Laoshan Black

solid.

NOTE: I have the Autumn Laoshan Black.

I think I’ve steeped this one a bit too long. The taste was somewhat bitter, though not unpleasant. It tastes bark-ish and smells familiar, yet I cannot quite pin down exactly what familiar thing it smells like.

Will rate after a few more infusions.

Infusion 2: much more pleasant. It tastes more like an Oolong this time (to me), and is very malty. The aftertaste is, as others have said, honey-like. This is a very smooth tea.

Tried this tea over the Great Steepster Shutdown of 2023.

HOT DAMN! Best black tea I’ve had, hands down. Worth the price a million times over! So sweet and strong of a flavor that I thought it had to be a blend or something. Like drinking liquid s’mores and a molten lava brownie mixed together, except way better!

Lasts 12-14 infusions easily, so it has wonderful length too!

I am really loving Verdant Tea’s offerings.

Harvest: Fall, 2022.

Got this as a free sample from my Verdant order. Tasted like a dilute Wuyi Yancha, missing a body, texture, finish, everything. Very few teas make me feel like puking but this one almost did. I’m lucky I only have 5g of this tea.

Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!
First gongfu steeping of tea from TTB. Batch: Autumn 2019.

Tea #10
This is a winner! At least so far. I plan to try two more teas.

I decided for gongfu this afternoon and it was the best I could do with this tea. I have used whole 5 grams I had available and steeped in my 125 ml gaiwan. 10 seconds starting time with 10… 15 s increments.

Dry leaf aroma reminds me mostly cacao, slight bitterness and malts.
Steeped? It was a symphony of sweet notes of cacao, chocolate, malt and barley, lightly even a rye, complemented very well with light floral notes and a wee bit of spices.

It deserves a better note.

2021 Homemade Advent Calendar Swap – Day 12
From Skysamurai.

Autumn 2019 Harvest
Oh my goodness, this is such a treat! Verdant has such delicious black teas, and Laoshan Black in particular has been on my wishlist for a long time. I bought a few samples to try earlier this year, but I’m not 100% sure I’ve tried this particular harvest. Whether I’ve had it yet or not, this is one I know I will enjoy.

I used the full sample pouch for one cup of tea and steeped closer to my normal brew time for chocolaty black teas. It turned out to be a true bittersweet chocolate, dancing right on the edge of pure cacao but with enough sweetness that I can imagine myself nibbling on a fancy chocolate bar. In a word, luxurious.

Laoshan Black Tea
He family spring 2020
Laoshan, Shandong, China
崂山红茶

5g, 130 mL, brita filtered water, water off the boil

Dry leaves: chocolate, raisin

10s first steep: brewed leaves smell a little burnt. Taste: a sweet floral, very pleasant, but also deep, reminds me of coffee without the acidity.

20s second steep: similar brewed leaves. Taste: aftertaste reminds me of Chinese dried jujube dates. No other thoughts.

No more notes, except sweet potatoes at some point. Online reviewers overall seem obsessed with LB, so I had really high expectations going in, and that probably dimmed my experience a bit. I’ve been spoiled by my aunt’s mystery pack that she sent me a while back, and that had something basically exactly like this with different packaging, so I’ve already had it or an eerily similar one in the past. It’s not a bad tea per se, just perhaps not for me. Didn’t bother with more exact notes, because everything that can be said has already been said.

Sad sipdown. This is one I will be picking up in a larger amount once my cupboard is under control. It’s just as rich, malty and chocolatey as everyone says, but it’s also insanely smooth with a sour edge and a bean note that adds something a little different to it. There are hints of smoked caramel in the aftertaste, and the lingering impression it gives me is like somebody added cocoa to bread dough before they baked it, and now that bread is fresh out of the oven and you just took a big bite. This will one day be a staple single origin black in my cupboard, I think.

212/399.

Still absolutely delicious. Finished off the bag I brought to work. Can’t get enough of it.

I really enjoy thia tea. It’s a bit of a one trick pony, hardly any complexity. The taste is coccoa, pure and simple. This tea tastes like hot chocolate and it’s awesome. Really fun to share with non tea drinkers. Steeps out at 3 or 4 steeps. It’s really only good for a steep or two imo but it is lots of fun. I do enjoy it.