Laoshan Roasted Oolong

The Day She Planted the Sweet Potatoes
Parts Three, Four, Five, Six, & Seven
To make a long story short, after several trips to Lowe’s I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to give each sweet potato it’s very own raised circular bed, although 12 of them did get their own private circular beds. Also, it was starting to look like rain. Also, I realized that if I picked the Napa cabbage (which I needed to pick anyway, & start a batch of spring Kimchi), I could plant 4 plants there. And I was gonna be harvesting Garlic soon, so I could plant 4 plants in each of 2 of the garlic beds (a little companion planting, right?).
Here’s what happened next. I opened the little box, which had 6 cute little bundles of sweet potato slips. There were suppose to be 4 of each type. In reality, there were 10 – 12 of each!! OMG! I don’t have anywhere else to plant them, so I clustered a few together in each prepared place. Just as I started planting them it started raining like crazy, of course!
When it stopped raining, I went outside & planted the rest of them. I was finally done at 9pm, & I think maybe that was the filthiest I’ve ever been, LOL.
My reward for this very long day was a hot shower, followed by this cup of tea.
That’s all I got.

On my first steep of this. Finally found an oolong I really enjoy. It’s like the laid back little sister of Laoshan Black. I can’t wait to see what the next few infusions bring. Definite re-order!

ETA: So I did a few more steeps of this and this crazy sweet honey flavor came out in the last steep. But there wasn’t much other flavor. Just a sweet flavor.

I decided to make another cup, but let it steep forever and get all the flavors out in one cup. I’m not sure if that’s like sacrilegious or something, as the website says to not steep for more than a minute, but it just sounded right to me. And man was it! I let it go until all the leaves were totally uncurled. And it tastes like creamy sweet chocolate pudding. Not a hint of bitterness or astringency. Just creamy. And sweet. And chocolatey. This is the only way I will be making it from here on out. Yum.

One more add — After looking at the verdant website again, I realized I prefer brewing this Jingshan Style. I love finding new teas that make me giddy. This is definitely one of them.

I’m not sure what was wrong with me the first time I drank this, but today – lots of leaf, low water temp, long steep = OMG I’m having a tea moment AMAZING.

Because Laoshan Village just launched two ‘first ever’ Oolong’s with Verdant Tea, I’ve decided to prepare tea in a style common to that geographic area.

Laoshan Style Tea: (No special equipment required)
Heatproof glass tumbler, 175 degree filtered. Pour water over aprox. 1tsp or so leaves (1/4 inch). Wait until most of the leaves sink to the bottom of the glass, then sip.

Refill the glass with water throughout the day using the same leaves.

The signiture aroma and flavor of chocolate, potato and barley that I love in Laoshan Black Tea is present in this Oolong, with a lighter more delicate and sweeter taste.

One sip and you know, this is tea from Laoshan Village and Mr. He!

Throughout the first tasting, I couldn’t help comparing Laoshan Black Tea with the Laoshan Roasted Oolong while swishing and swirling the golden liquor.
The cocoa brown tea leaves had plumped a full 2 inches high in my glass and left a filmy haze of tea oil. Good leaves!

The tea’s medicial benefits were taking effect with a golden, light warmth elevating my sense of well-being.

I relaxed, sat back on the couch…and passed the tumbler in front of my nose to catch the floral and fruity scent.

More water into my tumbler, and the glass was dark topaz from the cinnabar-brown leaves that filled it.

The flavor was lighter, not as potato-chocolate as the first steep, and spicier. Cinnamon, caramel, citrus.

This particular Oolong is in the flavor profile of Laoshan Black but lighter, sweeter and more floral. I look forward to seasonal changes and roasting experimentation.

Personal Note
I sat today and remembered the first time I drank really great tea and what it was like. How do you explain it?
Everyone knows what a ‘Flash Mob’ is. Well, when I was drinking bagged tea’s and highly flavored tea, it was like a flash mob…all dancers and bands and noise. A fun show!

There comes a part when everything stops and there’s a reveal. The one special moment when everyone points to a single person because that is the point of it all. The show and everything is about that moment…the ‘reveal’!

One layer after another of people is removed…they point to a spot and…‘tah dah’!

For me, my moment, or ‘reveal’ with tea was when I drank my first high quality, unflavored loose leaf tea. I was blown away!

I had no idea that tea could have such a pure, clear voice. Without apology…it changed my tea journey and sent me down a path of discovery.

Now I know how to use equipment and how to pour tea, and like going to Grammar School I’ve learned lots of facts.

Weeks ago when recuperating, I drank copious amounts of fine tea to help heal my tired-from-migraine brain. The tea helped a great deal!

I’ve been thinking about the need to learn to ‘drink tea’ and it’s time to sit still more often and heal in many ways.

Lesson #1
I know very little about tea.

I finished off my little packet of this, but I have a 1 oz paccket ready and waiting. I had this in my travel mug this morning. ( Sacrilege! I know! ) It brought out the roasted flavor more actually Probably because I left steeping for more than I would normally. Still good this way!

SIPDOWN! soooo this basically tastes like laoshan black to me lol. I’d have to do a side by side comparison as i’m sure there are differences that my immature tea mouth can’t pick up. soooo this is tasty delicious, but i’m not sure i’d add this to my cupboard given the similarities for me.

Sample sip down! This is my Monday all day at work tea selection. I really enjoy everything out of Laoshan. I do prefer the green oolong to this one though. I am REALLY tempted to order some stuff from Verdant before the Laoshan sale ends…I already have SO MUCH tea though, ugh.

I forgot I had some of this tea. I ordered a sample of this with my Black Friday order, and the sample pouch came open in the mail, so I salvaged what I could out of the box (and picked out bits of packing peanut haha) and stuck it in a small empty tin I had lying around. The other day I opened the tin and was surprised to see it in there!

So I brewed it up (had to pick out a few more peanut reminants). This is quite a delicous tea, and I understand when people say it reminds them of Laoshan Black. It’s definitely chocolatey, malty, and honeyed, though I find it slightly lighter and sweeter than LB. It also has some bready roasted-oolong notes going on that suit it well. Very nice, and I’m glad I was able to salvage enough to try it out finally!

My husband asked for a black tea or similar that is not too dark but neither too light and has some flavour and complexity. I chose this sample with the hopes of granting his desire.

This tastes rich, malty and smooth with hints of chocolate, smoked hazelnut and mature honey. The balance of strength and combination of flavours is perfect. There is no astringency or harshness.

Very similar to Teavivre – Fengqing Dragon Pearls in terms of strength, sweetness and maltiness but the Laoshan features more complexity.

This is a very nice tea, something that I could most certainly get used to. Could be one to consider purchasing.

Still more sampling from Nicole’s great giveaway. Thanks Nicole!

Tastes so much like Laoshan Black—which means it’s delicious, but maybe for me redundant, esp. considering how forgiving and flexible LB already is.