541 Tasting Notes
I’m starting to think that all the past pu’erh teas I’ve had were shu; so this will be an all new experience! This is another tea from Verdant that I was excited to try. I just realized that all but 1 tea that I ordered was black or pu’erh. I’ve been really wanting to branch out and try these teas, so to the tasting!
In the sample bag there are a few large pieces of the sheng, as well as bits n pieces. I used the loose stuff for this brew. The leaves are so many colors! It is quite interesting to inspect. For these I will be combining 2 steeps per cuppa; mostly because I just so busy today.
steep 1&2 (5sec/7sec): When I first poured this I knew I was into something interesting! It did scream olive oil; which I have never smelled in a tea before. The wet leaves also remind me of some kind of bitter cabbage. To me this tastes oily, green (cabbage), and almost fairly mint (?). There is something about this that I can’t quite put my finger on, but I do enjoy it. Very different than any other pu’erh I’ve tried so far.
flails My package did end up showing up today! I asked for no jasmine for my sample and ended up getting Yu Lu Yan Cha black; which I’m really excited about because I wanted to try it, but couldn’t fit it into this small sample order. I also got a very nice, personal thank you note. :)
I have wanted to try this type of tea ever since I first started to study pu’erh online. It was really interesting to me and it is just cute. At first I had a difficult time placing just what the smell reminded me of and then it hit me! Peppery sawdust. (not in a bad way either)
I am steeping this in my very small (6oz) little teapot. I am using just about half of the given sample and brewing in short steeps.
1st steep (5 sec+2 quick rinses): Now, I’ve called rooibos woodsy before. No, that was not really accurate after smelling and tasting this. It reminds me instantly of cedar. The liquor is almost completely clear. After this I’ll be using a different drinking vessel! I forgot that these don’t expand as much as other teas and so the level of liquid in my wide-mouth drinking bowl is near to spilling over. This cuppa is distinctly cedar and not too much else but what I could describe as warmth. At first I thought of pepper, but that isn’t quite it. More cayenne pepper, actually! Very intriguing.
2nd and 3rd steeps (5sec & 6sec): I combined these two to equal one mug. The liquor looks a bit more yellow this time than the 1st steep. I actually just ate a kashi apple cobbler bar and it tastes really great with this tea! I don’t know how to cook with tea, but some kind of warmed apple something would be fabulous with this; maybe fall themed? Still tasting mainly cayenne and cedar.
final notes I actually steeped this 4 more times. The cayenne kind of tapered out near the end and was replaced by linen flavors. It was a very up-front tea and left an interesting tingle on the back of my tongue. I am so glad I had a chance to try this, as it is one of the most unique things that I’ve tried, but ultimately, I don’t think it is for me.
I’m totally frustrated at our mail people lately. It feels like they’re holding our mail! I got my Wed. on Sat. and I’m still waiting for a book that got mailed out a week and a half ago. On top of this, I’m waiting for a Verdant order which was supposed to go out today, but is stuck in sorting. It took them a whole 5 days just to ship it from the drop off! In other words, they’re really just making me mad at this point.
As for the tea, this one is a tea that goes in and out of popularity for me. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. Notes of ginger, lemon balm, chocolate, sharp herbs, and nuts. No nonsense for sure!
I just found pumpkin spice M&Ms and waffles today! The verdict on the chocolate is a definite yum! It was a bit chocolate overdose with this, but still worth it. I feel the same about this as last time. So basically, careful on temp/steep times or else it’ll be bitter, some chocolate, berry, and nut notes. Really great tea for mid afternoon or as an after diner treat if you don’t feel like eating something heavy!
I’m actually quite upset that this one is getting retired. It is one of the only 3 teas from Teavana that I’ll even purchase anymore. Also, one of their only cheaper, mainly tea-based blends (as opposed to fruit filler). I didn’t like this as much as the almond biscotti, but it was still a great tea.
Somehow I ended up with a piece of candied violet in my tin?
Flavor: strongly black, rose, almond, and warm bread. It reminds me of some kind of iced treat, like cinnamon roll middles.
First off, SO EXCITED! I made a Verdant order of a bunch of samples and it seems like it’ll be here pretty quickly.
So someone added this, but no notes? D:
Well. I have had this one for a bit now and I’ve been enjoying it. The base tends to get bitter/astringent pretty easily. Also, it tastes like it contains lemon verbena, but I guess it doesn’t? Maybe it’s the rose hips. Either way, they can be a bit intense if brewed for too long. I try to keep it at ~3 1/2 mins.
Like most Adagio teas, the chocolate is there, but it isn’t the very best. It tastes better with black teas than anything else because this tends to make the flavor more heavy. The flavors match well together and nothing too overpowering. I drink this when I’m feeling a bit sleepy and it’s a good pick me up.
thank you Angel for this sample!
I am trying to really get into plain blacks. It is a strange thing to love pu’erh, but not like plain blacks…
Once steeped, this mainly smells like hay to me. Hay and maybe a tiny, tiny bit of chocolate. I think that this may come out more in a second steep.
Ahhh. Although it smells like hay, that note is actually quite subtle. The chocolate tones are far more evident. I also taste some of the sesame that I associate with the Laoshan black from Verdant. This is much more mellow than I expected sigh of relief.
Thank you Angel for the sample!
So when I opened this and was inspecting the cute little leaves, my husband asked to smell them and remarked that the smell reminded him of licorice. I hadn’t picked up on it at first, but I think I might smell it just a tiny bit as well. Mostly this smells nutty and toasted to me.
The liquor looks extremely light to me. Almost like white wine. It kind of smells like dragonwell to me (forgive my limited green tea knowledge!). I also almost messed up the temp. on this one (165 instead of 185).
I am reeling. This is so amazing. No, really. I mentioned in one of my recent posts that my taste/smell has been off and I’m trying to recover, so these aren’t my most perfect posts, but this is dang good. I’m having trouble describing it, but it is light, roasty, and nutty. I think I’m in love with the nut notes that are coming through on the back end of the sip. Very excellent tea that I will continue to steep and enjoy the rest of tonight.
Sipdown! This one has just been a delight to have. I saved it for special days, so it lasted a bit longer. The leaves are an amazing color and they smell so strongly of florals and deep spinach greens. The liquor is amazingly strong at the 1min. steep times I used and very little leaf is needed to make a good cuppa. This is a must-try for oolong lovers and it’ll be hard to beat as far as Tie Guan Yin teas go.
Hello everyone! I’m sad that I’ve been missing quite a bit the past few months. I think that part of my semi-tea absence was due to the fact that I’ve been struggling with who knows what, and it really messed with my ability to taste/smell. I’m just barely starting to feel a bit better.
This tea is one that I hid in the back of my cupboard so I wouldn’t drink it all right away! It smells heavenly and I’ve enjoyed all of my cups of it so far. It works really well as short steeps and delivers a ton of flavor. (I’ll be updating this as I brew)
10sec: Very light liquor, it smells of bread and light rocks. Tastes of the same, plus a slight, honey tasting sweetness.
12sec: I’m thinking I should have done a rinse, because this cup was much fuller tasting than the last. Very bright notes of wheat, honey, stone, warmed sugar.
13sec: The liquor is much more yellow this steep. The leaves are so deeply olive green and fully unfurled. Much of the same flavor/smell as the last steep.
15sec: Really weak compared to the other two steeps. Maybe this is me just being unable to smell/taste? :(
