Laoshan Black

Wow. Excellent!

Bought some tea from Verdant Tea and they added in a sample of the Autumn Harvest Laoshan Black for me. It was really excellent – a solid, powerful cup of tea with a really nice broad flavour: a little malty, a little chocolatey too. Not overpowering by any means, just a really solid cup. Excellent flavours. Looks like another Black Tea win for Verdant Teas!

I am very impressed with this tea. The appearance of the leaves is very curious-thin, curly, like they were extruded to make pasta instead of plucked. The dry aroma is a of dark chocolate, the steeped aroma is spicier. The cup is unusually light for a black tea- everything about it is new and fascinating.

The flavor tops off the impression- I pick up dark chocolate, a little mace and it finishes with the buckwheat flavor note mentioned in other tasting notes.

My sister (who doesn’t like tea) told me it smelled like I was making chocolate when she came downstairs this morning. As advertised, the tea is reminiscent of a dark chocolate, at least as far as smells go. If it has any chocolate flavor, it’s a very slight one. The taste is delicious though, and this may in fact be my favorite black tea. It’s not astringent at all, and leaves a nice aftertaste in the back of your mouth, similar to the one you would get with a dark chocolate.

I couldn’t decide if I liked this or not. I’m normally prefer oolongs and whites to blacks but I was in dire need of caffeine this morning, and I had this sample. The taste is smokey, with an almost bitter/sour-but-not-quite undertone. It’s a full flavor but not one I found entirely pleasant. I’ll have to try this again at a later date to see if my initial sleep-deprived impressions change.

It was very well caffeinated though. I stayed awake during my early morning meeting.

I got this in the 5-samples-for-5-dollars deal. It was (maybe still is?) the highest rated tea on Steepster so I was excited to try it.

This tea smells toasty. Not as if the leaves have been toasted themselves, but as if they contain the toasty essence of bread-that-is-good-for-you. The first steeping had a creamy mouth feel. I wasn’t able to detect much sweetness, but I drink lots of artificially-flavored drinks so my poor taste buds are probably all dulled by that. The second steeping really does leave a cinnamony taste on the tongue! Quite interesting. I’m not sure how to rate it, but I definitely want to get some more.

This is just really tasty. This definitely and with no hesitation goes on my list of favorite teas. It’s got a toasty, chocolatey taste. Tastes good with sweetened milk too – definitely a treat.

My first ever Chinese black tea….mmm. I won’t try to describe it because I don’t have enough experience with them and everyone else’s description here is so good! If this is what Chinese blacks are like I am going to have to try more :)

A remarkable tea for only two years in the making.
Dark chocolate and tobacco are the main notes of the large, twisted leaves in the bag. It was hard to believe how chocolatey the reviews were, but they were dead on right.
I was going to wait until autumn to order, but with a mid-May frost in the offing I was glad I didn’t. As stated by Angrboda, the steeped tea is more milky in taste, rather like a cocoa than dark chocolate, with absolutely no bitterness to it. There are vegetal/ grain/ tobacco notes to it to, giving it’s ‘nose’ great depth. I’ve recently come to the blacks after many years of greens and whites and I’m bowled over by the flavor depth here. If you’ve only experienced black tea in the bag. Fasten your seat belts and be prepared for your world to be rocked!

Smells strongly of dark chocolate. Leaves an aftertaste of chocolate as well. Very nice. Re-steeps well.

This tea tastes just like the no longer me safe brownies (Foods by George), I used to get. Chocolatey, malty, creamy, and a hint of something bright.