Tea and Zen

Packaging for 25g

For about the next month, posts that will be following this will be reviews on various samples (5g), and full size orders (25g) from Verdant Tea that I have sitting around. These include:

• Qianjiazhai Wild Picked Black 
• Review
• Qianjiazhai 2014 Gu Hua Sheng
• Review 
• 2016 1st Picking Shi Feng Dragonwell
• Review
• Tian Di Ren 2005 Shu Puerh Cake
• Review
• Special Grade Shui Jin Gui
• Review
• Big Red Robe
• Review 
• Old Tree Shui Xian
• Review
• Yunnan White Jasmine 
• Review
• Bai Ji Guan
• Review
• Da Dan
• Review
• Ben Shan
• Review
• 30 Year Aged TieGuanYin
• Review
• Reserve TieGuanYin
• Review
• Autumn TieGuanYin  
• Review

After I finish off reviewing these teas, I will not be buying from Verdant Tea again.

The tl;dr version of this is that they lied about the age of the trees they were sourcing for various pureh cakes that were being sold. If you'd like to look into it more:

• Teadb Thread/Video 
• Steepster Thread - Very interesting (albeit very long) read
• Marshaln - Verdant Tea Strikes Again 
• Reddit Thread

Considering I am a fan of their Yunnan White Jasmin, Laoshan Black, Autumn TGY, Reserve TGY, and their customer service was fantastic, I was sad to find this out. I don't feel comfortable buying from a company that can't follow their own principals: trust and transparency. They broke my trust, so they'll no longer be on my vendor list. I do not hold any vendor to a "God" standard, and if this was the first issue that has arisen from Verdant Tea I'd let it slide. This is the second.

I don't feel as if I was duped by any of the tea or wares I've bought from them, but I don't want to take a chance either. There are many other vendors I can and do buy from. Everything they sell I can purchase elsewhere.

Sometime after this I'll make a different review post about my overall experience with VT. Up until this it was very good. If you wish to continue buying from them, go for it! My values may not be the same as yours and it isn't my business as to where you're buying tea. This second offense hadn't come to my attention till a few days ago despite the fact it happened several months back. I think this is important for people to know so that they can make educated decisions. Leaving the interwebs for several months really cut me out of the loop of things.

Until then, here comes a whole lot of tasting! As I make the reviews I'll add a link next to each tea. The date that the review is posted to the blog will not be the day I brewed the tea. I have a nice queue set up.