teabird select Send Message

I got this with a chai sampler awhile back, and it’s been sitting in my cupboard because I liked the vanilla mint one much better. This one I recall being very spicy, yet a bit weak in flavor overall. But now, after the great pu’erh blends I’ve been having from Verdant lately, I thought it might be quite good with a little beefing up. I added about half a teaspoon of Maiden’s Ecstasy – a loose shu pu’er from Samovar – to a couple teaspoons of the chai. MUCH better! Now this has actual body and heft, but I can still taste all the chocolate/coconut/spice from the chai. This is very warming, now, and good for a cold windy day.

Smells like honey, and a bit of sweet potato. This really tastes a lot like the sweet potatoes I had at Thanksgiving last week – they were pureed with butter and spices and probably some brown sugar. So good! The tea also has an astringent bite on the very front, that quickly smooths out into a honeyed sweetness.

I’m drinking this one at work, western style, but I feel better and better about the decision to rechisten my one little yixing pot for yunnan black teas, as time goes on. They have such variety, and nuance, and have really become my standby tea over the last couple of years. Of course, I’m almost out of a them at the moment, but that’s just an excuse to buy more :D

2 level tsp leaf, 8 oz water, 4 steeps

I really love this more than I expected to, as with most of Verdant’s blends. I’ve been drinking it all day – hot and iced since I remembered to stick some in the fridge early on. Spicy and herbaceous, with a fresh sweetness like a garden in spring, this is immensely refreshing.

That’s the last of this :( I really hope Verdant comes out with a new breakfast blend soon. I love the flavor and the philosophy here: “The sensation of drinking the tea should make you want to start the day.” I am decidedly not a morning person, but this tea always makes them easier.

I got a sample of this awhile back and the second half has been waiting around for me to drink and review it. This tastes just like what it is – a tea that is typically turned into a rich, fruity oolong processed instead into a black tea. All of the fruit and floral notes carry over, but now there is chocolate as well, and a hint of smoke. This may not resteep as many times as an oolong, but I would still prepare and drink it similarly – high leaf-to-water ratio, short time, drunk straight.

This is incredibly light and complex for a black tea, definitely one to make you stop. Take a breath. Take a sip. Relax and enjoy, for a few minutes.

I have the Autumn 2011 picking here, with flavors of honey, jasmine, chocolate, and juicy fruit.

I made this over a very rushed lunch today and it bowled me over with its character – somehow I got the prep conditions just right to make it juicy, rich, and flavorful. I took a deep breath, and relaxed, and it was perfect.

I was dubious about this when I first smelled the dry leaf, but the taste is actually rather amazing. Verdant’s pu’er blends are really bringing me around. The smell is mostly spice (edit: no elderberries, just juniper, coriander, and holy basil); a bit strange on it’s own, but the flavor of the brewed pu’er really brings it together. That earthy sweetness unites everything. It tastes like coming in from the cold – sweet air from outside, with woodsmoke and spice and warmth inside. This will be lovely to have on hand as the weather gets colder.

I’ve steeped 4 times so far and expect several more.

3g leaf, 4oz water

I ended up unexpectedly out in the cold today (free outdoor Aerosmith concert less than a mile from my apartment, on a day I took off from work? Ok!) so needed a real warm-up tea by the time I got back. Fortunately my Verdant winter order has been patiently waiting for me to have time for it.

This is delicious. Quite fruity, from the goji and bergamot, but also very creamy in taste and texture, and the Tieguanyin really ties it all together. I wouldn’t present it to anyone as an earl grey; the bergamot is there, but it’s one note among many. I don’t know exactly what frankincense tastes like, but this blend definitely achieves it’s goal:a bright tea with bergamot that it also uplifting, comforting, and warming.

Getting lots of lime citrus and floral notes with this today. I need to use cooler water (or maybe less leaf) if I’m brewing jingshan style though – by the time this was cool enough for me to drink it was quite thick and verging on oversteeped!

I’ve been drinking a lot of Laoshan and Dragonwell green lately, and this has a much fruitier, brighter taste in comparison. I will probably buy more once it’s available again in the spring!