Northern Wilds

This is pretty much still meh. I steeped it for longer this time to see what would come about from that and it’s still pretty meh. Hopefully next month will be better.

Can’t wait, gotta try the new Blends Club blends! These are all “fall” blends, which apparently means minty and woodsy to Verdant. Ok, sure.

So this tea smells intense dry. Super minty and herby. I am not following the provided steeping instructions because for one I didn’t weight out 5g of the teas to figure out how much that was in volume, and I figured I would try them out at my usual western/blends parameters. Steeped, the tea smells familiar and unique at the same time. First off, with both peppermint and spearmint the main scent is not surprisingly mint. I also get a slight spicy cinnamon/clove note, a slight root-beery note, and a somewhat savory woodsy note. For sure this tea has a lot going on.

I’m going to preface this by saying that I don’t often go for minty teas, but I do enjoy them on occasion. This is very minty for sure, but the rest of the herbs also provide some depth and interest. I have to say, at these parameters the Big Red Robe doesn’t really come through; perhaps that’s the reason for what seems like a large amount of tea in the original steeping directions. I guess there is a “bass note” in this that does strike me as a roasty, slightly caramelly oolong. The dandelion root (I think) provides a light sweetness to the blend, mostly in the aftertaste. I will definitely try this at the recommended parameters as well as cold brewed, as suggested. If you like minty, herby teas you will no doubt enjoy this one!

this sample came from the gracious Stephanie whom i am thinking of at this ungodly hour as i sip.

i have an exam in a few hours. i need to be able to think. which means i need to sleep….. instead i go over and over my information. this is NOT helpful!!!

the tea…. mild, minty, hopefully conducive to sleep in the near future. although going by the name i am not inspired to look up in awe at majestic trees or dodge charging elk (which has been known to happen in northern BC). to me this blend is a murky mint. i don’t get any oolong, birch, cinnamon or clove….. i smelled anise in the dry blend, but that is explained by the fennel. murky mint sums it up for me.

no numbers, c’mon, it’s 4:15. i’ll try one more time. at the moment though i’m not amazed.

Perfect cool morning for a blend with the name Northern Wilds.
True, Verdant is further North than Colorado, but it can get pretty ‘wild’ in the Rocky Mountains. I love the drama of cloud formations that tumble and sweep like brush strokes off the higher peaks behind my house…across the prairie ahead.
Snow, thunder and lightening on winds so fresh that I wonder how I ever lived in a city with a million people.

Today is my son’s 45th birthday. Sigh.
I posted pictures of Aaron as a little boy on Facebook because it’s my job to remind him that for 45 years, I’ve loved every moment knowing him.

A pot of Northern Wilds and my Kindle in my lap to read the comments about my son’s birthday began my morning today.

At first, I was put off by the aroma of the tea. It smelled strange.
I’m sensitive to smell, so I gave myself some time to cozy up to the ingredients. Maybe I was expecting more pine or sage…a savory woodsy instead of mint. I don’t think of wild woods and mint together. When I lived in the Pacific Coast mountains sage was everywhere but not mint.

I’d take the mint out and make this a stronger blend, more robust. The other blend ( Master Hans Forest Grove) has mint and spice too.

This almost never happens, but…I’m not fond of this blend. It tastes strange, and out of place to me.

I finally received my blend of the month club order this week! I have tried the other two teas already, but haven’t written notes, but thought I’d write one on this one as I’m having a cup right now. I was a bit hesitant to try these teas, as I’ve never had birch or chicory before and was worried I might be allergic since I’m really allergic to birch pollen. So far it seems to be ok though! :)

This tea is definitely a different one. The dry smell is very spearminty, with a woodiness. I steeped for the recommended 1 minute with boiling water and about 2.5 tsps of tea. The resulting liquor is dark brown and smells..interesting. There’s a sweetness from the spearmint and I assume sarsaparilla, and that woodiness again, maybe the birch? The flavor is difficult to describe too lol. Sweet, but not sweet, a lot going on in this blend. Overall this is not my favorite, to be honest. It’s quite a mish mash of things going on, and I think there’s just too many new flavors for me haha. Maybe I will change my mind after later cups, but for now, this one is not exactly my favorite. Ah well, happy to have tried it as always! Widening my horizons for tea ingredients too! And I can see how this fits the Northern Wilds name too, from the woodiness, not really the sweetness (which could also be the fennel..) but the wood flavor fits! An interesting blend nonetheless. Leaving off a rating for now.

Nope.

I thought I’d try it because I did, after all, pay for it. I keep sipping to try to tease out the other flavours, but it’s not growing on me. I can’t get past the spearmint.

Without the spearmint (and peppermint, honestly), I think I could really like this. The base tea is really interesting. I’m going to have to add it to my “to try” list.

Tea #2 from HHTTB2

The first sip tasted like toothpaste, but the other flavors build on the tongue while the mint does not, so it eventually becomes overpowered. After that it becomes a bit spicy. Cinnamon and clove on the front of my tongue, chicory in the back. There’s also an underlying flavor that starts kind of murky and took me at least the half the cup to get over. Once that feeling goes away, it’s kind of a sweet woodiness, maybe a damp tree leafiness, very familiar, but at the same time not.

This is definitely a unique blend with lots of flavors, but I’m not sure it’s a harmonious pairing and I’m struggling with it.

Received this one from Darby in round 2 of the secret pumpkin swap.

On smelling the dry tea, this one really reminded me of coffee for some reason. I think it is the chicory in it (a staple ingredient in Tim Hoton’s coffee).

The brewed tea tastes kind of weird to me. Not weird in a gross or bad way. I am finding the flavours are just not melding together. On very first sip I get a strong mint, mainly spearmint, taste. Then there is a very strong fennel and chicory taste. At the very end of the sip there is a very strong sarsaparilla taste – it is very drying but not astringent. After I sit for about a minute, I feel like I can taste clove lingering on my tongue. I am still reminded of coffee, even though it does not taste like coffee at all. I think the Wuyi oolong mixed with the chicory is giving me that kind of feeling of coffee in my mouth.

This one is not bad but I am not sure what to make of it. It seems like to me it is missing that one ingredient to tie everything together. After sipping about a half a cup I thought maybe some cocoa in the tea would help. However, I am not a huge cocoa/chocolate tea fan so I am not going to try it myself.

Thank you BrewTeallySweet for sharing this with me! (162)

After drinking Big Red Robe tea all day I have no problem identifying the oolong in this blend. Then there’s mint and spices in each sip. It’s tasty but not something I would go out of my way to get.

Final tasting from the October Verdant Blends Club box!

This one is really hitting the spot for me today. Very complex, but well balanced. It is herbal and woodsy and does taste like an autumn forest :) The mint is present but not overpowering…same with the cinnamon. Kudos Verdant!