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At long last I get to try the well loved, almost worshipped, Laoshan Black. My experience with the fancier straight black teas is that I totally miss whatever people say they tasted. Maybe I’ve burnt my tongue too many times on hot tea or more likely pizza, but I don’t have the sophisticated “taster” tongue that many appear to have. Regardless, I was hopeful that I would still enjoy this, even if I couldn’t taste all the chocolate or other flavors so often mentioned.

Well, that was not a problem at all. Holy chocolate! And it’s like a slightly burnt chocolate, in a good way. Yum! I’m not going to rate this yet or even comment much on the flavor as I had a less than ideal first go round with the brewing. My rinse went according to plan. My first steep half spilled all over my hand (ouch). I didn’t want to burn my hand again, so for the second steep, I moved the tea leaves into a strainer that had previously brewed a chai so that flavor still permeated. Finally, I moved the leaves to a simple clear brewer that you drain out the bottom. At that moment, the little Bean woke up from her nap so any kind of short steeps were out of the question. So from then on I just poured some hot water into the brewer, watched it for a minute or two and then drained it into my mug and continue to chase the little creature. No real rhyme or reason to it. All the steeps (even the one that I forgot) were really yummy except for the one that still had the chai flavor. Tomorrow I hope to try again. And I hope the Bean stays asleep a little longer this time. Nap time is sacred. She’s been skimping on me lately.