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Thanks, to my good friend tunes&teas for sharing this with me.

At last, I finally get to try this lovely Laoshan Black tea! The dry leaves are so dark, twisty and shimmery. The smell of the pre-steeped leaves are chocolaty and sweet.

It’s so hard to comprehend the diversity and variety in the black tea family (all teas for that matter), such as – the region that it is picked, altitude of origin, soil conditions, climate, season of harvesting, level of oxidation, method of processing and many other things. You can really have unlimited options to try and experience. I truly enjoy this about our shared passion of the leaf. It’s teas, such as this one, that truly drive the point home and make you aware of the complexity and potential of great tea. Even smelling the dry and wet leaves, knowing all the info concerning the tea and it’s background – none of these things replace the experience of tasting the tea for yourself!

This tea truly delivers all the hype and advertising. Once the leaves are infused and you try it for yourself, you find that it is far greater than what the smell or aroma indicated. Yes, you taste the rich cocoa base, but there is a cinnamon creaminess that is present as well. The brew is full bodied and has a nice texture or feel inside the mouth. Very smooth.

I started with 3 sec steep on the 1st, then 7 sec on 2nd, 12 sec on 3rd, 17 sec on 4th, 23 sec on 5th, 30 sec on 6th, 2 min on 7th. Each of these produced a very tasty cup of tea and there was no found bitterness during each of the infusions. One interesting thing that I noticed, was that after 3 or 4 steepings, the wet leaves had more of a fresh hot pepper smell to them – green Thai peppers or red habaneros. I didn’t not, however notice any of the spiciness in the brew. That would have added an extra little kick!

This is a great tea and is best suited for a time when you are not in a hurry and can allow the tea give all that it is desiring to release. Of course, you can drink it on the go! Just don’t throw the leaves away. The rested leaves while you are gone will be more than ready to pick back up where you left off. Very nice tea indeed!