Got this as a sample with my Verdant order this summer. The concept of this tea was intriguing: a green tea made from an oolong tea varietal and compressed into a puerh like disc the size of a coin. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t coax any flavor out of it. I brewed the entire 7g toucha in my 120ml shibo, a rather high ratio of leaf to water. I was expecting a strong cup but it tasted like hot water. There were faint notes of zucchini, okra, and dandelion but it was mostly tasteless. I decided to ambient brew the rest for a couple of hours and then poured it over ice – my shortcut cold brew method. Finally some flavor but man was it strong! I had to dilute to strength considerably to get past the bitterness. It tasted alright. It didn’t have the flowery characteristics of tieguanyin or the musty/earthy flavor of puerh and similar compressed tea. To me, it tasted like a fairly generic Chinese green tea with a chestnutty edge.
Verdant describes a pretty exotic flavor profile so not sure if I screwed up the brewing or something was up with the tea.
Flavors: Chestnut, Dandelion, Floral, Vegetal, Zucchini
Too bad that TGY cake didn’t work out, as it seemed intriguing. Maybe that’s why they don’t usually press green oolongs.
i’m getting the same results this morning. on my fifth steeping per instructions and…nothing much. it’s ok, i guess. this is making me sad!