This is another one of the teas from the Verdant Tea of the Month Reserve Club. I was sort of holding off on reviewing it, waiting to see if someone else wanted to take the lead on this one, so that I’m not being the first to review everything. But I can wait no longer!!

The dry tea has a slightly green smell. I give a quick rinse, & a short steep, emptying the Gaiwan into my cup. The wet leaves smell like almond essence & …banana pudding? I have my face in the Gaiwan, just breathing…in & out…& a miraculous sensation of sugar occurs in the back of my soft palate, I’m smelling sugar! I linger…I’m smelling a bowl of banana pudding with those yummy almond sugar cookies dipping in it.

The tea itself is a beautiful butterscotch color, with a sweet almond essence, along with a floral note & sparkling sensations on the back & undersides of my tongue. I’ve been enjoying it for a few hours now, just steeping & sipping. It’s very nice, but I have to confess that I’m not always the greatest at short steepings, & this one can take on some bitter & drying qualities if you let it go too long. I got sidetracked & that happened with one cup.
Se La Vie
(I’m sure I spelled that wrong, I don’t know French)

Invader Zim

I would love to try this tea and review it. Alas, I received four different teas, but this was not one of them in my package for the Tea of the Month Reserve Club. How many teas, and which ones, did you get in your package?

Terri HarpLady

Huh? We didn’t all get the same teas? Here’s what I got:
*Experimental Pressing Yeu Guang Bai
*Tea Research Alliance Special Commission ’06 Stone-Pressed Sheng
*Xing Ren Xiang Phoenix Mountain Dancong
*Xue Pian Phoenix Mountain Dancong

What did you get?
Now I’m wondering what Paul, Aiko, Zeks, & whoever else joined got… I just assumed we’d all get the same teas.

David Duckler

Hi,
Great to see so many people starting to try the first reserve club teas, and some of those rewards samples. Everyone got the same sheng pu’er and Yue Guang Bai, but since this was the first reserve shipment, and I really wanted to pair these lighter more ethereal tastes with suitable Dancongs instead of something darker, we ended up splitting the dancongs into a few groupings. These dancongs were sent in very small quantities (4-5 z each), which I really wanted to share. I opted to split the reserve shipment into several dancong pairings to achieve this goal. The dancongs sent were Xing Ren Xiang, Da Ma Ye, Xue Pian, Red Leaf and White Leaf. Everyone got two of the above.

In the future, everything should be pretty consistant across shipments, as I will be able to source the teas specifically for each month based on the number of people enrolled. The upcoming month is going to be a knockout with teas from people like Master Han who wild-picks on a secret mountain plot in Yunnan, processing all his tea personally. We are the first company outside Xishuangbanna that he has worked with because he doesn’t even have roads in to his house.

I am thinking of starting a board or discussion post with the next shipment for people to talk about the teas, and connect as a reserve club community. We are even looking at instant message or video conferencing for a big e-tasting.

Looking forward to future shipments,
David

Terri HarpLady

That would be awesome, David!!

Invader Zim

I have so many teas from the resrve club, rewards samples, black Friday, and my birthday from last week! I’ve been too excited about the dancongs to try anything else other than that jasmine!

Thank you for clearing that up David! I’m sure a flurry of confusion and messages/emails would have ensued! From the reserve club, the two dancongs I received were the Da Ma Ye and the Red Leaf Dancongs. I think a discussion board would be a nice place to congregate. I really like the idea of a mass e-tasting! Master Hans tea sounds super squirrely secret and I can’t wait to see what it’s like!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

Invader Zim

I would love to try this tea and review it. Alas, I received four different teas, but this was not one of them in my package for the Tea of the Month Reserve Club. How many teas, and which ones, did you get in your package?

Terri HarpLady

Huh? We didn’t all get the same teas? Here’s what I got:
*Experimental Pressing Yeu Guang Bai
*Tea Research Alliance Special Commission ’06 Stone-Pressed Sheng
*Xing Ren Xiang Phoenix Mountain Dancong
*Xue Pian Phoenix Mountain Dancong

What did you get?
Now I’m wondering what Paul, Aiko, Zeks, & whoever else joined got… I just assumed we’d all get the same teas.

David Duckler

Hi,
Great to see so many people starting to try the first reserve club teas, and some of those rewards samples. Everyone got the same sheng pu’er and Yue Guang Bai, but since this was the first reserve shipment, and I really wanted to pair these lighter more ethereal tastes with suitable Dancongs instead of something darker, we ended up splitting the dancongs into a few groupings. These dancongs were sent in very small quantities (4-5 z each), which I really wanted to share. I opted to split the reserve shipment into several dancong pairings to achieve this goal. The dancongs sent were Xing Ren Xiang, Da Ma Ye, Xue Pian, Red Leaf and White Leaf. Everyone got two of the above.

In the future, everything should be pretty consistant across shipments, as I will be able to source the teas specifically for each month based on the number of people enrolled. The upcoming month is going to be a knockout with teas from people like Master Han who wild-picks on a secret mountain plot in Yunnan, processing all his tea personally. We are the first company outside Xishuangbanna that he has worked with because he doesn’t even have roads in to his house.

I am thinking of starting a board or discussion post with the next shipment for people to talk about the teas, and connect as a reserve club community. We are even looking at instant message or video conferencing for a big e-tasting.

Looking forward to future shipments,
David

Terri HarpLady

That would be awesome, David!!

Invader Zim

I have so many teas from the resrve club, rewards samples, black Friday, and my birthday from last week! I’ve been too excited about the dancongs to try anything else other than that jasmine!

Thank you for clearing that up David! I’m sure a flurry of confusion and messages/emails would have ensued! From the reserve club, the two dancongs I received were the Da Ma Ye and the Red Leaf Dancongs. I think a discussion board would be a nice place to congregate. I really like the idea of a mass e-tasting! Master Hans tea sounds super squirrely secret and I can’t wait to see what it’s like!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I’m so excited to have found this community! I’m a self-employed Harpist (acoustic & electric – Originals, Classical, Rock, Jazz, etc) & Singer/Songwriter. My days & nights revolve around teaching at home, playing gigs, gardening,& fixing awesome food to eat. My schedule is different everyday, but I just go with the flow, & I sip a lot of tea!

My love of Tea began with Herbals back in the 70’s. One of my favorites was a licorice blend from House of Hezekiah, an old tea shop in Kansas City. There was also a tea with mint, rose petals, chamomile, etc called Nuclear Casual Tea.
In the 80’s I gave up caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, (& a few illicit substances…), and brewed medicinal blends & tinctures to support 4 pregnancies (all children born at home). In the 90’s my love affair with green teas began when I discovered ‘The Republic of Tea’. Their beautiful teas & packaging inspired my original song, “TeaMind”, from my CD “Zen Breakfast”. If you’d like to hear the song for free, drop by my website.

In general, I drink my teas straight, but occasionally I add a pinch of Stevia & maybe some coconut or almond milk (I’m allergic to dairy, gluten, & various other things & avoid most sweets.)

I’ve explored a variety of teas:
Whites tend to be a little bland…sorry
Oolongs – wonderfully sensual
Roobios – I’m not a fan in general
Puehr – a fairly new direction for me
I’m not a huge fan of flavored teas, but I do make exceptions, & I’ll try just about anything once.

And Black Tea, Oh how I love thee!!
I am on a quest for the most wonderful breakfast cup! I will find you, my Love!

Location

St. Louis, MO

Website

http://www.harpsinger.net

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer