Traditional Tieguanyin

i haven’t reviewed a tea in what seems like ages. But I do have a backlog, including a few pu-erhs, my first pu-erh reviews! Life gets in the way. Children, school, work, plotting my tea-empire, learning german and then a lot of teas I’ve been drinking have been poor quality.

I’m starting to suffer from tea-paralysis; I don’t know what to drink the morning now. Too many teas to choose from. Yea, I know, first world tea-drinker problems eh?

This tea is delicious, not the best tieguanyin, that honour goes to a tieguanyin we got as a sample from one of our suppliers. This is up there though. Amazingly complex flavours, no bitterness, silky smooth mouth feel. There are floral orchid notes, but not over-powering. There is a lovely vegetal quality to this tea as well. If I had to sum this tea up it would be by saying that this is fantastic reference point for what this type of tea should taste like. There are better, and there are far, far worse. But it would be foolish for you to think that this tea is only an average teiguanyin, it is not.

Wonderful tea, would drink every day.

Roasted flavor Loooove!!

So this one is pretty roasty. Doesn’t smell super roasty,in fact, it smells pretty floral-y. It has some floral in the actual taste, but I’d rather have more. Happy to have tried it though! This one isn’t for me!

Picked up an ounce (or two?) or this in my last Verdant order, because I like the roasty, creamy profile… and it did not disappoint. First infusion was for a travel mug (which is probably a bit of a waste, though still pretty enjoyable); I had two more infusions at my boyfriend’s place on the weekend, and am having a fourth now, though I think that might be it for it. Kind of that twiggy/autumn leaf pile oolong flavour, with a rich creaminess rounding it off. Yum.

This is it, folks, the very last untried (straight) oolong in my cupboard. This very generously sized sample came from miss Starfevre. I’m not sure where she’s gone lately, but hopefully she’ll come back soon. So apparently “Traditional” means partially oxidized and lightly roasted according to Verdant’s website. Honestly, looking at the pellets, I would guess more than a light roast, as they are quite dark in color. I guess this must be due to the oxidation beforehand. The color is a medium to dark brown with some greenish hues. Dry scent is a nice combination of roasted, grassy, and sweet.

The steeped liquid has that lovely, sweet apple/pear aroma that I’ve noticed in other roasted tie guan yins, along with roasted nuts and autumn leaves. Hm, this one has a bit less depth than I expected it to. There are definitely strong roasted and grassy flavors here, but there’s a lack of sweetness that surprises me. There’s a bit of a coffee-esque aftertaste. I think I prefer TeaVivre’s roasted oolongs to this one. It’s not that it’s a bad tea, I just really like that sweet note that I have found in other roasted oolongs.

I stopped by Verdant today to pick up some Minnesota Blend for Cameron, and then I bought more oolong (not this one, the hand picked spring 2014 TGY). I blame her :-P

But also thanks to Cameron, I had a cup of this tea free in the store. If you spend $25 in loose leaf- presto! – free cup of tea :). I’m a little sad that I didn’t buy this one and I may go back for it. I’ve been all about the green oolongs lately and not really into the roasted ones, but this is pretty damn tasty. To me, the main note is buttery corn, specifically roasted buttered end-of summer sweet white corn which is one of my favorite things ever. There’s also a pleasant nuttiness hanging in the background, I’m thinking almond- also with butter! It’s a very unique and complex oolong! Yes, I’ll probably go back to buy some. Here’s a shot of Verdant’s tasting room, which is very zen:
http://instagram.com/p/sioDE1Kmw_/

Also, I didn’t realize this until afterwards, but Lily Duckler was the one who helped me in store. She was ever so nice and accommodating, not to mention extremely knowledgeable of course (which is what made me suspect that it was not just any employee who helped me). Thanks Lily for helping me with all my troublesome requests!

In my opinion this is a wonderful roasted TGY with excellent flavor and thick body.
It’s not completely roasted all the way through and retains its fresh green layers.
It has some dancong characteristics, in that dancong is a roasted oolong made from fragrant leaf.
I enjoy this tea more than than the early spring unroasted TGY and the roasted laoshan oolong form verdant.

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #20

This oolong might not have been steeped perfectly, but there are better oolongs from Verdant that I was able to sample. The first flavor that hits is a tangy, tart green vegetable, I’m not sure which, but then a cream flavor followed by creamed corn. Verdant describes this one as kettle corn (just like the other oolong I had the other day) and I’d have to agree, if only on the end of the sip and not what hits the tongue first. A very sweet creamy aftertaste. It’s a good one! I can’t forget that Verdant’s Autumn tiguanyin was a magical thing. If I was steeping these perfectly, I’d have much better experiences with these.
Steep #1 // 3/4 tsp. // mug 3/4 full // 10 min after boiling // 45 sec

(Future) August TTB

Getting a headstart on some of these tasting notes because I have so many to write. This is my first time trying Verdant Tea. Yay! Question: is this tea roasted? The wet leaf smelled burnt. I didn’t care much for the roasted flavor, but it did have a nice floral taste to it as well. It had a bit of a bitter aftertaste as well, but I’m starting to think my pot was to small for that generous sized sample and I over-leafed. What a shame!