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I have so much updating to do! But I just moved house, and everything is very hectic, so I haven’t been taking the time with my tea that I’d like to. I joined the Verdant Reserve Club for February and haven’t touched the teas yet, because I’ve had no time to do it propery :(

So, today at least I had some Tiger Assam at the office – strong, but not fussy. I kept the first steep to 4 minutes, with milk and sugar. The second I just let sit for awhile, and it’s perfect for drinking straight. Strong rounded flavor, slightly sweet but also astringent enough to make you sit up and take notice.

After tomorrow I should have internet at the new place :P and can log all the tea I drink during this snowstorm we’re supposed to get…

Drinking this more western-style today, with one 5g pack used for an 8oz mug, brewed in a glass teapot until it looked and smelled strong enough to drink! It doesn’t really taste like the Imperial Breakfast Blend, but the experience of drinking it is similar – strong but not harsh, sweet and rich… coaxing you to get up and face the day. I might even try the next steep with milk!

New verdant monthly order! I’ve gotten pretty bad about logging my teas lately, but it’s been a lot of laoshan green at the office, mostly. This is a lovely experimental black tea, more robustly flavored than the Yu Lu Yan Cha (my only complaint there is its subtlety), but a similar flavor profile to both than and Laoshan black – chocolate, caramel, cream, but also a roasty flavor like dark ooolong to give it strength where those others fade away.

Anyone who likely Wuyi oolong and black teas should give this a try, or if you like Laoshan black but just wish it had more staying power.

My gaiwan is tiny (I was gifted with a pair for Christmas, both hold about 3oz)so I only used half a 5g packed on this, and plan to mix the other shortly with the chai spice mix that was this month’s 3rd tea. This is a lovely warming, hearty trio for the cold winter!

This has really come to be one of my favorite blends, so I’m bumping the rating a little. I love how the bergamot flavor melds with the buttery oolong and sweet jasmine and goji. The frankincense and saffron add a background complexity. It’s just a really pleasing tea, and I like how the flavors change on re-steeping as well – more citrus and fruit.

I got my first Tea of the Month box from Verdant today! I already have some of the other two (Silver Buds Yabao and Golden Fleece), but am happy to have more, and this one was entirely new. And entirely unique! The dry leave is very pretty, large flakes off of what was clearly a cake, silvery white and green and some almost black.

The early steeps were more like a normal, if strong and complex, white tea – floral, smooth, mouth-filling. I’ve steeped about a dozen times now though, and it’s getting quite dark and caramelly as I let it steep longer. It’s like a cross between white tea and roasted oolong, or yunnan buds. I can see why this was paired with the Golden Fleece, the later steeps are quite similar. But this is more vegetal – I’m definitelygetting the winter squash flavors.

Very interesting!

I’ve been down with a cold for most of a week now, on the upswing (I think), so tonight we’re going from tea to hot toddies. This one started with a cup of Harney’s Decaf Hot Cinnamon Spice, then got a spoonful of honey, a dash of Apple Pie liqueur, and a large splash of apple cider. Good for soothing the throat and clearing the sinuses!

Oh wow, as soon as I poured water over these leaves I got a huge waft of juicy fruit – pineapple! Maybe kiwi? A dash of carmelized sugar, or dark honey. The flavor does not disappoint either. I used the first steep to rinse, and have made 3 more so far.

This doesn’t fit neatly into my categories of dark and light roasted oolongs, but I’m pretty ok with having to expand my classifications :P This doesn’t have the heavy, nutty, dry, roasted flavor Iget from Formosa oolongs, but neither is it buttery and vegetal like a green one. It has the floral notes of a Tie Guan Yin, but then shifts to honey, fruit and incense.

It is getting a little toasty in later steeps (10 now), but still lots of sweet incense and dark fruit now, like cherries or blackberry pie. Aftertaste is very much like pineapple! Sweet, but also has that enzymatic tingle.

I have a bad habit of forgetting my gongfu teas through the day, so to make sure I got all 18(!) steeps out of this one, I alternated making a cup to drink, and immediately making another cup that I poured into a jar to chill and drink iced later! So I actually got to taste the later steeps this time :) and I’m glad I did, because it started getting rather like a pasty, with flavors of grain and butter.