Verdant Tea

Sipdown!

October Sipdown Prompt – a tea you can’t wait for to be gone

I had planned a different tea for that prompt but the other tea grew on me and was quite good today. I had to pick a new one! Ha ha!

This isn’t terrible, it simply isn’t what I thought it would be. I was expecting rich black tea and this is more like a darjeeling or a sheng puerh. Ashman loved it, though, so I just made a big batch of it to serve as his breakfast tea that I make ahead for him so he can just pour it in a mug and heat it each day since he leaves for work very early.

This is the 2021 harvest I think, and it appears I had it once before but didn’t leave a note. I had no memory of what it tasted like but chose it for breakfast.

I really thought a sun-dried black would be hearty but I was wrong. This was not a bad tea by any means, but it was definitely not the flavor profile I was looking for on the first cold morning of autumn. (Cold for us was high 40s but it is the first time it has gone that low this season.) I really wanted a hearty, chocolate-y profile more along the lines of a Keemun, so it is totally my bad for not realizing what the profile of this tea would be.

So what it is, now that I have talked about what it isn’t…it is bright, thin-bodied, and steeps up light Western style. Resteeps okay. Mostly high notes and very little bass. This is probably best for gong fu.

Since Ashman doesn’t love Keemun and other hearty, chewy black teas as I do unless he has milk and sugar in it, this was very pleasing to him even if it left me feeling a little let down.

edited to add: Looking at the company description that I just copied to add here, I agree that this feels more along the lines of an aged sheng with its high and fruity notes.

After a redeeming bowl of matcha, I decided to get back to it and give the last of my Verdant Dancong samples a taste. My first Ya Shi, or “duck shit,” oolong I’ve tried. As the story goes, this varietal scored it’s name because locals who discovered it thought it was so good, they wanted to give it an unpleasant name so no one else would want to try it!

No bitterness or astringency with moderate sweetness. Mouthfeel is very thick and jammy. Aftertaste is lemon tingly with a whipped cream fullness.

Like its namesake, this one rose from the ashes of inadequacy brought about by the first two samples I tried today! More complex, better mouthfeel and aftertaste, and just generally a more pleasant experience. I do wonder if all of these three samples, which were a year+ past production date, may have been significantly better when fresh.

While I have yet to be convinced that any other oolongs can match the consistent quality, crisp cleanliness, and price-to-quality ratio of Taiwanese oolongs, Dancongs seem to have a wider variety of flavors in my limited experience. Can’t wait to try other examples from different vendors :).

Harvest: Spring 2022
Varietal: Ya Shi
Location: Wudongshan, Guangdong
Elevation: 600 m

Dry Leaf: Floral
Wet Leaf: Floral, gardenias
Flavors: Cream, butter, floral, lemon jam, citrus, sweet, thick, whipped cream, sour.

This one is just okay. I wanted to like it based on the first few infusions, but it lost steam pretty quickly. Mouthfeel and aftertaste don’t stand out. Mild bitterness. No sweetness or astringency. Best part is the smell of the leaves. Looks like a light roast. The varietal, Da Wu Ye, means “Big Dark Leaf.” the leaves are quite whole with very few bits. I went about 7 infusions.

Not a very complex tea overall, but not bad per say. Not a great showing for Verdant or Huang Ruiguang today. Oh well…

I need some matcha rn haha.

Harvest: Winter 2022
Varietal: Da Wu Ye
Location: Wudongshan, Guangdong
Elevation: 600 m

Dry leaf: Juniper, lilac, floral
Wet leaf: Sage, pine
Flavors: Floral, lilac, sage, pine, vegetal, bitter.

Ugggghhhh this is the first bad tea I’ve had from Verdant. I figured if I sampled enough of their teas, I’d find one eventually. This is just very watery from the start with minimal flavor. Not even worth going past the 4th infusion. Jin Lan translates to “sworn brotherhood.” I swear that I will never drink this tea again.

Harvest: Spring 2022
Varietal: Jin Lan Xiang
Location: Wudongshan, Guangdong
Elevation: 1000 m

Flavors: Floral, thin, roasted, bitter, watery.

The TTB has arrived! So big, so many teas… no chance to try them all!
Tea #30
I have a day off today, so rare home breakfast and tea; and mood for “basic” tea, not any desserty flavour, no strong chais and/or whatever there is in a TTB. There are so many teas which sounded so good, but I am too afraid to be disgruntled because tea.

Osmanthus black tea was right up to my alley, flavoured, but not too much. So I used the rest that was in the pouch meaning 3 and half grams; and steeped it for 4-5 minutes. Well, it is a lovely black tea base, very smooth for me, a bit roasted and chocolately; I am surprised that Irina founds it completely different. Sadly, the osmanthus is very light, giving a bit of floral qualites and its distinctive aroma. A little dill-y if you wonder.

But for breakfast it was fine.

Very unique smell and flavor! Orange blossom descriptor on the website is spot on. Actually everything about this tea is orangey. Should this be surprising? No. This tea varietal, Huang Zhi Xiang literally translates to “orange blossom fragrance.” What an apt name and another super intriguing tea from Verdant!

No bitterness or astringency. Trace sweetness. Strangly warming at first, with a cooling and refreshing aftertaste. Mouthfeel is crisp, zingy, and juicy. Aftertaste is tingly like you just bit into an orange and lasts 4 minutes at least (I timed it haha). Quite the sensory experience! Longevity is 6-8 infusions.

Really a wonderful tea. Is it worth $0.80/g? I think the opportunity cost is quite high there. I’ll stick with their Mi Lan Xiang for now. Curious to see if the other Dan Cong samples I ordered can hold a candle to that one ;).

Harvest: Spring 2022
Varietal: Huang Zhi Xiang
Location: Wudongshan, Guangdong
Elevation: 1000 m

Dry leaf: Orange blossom, roasted.
Wet leaf: Orange blossom.
Flavor: Orange blossom, orange, honeydew, sweet, brown sugar, floral, toasty.

Surprisingly good Rou Gui from Verdant! Far superior to my tastes to the Rou Gui I tried from OWT. Still would not purchase more of this at the price, but it is certainly easy to drink and very warming and kind to the soul.

Mouthfeel is fairly thick, sparkling, and mineral. Aftertaste is more a smoky/hazy feeling left in the mouth after swallowing. Quite fascinating really, as the only similar mouthfeel I’ve experienced is with Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong oolong (also Verdant). Mild sweetness. No bitterness, or astringency.

This one comes from the Li family of Wuyi. The plot of land on which this tea grows is fairly natural and interspersed with wildflowers and such.

Verdant’s oolongs continue to impress. This one is just less my style I think. I’d prefer a dong ding if I’m seeking these vibes from a tea. But I’d never turn down a few cups of this tea as it is objectively exquisite.

Harvest: Spring 2023
Varietal: Rou Gui
Location: Wuyishan Ecological Preserve, Wuyishan, Fujian
Elevation: 600 m

Dry leaf: Nutty, Brazil nuts, pecans, roasted
Wet leaf: Bitter nuts
Taste: Pumpkin seeds, pecans, nutty, roasted, smoky, coffee, pecan pie filling, sweet, cinammon, mineral.

This is a really old tea I’ve had for many years (originally from a user on here or possibly a TTB). It’s older 2015 harvest or before but has been in a well sealed pouch in a dark drawer.

I went with 225 mL water (hot, maybe 75 deg. C) and steeped 5 minutes. The liquid has no colour but has a faint flavour of dried oak leaves and fresh fiddleheads or green beans. It’s very faint, through, and more vegetal than anything else. It wasn’t a very good cup due to the very faint flavour and few nuances. I’m not going to rate this one because my tea sample is so old. If I did rate it, I’d give it maybe 30-45/100 but that wouldn’t be fair to the quality of the fresh buds.

This tea was an absolute ride! I’m not much of an oolong drinker but I thoroughly enjoyed this tea. Pumpkin seed, carrot, coffee and black cherry were such surprising flavours, but I enjoyed them immensely.

Looks and smells like puerh tea. The leaves, which are stuffed inside a dried mandarin, have a wet woodsy aroma. But unlike puerh, are loosely packed and easy to scrape out without needing sharp tools.

Since this is stuffed and aged inside a mandarin for 6 years, I expected a citrusy flavor. However, it tastes like a normal malty black tea. Red tinged amber color. No real orange or citrus flavoring discernible. On the plus side, it didn’t have any puerh like earthiness either.

I like the concept behind this tea but the execution doesn’t work for me.

Not in a very energetic mood for long and detailed review, so here we go.

1st infusion (80˚C, 0:30)
Aroma of wet leaves is very fragrant, but entirely on the savoury and vegetal side, maybe slightly nutty… not sweet or fruity or buttery at all like the #43 or the 2nd Picking which I’ve already tried. There might even be a more mineral, bittersweet quality to it.
Liquor itself is surprisingly bitter and astringent. I didn’t time how long I steeped for, but don’t think it exceeded 20-30 sec.
Rating: 78

2nd infusion (80˚C, 0:30)
Wet leaves and liquor have gorgeous “fresh spring meadow” scent. Still has this astringency/herbal bitterness (like guilinggao!) in the aftertaste – perhaps that is the wildness and uncultivatedness of this tea. I slightly prefer this infusion to the previous one.
Rating: 80

Sipdown 36

Never quite got along with this one. No matter how much dry leaf I used, it always tasted a bit flavorless. Not bad, just not much going on.

Found this to be a bit underwhelming. A bit weak, would probably double the amount of tea I used next time. Super floral- mostly rose. Also getting some fennel- more like a sweet, roasted bulb than the seed.

Happily surprised at the mellow floral flavor of this one. Upon first whiff after awakening the tea, I was a bit dubious, the aroma somewhat savory and floral in an unusual way. After a brief steeping, and a hesitant sip, I was happy to discover there was no bitterness, no vegetable flavor, no nothing but a pleasant taste of freshness. Though I’m not much on floral notes, that was the predominate one here, with nary any fruitiness that I could detect. Yet, with each sip, I was eager for another sip and that is what makes for a good cup of tea.

Better? in a steeper basket. Almost obnoxiously floral, so if that’s your thing, scoop this up. Classic tieguanyin taste but without the sourness. Still drying – less so; still viscous – more so. Handles high temps well and can be steeped 3-5 times. Ridiculous longevity for this preparation method. Way too high in caffeine for me, unfortunately, without enough of whatever compounds that mellow me out.

Another note with scrubbed text as Steepster was being fixed. Don’t feel inspired to retype the original from memory.

First steeps need some coaxing to bring out the flavor in a liquor that will otherwise taste like sweet, viscous springwater. Usually the third steep for oolong tea holds the magic; that’s the case here but it continues to become more powerful (read: bigger body and more tannic) as steeps progress. Upfront flavors are papery and dry grassy with the real meat of the experience happening in the back of the mouth. First session had loads of mango and coconut water coming from the back. Second and third sessions were less impressive in that regard. This tea feels like it has a lot of caffeine.

Spring 2022 harvest, a freebie with my order. Thank you!

Round, fluffy-sweet and silky spring water with smooth fruity notes I can see as lychee and muscat grape. Threads of malt and chocolate, cinnamon and mild cardamom. Tangy, mineral, sparkling, playful tannins. Osmanthus in bottom of cup. Very clean, leathery aftertaste.

Excellent tea! I only drank this prepared in a 60mL gaiwan with 2.5g each time. Good longevity for a red tea this way.

Free sample from my last Verdant order. Verdant hit yet another one out of the park. The Li Family deserves an olympic medal for their teas. Absolutely gorgeous!

This varietal of tea is Fei Zi Xiao, named after a premium cultivar of lychees. This name translates as “the concubine smiles.” As the story goes, Emperor Tang Ming Huang of the Tang Dynasty ordered a batch of lychees to be rapidly transported (to keep them from going bad) from southern China to his palace in northern China to be given to his most beloved concubine, Yang Gui Fei. While I have tried many lychee-flavored things, I have not tried an actual lychee (on my bucket list), so take my next statement with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, I can’t claim to get any lychee flavor from this tea, but the lovely peach flavor will do in its stead :).

I’m EXTREMELY impressed with Verdant and they will be my go-to tea source for black teas and dan cong in the future. Also looking forward to trying some of their Chinese greens. From my limited experience with their teas, I am far more impressed with the quality than for other shops that offer such a wide variety, likely because they source from separate small farmers.

Not only is their tea phenomenal, but they obviously care about their customers, as this free sample is of one of their $0.44/g teas, which is exceedingly generous! As much as I love this tea, I don’t think I’ll have it on hand often because of the price (ballin’ on a budget), but I will certainly be ordering more of it from time to time.

Harvest: Spring 2022
Location: Wuyishan

Dry leaf: Dark chocolate, cinnamon, cherry.
Wet leaf: Malt, wheat
Flavor: Peach, sweet, tangy, honey,

Very nice Dancong and the last of the three samples I got from Verdant! I would say probably not worth the $0.50/g price tag for me, but if it were closer to half that, I might get more. It is certainly high quality and complex, and I love how similar the dry leaf smells to cardamom!

Mouthfeel is full and toasty in the initial steepings. This would make a perfect tea for a cool fall day :). Glad I got to try this wonderful tea.

Lasted probably 8 infusions or so. Was expecting a bit more sweetness/fruitiness to develop on the back end of these infusions, but didn’t get much tbh.

Harvest: Spring 2022

Dry leaf: Cardamom
Wet leaf: Flower of a fruiting plant
Flavor: Sweet, astringent, almond, toast, creamy, melon

Sipdown! Made caramel almond butter shortbread specifically to drink with the end of this tea. Mmmm now I need to get a new dianhong…

Got such a tiny amount of this tea left that I decided to split it and do a sort of modified western style with about 2ish grams of tea. This is perhaps my final (non-lapsang) Chinese black, and I am in the mood to savor. I have other equally fascinating black teas on deck, and while I am anticipating those, nothing beats a delicious dian hong.

Speaking of dian hongs, This is such a unique tea. I distinctly remember the height of the hype train for this tea, and I was a little skeptical at first. But the second I gave in to the peer pressure, I realized that it was hyped for good reason. The leaves are so distinct and beautiful, and all the golden fuzzies full of the promise of a cha qi buzz. I really enjoyed each session I had with this tea, which is definitely why i squirreled some away until now

Steeped 2ish grams in about 100ml water for 2.5minutes each time. Got a satisfyingly sweet brew, filled with sweet honey, cocoa, vanilla and a musky woodiness.