I finally decided to break into my sample of this tea, my boyfriend wanted to try some as well. I have been wanting to hoard all my new samples of Verdant teas that are discontinued, but I am telling myself “there will be more new teas you will want to try, so you better drink some to make room!” So here I am, sipping this lovely tea.
The dry smell is faintly of hay and flowers. It is very clean smelling, and the leaves are a little bit fuzzy :) I used approx 190 C water and about half of my 7 g pack for about 5 oz in my gongfu pot. The bf and I are splitting each gongfu and having half a cup.
The wet smell reminds me so much of spring! And summer! Early clover blossoms, fresh hay in the fields and barn, bees humming away in the flowers, honey…ahhh this smells just perfect.
First steep was for 20 seconds. The liquor is perfectly pale and clear, with the barest hint of a light golden tinge. My boyfriend said it looks like water. But this is definitely not just water. There is a wonderful fresh hay taste to this tea, followed by a crisp linen feel. I can actually kind of recognize the base of Yunnan Jasmine Silver needles now, that crisp flavor was also present in that tea. Mmm and that floral goodness is in there, definitely honeysuckle, and some actual honey too maybe.
The second steep – 15 seconds. Following Verdant’s page. Now the liquor has some color, light yellow. Oh, and the wet leaves just smell INTOXICATING! So sweet and floral! I want to sniff them all day! This steep still has the hay taste, but more honey, and a lot thicker. I can see the bread resemblance in the mouthfeel a bit. Also a tiny bit of rose at the back of the sip, not much nutmeg. This is a heck of a complex tea. I don’t think I’m doing it justice with finding all the nuances, but it is very very good. I’m going to have a bunch more steeps of this, but I think I will leave off here so this review isn’t insanely long haha.
Overall, this is a beautiful white tea. This is thick, soft, spring like. This makes me think of bees pollinating flowers. This puts me in quite a nice place. Very happy I got a chance to try an aged white tea, thank you again Verdant for an outstanding tea.
ETA: Man, my review already is pretty long. Haha.
Not really long…I do long review’s myself!
I love your reviews! Your long ones are much more interesting than mine, love your stories in them!