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We are into 40ºC+ days here and it is far too hot for tea. I’ve switched to gin and tonics and with a stretch of the imagination they are almost like a tea… right? Gin is really just botanicals infused in alcohol and tonic water is the same but with water?

I need to get my iced tea jug going again but if I have to be honest, I much prefer other chilled [read: alcoholic] drinks to iced tea.

This is the first of the teas I won in RiverTea’s pre-launch promotion.

I’ve had a few cups of this now, brewed both western and gongfu style, and have enjoyed it. I’m no Tie Guan Yin expert but I’d happily drink this tea again.

I’ve decided to hold back on a rating until I know what the price point is because I factor ‘value’ into my ratings and RiverTea are yet to make their prices public. Like I mentioned above, I’m a bit of a Tie Guan Yin novice, but I’ve still formed an idea in my mind of where I think the price might be for this tea and it will be interesting to see if I’m right when the store is launched.

I had this cold brewed today with milk and maple syrup because I was too lazy to make up a simple syrup. It needed sweetening but perhaps that was because my 6 hour brew turned into 8/9 hours when I went to pick my parents up from the airport and their plane was delayed…

I started a new job this week and my workplace doesn’t have a kettle (what?!) so I’ve not been drinking too much tea, mostly coffee. I did an overnight cold brew of this though and it is delicious, like sunshine in a cup.

I’d never cold brewed a darjeeling before but it worked really well. I left it a bit longer than I usually would because I slept in and it is really interesting to get the flavour of a darjeeling that strong without the astringency.

Another tea from Sil (Thank you!) and I agree that this has a lot of similarities to Laoshan Black.

So far I’m enjoying this one more than the black tea. There was a strong aroma of roasted potato in the Laoshan Black that was a bit overpowering for me and it doesn’t seem to be so predominant here.

I’ve decided not to rank this tea because I feel that if I was drinking it in cool weather that I’d probably be ranking it much higher, it seems like a perfect warm cozy cup. We are well into 30ºC+ days now and I find the light floral flavours of green style oolongs much more appealing in this weather. That is hardly this teas fault though and it is delicious.

I only had a sample of this one but if it comes back for sale I’ll try to grab some to stash aside for cool nights.

When warm weather starts my tea drinking really starts to drop. It isn’t even summer yet but yesterday it reached 36ºC. Needless to say, I haven’t been too keen on hot beverages but have been a bit too lazy to make up jugs of iced tea.

This morning is a bit cooler so I sifted through Sil’s samples and grabbed this one. About the time I started drinking it my hayfever set in so I haven’t been able to enjoy it as much as I’d like. The first steep, which I’m on now, has a lovely fresh cucumber note but with that unmistakeable sensation of hot liquid on tastebuds that are switching off. Hopefully by the later steeps my antihistamine will have kicked in.

Thanks Sil :)

I popped this in my iced tea jug and have been drinking it over the past few days. I’ve never really been too keen on the idea of iced early grey but am really enjoying it. This time around I brewed it on boiling water and then chilled it but next time I’ll try a cold brew over night.

When I opened this packet I was greeted with a familiar sight. My parents have a camellia sinensis plant that is often covered in these little buds. I’ve never drunk them though and was really excited to try it.

I prepared this using the gongfu method on the verdant website which produced a very pale brew with a faint pine and honey aroma. Thankfully the flavour was stronger than the aroma, with the first infusion producing a delicate sweetness with lovely woody notes and some kind of tropical fruit that I can’t quite pin down. I started enjoying this a lot more as it cooled and could see it making a wonderful delicate unsweetened iced tea.

For me the whole experience is let down a bit by the aftertaste which is reminiscent of chewing up paper to make spit balls back at primary school (don’t pretend like you didn’t do it too!). It is also such a subtle flavour that I think if it was drunk with food the enjoyment would be completely lost.

This isn’t a miss for me but it isn’t a hit either. Some sips I think “yes! yum!” but others are just “meh”. It is so unique that I’m really pleased that I got the chance to try it. Thanks Sil :D

Another Verdant tea tea that I get to try thanks to Sil. Your package is coming I promise!

The power went out here this morning before I could make myself a cup of tea so I was very much looking forward to this by the time I got the chance this afternoon.

I haven’t enjoyed an oolong this much since the stash I brought back from Taiwan last year ran out. I’m an old fashioned kind of person who prefers to shop at stores but unless you are looking for a flavoured oolong around these parts you are pretty much out of luck. I was almost at the point of not bothering with oolongs anymore but this has kickstarted my enthusiasm again.

I brewed this one in a gaiwan (or my makeshift version) as per the website. It has a great savoury but slightly sweet flavour, just like the taiwanese oolongs I remember. For me it is predominantly green beans and sweet corn in the earlier steeps with jasmine and sweet pea coming on as the session continues.

I’m very out of practice when it comes to oolong but this is one I’d happily drink again, except that I can’t because verdant have it archived. Still, I’m pleased that I had the opportunity to try it :)