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I can’t believe I still have some of this!
I’m not currently a member of the TOMC, but I did really enjoy my membership! This is the 3rd tea from last January’s box, & I had just enough Yu Lu to make a potent cup, so that it’s a sipdown on both of them! There was a little almond milk in the fridge, so I added that, & I also borrowed my son’s Keifer grains, gave them a water bath yesterday to get all the milk out, and made a quart of coconut milk keifer, which turns out is ready, so I added some of that, & WOW! This is the most luxurious feeling Chai I think I’ve ever had! The coconut milk keifer is a little tangy, & so thick & creamy. I use canned coconut milk, not that grotesque crap they sell in the dairy case, & I love it! If you let it age long enough, it becomes yogurt which, for someone like me, is a rare treat indeed.

Verdant’s Chai spice is a little unusual in it’s spicing, & I’ve learned that I need to use quite a bit more than they recommend, because I tend to like my Chai a little strong. But this cup of yum, which is gone already, beats Starbuck’s Tazo Chai by a long shot!

While I was moving my office & sorting through the stuff on my desk, I came across a $30 Starbuck’s gift card from 2 years ago, buried among a variety of other things. WOW! It was a HoliDaze gift from one of my students, & a nice one at that! Of course, I don’t drink coffee, but Starbucks does sometimes have some really nice traveling tea mugs.

I left the house around noon to meet up with one of the local farmers that I get eggs & things from, went to the PO to mail a few parcels for a few steepster friends (you know who you are!), went to Kohl’s to spend my Kohl’s cash, & then hit Starbucks on the way home. My favorite travel cup from them is porcelain on the inside, stainless on the outside, & they had one on sale! So I got that, & just for old times sake, I had them fill it with soy chai. It’s been months since I had soy, & I don’t really care for the mouth of it, & my chai was lukewarm. Oh well…

Here’s another tea from last year’s January TOMC. I wasn’t that big of a fan of this one, I’m still not really sure why. It did have a tendency to irritate my tummy a little bit, especially in the later steepings. By all practical reasoning, I should love this tea. It has a lovely aroma, a chocolate element, & Jin Jun Mei sweetness (& I love my Jin Jun Mei!). There is nothing wrong with this tea, & I don’t even mind drinking it once in awhile, but for some reason we don’t get along as well as I get along with SO many others. That’s all I can really say.

I made a decision this morning to get back to working my way through my TOMC teas from Verdant. Being the obsessive compulsive that I am, I joined both TOMC & TOMCR, & although I’ve sampled pretty much all of them, I also still have most of them, in 3 Verdant mailing boxes, with dividers labeled by month, etc (done during one of my rare but intense Left Brain Moments when Ms. Theresa was in control)
This is one of the teas from last January’s TOMC.
I guess the fact that I still have some of this is testament to my addictive nature & tendency to hoard tea, right? You don’t really want to know how much of this tea I bought when it was available, but I’m probably the reason it went out of stock, LOL.
I’m down to the dregs of it now.
I love it so much! I’ll miss it when it’s gone. This is the most chocolaty nuanced tea I’ve ever had. It’s been described as German chocolate cake, complete with caramely frosting, coconut, etc. And it is!
I think I’d better go to an NA meeting…

This has been in my box from Sil for awhile, & I brewed it tonight to get another sipdown in for the day, & also because, silly me, I didn’t read the label & was thinking this was some non-caffeine cup. As it turns out, there is green tea in there, but oh well, the night is young!

Flavorwise, it’s not bad. And now it’s gone! That’s ends my day at 358 teas!

I had a nice long session with this Shu, which I love.
5G + Yixing (rinse) X 15sec/30/45/60/90 etc…

Every cup was wonderful, with a creamy texture, a sweet fruity kind of flavor, & a nice thick mouth. I really like this one a lot.

I’m finally getting around to sampling this. I have the sample Sil sent me, & Garret also sent me a sample in my recent order.

This is not a bad tasting tea, & I think the interesting flavor Sil was reaching for in her review of this one might be “coffee”. It has an essence of coffee-like taste to it, not bitter, but that’s what I’m getting from it. I’m also getting “grapenuts”, for sure.

Personally I would never buy a tea because it has high levels of GABA, because honestly, according to the things I’ve read, taking GABA as a supplement doesn’t increase the levels in your brain. GABA is manufactured in your brain, & taken as a supplement, it can’t actually cross the blood-brain barrier. The best way to up your brain’s GABA levels are:
- eating fermented foods, like kimchi, keifer, etc, which will improve your absorption of the nutrients needed by your brain.
- doing yoga! Studies have shown that doing yoga enhances GABA levels!

Still, it’s a pleasant cup of tea! Thanks for the samples Sil & Garret!

Also having a mini-cup (4oz) of this one, just to get a little more of a taste before I put it in Sil’s box. This may be my favorite English Breakfast out there! It’s really very good! The essence of the individual teas each make their presence known, but they also really balance the cup out nicely. I’ll probably have to add a little of this to my shopping cart for when I’m in the mood for a classic blend.

Having a 4 oz cup of this & the 1910, side by side, before the remainder of each sample goes into Sil’s box :)

This one is properly bold & reminds me of a black tea I drank yesterday, Butiki’s Crimson Horizon. They aren’t really the same, but there is a certain undertaste, which I can’t quite name, that is similar. Now it’s gone!

Sipdown!

Man, I wish I’d gotten more of this!
This is the most amazing & awesome Aged Tieguanyin I think I’ve ever tasted, seriously, I mean that!
The dry leaf has an appealing mahogany & chocolate color, with an aroma of dried dark fruits: prunes perhaps? Now I’m thinking dried cherries!
I preheated my Gaiwan & warmed the leaf, & it’s a thick fruity cakey aroma, drizzled with caramel syrup
All that, & I haven’t even added water yet!

Every word used on the Verdant website to describe this tea is dead on accurate. Layers of aromas & flavors present themselves & linger.
I’m on my 10th steep, & this is a rich apple dessert, tart apples that have been stewed on low for awhile, so that they are a thick caramelized pie filling, topped with blanched almonds, & warm caramel sauce, with a hint of rosewater…sigh…and these flavors linger, filling my mouth with echoes of mouth watering yum!

I wish I’d gotten ALOT more of this one!