Viridian Tea Company

Made this as a hot cuppa with just a bit of agave to drink while on the walk from one office to another. They’re about ten minutes apart, so it was a nice and comfortable little stretch where I got to slowly sip on my tea and listen to some music. I thought the agave addition really pulled a lot of these flavours together. Sweet, cooling spearmint with the more lush, fresh floral flavours of the lavender and jasmine. Mostly the lavender. It loosely reminded me of another herbal blend from The Silk Tea Co called, I think, Angelwater? I liked this more though. Stronger spearmint notes, from memory.

Cold Brew!

Came home from work yesterday with my head in a fog, and a sore back/migraine. Really I just wasn’t in the mood to do anything and I also wanted something really cool that would be hydrating. I looked at the two cold brews in my fridge that I’d started before I left in the morning, and one was an instant “nope” for my mood. However, this one seemed PERFECT and it was!!

That mix of sweet and refreshing spearmint and soft and peaceful florals like jasmine were exactly what I needed. I drew the curtains, turned off the lights and curled up in bed with a tumbler of my strained cold brew and just took big sips in and out of resting/sleeping and I felt better – more relaxed, more calm, and less sore/tense. When I woke up this morning, I felt like a million bucks.

So glad I had this tea on hand, and that I’d had the forethought to brew two very different flavour profiles in the morning.

This blend reminds me a lot of Serenity Now, from DT, but it’s a lot less busy than I find that blend can be & doesn’t have the tart berry notes that mask some of the beautiful and complimentary floral and mint notes…

I think it would probably at least a little bit depend on my mood, because Serenity Now definitely has more body/is more flavour packed, but at this moment I feel like I enjoy this blend more than I enjoy Serenity Now. All the floral flavours (lavender/rose/jasmine) are well balanced with each other and this is far from a “perfumey” floral tea, as well. However the stand out flavours are the relaxing lavender and spearmint! I love those two together and they taste really clear here! This is definitely going on my list of stress relief herbal tea blends!

…I kind of also want to bath in this tea, if I’m being really honest.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCyxLmcgynP/ (Includes all three teas)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTE3M9lfeOI (Same across all three)

Steeped up Friday. I had a migraine most of the day so I ended up sticking primarily to softer/mildly flavoured teas, and this ended up being a very good choice. Mostly hoy hay/straw notes that reminded me a little of being out in the country in the Prairies, but with some veeerrrryyy subtle citrus undertones and a finish of jasmine. Less fresh and aromatic, but still floral. More like dried flowers, like you might press in a book.

A soothing cup of light to medium bodied white tea with a dominant hot summer hay flavour supported by hints of lemon and the faintest jasmine. I do think the floral quality of the jasmine was more noticeable in the aroma of the cup, but I appreciated the supporting floral character to this otherwise pretty classic and straight forward tasting blend.

If I’m being honest, I had the lowest expectations for this blend. The ingredients list is very simple and the dry leaf smelled nice but unexciting. However, this was a surprise stand out. Of the two white tea blends, this is the one where you can taste the white tea most distinctly and it has a very lovely sweet apricot note!! The subtle floral notes from the jasmine, and kiss of citrus from the lemon balm are so gentle and peaceful, and compliment perfectly!!

My favourite of the three!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCyxLmcgynP/ (Includes all three teas)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTE3M9lfeOI (Same across all three)

T is for… The Soul of Juliana!

Sipdown (1392)!

I’ve enjoyed this tea a lot, but after this final cup I decided to add the rest into the TTB so that I could share it with some other people – with Viridian Tea taking a break from their shop for the time being, I’d like as many people to experience her blends as possible.

I found this cup light but tinged with the almost wine-y berry flavour of the hibiscus, and a finish of floral and delicate rose. I really, really love her approach to floral teas a lot and am definitely very appreciative that she shared some of her teas with me this past yesr!

Making some good progress in my sample bag of this tea! This mug was a tiny little bit on the drier side, from both the white tea and hibiscus, but was still an overall nice and delicate mug of tart florals – jasmine peaking out the most next to the hibiscus.

Cold Brew!

As a cold brew the most dominant flavour here is a tart hibiscus and, to be honest, not a lot of the other flavours come through – save for a hint of rose. It was pretty refreshing though, and made for something pretty nice and consistent to sip on throughout my Friday afternoon meetings.

Sadly Viridian Tea just announced that they’re taking a break from actively blending any new teas or restocking their store – they’ll just sell through the inventory they have. It makes me sad to see a company I like not doing well – but I know Kimberly is making the decision that’s best for her.

That said – I’ve really enjoyed her floral blends so if that’s your thing I would totally recommend checking her out while she still has some inventory!

Sipped on a mug of this tea while making supper yesterday!

It was a little bit drying in the back pockets of the mouth, but mostly this was a really nice mix of florals with some emphasis on a more metallic/sharp hibiscus. Not always a fan of hibiscus with some of those more tannic and earthy notes, but the mineral of it actually felt like it added to the natural feeling of the blend and I like an earthier note mixed with florals, typically.

Viridian Tea (from the Black Owned tea company list) very kindly sent me three teas from their Etsy shop to try and review – I wanted to get these reviews up ASAP, so I steeped all three today side by side and took notes while I tasted them…

I was impressed with all of them – though I will say the one very consistent thing throughout all of the blends were that they taste quite floral, so definitely not teas for people who don’t love floral profiles.

This white tea steeps a beautiful pink/red colour from the hibiscus, and has a lovely and well balanced hibiscus and rose flavour! What I love about it is that neither the hibiscus or rose out weigh each other in terms of flavour, and the slight berry flavour and tartness could make this floral profile more accessible for anyone on the fence about rose blends! I can tell it would also make a delicious iced tea or cold brew, if that’s your thing!

Hibiscus and rose are starting to become a pretty common flavour duo as well, but this is definitely one of the best ways I’ve seen it played out!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCyxLmcgynP/ (Includes all three teas)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTE3M9lfeOI (Same across all three)