing tricks on my palate, like it might have been telling it “now, you’re supposed to taste butter rum lifesavers.” I don’t know if that is actually happening now, but, I can tell you that I taste butter rum lifesavers (a flavor I’m very familiar with, because every year, my daughters give me their butter rum lifesavers from their “Lifesaver Storybook” which is a traditional stocking stuffer on Christmas).
There is also a faint vegetative note in these next two infusions, but it is fainter than in the first two infusions … which was faint to begin with. This is the kind of green tea I’d recommend to someone who finds other green teas to be too grassy, because this one would win them over.
This has to be one of the most intriguing green teas I’ve ever tasted. Bananas and Butter Rum Lifesavers? Weird? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely!
Yunnan White Jasmine from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Product Description:
This jasmine has helped us understand what jasmine is all about. It starts with a silky smooth silver needle white tea from Yunnan with notes of cinnamon sweetness. Jasmine blossoms are scattered around the tea while drying for several nights in a row, and removed in the morning to be replaced by fresh blossoms, scenting the tea in the traditional method. The result is a perfectly integrated flavor, that starts off with the textures of a white tea, and sweetness drawn out and extended by a silky jasmine aroma. Continue steeping this out, and an intriguing apricot jam flavor starts to come out and compliment the subtle spice of the yunnan white. In later steepings there is even the slightest hint of pine needle.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a splendid jasmine!
Some time ago on Steepster, I recall reading a forum post from an individual who suggested that scented teas were of inferior quality. I think that if that sipper were to try this Yunnan White Jasmine, they just might change their mind!
Of course, just like any thing else, there are good scented teas and there are bad ones. This is definitely one of the good ones! I’d even go so far as to say one of the best. The deliciously sweet, light white Yunnan tea has a delightful flavor that possesses fruit-like tones and hints of that peppery spice for which Yunnan black teas are often celebrated. It has a creaminess to it that when combined with the sweet, luscious flavor of the jasmine becomes quite an indulgence.
My jasmine Yixing mug holds about five infusions from my gaiwan, so I steeped these leaves five times and combined all five infusions in my Yixing. It is interesting because the flavors change with each infusion, so I taste many different things in this cup. The sip starts with the sweetness of jasmine, along with just a hint of spice.
By mid-sip, the creamy flavor washes over the palate, and as the sip nears the finish, an intriguing, almost-resinous note arrives … it almost tastes of pine or perhaps rosemary. I thought maybe my palate was playing tricks on me, until I read through the tasting notes from Verdant Tea, and I notice that they also experienced this flavor.
What a truly remarkable jasmine tea … it will surprise even the most seasoned of jasmine aficionados out there!
Laoshan Northern Green Tea from Verdant Tea
Tea Type: Green Tea
Where To Buy: Verdant Tea
Product Description:
Hearty and rich, this green tea could stand up to any meal, if you could stand to do anything but appreciate its complex flavor. From the Taoist Holy Mountain of Laoshan, the leaves are hand picked and slowly dried over a wood-fired wok. The tea is bean-like, and sweet, with grassy undertones and a thick body.
Tasters Review:
This smells slightly grassy, slightly floral, slightly vegetal, and slightly sweet – all in one! These 4 traits surely make up a unique aroma that is very intriguing and scrumptious at the same time!
It infuses to a mellowed-out lemon-lime color. It’s very smooth from Point A to Point B – beginning to the end of the sip! It’s delightful! It has a buttery texture but not necessarily a buttery flavor due to the grassy and floral notes.
As my sips continue I can taste a bit of nut, a leafy green of some sort in there…baby spinach, perhaps, and a very little bit of toastiness hiding underneath the vegetal, floral, and grassy flavors.
This is complex. I like complex. It’s far from ordinary…it’s EXTRAordinary! Hearty and Rich as the description states is correct but more importantly SCRUMPTIOUS! I really like this! The more I sip – the more I appreciate it and enjoy it!
Should I have expected any less from a tea from the Taoist Holy Mountain of Laoshan or Verdant Tea, for that matter? I think not! This is FAB! Another fantastic tea from Verdant!
Taiwanese Orchid Oolong from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Product Description:
The raw material for this scented tea comes from Dong Ding, the most famous of the tea growing regions of Taiwan. The leaves are allowed to sit with orchid flowers as they dry, absorbing the floral aroma. They are then hand-rolled and finished. The tea builds over each sip to a strong, almost candy-like quality with the creamy floral quality of any great green oolong.
Taster’s Review:
I’m going to start this review with a story… and for a few minutes here, you’re probably going to wonder what my story has to do with this tea. But, bear with me, there is a connection…
After my father married my stepmother, my life was pretty sad. The only real happy moments that I can remember at that point in my life was when my father and stepmother took their annual vacation, and me and my stepsister spent two weeks with my beloved Gramma. (Really, there was no place I’d rather be than at Gramma’s back then.)
During those two weeks, my stepsister and I got to spend one day at Disneyland, and one day at Knott’s Berry Farm. And those were the best times at these amusement parks, because we didn’t have my younger stepbrothers with us, and we didn’t have boring parents tagging along. We pretty much had the park to ourselves.
And my favorite place to hang out at Disneyland? This may come as a surprise, but, it wasn’t a favorite ride – although I did love the rides, don’t get me wrong – but I loved the penny arcade and right next door to the penny arcade was the old-fashioned candy store: Candy Palace. They had “real” candy there, made the old-fashioned way with real sugar and real flavor.
And here is where this tea comes into this story. The sweetness of this tea… reminds me of the sweetness of the candy from that old-fashioned candy shop. It’s positively LOVELY. It has that real sugar kind of sweetness, like the rock sugar candy that I used to adore, and maybe a hint of that old-fashioned licorice.
But there is so much more to this tea. I’ve tried a few orchid Oolong teas, and I’ve enjoyed them, but not one of them has come this close to the honest-to-goodness orchid flavor that this tea possesses. It is sublime!
It is smooth and rich too, with a soft mouthfeel that holds on to that sweetness and orchid flavor so that these essences can be enjoyed long into the aftertaste. When I inhale air over the palate after I’ve taken a sip, I can taste the licorice notes I mentioned earlier, but this time it’s strong and sweet with a hint of spice. It’s rather bracing and unexpected.
Truly an incredible tea experience. A must try for Oolong enthusiasts!