Verdant Tea

This one was a free sample from Verdant with my order. Glad to get to try another of Mrs. Li’s Dragonwells. This is the most potent by far. At the opposite end of the spectrum from the #43. Actually a bit too potent for my liking, but certainly not bad.

Lots of chestnut and big mouthfeel. A touch of hot astringency too. No sweetness or bitterness.

Harvest: March 2025
Cultivar: Longjing Qunti
Location: Longjing Village, Zhejiang Province
Elevation: 300 m

This is so much better than that junk from iTeaworld. Don’t ever plan to buy from them again. This is the Longjing I’m looking for.

Not as transcendant an experience as the variety I tried last year from Verdant, but still quite nice. Minimal to no sweetness. No bitterness or astringency. Lasts 5-6 steeps.

Harvest: Pre-qingming, 2025
Cultivar: Longjing Qunti
Location: Longjing Village, Zhejiang Province
Elevation: 300 m

From my Verdant order that I placed to secure some Dragonwell after a disappointing first effort. I decided to add a sample of this tea, a style I’ve had my eye on for some time but have yet to try. It is definitely a unique flavor!

Unfortunately, there is no “okra” descriptor, as that is the exact smell the dry leaves give off! On the palate, that has evolved into artichoke for sure. The broth is somewhat sweet (medium low) and thick as milk. Definitely a nice green!

Harvest: Spring 2025
Location: Guixi Village, Qimen, Anhui
Elevation: 200 m
Cultivar: Shi Da Ye

June Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea swap and sample tea

I have had this sample pack for a very long time. I may have ordered it, but it is possible someone sent it to me, and I am sorry if I have forgotten. It got overlooked because of being an unknown, and usually a night time tea with no caffeine is sought for pairing with a food and I had no idea how I would like this.

I love tea and ice cream and yesterday I had a tiny amount of leftover vanilla ice cream as well as some chocolate chip and pecan cookies I made a few days ago. I decided to make ice cream cookies and wrap them up in the freezer as a surprise dessert for Ashman, aka the Cookie Monster. I decided it was time to try this tea!

Wow! It knocked my socks off! The reviews already here are great descriptions already. This is nutty and dark, so so smooth, and roasty with no bitterness or smoke at all. No one has said hojicha, but I get a super smooth and silky hojicha vibe from this, but ultra soft and silky while still full of flavor. Almost milky.

Since two of us were drinking and Ashman like refills, I took their word for it that it resteeps well. I made it as they suggest – very short steeps at low temps increasing by ten seconds each. The instructions call for the whole 5 gram sample to be made in about 6 ounces water but I used seven ounces water. I made four steeps in a row and combined them in a big pot to share.

Edited to add: just discovered that there was a little tea left in the pot. It smelled like chocolate so strongly that I thought Ashman had emptied the pot and made a chocolate tea until I saw the golden color and realized what it was.

I would 100% order more to serve as our evening tea with Asian food or ice cream. Absolutely.

Backlog/ Sip Down

A very simple tea with light-to-little flavor. Not offensive nor anything outstanding.

Sip Down

Aroma: Floral, hay, & spoiled fruit (not gross though).

Tasting Notes: No notes since I was working and wrote down, “Lost track of the day/tea.”

April backlog and sip down

I had made this as an iced tea to top off when we had a friend over. I usually will bring out strange teas for others, particularly one friend of mine, that will drink anything. I had sipped on this on and off during work but knew that this friend was to stop by later, so I had them throw in their tasting notes (they’re slowing getting into tea with my help and I like to test their palate and have them suggest tasting notes). I had generic notes, “Sunflowers & nutty,” but when they tasted the tea, they said, “It reminds me of Cheese Itz without the cheese.” That tasting note blew my mind because I knew what they meant. There was that salty and savory note like a cracker, yet it was a cracker trying to taste like cheese and slightly missing the goal to taste anything like cheese. Ha-Ha.

April backlog and sip down

I left this sample unopened for nearly two years since I’ve acquired tea from Verdant’s monthly club. Perhaps I grew too weary of the tea stash growing or green tea. However, I’m glad I finally got back around to sampling it!

Aroma: Nutty

Tasting Notes: Sweeter than expected, nutty, creamy, and umami.

Backlog/Sipdown: April 10, 2025

Aroma: Took a little while to get anything since the tea was so tightly compressed! A little floral and perfume-y.

Tasting Notes: Thick & soupy mouthfeel. Floral, sweet, brown sugar, dates, & figs.

Additional Notes: This tea lasted a long time, and I didn’t manage to get it fully opened! I checked 14 infusions (on and off brewing within 4 hours) and when I discarded the tea, it was still compressed in the middle.

TTB 2025. I’ve never had this type of oolong before, so I had no idea what to expect. It’s roasty, sweet, and has strong notes of mixed berries. I really enjoyed this one! Unfortunately, there was only 1 serving left, so I used it all up.

Overall:
-It’s not bad but it’s not great.
Appearance:
-Light Yellow with a hint of Green.
Flavor:
-Floral, Light, Dense, Woody, Mushroom, Vanilla
Summary:
-I’m sure some would appreciate its woody flavor. I will say the first half of the teacup was lighter and more on the floral/lightly herby/woody side with a tinge of vanilla. The 2nd half was more full bodied, and the last gulp or two had an intense and dense mushroom flavor to it.

p.s. the slider wasn’t working on mobile (temperature was 207 degrees F not boiling)
-CMTM4200

Sipdown & Backlog – March 7, 2025

Aroma: Cocoa, vanilla, coffee creamer, & malt

Tasting Notes: Pistachio, baked pie crust (no filling), vanilla, & sweet potato (in the aftertaste)

Rating: 71/100

Sipdown & Backlog – March 5, 2025

I made the final half of this tea as an iced tea. With the recent weather changes, from cold to warmer, I went through an iced tea craze, which is particularly nice to have on hand during in-office days.

Aroma: Cocoa, dark chocolate, floral, & malt.

Tasting Notes: Slight notes of dark chocolate, floral (rose?), & a maltiness in the forefront of the palate.

This tea has a pretty unique taste, but I like it. The initial brew is malty, with second and third brews increasingly vegetal. It’s pretty much kaput after that.

Given as a sample in a recent Verdant order and I can’t remember anything about it, but I remember liking it.

This is another tea I drank through recently without much thought. Not until the last mug brewed with 4g:300mL did this tea really stand out as a well-roasted Anxi oolong.

Strong, sweet and fleshy floral aroma. Heady. All kinds of exotic flowers, sweet and spicy. White lily, gardenia, ylang ylang, tuberose. Good dose of galangal, a hint of cinnamon. Toasted coconut and vanilla. The roast amplifies the sweet nose and does not stand apart. Mouthfeel is not notable and the taste is mostly carried by that heady scent. One with a preference for strong aromas would appreciate this tea the most. Pretty high energy, somewhat uncomforable for me like a lot of tieguanyin from Anxi.

Better western than gongfu, so it did make a nice work tea.

Didn’t care for this. Slightly bitter and really medicinal tasting, not the vibrant floral flavor I was expecting.

I have the 2023 version, but didn’t think it warranted a new listing.

I generally love greener oolongs, but this is leaning heavy on the seaweed, which isn’t my favorite. Will need to give it another try.

In late December 2024 this tea is singing to me of Mt. Ailao with first flavors reminiscent of forest floor, olive oil, minerals, and a complex flavor that reminds me of an earthy pekoe flavor profile. It is a complex tea, has a tingling sensation on the sides of my tongue, and to me, speaks of place. It seems in my view to be on the yang side of things for some reason. Intriguing and enjoyable.

This one is just…okay. Like nothing bad about it per say, but not much in the way of pleasant distinct flavors and fairly disappointing overall. I found it as a free sample from last year that was deep in my tea stash and I hadn’t tried it yet haha.

Harvest: Spring 2023
Varietal: Ben Shan
Location: Daping Village, Anxi, Fujian
Elevation: 1000 m

Sipdown 65 – 2024

Probably not something I need to purchase again. Slightly smoky. Tobacco, sesame, cinnamon.

Backlog and Sip Down

I had this as an evening tea a few weeks ago. I’ve been backlogged on tea logs for a few weeks due to the shift change and various other life events. I barely remember this one, so thankfully I made notes.

Notes: Unsweetened chocolate, cocoa dust, & sunflower seeds.

Sipdown

We have been drinking big pots of this tea hot, but today I took the last bit and on the final steep (number three this time) I gave it about 40 seconds and poured it over ice for lunch time.

It is extra roasty tasting now and that extra bit of flavor is probably good since I didn’t sweeten it all. It is a decent tea, but there isn’t anything here fight now that makes me put this on a wishlist. It is an older tea, though, and that may be affecting the flavor unless this is one of those oolongs that usually ages well,