This is part of my Sample Demolition: Verdant Tea series. By far, this was one of my favorite teas that Verdant Tea has to offer a...

Verdant Tea: Yunnan White Jasmine

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This is part of my Sample Demolition: Verdant Tea series.


By far, this was one of my favorite teas that Verdant Tea has to offer and the bag I bought in January was hands down the best jasmine I've ever had. I've had a lot of jasmine and I have several close favorites but unf! This one was just so fantastic I'm hoping this order will be the same. I am now on the hunt for a replacement. Either What-Cha, Yunnan Sourcing, or Upton Tea Imports will become my replacement. I haven't had the jasmine silver needles from any of them but I know all three companies have very good tea.

Anyway, I decided to brew this tea three different ways: gong fu, western, and grandpa style. I have 25g so I may as well make it every way, nay?

Western parameters #1: 5g/237ml, 95C water, first brewing 30 seconds, +15-30 seconds per each steeping.

The website had different instructions than the bag! I thought they seemed funny. Western parameters #2: 5g/237ml, 95C water, first brewing 25 seconds, +10 seconds per each steeping.

Gong Fu parameters: 5g/120ml, 95C water, first brewing 5 seconds, +3 seconds per each steeping.

Grandpa parameters: 5g/350ml, 95C water, topped up at 2/3rd point.

You open the bag and the tea is so fragrant you can taste it. But this time it wasn't even half as fragrant as my previous order. Jasmine, strawberries, and cream danced across my tongue. What you smell in the aroma is more or less what you experience in the liquor except much stronger.

Western Brewings #1

In the first and second cup there is a very gentle semi-sweet flavor of lilacs mingled with jasmine. In the after taste your pallet is blessed with strawberries, vanilla, and cream with a hint of melon. The liquor is very smooth with a hint of astringency. It has a long, smooth finish and the flavors linger at the back of my pallet on both the bottom and top of my mouth.

The tea wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it being so... I decided to go to the product page. The instructions were different. That is not a good thing to do. I had remembered brewing my original package differently and my memory was not wrong. I decided to do two more this way.

They didn't taste like much.

Western Brewings #2

I was hoping that this would go better than that mishap before. You would think that they'd have the instructions that are on their website on the package? Then again, most of their tea comes with no instructions even though their shipping says all their teas sell with instructions.

I don't care too much. Ain't a big deal but I feel like complaining about it anyway. I know how to brew just about everything but this is a problem for people who are new (even though they can just go to the product page like I did, but what is work?).

The first cup this time was more or less the same as the first cup of brewing #1. I am a very sad camper right now. When I first ordered this tea it was absolutely amazing. This batch is a lot different. It's less fragrant (dry and brewed leaf) and in being less fragrant, it doesn't taste as good since smell is a super important aspect of scented teas.

I am most disappointed that the second and third were more or less the same as the previous brewing as well. The only big difference is that a slight green bean flavor was stronger in these cups. I suppose at least this tea isn't too sensitive to brewing variation? But quality consistency man... I really wish this was as good as the first bag I had ordered...

The after taste had lasted for hours! The taste itself was fruity, floral, savory, and complex. The mouthfeel was smooth and full with a long finish.

This time there was little or none of that.

Gong Fu Brewings

Honestly for this I was more or less expecting the same results as the aforementioned. Fragrance is so important for scented teas and this one isn't quite there.


The first and second brewing were incredibly gentle. It was almost like water, but with the recommended parameters this didn't really surprise me. The after taste was a gentle raspberry with jasmine. The liquor was very smooth with a hint of astringency.

The third was a little more floral and the after taste was a semi-strong strawberry flavor. Otherwise it was more or less the same. I was hoping this was a sign that the tea would open up some more unlike the western style disappointments.

It kind of did. The green bean notes began to show up here. The after taste was almost non-existent in the fourth brew.

The fifth brew had no taste and a very faint after taste and a fair amount of astringency but it wasn't abrasive. I tried for a sixth anyway.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. The after taste increased at least, that was nice! It was a strong strawberry with hints of melon. It also had this weird dirty hint in the background that shows up when a tea is on it's last legs.

I really, really want to believe in this tea, so I did a seventh. It was the sixth but weaker, except for that dirty-ish after taste. That was stronger.

I cannot tell you how sad I am. Here's hoping for grandpa style.

Grandpa Style

At this point I didn't have much faith in the tea. My disappointment is through the roof, let me tell you. The first order was so good! Why did this have to happen?

It was cool seeing all the little fuzzies floating around in the water beneath the floating leaves during my initial fill up. My first sip is what I expected out of this tea: sweet like strawberries and a hint of cherries (didn't taste that in the past) mixed with cream, marzipan, and jasmine. Thank the tea gods! The actual liquor didn't taste like a whole lot but I don't care too much about that, the aftertaste tends to matter more to me (within reason).

I wish it had stayed that way. Very quickly that dirty aftertaste I mentioned earlier wormed it's way into the tea. This wasn't even 15 minutes in! This is fresh, plump, and full buds that are being disappointing. I can get a broken leaf green Jasmine from Tiger Lily Tea (I forget it's name) that never goes bitter and it's not even made of buds. Ugh!

I decided to let it be and keep drinking. The aforementioned unpleasurable taste began to disappear but it was still present. The flowery nature of the tea began to show up again but it was weak and average.

By the half hour mark a weakened version of the dirty taste was lingering and almost no jasmine.

Rating

Part of me wonders if I am suffering from "Diminishing Marginal Utility" which means that for each additional unit of the good you are eating or using, the less pleasure you get out of it. Yay for economics!

Or maybe this batch really wasn't even half of what the other batch was in terms of quality. Mixed quality isn't a good sign. I'm thinking this is the case opposed to diminishing marginal utility.

Leaf samples. Flowers at the far right?
As I am sure you can tell, good reader, I didn't enjoy this 20g I used in total for this review as I did the original 25g. It wasn't nearly as floral when coming out of the bag which was depressing. It was still strong but about half of that from the first time I had this jasmine.

That, or my body is still wow-ing over the Australia Arakai Spring Green tea I had a few days prior. That was amazing!

Overall, as an average of my two orders of this tea, I give it a 7.5. This bag was more or less a six. The first bag I had was a solid nine. As I had received my first bag around January and this one I bought in April (prior to learning about VT's most recent shenanigans) and did not open, perhaps that has something to do with it. Who knows. 

If you're interested you can purchase this tea here.


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