Verdant Tea (Special)

I’ve tried to be open about my tea journey. I am still a beginner, and one tea that has intimidated me is Sheng Pu’er.

Why?

I look at a package of Sheng and feel like I’ve been called into the Principals office! (Some people feel this way about ALL Pu’er!)

Because I’m such a chicken, I took a sample of this to share with Joe on Tuesday because nobody would be at the tea shop in the morning. He loves Sheng! (And he would do all the serving)

Steep 1 and 2 were 10-15 seconds long.

The leaves smelled musty like damp concrete.

Steep one tasted thick and salty like whipped butter. I felt a cooling sensation in my mouth but Joe didn’t. (We hurried on)

The second steep was “black-teaish’ (not proper English but I’m quoting) and sweet vanilla-nut. We felt nut oil instead of butter that was a blend of brazil nut and cashew, adding sweetness and some creamy body.

Joe over-steeped the third round at 20 seconds…yuck! This one smelled very sweet like paste, and was super astringent…blech!

Steeps 4-5 were Savory…like dark meat chicken and potato skin. The sweetness and fattiness were gone.
(This was still tasty tea, but the 3rd long pour stripped some of the flavor out.)

We stopped at this point, one of my better experiences with Sheng Puer!

So many prior Shengs have been young, smoky (and somewhat harsh!).
Master Han’s Sheng had body with complex flavor, creamy texture and black-tea quality. I liked it!

The only way to get over being afraid of tea, is to drink it.

Joe at Happy Lucky’s and I shared 2 small pieces of this exquisite tea placed in a little white gaiwan.
The small pieces were the size of the tip of my little finger and amazingly fragrant.

We leaned towards the vessel, eyes lit with a glow that you see in the eyes of children when they’re about to blow out the candles on their birthday cake.

POOF! Our small gaiwan was ready to pour tea in a flash.

The first sip unfurled like a flower at the back of my throat, spicy and sweet. Lingering….

Cool, sweet, buttery jasmine and fresh rain.

Smooth and rich in my mouth…every steep drenched with sweet floral juice as though I had squeezed citrus.

The aroma was curious. Yellow delicious apple? Pineapple Mango?
Possibly a combination of both with the floral jasmine.

Mind wandering:
On very warm Summer evenings, I used to like to walk around the neighborhood right before sunset. I’d listen to the sounds of dogs barking and people making noises. Lawn mowers would turn off and mothers would be calling children in to dinner.
The air was warm enough to lift the scent of jasmine as I passed by the many scrubs common to my city. I loved that aroma and would breathe in deeply….ah! It gave me the same feeling of comfort as pulling the covers up over me on a Saturday morning and going back to sleep.

Jasmine has always smelled like PIE!

If those 2 small braided pieces of jasmine tasted so splendid, what would 4 pieces taste like?! I can’t imagine, but another time…I’ll try, and I’ll be back with more notes!

There was supposed to be almost a blizzard today…but it whistled on by, preferring to thump tumbleweeds on the Plains with howling wind and pelting snow.

I bundled up in layers, called Schey to meet me at Happy Lucky’s at 2PM for tea, and selected several new tea’s for my green tea pouch. Without that pouch and a “What did you bring us today Bonnie?” the visit wouldn’t be complete.

Five people were in and out behind the tea-bar when I arrived (including the owner, George).
Joe picked a group favorite (this Tieguanyin) and brought out complete aroma sets, a gaiwan and small fairness pitcher.

The Oolong Symphony Began. 170 degrees and short steeps.

At first the tea was delicate, a blend of linen…squash blossom and cucumber flesh. I commented that the taste was subtle in the beginning, then stalled like a wave gathering more water before unfurling on the sand.

The second steep was very floral without being old and tired, thickening on the finish. There was a feel of unsalted butter (so said Joe and I). The aroma was so heavy with orchids and honey, it pulled me deep down into the cup and I was lost.

One steep was vanilla cream scented and another orchids and jasmine.

The color, floral aroma and flavor were the same as we approached the 6th steeping.

One of the things that Eric mentioned was the size of the leaves and the amount of flavor. “Someone has taken very good care of these leaves to get them to give this kind of flavor for this long. This is very good Tieguanyin.” (Eric is the scientist, one of the people I’ve dissected tea’s and ingredients with. He’s also a West Coast Bay Area person like me).

We’ve had Tieguanyin (Oolongs in general) discussions about how the climate on the Frontrange is PERFECT for aging. It’s DRY and Oolongs like DRY storage.

George drifted over to the gaiwan and made a round for everyone. As the owner, he’s tasted LOTS of tea, and his eyebrows tweeked up like the Rocky Mountains. He was impressed at the look of the leaves after many steeps.

What sets this apart and makes this different that any other?

The aroma is complex and lingering.
It’s a warm day in May, and just before the morning becomes humid…I’ve gone into the garden to pick flowers for my table.
There’s a fence with honeysuckle. Sweet jasmine, lily of the valley and orchids in the garden. White cotton sheets are drying on the clothesline, flapping in the wind.

The aroma lingers. That was the first thing I noticed.

The flavor grabs attention in a subtle way.
Buttered squash blossom, diced peeled and seeded cucumber, clover honey with the scent of all the garden flowers and linen.

The flavor moves so slowly through the mouth, informing the brain with a ‘seven-second delay’ that “An event has taken place, tastebuds wake up”!

This is the point, that the tea is sneeky! It doesn’t behave the way you are expecting a Tieguanyin to behave.

This is NOT a Boring OOLONG!

And, the flavor goes on forever!

Tea of the Month reserve Club – February

First off, this is a beautiful tea to look at: tight little clusters in deep & medium shades of green. Dry, the aroma is of salted flowers. Warmed in the Gaiwan, I smell a lovely floral scent, with a quality similar to lilac but not as strong & not really the same. The wet tea smells of longbean & green bean flowers, and expands beautifully to fill the Gaiwan with nice sized leaves.

The steeped tea is a beautiful yellow, & it tastes yellow too!
Light vegetable flavors were there, especially the flavor of long beans. I grow them every summer, & although they can be used just like green beans, their flavor is uniquely it’s own. They have lovely flowers, & they are very prolific. The flavor of raw soaked almonds was also present, along with an essence of pear.

All in all, it was very light & spring-like.

This is such a pleasantly clean & clear sheng, tasting lightly of cedar & feeling like a light vanilla creamy texture. Through the sippings it became more savory, with a green olive oil pepperiness, & then later there was a sweet citrus type taste & texture. There is a very lively energy to this tea. I feel very present, laid back, & calm, & I’m thinking “bubble bath”.

I’m trying to drink at least one of my TOMC/TOMCR teas each day, to work my way through them. This was from February TOMCR, & it’s a really nice one. Sadly, this is a sipdown.

Now that I’m starting to feel better & getting my appetite back, some tea is in order. Dad was especially interested in learning more about Chaqi, so I made some of this Sheng to share with him.

This is a nice mellow Sheng. It has a very soothing quality to it. Dad & I shared 6 steepings, combined 3 at a time in a 1 C glass measuring cup. He says he enjoyed it. I asked if he wanted to follow up with some shu, & he said, “Maybe tomorrow” & then disappeared into his office (presumably to see if it makes any difference in his Reiki/crystal work/or whatever he’s doing back there).

I’m still steeping.

Tea of the Month Reserve Club – February

It’s been awhile since I drank Sheng. It’s been 11 days.
Sheng is one of those teas that takes time. The flavors are subtle. You can’t just brew it & drive around running errands. If you did, you wouldn’t appreciate what it has to offer. Plus, Sheng tends to be high in mind-blowing chaqi, & for me, it’s better to enjoy when I’m just hanging out, teaching & relaxing. Which is what I’m doing this afternoon.

Dry, this tea smells a little musty & woodsy, like alfalfa in a cedar chest. The color is gray/green with tan highlights.
The wet leaf smells more of cedar, with a tart citrus aroma.

5G + 4oz (rinse) X 6 seconds
Some shengs (the younger ones I guess) can be very intense & in your face, but the flavor of this sheng is very mellow & mild. Early on there was the tongue-tingling sensations, a vague bitterness that I like, & a very clean & clear resinous flavor. This gradually evolved into an almost citrus like essence, nice & bright.

I love the way I feel right now: clear, clean, alert, intuitive.
One of my adult students was coming for his lesson, & right before he arrived I felt I should brew him a cup of Meditative Mind, a blend from The Tea Spot of white tea, green jasmine pearls, & Rose buds. It’s a beautiful tea & felt right for him. He arrived, stressed, & loved it.

Sipdown!
7G + 4oz (rinse) X 10sec
I know I keep saying this today about every tea I’ve drank so far, but this is just what I needed! We’re going through a little stress in my family right now, & I’m finded myself exhausted & in need of nurture. The best ways I can nurture myself (so that I have it within me to nurture my family) is by restings, eating well, doing my yoga, & keeping on track. This includes drinking teas that energize & inspire me (and also teas that help me to relax & unwind, but that’s for later).

I love Laoshan Black. It’s so good, with it’s honeyed chocolate maltedness & I enjoy trying different incarnations of it. This one is quite tasty & elegant, but I must admit, I prefer the ‘original’. Still, it makes for a wonderful Gaiwan full of goodness, & I’ll continue sipping from these leaves until they have nothing left to offer.

Tea of the Month Club Reserve – February ’13

In the spirit of experimentation, & in an effort to use up some of the samples I have sitting around, I brewed this Laoshan black & another one that I got in a trade with Invader Zim in 2 separate gaiwans simultaneously. Zim gave me “Mr He’s finest 1st Spring Picking Laoshan Black.” I believe she got it in the Davids choice box, from ’12. SO….

The look: ’12 is a little darker, I think. ’13 is more curled up.
Aroma: Dry, they both share a chocolatey profile.
After steeping they both smelled roasty & chocolatey. ’12 smelled like a dark chocolate pudding. ’13 smelled chocolatey as well, but with a noticeable green bean aroma.
They both received a rinse, with 12 having a sweeter rinse water, & 13 a little beanier.

The first 3 steepings were at 10 sec each, then 1 minute, then 2 minutes. Throughout the steepings, they both tasted great, with 12 having a slightly roastier flavor & depth throughout, & 13 having a slightly vegetal green bean taste (that actually became more of a long bean taste) throughout. They were both sweet, chocolaty, and tasty. 13 had a very creamy texture, like silk soy creamer.

Both were sweet & tasty, although admittedly I probably prefered 12.

Without my realizing it was happening, my taste in tea and my desire for it has changed.

In the beginning, there was a glittering path with lots of tea all of which I was ready and willing to try out. You could say that I binged on tea much like a child in a candy shop.

I soon realized that some tea’s I was binging on tasted better than others. The best tasting tea’s rose to the top and became the tea’s I craved!

As my appreciation for tea developed, I found that the tea that I loved the most were often harder to acquire. Tea from small farms, seasonal or wild picked soon became part of my new love affair.

This past month in particular, I’ve had some of the best tea’s of my life. Oolong from Verdant and Mr. Han’s Black, a Red Blossom 2010 Wuyi Oolong and Taiwaniese Wild Mountain Black Tea from Butiki have all been outstanding.

The experiences drinking the tea’s stopped me from writing as much as usual. These moments go by quickly, and I need to pay attention to the voice of the tea’s I’ve been drinking. It is very important to be still with good tea.

I kept the steep time rather short with this Oolong. 5 seconds on the first steep after a rinse, then 10-15 seconds.

I’ll discuss the flavor in a somewhat static way…

Fruit leather, stone fruit…plum, peach… Autumn brandied fruit compote. Slight smoky roast with cinnamon stick finish. Cooling on the tongue. Lingering flavor with the memory of Oriental Beauty sweetness. Creamy smoothness.

The first three steeps were best. Later pours were weaker but worth brewing.
When I say “the later pours were weaker but worth brewing” here’s what I mean: The taste of the tea is so good, that even when weaker, there is a longing for more and more…even if it’s a shadow of the first glorious cup.

Fine tea produces that longing for more. A desire for more than flavor. A desire for the entire experience that reaches a quiet place inside.

I put this on the ol’ blog too… www.teaandincense.com

This is not really a review, it’s a sipdown notice.
The mother of one of my students is from Taiwan, & a few weeks ago she went for a visit & brought me back some teas, which I’m pretty excited to try out!
So today when they came for the lesson, I sent her home with some teas. I knew she liked jasmine, so I gave her the rest of this, which was the Reserve TOMC from LAST February, but is still very nice & fragrant. I also gave her samples of Verdant’s Yunnan White Jasmine & Fujian White Jasmine, & a sample of Meditative Mind, from the Tea Spot. She seemed pretty excited to try them all. I also gave her a head of lettuce, some parsley, & cilantro from my garden.
So, even though I didn’t drink the last of it, I’m counting this one as a sipdown anyway!
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This is one of the Verdant Tea of the Month Reserve selections for February! It is a beautiful hand crafted tea, sage green with streaks of tan, with the heady aroma of jasmine…aahhhhh!

Damp it smells of moss & key lime.

The first 2 steepings had me lying in the forest on a bed of moss. The flavor is lightly floral & vegetative, with what I can only describe as a mossy texture, & a lingering jasmine sweetness in the back of the throat.

3 & 4: mmmmmm, creamy & sweet, with a hint of astringency & a fuzzy tongue sensation. These were my favorite.

5 & 6: I steeped the hand-twisted tea in a glass gaiwan (even though it always gets ridiculously hot & burns my fingers) so that I could watch them unfold. At this point they are fully unraveled & beautiful. The tea from these steepings has a taste & mouth-feel of key lime (I actually compared it to one of the limes on my mini-tree), with a clear & bright sensation, a lingering bitterness on the tongue, & sweet jasmine in the back of the throat.

7 & 8: The lime & moss aromas are gone, now I just smell the jasmine in the wet leaf. The flavor is still bright, but the bitterness of lime peel is gone. Now I have a fine, clear jasmine tea.

This is a luxurious treat!