Bergamot Rose Laoshan Black

David sent me some of this and I must say the color of the contents blew me away! The Rose Petals are a purple red – vibrant and bold in both color and taste. I could see and smell the citrus contents and while sipping on this little gem KNEW there was more than ‘just orange’ within. Orange AND grapefruit? AWESOME! The black tea base, which I LOVE and have reviewed separately, is chocolaty, malty, and slightly crusty!

The reasons I LOVE this offering?

It has the Verdant FAMOUS Laoshan Black Tea Base. Another reason is because David didn’t skimp on the ingredients…that’s for sure! AND, of course, the creativeness of pairing these flavors together! I really appreciate that! PLUS…the unexpected creaminess that lingers on to the aftertaste! A Delight!!!

I walked into the office this morning and happened to look down at a package by the mail boxes. Before I even saw my name on it I saw Verdant’s, and I snatched it up! I had forgotten I got my tea sent to my office instead of my PO Box! Yes, my precious Bergamot Rose Laoshan Black, you are finally mine! Being away all summer I never got a chance to order this one, and when I came back it was out of stock, then David announced it was being discontinued! No!! But it came back in stock before being discontinued, whew, so I bought 4oz, which is a lot of tea for me to buy at one time. And I had never even tried it, that’s how much faith I have in David’s blending.

I tore into the pouch and oh my goodness it smells delicious. Mouth-wateringly good. Like bergamot and cookies and chocolate. It has a decidedly baked-good note to it that is familiar but I can’t quite place. No, wait! It smells like rosey bergamot chocolates. Like maybe a rose-bergamot fondant dipped in dark chocolate (now I totally want to make that, but I know my boyfriend wouldn’t like it because he’s not a fan of either flavor!).

Steeped, the bergamot and the rose definitely took a back seat. Now I smell the familiar Laoshan Black toasty chocolate notes. My first sip is decidedly rose and chocolatey. Definitely toasty grain notes, with some creamyish citrus lurking in the shadows. The bergamot in this one is extremely light, and the rose isn’t super strong either. There seems to be a reason this one isn’t called an Earl Grey, and I’d be lying if I didn’t wish for a bit more bergamot, but it’s still an extremely delicious and amazing tea. Glad I got a supply of it before it disappeared!

This is the second of my selections from the Alchemy Blends Tasting Kit. (Oh I do love all the tasty Alchemy Blends that I’ve had so far!)

When I opened the packet of tea I was amazed at the beauty of the rose petals. I buy rose buds at my spice shop for culinary use but they are never as vibrant as these.
I poured a bit of tea into a white porcelain tasting cup to see the blend of dark Laoshan Black tea, pale orange peel and bright rose flowers which looked like potpouri. The scent of bergamot, rose, chocolate and citrus… was ethereal.

I was having my morning tea so I made a large pot…steeped it 3 minutes. (I resteeped 2 more times with super results)

Laoshan Black is so rich and chocolaty, a beautiful tea that goes beyond malty or bready to a deep richness that is full and round. There is complexity that comes from the He family knowing their small farm and the soil.

The addition of rose petals, bergamot and citrus to Laoshan Black is daring! This is not an Earl Grey Tea and does not pretend to be. It takes guts to add anything to such an athletic Black Tea as this one.
This was already a fastastic tea that takes you to the top of chocolate heights…where you think there couldn’t be any possiblity of more goodness…adds the tease of rose, a whisper of bergamot then a flicker of citrus at the finish.
When I drink regular Laoshan Black, it leaves a thick chocolate, malty finish in my mouth.
This Alchemy Blend leaves a bergamot, citrus, rose and cocoa finish each one like flavor droplets that I taste individually. Delightful.

This is subtle and enjoyable. The next time though, I’ll prepare this in a glass gaiwan or other glass vessel because it is so beautiful and sexy. I think this would be a good dessert tea with some chocolate and berries or a mild cheese.

This came from Terri HarpLady – thanks!

I was waiting for the right time to try this… today was a lazy day, but a good day. I finally got to sleep!

The first steep of this, and I can smell the Laoshan black in here. Bready and rich and dark, it dominates the smell. When I first take a sip, it’s all perfumy dry rose, and that goes well with the astringency of the black. It’s very smooth.

The second steep, and it’s completely different. This is oranges and dark chocolate. What was dry and stiff and powdery and polite is now warm and inviting and rich and smooth.

It’s such a wildly different experience that I can’t decide which I prefer. It’s a fantastic tea.

This is another tea that seemed a little bit ‘scary’ for me, because I’m just not a huge fan of Bergamot & citrus, but I DO love roses! I took a risk because:
1. I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve gotten from Verdant so far…
2. The new fall line is coming soon, so I wanted to at least give it a try while I could.
3. Anything with Laoshan Black in it just has to be awesome, right?
4. The picture of the tea is just SO beautiful that I couldn’t resist!

Opening the packet, I stick my hose down in there & breath in…OMG! This is like heavenly aromatherapy! The perfectly blended & heady scents of roses, bergamot, & citrus is like a yummy perfume some classy old lady might wear…it’s like a calgon commercial saying, “Take me away…”. It’s intoxicating, & the bergamot doesn’t take over the show. It’s a supporting player, which I don’t mind!

This is possibly the most beautiful tea I’ve ever seen: Skinny little twisted strands of black tea form a palate for brilliant magenta rose petals to lay upon, with a sprinkle of citrus peel.

Brewed, the tea smells like the chocolate buns that a local bakery used to make. I was addicted to them, years ago…yeasty, crusty, ohhhh…

And the taste? The cocoa depth & maltiness of the Laoshan Black, with a hint of rosewater, & there is a bright note of Grapefruit in the background, just a little edge, just enough to add a sparkle!

Yummm!!

Backlogging tea of yesterday afternoon…..

Very pretty! Long wiry black leaves with rose petals and pieces of citrus peel. Dry leaf smells strongly of chocolate, but there is not much of the bergamot. I will do a more in depth review later, but my first impressions of the brewed tea were heavy on the dark chocolate (definitely not in a bad way, though) and very light on the bergamot and rose. I also had time for only one steeping. I am going to let it sit for a week to see if the flavor oils will blend in a little more before trying it again. Right now, I wish the bergamot was a little more present.

Usual mug method.

Thank you so much Terri HarpLady for sharing this one with me !
And even a double thanks as Terri sent me a second parcel because the first one has been lost.
I wanted to taste this tea for ages. Loving bergamot and loving rose I was sure it was a tea for me. And was right.

First, it’s a lovely tea : the blend is full of petals of rose, exactly as on the picture here.
The scent of the dry leaf is fantastic: rose & citrus

After brewing, the liquor is darker than I thought, amber.
The dominant taste to me is rose and behind bergamot.
I don’t get the chocolate, sorry but not a problem as I am not the hugest fan of chocolate in tea (especially because it never equals a real cup of hot chocolate to me :) )
The tea base (which is more than a tea base as it seems to be one of the best seller of Verdant) is absolutely fantastic and welcomes ideally the flavours.
I am in love really, the kind of teas I would have every day without problem.

Hmmm, I have been looking at this for a while now and thought I should sample it. This was one of my 7 samples that I purchased. I must say Im not a huge fan of rose, and I have a few blends from Verdant that have it in it. I would have never have thought of combining it with a black tea infused with bergamot, but here it goes.

Well Im not a fan of this, but I’m glad I got a sample of this before it was discontinued. I have tasted every Verdant tea in the last year, and did not want to miss one…

This is so beautiful and delicate looking, lovely light pink petals floating in the cup. The rose and the bergamot are indeed tame as other’s have noted, which I appreciate, though I did try the proto-type and if memory serves this tastes like it has a bit more bergamot. But the star here is the chocolaty Laoshan Black base. I love exploring all the different ways to enjoy Laoshan Black and it sometimes seems less intimidating to brew up a cup of one of these Alchemy Blends than the pure tea, so I could see myself stocking up on this and enjoying it more often. I have the perfect black tin with white cranes and delicate sprigs of pink cherry blossoms on it, the ivory colored one is reserved for a future order of Eight Treasures Yabao and the purple will receive Peacock Village Shu in just a day or two (I had originally thought I wanted Elderberry Pu’er but I much prefer the pure base). Though I may just wait for he autumn harvest of Laoshan Black and just stock up on that. But for now, I need to go reinfuse this!

I am not going to add a negative rating for this. It would be unfair to drop this tea’s rating when it is a personal hatred for bergamot AND roses – especially since it was sent as a free sample. I am willing to trade this if anyone is interested.

Oooooh these rose petals are gorgeous! They were pretty enough in the dry leaf, but by the time it finished steeping they had unfurled across the surface of the tea. There’s a lovely true rose scent to the aroma too – no fake flavoring here. I keep inhaling the hot mug because it’s not cool enough to drink yet! Which makes me notice htat there’s a dark chocolatey note too. Yum yum yum.

I didn’t really notice the bergamot in the smell, but I do when tasting. And now I’ve just got the words “Oh wow, this is so delicious” running on loop through my head.

Sorry, back.

This is intensely well balanced: rose and bergamot/citrus bringing out the dark chocolatey tea. I noticed the rose and chocolate most at first, but getting through the mug I note that there’s lot of sharp citrus on the front end (when I first sip), then the bergamot lingers a bit as the chocolate comes in more on the aftertaste.

Can you tell that I love the chocolate in this Laoshan Black?

A++, might buy more, except that this is so distinctive I don’t know how often I’ll be in the mood to drink it! It’ll be interesting to see how quickly I go through the half ounce sample.

Saving the 2nd and 3rd steeps in the frige for tomorrow!

Oh yum, the chilled later steeps are light light and citrusy and rosy; much less chocolate, but you can still tell that there’s black tea in there. This would probably be even more delightful with honey, but certainly doesn’t need it.

2tsp, slightly rounded, 6-8oz water, added 1 minute for each steep

Had a steeping of this wonderful tea yesterday. I was surprised and the attention to the level of bergamot in this blend. I did not immediately think, “I’m drinking Earl Grey!” In fact, the amount of bergamot adds a delicate amount of citrus to compliment the Laoshan Black. This was great in its “pure” state, but not being a purist I will next time try adding some honey or a touch of rock sugar to see how the flavor changes.

Mmm a good happy cup this morning. It’s bright and delicious. The dry leaves of this tea are super pretty, and smell strongly of bergamot. I don’t find the brewed tea very strong on the bergamot, but that’s not a drawback in this case. The Laoshan black shines, as always. I couldn’t find directions for this tea, so I winged it with 1 1/2 tsp of leaf for my 12 oz cup.
I like this a lot!

I made an order just to try this as it contains 2 things I like a lot: bergamot and rose. I was, however, slightly disappointed. Then again Verdant Tea has raised the bar pretty high. It’s a nice blend but does not have the “wow” factor (at least for me). It’s not too heavy on either bergamot or rose so I can actually taste the tea.

The recommended 2 minutes and 2 teaspoons for 1 cup of tea made a very nice first cup. The rose is somewhat berry-like in sweetness and flavor. The citrus and rose brought out the chocolatey flavor in the Laoshan black so much so that I thought there were cacao nibs in this blend.

The first cup was probably my favorite cup of Early Grey-like tea, but subsequent cups were somewhat lackluster. The second steeping was not nearly as strong nor as satisfying.

I just finished off my sampler. If I drink this tea again, I may try steeping it gong fu style to see if the flavor lasts longer. I’m afraid the rose flavor may not steep out as well that way though.