Laoshan Village Chai

Sigh, sometimes you just take a cup, have one whiff and lose sense of reality. Which is what happened to me this time. Almost sad to be back in real world. The smell of this chai is so rich it’s criminal. Not as aggressive as their spa blend or so mulled wine~ish as yunnan golden chai. This one is deep and whole. I was actually reluctant to take a sip and sat there savouring the scent until I accidently shook the cup and tasted some :) At first it seemed that taste is very different than the smell(as I expected something extremely sweet with such a scent) but then the aftertaste kicked in and it became obvious that both aspects of this tea actually match. Not exacly sweet, but very full and satisfying flavor that I just can’t compare to anything.

I will have to brew this a bit more to decide if I place this blend into my usual rotation but it has all the chances.

Every year I get a special gift around the holidays, passed on to me by a friend or family member, and best known as the common cold. Ugh! It messes with my ability to appreciate the taste and aroma of my beloved teas, and makes me quite grumpy. This year, I have found two teas that not only make me feel better, but woke up my taste buds again and make me feel alive again… Verdant teas Thai Ginger Fire, and this wonderful Laoshan Village Chai.

The base to this brew is a great tea in it’s own right, and the pairing with these spices is truly artful. I have never heard of saffron or burdock in chai, and it gives extra special layers of flavor and aroma. I have been brewing this using an infuser in a glass tea mug, and didn’t add anything the first time around. I kept inhaling the steam, and sipping the tea, and could feel the good energy seeping into my body. By the second steep, breathing easier and sore throat soothed, I added a touch of really dark local honey. Nice! :)

I will eventually try this with some soy or almond milk, but for now I am just absorbing the flavors and aroma — enjoying this fabulous blend.

All. Mine. I’m not sharing this one with ANYONE. The spices aren’t the blend I generally associate with chai. Like the Phoenix one, the spices lean a bit more towards cardamom.

I don’t really know what else. It’s good, it’s mine, and now I have to try mixing the rest of my laoshan black with the masala chai in my cupboard.

(0.5 tbsp for a 16oz mug, water just off the boil, 4 minutes, added honey and creamer.)

Uhhhh. So, I’m drinking the “newer” version of this, which includes goji berries. I’m not really sure where this entry belongs… there are two Laoshan Village Chai listings, but neither is the version currently being offered…

Anyhow, I just got a sampler packet of this, and haven’t had the older (summer??) version in a while, so I can’t compare the two, but this one’s not bad. Unfortunately, I think I underleafed as I wanted my packet to last for two sessions… and I think the cup needed closer to a full tbsp of tea. However, it’s still okay with milk and syrup, just a bit difficult to pick out the spices. I think I prefer Chocolate Phoenix Chai though; this isn’t my perfect blend of chai spices, even though the blend is heavy on cardamom pods. Perhaps I need to try a longer infusion/infusing in milk… plans for another day!

Thanks to Terri Harplady for a sample of this.

I’ve been feeling all sorts of bleh all week, and I’ve been meaning to try this sample. I was especially drawn to this because of the ginger in it, which I know helps with stomach issues. So, we’ll see.

This is a very nice chai. It’s got some nice bite but it’s not overly so. I didn’t put anything in it, so I like chai blends that can stand on their own. I still have yet to brew up the Laoshan Black on its own yet, so I’m curious to see if that will help bring out that flavor even more, but it works as a nice base. Looking forward to getting some solid infusions out of this.

First of all, thank you to Amy Oh for sending me a bit of this chai. This is one I’ve been wanting to try since I’ve seen the tasting notes here on Steepster… and thank you, Amy, for this opportunity to try it.

As some of you know, I used to blend and flavor tea. My most popular blend was my Masterpiece Chai, and this is a chai that I took well over a year of testing and tasting to get the recipe just right. I’ve tried quite a few chai blends from other companies since that time (and even before that time, as my thinking was that if I could find the “right” chai made by someone else, I needn’t invest the time to create my own blend, you know?) My findings are that I’ve discovered many wonderful chai blends since I’ve closed my business, but, before I started blending to create my blend, there were very few that that I tried that I would consider “good” and none that were just what I was looking for which is why I decided to embark on my own.

Since that time, I’ve tasted many really good chai, but, I still have yet to find one that lives up to my own. (Gosh, I sound so humble, do I not?) And this one is REALLY REALLY GOOD. But, I can’t compare it with my own, because this one is quite different. I did not put saffron in my blend and that makes quite a difference, as does the burdock root.

But, this is REALLY good. I love the interesting flavor that the burdock root and saffron offer this blend. It is so well-rounded; a very pleasing sip from start to finish.

I really like this.

Sipdown #53

I always start my morning off with chai. Why not Laoshan Village Chai? :)
I decided to use the whole 7g sample in one cup. I may come to regret that, but it’s too late now! The dry leaf aroma is an aromatic blend of spices. The brewed tea aroma is spicy with a woodsy element from the Laoshan Black.

First sip…mmmm! What a beautiful tea! The chai spices are very nicely blended, and the Laoshan Black comes through strong with its chocolaty malty goodness. Ohhhh yeaaahhhh!!! This is a fantastic tea! I’m very pleased with it and find it much more enjoyable than plain Laoshan Black. If I didn’t already have so much tea, I would definitely take advantage of the current 25% sale on all Verdant tea blends.

This is one of the samples sent to me by Bonnie that I really wanted to wait for a special time to make it, and that time is NOW! My daughter who used to hate all tea, then liked puerh, then white and green, has discovered that she likes chai! She is visiting today so we made this two ways.

First I just steeped it in water, like any black tea. We took it without additions and she liked it very much. I like it, too, and there are a lot of chai blends that really turn me off. This one, Harney and Sons Indian Spice, and Rabbit Hole Chai have been my favorites. For a bagged tea, the Holiday Spice by Stash isn’t bad.

Next I mixed a little water in milk and steeped it that way. I did sweeten it a little, but my daughter didn’t care for it as much. Once she added some additional sugar she liked it, though. Her favorite was and is definitely still the first version, steeped like a regular black tea.

Thank you, Bonnie!

This is an excellent chai!
Obviously, as others have said, the base makes a huge difference.

At first, the dry leaf smelled quite strongly of ginger…while I like it a lot, my wife and I were a little concerned it would be overpowering.

The aroma of the leaves after the first steep (when I focused away from the spices) was just like chocolate, and also some kind of grain… I think barley or buckwheat.
But with the whole combination, it really smelled just like Lebkuchen. If you haven’t had Lebkuchen, you are missing out. My wife is from Germany, and she thought of this too… she thought it smelled like some kind of Christmas candy she would eat every year.

Contrary to our concern about the ginger being overpowering, this was not the case at all. It was a very delicious, balanced chai, and remained strong for 2-3 steepings.

The leaves were beautifully long, dark, and continued to look nice after every steep… they invited me to just keep steeping (all western style brewing) several cups after the tea started being weak. (We probably steeped it 5-6 times, even though the last three weren’t as good, I just couldn’t bring myself to dump the leaves out, which is unusual for me).

Wow…very nice. I have been wanting to try this after I tasted the Laoshan black tea. I opened the package and the spices hit me. I could not smell the tea at all. I was a little worried that it would be just that…SPICE! I gave the packet to a coworker and they said that they could smell it from across the room…it was so strong.

I used about 2 teaspoon in my wabi sabi pot from Samovar. Brewed it for 5 mins and poured. Nice amber color.The chocolate aroma of the Laoshan black was there. It smelled amazing, the spices backed the chocolate flavor of the tea perfectly. I put 2 teaspoons of raw sugar and a drop of cream. It was balanced..really did not need a thing.

This time last year I was trying almost everyones chai. I bought Adagio, Samovar,Yogi,Tazo, Rishi.This to me is the best one. Its because of the Laoshan Black. That tea already has so much dept that it would have to make an amazing chai. I’m so happy I purchased 2 oz of this. I will have to pickup more and do it “old school” on the stove top.
I kind of regret putting the cream, it did not need it……