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Continuing my plow-through of Verdant offerings, I came to this green tea that I totally forgot I still had. I recall buying this one right before it went out of stock, but apparently ended up stashing it away and forgetting about it until last week. When I first tried it, I wasn’t impressed and feared that it was losing its character, so I ended up trying to rejuvenate it a bit. I did this by transferring the tea from a sealed bag to a metal tea canister that I then tucked into the back of one of the tea cabinets. I live in an old, drafty house in a very humid environment with variable daily temperatures and have found that sometimes when I switch tea from a tightly sealed container to a loosely sealed container, the exposure to minute amounts of air and humidity cause seemingly faded or slumbering teas to open up once more. Fortunately, that little experiment worked here.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. In my medicated state, I ended up not rinsing for some reason. Oh well. At least the medication seems to be reducing some of the congestion and inflammation. I started off by steeping 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 10 seconds. I followed this up with infusions of 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the first infusion, the dry leaf aroma was very fruity and floral. To me, it resembled a mixture of elderflower, tangerine, and lemon zest, though I could also detect a little corn husk and hay. After the first infusion, I detected stronger, more balanced aromas of tangerine, lemon zest, corn husk, elderflower, and hay underscored by grass and cream. In the mouth, the tea offered strong notes of elderflower, lemon zest, corn husk, grass, hay, and tangerine balanced by subtle creaminess before a fruity, floral, and slightly astringent finish. Subsequent infusions brought out undertones of napa cabbage, mango, peach, rose, and violet. Oddly, the finish did not soften, remaining somewhat astringent and biting throughout. Later infusions were more subdued, but were still relatively bright, floral, and citrusy with grassy, vegetal undertones and a hint of minerals.

This did not strike me as being a bad tea, but it also was not the sort of green tea I typically enjoy. As Chinese green teas go, it was a little too astringent for my liking. This quality was most likely the result of a substantial number of broken leaves included amongst the whole leaves. Even though I could see a number of similarities between this tea and Xingyang’s Yunnan Strand Green Tea (an offering I greatly enjoyed), this tea was less balanced, more forceful in character, and less approachable. I could see those who are looking for a fruity and/or floral green tea digging this one, but to me, it was a little much. Overall, it came off as commendable in certain respects and flawed in others.