Minnesota Blend

I grabbed a sample of this when it was still available. Brewed in an infuser mug.

The dry leaf smelled like dark chocolate with fruit (hard to pinpoint, but I’d say berries and pomegranate). The aroma of the wet leaf was similar, and had an additional buttery note from the base tea so that it resembled genmaicha. The liquor was light green and full-bodied with a soft texture. The first infusion had sharp notes of juniper and chocolate, and also tasted of fruity chocolate. It sweetened as it cooled (at its best for me). The second infusions was fruitier – mostly the juniper came through.

There was enough in sample for two occasions. I didn’t know what to make of this blend first thing. I didn’t expect anything or knew what to expect, even after reading other tasting notes. It was too new, but I was intrigued. I was more familiar going into the second occasion. I really liked the combination of everything, how the laoshan green, the junipers, and the rice created fruity chocolate flavor. Came to together very nicely, in both the aroma and flavor profile. I was kind of sad there was no more. At least I got a chance to try it. And now I know what junipers taste like without the gin.

A sample from Roswell Strange, and another first. I can honestly say I’ve never tried a Lady Gaga inspired tea before! I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. I crushed the juniper berries a little, as recommended! The scent of those is so good, and as close to gin as I can get on a miserable Tuesday afternoon. At least I have tea!

The dry leaf is an interesting thing to look at. Twists of Laoshan Green, a generous quantity of whole juniper berries, black, white and brown strands of wild rice, marigold petals, and the odd piece of saffron. Really pretty and rustic-looking.

Brewed, the liquor is a bright yellow-green, the scent beautifully vegetal in the way of wet grass. The green tea is definitely the most prominent flavour in the taste, but it’s sweet and grassy in the way fresh spring green teas can be, with a light nuttiness (I’m thinking pine nuts), and a touch of asparagus. It’s so smooth and buttery, it’s almost unreal. The juniper is also recognisable, coming out mainly in the mid sip. It lingers beautifully on my tongue long after the sip is over, with mild gin-like notes, and just a touch of warmth and sharpness. The toasted wild rice adds a certain genmaicha-like flavour, but it’s really mild and mostly just in the background. It really helps to give this tea depth and body, though! There’s a lot to think about when you take a sip, and a lot to taste. It’s so well balanced and blended, though, that that’s a treat more than anything.

I’m really impressed with this one, and I’m so pleased I got chance to try it – many thanks again to Roswell Strange for providing the opportunity. I’ve got enough leaf left for another cup, which I’m going to make sure I enjoy thoroughly when I’m not at work!

GCTTB
I was really excited to see this in the box. I adore Verdant genmaicha blends so have been wanting to try this for quite awhile now. Not sure what I was expecting but this isn’t it. Its slightly vanilla, a little green, but not really toasty/roasty. This is ok but pales compared to some of their other blends.
Really happy I got to try it, but it wasa miss. :(

GCTTB4

I’m glad I got to try this, even if only so I could say I did. How often does a special Lady Gaga tea happen, right?

I can taste the vanilla and the rice in this, and it reminds me of a very toasty, very diluted rice krispie bar. However, I’m drinking this more for the novelty than anything else. There’s a back note to the tea I’m not liking very much, but I can’t put my finger on why.

Not really much to say here. I’ve kind of lost interest in green teas for awhile, although occasionally I enjoy a cup, but there aren’t very many in my collection anymore. I have Teavivre’s beautiful nonpareil cha wang tai ping you kui, some kai matcha in the freezer, some gunpowder green than Steph sent to me awhile back, the last of the meditative mind (teaspot), & this (sent by SIL, of course!). So…it’s ok, but not something I’d ever crave or want. It mostly takes like laoshan green, which is one of my preferred greens when I’m into them, and it makes for a nice afternoon cup, but that’s about it. Sip down.

Wow, this tea is so different. It’s one of those teas I just want to take out of the box and hog but I’ll leave it in for others to try.

It tastes like a soy milk with vanilla and green bean. I also taste the toasted rice. It really works together nicely. First few sips it was a really strange tasting green tea to me but when I got near the end , I was really missing it. Very tasty!

Overall a great tea! I would consider buying this one if they had it in stock.

The first time I brewed this I forgot it was a green blend and treated it like a black! Wasn’t actually that bad, but I figured I’d wait to rate it until I had actually steeped it properly. I decided on western style (too lazy for gaiwan) but relatively heavy leaf (4g) and short steeps (1min), which I think ought to be good for several infusions. First one is very nice – lots of vanilla and toasted rice in the aroma, smooth and buttery green tea base.

Yup, soybeans, vanilla, toasted rice and a wee bit nutty. I often don’t get the same notes that Verdant describes on their site, but this time it was pretty dead on accurate for me.

I think I like this. It’s a bit odd, but good odd. I didn’t realize that this had a green base when I put my kettle on, so I ended up steeping in in 90C water and it was delicious and smooth.

My mom picked up some of this in the summer, so I avoided getting it myself and tried hers over Christmas. Oddly, it just tasted like Laoshan Genmaicha, to me. Lovely green beany flavours, toasty rice. Maybe a touch of vanilla. I certainly didn’t pick out any juniper. If this sticks around, I might grab a sample size to try again, because I don’t feel like I got the full experience. Perhaps just a flukey ingredient assortment in my infuser.

nope. not for me. I’ve had this a couple times now and it’s just not working for me. something about the green and the berries that creates a flavour that is completely disharmonious to my mouth. The rest of the ounce i purchase will be off to Terri so that she can give it a try!