Stone Leaf Teahouse

Are you really missing Verdant’s Golden Fleece? (edited thanks to Kittenna!) Never got to try any and fear you may never get to? Then get some of this!!!
Its not the exact same tea, and there are noticeable flavor differences but this is as close to it as you are going to get in my opinion!
Stone Leaf Tea is quickly becoming a new favorite tea vendor for me. They have excellent customer service and quality teas!
Granted nothing will replace my love for Verdant or their much desired Golden Fleece but there is no reason we can’t spread the love around!
This is a quality black tea!
There is a slight bit more astringency here than GS but it is not bitter.
I love the flavor notes of pepper, olive, and I also get a buttery mouthfeel.
Its quite pleasing and I plan to keep it around!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea. It’s fantastic!

I love this tea. It has some striking similarities to a Darjeeling, but, with a fuller body and a more robust flavor overall. Hints of wood, cacao, honey and flower intermingle. A dry astringency toward the tail, and a lightly sweet finish that lingers.

Very enjoyable … one of those teas that I’d love to have around to enjoy on a day when I want nothing more than to just sit back and enjoy tea. (Which is… pretty much every day)

A light, buttery infusion. This is a spring harvest and even in this late month I can taste the new growth, still fresh in this rolled oolong. More energizing than grounding. Golden yellow in the cup. Big leaves (for a spring Ali Shan) in mostly full leaf sets with sawtoothed, red edges. Lots of infusions for this one.

AWESOME Hot or Cold! Very nice!
The leaves are a little more brown that other Bai Hao’s I have seen but the aroma is very fresh and crispy-sweet!

The flavor makes my mouth water and it near juicy but ever-so thirst-quenching! There are creamy notes throughout that are really nice, too!

I’m a FAN!

SIPDOWN #3 for today…
Creamy, honey, cocoa…YUM…see previous notes…
Sorry to see this one go…

This is my first tea taste of Stone Leaf Tea and I’m very impressed!

The aroma is a little bit of honey and a little bit of sweet wood paired together.

The post infusion liquor color is a lighter to medium brown.

There are slight hints of a darjeeling taste to it but as the product description notes – it HOLDS IT OWN – it’s different from that stereotypical darjeeling taste. It’s a combo of a mellower black tea taste with a slight bit of darjeeling black – add in specks of sweet woodsy flavors, honey, and a creamier-malty type taste. The after taste is smooth and semi-sweet, too!

This is comforting! I like it!

All the sweet milky notes of this tea have bloomed while its bright, Sharp initial flavor has mellowed. This remarkable tea is one to cherish and savor for repeated enjoyment.

This highly floral but creamy and a lingering sweet oolong is an emerald cup of fresh gold to be sipping on in this part of the world.

I’ve never had tea this fresh before. It was harvested on March 15th and I tasted it for the first time on April 4th! This freshness is indescribable. The aroma is almost overwhelming while the liquor is almost clear. The flavor is like fresh baby spinach with a cashew undertone. I don’t have many words, this is just wonderful and I’m going to enjoy what little I have until I can get more.

I just had the fresh batch of this and it’s wondrous. it’s flavor is so crisp and complex. the first taste is like a spring mountain stream coming through the ice followed by a sweet, almost melon kind of flavor, followed by a hint of buttered toast that warms the tongue for the finish.

A delicate but full bodied flavor with more buttery overtones than the usual taiwanese florality. Not quite as good as the Li Shan but still a spectacular tea that I’m hoping to drink more often

A dense stick of puer that hold a surprisingly sweet flavor. the light purple infusion is only a little woody followed by a pear/mango sweetness. I want more

My second encounter with this tea was far more successful. I think it really stands out when compared with other Taiwanese oolongs. for me this tea is far more hearty, nutty, and buttery than any other Taiwanese tea. the typical floral notes or only slight and just in the aroma and the first taste on the tongue. the rest of the flavors surround my tongue like a warm towel of delight.

My first sip of this came on the 5th or 6th infusion do it may not have been the best brew example. my second taste however was much more pleasant. while the first flavor that hits your tung(ha) is that crisp taiwanese florality, i expected a sweetness similar to the other rolled oolongs. such was not the case. instead i was treated to a warming vegetable quality that made me describe this tea as squash blossoms. quite buttery and even a little nutty.

I had one sip of this from a friend. It was awesome!!!!
My friend is like “I love this tea, it’s so mellow” – she’s not really into tea
Turns out that “mellow” means buttery and soft.. man, I need more of this tea!

I know why they call this “milk tea”. It has a creamy texture that I usually associate with a high-quality Korean green or Anji Baicha, but with the fruity taste of a first-class rolled spring Oolong. Nice and sweet with very little dryness. The wet leaves have a more robust aroma than the liqueur: more like a deeply aromatic plum.

All winter I have been waiting patiently to try the first new teas of 2010….and I finally got my chance this past weekend! During a visit to the wonderful Stone Leaf Teahouse in Middlebury, VT, I was pleased to discovered that they had three of the new spring teas in stock, including this Bi Luo Chun that was processed just two weeks before.

I’ve brewed it twice now and have been very impressed with the results. The flavor is (not surprisingly) very fresh and vibrant, but what did surprise me was how durable this tea was. I expected one or two good infusions and then nothing but warm water after that. I was also expecting that I would have to be very careful about my water temperature and infusion time. However, I found that it was nearly impossible to make this tea bitter and it actually responded quite well to near-boiling temperature water.

A real treat; it’s amazing to have tea so fresh!