Tea and Zen

To get this clear right from the beginning: this is not the same as What-Cha's mystery tea's. I know the owner's pretty well and on occasion we exchange teas that we really like. This was one of two teas that they gifted me that you cannot get out of China. They told me the names but I forgot them almost immediately. This one is amazing! The other is as well. They are probably some of the best WuYi I've ever had the chance of tasting.

Dry leaf

I only had 2.3g of this tea left, so I put it in my 60ml gaiwan. I used 100C water, rinsed once, first brewing 5 seconds +5 seconds for each additional brewing. Because of the low leaf to water ratio the liquor won't be even half as potent as it would otherwise. It will be delicious all the same!

Brewings

The scent is a little smokey and vaguely reminds me of Lapsang. It has a dark chocolate scent to it paired with the classical WuYi minerality.

The aroma of the brewed leaf was like dark chocolate mingled with dates and honey. The liquor was incredibly silky and smooth. For this cup there was primarily the classical WuYi minerality in the taste. In the aftertaste jasmine and honey mingled with hints of oak.

The aroma of the second cup smelt very much like the first. The taste of the second cup was also much like the first except there was more minerality and something sweet I couldn't quite put my finger on.

The aroma of the third cup was like dates mingled with cream and mineral. The liquor in this brew was much gentler than the last. There were subtle hints of elderberry, raspberry, and melon mingled in with the minerality and slight woodiness.

The aroma of the fourth cup smelled like honey mingled with cream. The liquor reflected this with a touch of melon and raspberry. The melon, honey, and raspberry were very present in the aftertaste.

The fifth cup was more or less the same as the fourth cup but with a much stronger honey tasted mingled with cream and vanilla.

The sixth cup was rather weak in taste but big in aftertaste. An explosion of jasmine, honey, and elderberry danced across my tongue. Despite this, the tea was coming to it's last legs. Since I should ideally be using at least 3g instead of 2.3g that would be why the tea is dying off so early.

The seventh was a weaker version of the sixth, but with more elderberry, so I decided to stop here. I really wish I had more leaf to make this a proper ratio. A .7g gram difference is huge.

For some reason Blogger doesn't like the wet leaf picture. I tried several and it made all of them somewhat blurry like the above regardless of size.

Rating

Overall I give this tea an 8.5. It was very complex, yet not too complex, and sweet even in a low leaf to water ratio. When I had 5g/120ml the first time I had it the taste of this tea was tenfold. The sweetness lingers on your tongue for hours afterward. As I'm sure you've figured out at this point, aftertaste is a crucial part of what I consider to be a good or a bad tea. The longer it sits around on your tongue, the better (if it tastes good). I ate some food and had a sweet drink after the first time I drink this. After the initial taste of the food and drink had disappeared, this still lingered on my tongue. It hung around for eight hours, even after brushing my teeth!

Leaf samples

That is a hella strong and and amazing aftertaste. It's just the kind I crave. The leaves were somewhat unwilling to unroll, but it did not take away from the flavor and complexity. A lot of times leaves that don't like to unroll will.

This tea is complex but not too complex, savory, sweet, fruity, and spicy. It hits almost every main flavor category. The liquor is silky smooth without a hint of astringency. What more could one ask?

To have more of this tea! I wish it was available for y'all to buy because it really is a beautiful example of what WuYi has to offer.

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

This is the last of my samples from Verdant Tea. The remaining teas are all in 25g quantities and haunting my nightmares... that is a lot of one tea to get through considering all the other teas I have hanging around now. Despite that, I have a game plan for how I'm going to get through them. You guys will see that soon enough.


I used 5g/120ml, 100C water, washed once, first brewing 5 seconds + 3-5 seconds per each additional brewing.

Brewings

This tea has the scent of chocolate, the classical WuYi minerality, cream, and a very subtle hint of honey and brûlée. It's a nice smell but all of it isn't very strong. I was very, very underwhelmed by their Special Grade Shui Jin Gui so I am really hoping that will not be the case here, it wasn't a cheap tea ($25.50/25g). This tea is also very expensive at $28.25/25g. That comes out to be a little over $1/g. 

Once I heated the gaiwan and lightly shook the leaves three times, the chocolate, cream, and brûlée were heavily embedded in the aroma. 

The aroma in the first cup was heavily of chocolate, brûlée, and jasmine. The liquor was smooth but somewhat flat. You could clearly taste the minerality in the liquor. In the aftertaste there was jasmine and honeysuckle. 

There wasn't much aroma to the second cup. Bad sign! The liquor was mostly the same except now you could taste cedar and honey. Jasmine was the main flavor in the aftertaste just as before. The liquor was very flat now as well. Pretty disappointing. 

Some aroma had come back for the third. There was jasmine, a hint of hay and earth. The liquor was a little rounder than the previous cups, but still fairly flat. There was an earthy flavor mingled in with the usual WuYi minerality. As it's something I couldn't quite put my fingers on perhaps it is the "wet granite" flavor that Verdant has on the profile. Seems like such an odd flavor but whatever. Peat and cedar with a tiny hint of jasmine lingered in the aftertaste. 

I sipped on a little water after the third to see if it would bring anything out as it usually does with a WuYi.
It didn't.

The fourth smelt almost exactly the same as the third. The liquor also tasted more or less the same except there was more cedar present. If it didn't change much in the next cup I was going to stop at the fifth. No point in trying to make a stagnant tea change when it clearly won't. This tea wasn't even remotely old! 

You'll be shocked: it didn't change at all. Well, it did, but it became weak and almost flavorless. I'm very sad that this met my expectations since they were very low. When I ordered this sample and the Special Grade Shui Jin Gui I was expecting something very special considering the price and flavor profile. It's really everything but.

Rating

This tea get a four. For something so expensive you would think that the liquor would be more complex. I've had much cheaper WuYi's that are much better. C'mon Verdant, this is two of your most expensive teas that are really not anything fantastic. That's a shame! 



In general I have come to notice that a WuYi oolong is either very average (or less than average) or it blows your mind away with how fantastic and complex it is. There doesn't seem to really be a middle ground.

If you are interested you can purchase this tea here. 

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

Way back when I found Verdant Tea I bought their "5 Teas for $5" and this was one of them that showed up. I hadn't tasted Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) from many retailers, and I still haven't. It's one of the wu yi's I am much less familiar with. I remembered the tea being pleasant. With that in mind I went into this tasting with high hopes I would indeed enjoy this tea again.

Wet leaves

The leaves weren't very aromatic. I picked up the distinctive "wu yi" rock minerality smell, honeysuckle, and a hint of vanilla.

I used 5g/120ml, 100C water, first brew was five seconds and added on 3-5 seconds there one out. Before tasting, I washed the leaves twice.

Brewings

After warming my gaiwan and gently shaking the leaves, they had a lovely chocolate aroma mingled with wood and a hint of melon. The liquor was incredibly buttery and smooth. There wasn't much to taste yet. I had hints of melon, honeysuckle, vanilla, and the characteristic minerality present in wu yi oolongs.

Dry leaves

 In the scent of the second cup there was some kamut (a grain) that I hadn't smelt before. The liquor still tasted minerally, but it had a strong, but not overpowering taste of vanilla and honeysuckle. The taste of melon clung the sides of the front of my tongue, and a raspberry-honey like flavor at the very back.

The third was more or less the same, except that the overall flavor had died down a little. The aftertaste was stronger.

Sipping on some water after the third cup made the aftertaste even more pleasant. The melon/raspberry flavor at the back of my tongue mingled with vanilla and honeysuckle in the middle of my tongue.

Liquor

The fourth steeping was very nice. I actually said "wow." It was more or less the same as what I've said up to now, except the flavors of the aftertaste were present while the liquor was still in your mouth. The liquor was now somewhat astringent, but not in an abrasive way. I was somewhat sad to see the incredibly smooth, buttery mouthfeel leave.

In the fifth the aroma was not nearly as strong. This was a sign to me that the tea is nearing it's last legs. The distinctive mineral taste had left, leaving the honeysuckle to run the show.

The sixth was my last cup because the aroma was all gone. There wasn't much in the liquor either aside the lingering aftertaste of honeysuckle. Unfortunately the wonderfully complex aftertaste from cups prior was more or less gone. I could still taste some vanilla on the sides of the front of my tongue.

Brewing leaves

Rating

Overall I don't think this was a bad tea. It wasn't anything to celebrate over, but I enjoyed it. The aftertaste was very pleasant, the body was amazingly smooth, and the liquor wasn't bad. I give it a 7. It's above average, but not absolutely incredible.

I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of some tea leaf samples when I made this. But, from the wet, steeping, and dry leaves I believe you are able to get a good feel of the leaf quality. 

If you are interested in buying this tea, you can purchase it here.

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

There is nothing quite like being dead tired and feeling like you're on autopilot. That just about sums up how I've felt the last few days. I had my blood drawn on the 1st. I've had much more than that drawn at once, so I wonder if the heat has anything to do with this.

Wet leaves

Anyway, despite feeling very "meh" I was excited to try this tea. It smells kind of like roasted chestnuts, a hint of nutmeg, and wood. Something sweet as well, perhaps melon and blueberries. After heating up the gaiwan and gently shaking the leaves, they had a wonderful, dark chocolate smell mingled with lilacs.

I used 5g/120ml, 95C water, rinsed the leaves twice, the first steeping was five seconds and I added 3-5 seconds for each steeping thereafter.

Brewing 1-5

As I have already stated, this tea has a very lovely aroma. My scent cup didn't show me anything I hadn't already smelt, yet. The liquor had an incredibly smooth, almost silky mouthfeel. For the first cup, there wasn't much to taste, just a hint of chocolate. But, it had a very lovely aftertaste. It reminded me of melon, honey, raspberries, and blueberries.

Dry leaves

The liquor of the second cup was very lovely, a nice shade of gold. I picked up on notes of pine/evergreen (pine being 'spicy' and the evergreen being 'vegetal') in the taste of this cup, mingled with orchids, and a hint of dark chocolate. The aftertaste was much the same as before, except with orchids and it clung primarily the sides of my tongue near my throat.

The scent of the third cup was very chocolatey. It was much more present in the taste as well. The after taste was now more like chocolate mingled with orchid, the orchid lingering on the sides of my tongue, and pine at the back of my throat. A slight astringency showed but, but it wasn't anything abrasive.  

2nd brewing liquor

I sipped on some water after the third cup and it strengthened the aforementioned aftertastes. Before sipping on the water I didn't taste anything on the roof of my mouth, but this revealed the flavor hiding up there. This is why when making rock wulongs you sip on some water after the third cup! Sipping on water after drinking some teas can bring forth wonderful surprises or enhance and already lovely tea.

The fourth and fifth cup tasted primarily like the pine mingled with the orchid, as was the after taste. The orchid flavor was particularly pleasing on the fifth, it tasted as if it was mixed with vanilla.

Brewing leaves, apologies for image quality, I had thought it was better

Brewings 6-8

The aroma of the 6th cup reminded me of sugarcane. The liquor tasted like sugarcane with a hint of wood. At this point the tea appeared to be on it's last legs, so I decided to do two more brewings.

The following two cups had a strong aroma of wood, but only tasted like orchid. However, the 8th had a very silky mouthfeel without any astringency like the first few cups.

Various wet leaves

Rating

Overall I think this was a pretty good tea. However, compared to other rock wulongs I've had of the same price range, I don't think it was that good. The aftertaste was very pleasurable but didn't linger for nearly as long as the other rock wulongs I've had in the same price range, regardless of leaf varietal. While good, the overall flavor of the liquor also didn't stand out as much as others I've had. With that in mind, I'll give this tea a six. Nothing to truly celebrate out especially for the price.

If you're interested in buying this tea, you can purchase it here.