With it’s high quality and high ratings from the steepster community, I wanted to taste this a few times before I reviewed it. I got this and Laoshan Black as well as a sample of Big red robe in my order from Verdant yesterday. I think this one is a case of reading the excellent reviews and getting my hopes up, because it wasn’t quite what I expected. I love Earl greys so I thought this tea would be perfect for me. The bergamot is not very prominent – I get more of a floral taste before the bergamot which was a little disappointing. I’d prefer it the other way around but there is definitely a lot of rose in this tea.
I TOTALLY get the “natural” chocolate taste though – whenever somebody described that I never understood how that could be but I think it’s really nice and intriguing – perhaps I’ll prefer the regular Laoshan Black when I get the chance to try it.
So overall very nice and I’ll definitely have more, but when I get to order again I’ll probably try something different!
Yay for fancy tea though!
(sidenote: the instructions say steep for 2-5 seconds…..is that right?!)
Flavors: Bergamot, Chocolate, Rose
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I’m guessing that the 2-5 seconds thing is off the back of the bag? For this tea, I’d ignore it – those instructions, I think, work best for their oolongs and puerh if you’re using a gaiwan or tiny tea pot (for gong fu cha etc). I think this tea is one of few Verdant offerings that works really well as a Western Brewed tea – I still normally use a generous amount of leaf, but steep (initially) for 30 – 60 seconds (depending on how much leaf, exactly, how much water, how hot the water is etc etc)!
*really works best
(They all work well however you drink them, ofc! But I prefer gong fu style brewing for most (except this one))
(Also (sorry for spamming) – I found my bag of this became increasingly bergamot heavy as I got through the bag – I mixed it up more and it balanced better! Maybe this would help for you, too! :-) )
Ahh thank you! Yes that makes more sense – I ended up actually steeping it for about a minute because 5 seconds just did not seem right, haha.
And I’ll definitely give it a mix before I try it next – the bergamot seemed more like an after taste than anything with my first two steeps!
No worries on the spamming – the more information and advice re: tea I can get, the better!
I’m guessing that the 2-5 seconds thing is off the back of the bag? For this tea, I’d ignore it – those instructions, I think, work best for their oolongs and puerh if you’re using a gaiwan or tiny tea pot (for gong fu cha etc). I think this tea is one of few Verdant offerings that works really well as a Western Brewed tea – I still normally use a generous amount of leaf, but steep (initially) for 30 – 60 seconds (depending on how much leaf, exactly, how much water, how hot the water is etc etc)!
*really works best
(They all work well however you drink them, ofc! But I prefer gong fu style brewing for most (except this one))
(Also (sorry for spamming) – I found my bag of this became increasingly bergamot heavy as I got through the bag – I mixed it up more and it balanced better! Maybe this would help for you, too! :-) )
Ahh thank you! Yes that makes more sense – I ended up actually steeping it for about a minute because 5 seconds just did not seem right, haha.
And I’ll definitely give it a mix before I try it next – the bergamot seemed more like an after taste than anything with my first two steeps!
No worries on the spamming – the more information and advice re: tea I can get, the better!