89

No one, not even Bonnie, has made a note about this one yet??? Bonnie, you’re slacking!

This one was odd to me because upon opening the sample pack I was greeted by what looked like loose leaf black tea, not nuggets or any sort of pressed cake. It smelled very pleasant with notes of light earthiness and mushrooms, raisins, caramel, and a hint of jasmine.

The wet leaf smelled of caramel, raisins, whole wheat flour, and a slight mushroom note. The infusion was a nice rich dark color with notes of mushroom, caramel, with a hint of salt and a hint of jasmine.

I brewed this gaiwan style with two quick rinses and started off with a 2 second steep, adding a second for every steep, working up to 10 seconds. The taste was really nice and different. It was light, but note weak. It reminded me of the way the Huang Zhi Xiang Phoenix Mountain Dancong was. How it was a dancong, but it was lighter, not POW in your face. That’s how this puerh is, nice and light, not aggressive at all, very pleasant.

As for the actual notes I got, and I’m not going to go through steep for steep, started with light notes of earthiness, mushrooms, raisins, and caramel dominating. There were lingering notes of cinnamon and other spices, with a musty note coming and going. The aftertaste of the first few had a salt note to them.

Somewhere around steep 5 and on I started to get a cake note in the tail end of the sip that was very fleeting. It was similar to angel food cake without the sweetness. It’s hard to explain, it was a plain cake taste, not those vanilla or chocolate or icing covered cakes. Just a plain sponge-type cake.

Further on a tingling sensation crept over the sides of my tongue and a nice wildflower honey note came through. The honey note was more texture than it was taste, but even at that it wasn’t a very strong texture, just enough to let you know it was there and be pleasurable.

I never did taste the jasmine note I had found in the dry leaf. Aside from that, this was a very nice mellow puerh. It still had those earthy notes that I found to be characteristic of shu, but they were mellowed, making it a much more pleasant cup.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec
Bonnie

You are right and I have it. But, I just bought it and thought it looks wierd when I write the first reviews all the time. I wondered for awhile why this was happening until I realized that I was always buying my tea’s at about the same time new tea’s were being released. Aha! My Social Security Checks and Verdant were timed right!

Bonnie

I like my puerh strong. When pro’s are tasting they steep a long time, then gradually decrease the time until they hit the “sweet spot”. I’d try 30 seconds even though it’s loose and see what happens.

Invader Zim

What luck to have Verdant tea releases and your checks timed! And now that this has been reviewed, you may go ahead with your tasting note! By the way, it doesn’t look weird that yours is first a lot, we enjoy your notes!

Invader Zim

Usually when I try a tea for the first time, especially puerhs since I’m new to them, I like to go by the vendors directions. Now that I’ve tried it this way I will have to try it again with longer steeping times to see how that works, although I am enjoying that this is a lot mellower than most shus I’ve had.

Bonnie

Me too, I do follow Verdant’s instructions. If I get a shu sample from somebody without instructions I always start at 30 seconds. I was just remarking on your having tried it already and it being light. Now you can change gears so to speak. Steeping longer doesn’t mean that it won’t stay mellow. The shu I had earlier today from whispering pines was quite rich but remained silky smooth and mellow. I wish that I had people to drink shu with because I have a bunch still to review.

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Comments

Bonnie

You are right and I have it. But, I just bought it and thought it looks wierd when I write the first reviews all the time. I wondered for awhile why this was happening until I realized that I was always buying my tea’s at about the same time new tea’s were being released. Aha! My Social Security Checks and Verdant were timed right!

Bonnie

I like my puerh strong. When pro’s are tasting they steep a long time, then gradually decrease the time until they hit the “sweet spot”. I’d try 30 seconds even though it’s loose and see what happens.

Invader Zim

What luck to have Verdant tea releases and your checks timed! And now that this has been reviewed, you may go ahead with your tasting note! By the way, it doesn’t look weird that yours is first a lot, we enjoy your notes!

Invader Zim

Usually when I try a tea for the first time, especially puerhs since I’m new to them, I like to go by the vendors directions. Now that I’ve tried it this way I will have to try it again with longer steeping times to see how that works, although I am enjoying that this is a lot mellower than most shus I’ve had.

Bonnie

Me too, I do follow Verdant’s instructions. If I get a shu sample from somebody without instructions I always start at 30 seconds. I was just remarking on your having tried it already and it being light. Now you can change gears so to speak. Steeping longer doesn’t mean that it won’t stay mellow. The shu I had earlier today from whispering pines was quite rich but remained silky smooth and mellow. I wish that I had people to drink shu with because I have a bunch still to review.

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Bio

I’m an avid tea drinker, it’s what I drink all day and why I’m here. I don’t sweeten my teas except for the occasional iced tea or cold-brewed tea. I typically brew my teas with a brew basket in a 12 oz cup. If I brew another way I will always note it.

Dislikes: black teas, milk flavored oolongs, hibiscus, red rooibos, licorice, dessert teas, mate, guayusa.

Loves: straight teas, especially Chinese green teas, sencha, jasmine, dan congs, mint, coconut.

My ratings are based mostly on the smiley faces. If a tea is of good quality but not to my taste preference I try not to rate it because I think that is unfair.

I drink a lot of the same teas and will not record every time I drink them. I log them the first time I try them and then again if I did something different and/or got different results.

I also try to keep my cupboard updated to what I actually have for those that wish to swap, although some of them are merely samples.

100 – http://steepster.com/teas/verdant-tea/32720-hand-rolled-top-grade-jasmine

Location

Pennsylvania

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