92

This is another one from the reserve club. I brewed this one in my yixing, which has a 4-8 second pour depending on how full I fill it. I used 205*F water and went on for 12 steeps. The when I opened the bag I mostly smelled the roasty notes. The dry leaves are mostly shades of brown with a few olive colored leaves thrown in. The wet leaves smelled roasty and cinnamon apple. The infusion was a nice dark golden color and smelled roasty and woodsy.

The tea started out almost like a Mi Lan. It was very juicy and held roasty notes along with fruity, floral, woodsy, melon, and a campfire minus the smoke. It was quite nice. This lasted for a while and around steep four I started to get an interesting thickness in the aftertaste in the back of my throat, this lasted and got stronger as the steeping continued.

Shortly thereafter, the tea started to mellow. There were still roasty notes and a juicy quality, but not as strong. The floral notes started to get stronger and the fruit notes started to fade out. An herbaceous and vegetal note started to come in too around steep 6. Also, the thick aftertaste in the back of the throat started to consume the top-back part of my palate and had a slight almond taste to it.

Then steep seven changed completely. The tea went very floral on me, gardenia, with a note of melon dew, and a vegetal note. The thickness was slowly crawling forward, coating my tongue. No note of fruit or juiciness, no roasty qualities either.

Steeps seven and eight were the same, but a spice note started to come in, focusing on the tip of my tongue. Cinnamon, or nutmeg perhaps, I couldn’t be sure.

Steep ten through twelve did another 180 on me, going back to the beginning steeps, although it was mellower this time. It sounded the return of juiciness, with notes of fruit, spice, with a hint of vegetal hanging around.

I really enjoyed this tea and how it changed. It’s what I like and look for in dancongs. Their ability to have so many notes, the ability to change so drastically, their ability to surprise you in pleasant ways!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec
Zeks

I think you should try JK’s this years’ nonpareil dancongs. So far I find them much better than what Verdant ever offered, even with reserve club. Probably only Mi Lan comes close but not exactly.

Invader Zim

Thanks for the recommendation Zeks, I will have to give them a try!

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Comments

Zeks

I think you should try JK’s this years’ nonpareil dancongs. So far I find them much better than what Verdant ever offered, even with reserve club. Probably only Mi Lan comes close but not exactly.

Invader Zim

Thanks for the recommendation Zeks, I will have to give them a try!

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Bio

I’m an avid tea drinker, it’s what I drink all day and why I’m here. I don’t sweeten my teas except for the occasional iced tea or cold-brewed tea. I typically brew my teas with a brew basket in a 12 oz cup. If I brew another way I will always note it.

Dislikes: black teas, milk flavored oolongs, hibiscus, red rooibos, licorice, dessert teas, mate, guayusa.

Loves: straight teas, especially Chinese green teas, sencha, jasmine, dan congs, mint, coconut.

My ratings are based mostly on the smiley faces. If a tea is of good quality but not to my taste preference I try not to rate it because I think that is unfair.

I drink a lot of the same teas and will not record every time I drink them. I log them the first time I try them and then again if I did something different and/or got different results.

I also try to keep my cupboard updated to what I actually have for those that wish to swap, although some of them are merely samples.

100 – http://steepster.com/teas/verdant-tea/32720-hand-rolled-top-grade-jasmine

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Pennsylvania

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