Laoshan Black

Sample from the 5 for $5 deal!
Gongfu’d it at 205 degrees and with the instructions on Verdant’s website.

Okay, so I enjoyed this with some friends in my dorm lounge. Everybody was very pleased with the tea! I also enjoyed it. It brews into a very light liquor with a sweet honey smell.

The taste was very refreshing. That being said, I’m not quite sure I get the fanaticism behind this tea. Its good, but Steepster almost seems to treat it like the epitome of Chinese blacks. To be fair though, looking at the price, this is a very admirable quality tea with a nice pricetag. I taste honey and chocolate. It has a very mild earthy tone. It lasted well under about 10 steepings in my little Yixing. I think this would be really good iced… Next time I order from verdant, I might throw in some of this just for that purpose! Give it a try!

Remarkable! Smooth with deep fudge notes. Even the body is supple and glides cleanly over the tongue. Great find!

Well, I have had some of this in my stash for a bit. I am surprised I have never written about it. This tea is popular on Steepster. I think I get it, but for me this one does not jump out and scream buy tons of me. It is a decent black tea, with a bit of a roasty, cocoa flavor. I really enjoy the Laoshan Roasted Ooolong much more. Sometimes I worry when I don’t LOVE a tea that is so popular, but I think this is what I like about Steepster and tea. There is so much variety, that not everything has to be YOUR favorite.

Lewis & Clarke TTB

Tea of the morning! I’ve been wanting to try this particular tea for a long time, mostly because of the hype it gets around here. The leaves look exactly like Laoshan Green but black. :P They’re thin and brittle and curled into little loops in some cases. Dry scent is pure cocoa, yum! I did a 3 minute steep as per usual for black teas.

Brewed, this tea smells very similar to Fujian black teas that I’ve tried – it has that same savory dill note. This tea also tastes similar to my idea of a Fujian tea. It’s strong and has robust flavors with that dill note along with dark grain and some lovely cocoa. This tea, however, has a nice burnt brown sugar or caramel flavor to it that really adds depth. And it’s a teensy bit sweeter, especially in the end and aftertaste, and there’s a touch of cinnamon.

Overall, quite good, but not mind-blowing. :)

What more can be said about this tea? Delicious tea that I really think deserves to be tried by every serious tea drinker at least once. Blew my mind the first I tried it a couple years ago and one of those teas I serve to people who don’t drink tea very often to show them the possibilities. I guess you could say I like it!

Lewis and Clarke TTB

When I saw this in the box, I squealed in excitement (which caused my bf to call me tea crazy). I’ve been wanting to try this for awhile. The dry leaf smells so much like cocoa powder, it’s insane. There’s also a touch of that roasted peanut smell.

I used ~5g for 8oz 200F for 5,20,30,45 seconds. The first cup tasted like honey, with a touch of caramel. Second cup is similar, but with a strong cocoa note hitting the back of your tongue at the end of the sip.

Third steep, a nice dark bread like note appears. It’s dark bread slathered in honey and a heavy dusting of cocoa powder. Sinfully delicious. The forth loses some of the honey and gets some grainy (barley?) notes at the front of the sip.

It’s not often that I finish my cup of tea while it’s still piping hot, but I just couldn’t wait for the cup to cool. I need to get this!

Smells honey and almond.
Taste like malty chocolate, bread, and grains/wheats.
Looks like a very clear and beautiful beautiful copper color. The liquid almost looks like a scotch during the first 2 minute infusion. The second infusion looked like a dark amber color with a 3 minute infusion.

I don’t get much chocolate notes from this tea. Strong notes of bread however. I will definitely recommend the sample before you blind buy the tea.

I really wanna love this tea. So so much ><
It’s soo chocolatey- which I really like. But it also tastes really grainy and nutty, which I’m not so fond of. It’s like a grainy, chocolatey tea.
Since I’m officially off of work for now, might go through all the teas I’ve not had in a while and decide what to keep, and what needs a new home.
I really do wish I liked this one though. I really thought this time I’d like it better. :/

I did not enjoy the taste of this tea. The smell of the tea threw me off before even trying it.

A really nice black tea with a slight hint of bitterness and no astringency. The flavors of baked bread and chocolate combine really nicely into a great tea. The smell of the wet leaves is reminiscent of wine. Many steepings are possible gongfu style.