Tea of the morning. Last three days I’ve been craving darker oolongs and have used the last of two dan congs (Chicago Tea Garden and Teavana and surprisingly I preferred Teavana’s) but I can’t bring myself to brew up any Verdant teas knowing I’m getting a gaiwan for Mother’s Day.

Cute story, the other day the husband texted me a photo of a horrid multi-colored gaiwan asking “This is what you want?” I responded with a heck no and got “Oh… I thought you wanted a gaiwan”, at that moment my toddler was playing a game on my phone so I didn’t respond, a couple mins later I got another text “Ahem, I thought you wanted a gaiwan” I took that as my cue to send the correct link and I’m pretty sure he then proceeded to order it.

So back to this morning, I was looking for the blend with Dan Cong, Silver Needle and Gyokuro, but grabbed my tiny tin of this first and decided it would do. We all got a few ounces when Teavana changed out the blends just before the holidays. It has some of my favorite teas in it, sure I would prefer Silver Needle to the pearls bit oh well.

I did a shorter steep on this, 30 secs and I still taste all the different tea, the “golden” part of Golden Jade is the most prominent, that is the black tea, but some orchid notes from the oolong come through and even a bit herbaceous white and mossy green can be found. We’ll see how it resteeps.

Of course it’s nowhere close to the dark oolong I was craving, but it seemed a nice balance, not too green, not too light and not a kick in the face. Will have to brew up the other blend too. Update: crap at reinfusing, not sure why. Have moved on to finish up a yellow tea sample. Also have organized stash.

TeaBrat

nice! I hope you get the one you wanted. :)

Kittenna

Haha, that is cute :)

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TeaBrat

nice! I hope you get the one you wanted. :)

Kittenna

Haha, that is cute :)

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Druid, artist, poet, mum, lover of tea, ritual and myth. I grew up on Celestial Seasons herbals but fell in love with straight loose leaf tea working at my local Teavana for a year. I am grateful for the introduction and the experience, but have moved on.

I see tea as an experience for the senses, I like to imagine tasting the land and the weather as well as the effect of sun, air, fire and the human hand. I have a soft spot for shu pu’er, yabao, scented oolongs, wuyi oolongs, taiwanese tea as well as smooth naturally sweet blacks, creamy greens and surprisingly complex whites.

I began ordering lots of samples from Upton to educate myself on different varieties of tea we didn’t have at work and have fallen head over heels for the unique offerings from Verdant Tea. I am learning things I like: buttery mouthfeel, surprising sweet or spice notes, woodiness, mineral notes, depth and complexity and things I don’t: astringency, dry and sour notes.

I collect tea tins and am in danger of collecting pots, though I am trying to restrain the urge due to current lack of space. I brew mostly in a glass infuser mug or a tea maker, only using cast-iron for company now (still need to get a gaiwan) and tend not to sweeten my teas unless they are British or fruity and iced, which is not often.

As far as ratings, I lack a definite system and haven’t been assigning numbers lately, wanting to spend multiple sessions with a tea first. I usually only log a tea once, unless it is a new harvest or I have significantly different observations, but will go back and edit or comment if I find something interesting or new.

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Baker Street, Berea, Ohio

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