Laoshan Roasted Oolong

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea
Flavors
Bread, Citrus, Cocoa, Floral, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Yams, Brown Sugar, Burnt Sugar, Cherry, Chocolate, Cream, Oats, Roast Nuts, Roasted, Toasty, Oak, Orange, Rye, Toast, Vanilla, Astringent, Cookie, Dark Chocolate, Wet Earth, Wood, Creamy, Earth, Nutty, Pumpkin, Thick, Plum, Toasted, Butternut Squash, Caramel, Vegetables, Almond, Roasted Barley, Scotch, Brown Toast, Dark Bittersweet
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Vegan
Edit tea info Last updated by CHAroma
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 30 sec 4 g 14 oz / 425 ml

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86 Tasting Notes View all

From Verdant Tea

“With notes of scotch, roasted barley and melted chocolate, this world premiere harvest from the He family transcends the boundaries between black tea and roasted oolong to reach new levels of complexity…”

Mr. He is extremely proud of his oxidized teas. He is the only farmer in the whole village of Laoshan who has mastered the art of creating the rich malt chocolate flavor that the tea can yield. He is able to produce such incredible tea because of the labor he puts into the process. In addition to meticulous chemical-free farming and hand picking before dawn, Mr. He adds the traditional three day sun roasting oxidation to this tea for a truly full body. Next, he sets aside a full eight hour day of hand-tossing the leaves over extremely low heat to create the enzymatic reaction that defines oolong.

The full four day process from picking to finishing that created this batch of less than thirty pounds is well worth it. The flavor is uniquely sweet and citrusy like pineapple with cinnamon caramel notes usually only seen in budset Yunnan black teas.

Of course chocolate notes similar to Laoshan black come through strong, but there is a potent aftertaste akin to highlands scotch, and a thick wheat bread aroma. As the tea continues to steep out, dark florals come through to add texture to the creamy potato base flavors. The malty notes are reminiscent of Tibetan tsampa, made from roasted fresh barley mixed with butter tea, and eaten for its sustaining properties at such altitude and extreme cold.

We hope that you enjoy Mr. He’s master experiment as much as we do. Mr. He wants to make oolong an important part of the tea craft in his village, so this will likely be the first of many seasons of history-making experimentation in tea making.

About Verdant Tea View company

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86 Tasting Notes

65
6 tasting notes

I’ve heard both good and bad things about Verdant Tea on this forum so I decided to try it myself. Got there sample and I’m not the most impressed with the flimsy packaging. You get what you pay for though so no complaints since I only spent five bucks on this. The Laoshan roasted oolong is alrt. It’s floral and toasted. I tasted almond, chestnut, and honey. I steeped it for 2 min for starter with 8 oz of water. And then I add 15 seconds to each subsequent infusion. Got 3 cups out of the leaves before it was stale.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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98
1233 tasting notes

This is very reminiscent of a Gunpowder green tea. Tightly rolled balls. Though to be honest these aren’t quite balls. They’ve been twisted and manipulated in a way that resembles a curing road in a mountain or like the road on the Northwest shore of Maui. The dark dark leaves give off a slight aroma of chocolate / slight roasted aroma. The aroma of the steeping leaves is gorgeous. Roasted barley. Slightly milk. Dark amber liquid. Creamy feel on the palette. Roasted nuts are the main attraction in the flavor, while hints of charred veggies like zucchini and asparagus come through deeper as you steep it longer. This was picked in Autumn 2019.

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95
7 tasting notes

I almost always say try before you buy. But with this one, just buy it! Haha.

It is award winning I think, or should be. I dont know what gon fu black is, but it is very good for making in gon fu style. It tastes like a red or black tea should, but is way cleaner and lasts about 10 steeps or so.

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88
350 tasting notes

Wow, this one is really working for me tonight! Sweet and delicious. I put 4g in the 100ish ml gaiwan, started out with 95deg water and let it slowly cool with successive steeps. Quite quick steeps: 5, 8, 12, 15, 18, 22, 25 (ish) seconds. First steep was sweet with a vanilla creaminess. Then the next several were chocolatey, but with the same sweet creaminess, so like milk chocolate rather than the dark cacoa flavour you get with some teas. Then some toasted grain mixed in with the chocolate. Now I’m starting to get some fruity notes, but that cane sugar sweetness is still there as well. Yummmmmm. :)

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Chocolate, Plum, Toasted, Vanilla

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93
639 tasting notes

The dry leaves have virtually no aroma. That’s interesting for a roasted tea. I’d expect there to be a nice roasty toasty aroma dry or wet. Wow, the brewed tea aroma is so unexpected! Again, I expected something roasted like houjicha. But instead I was greeted by a baked squash aroma! It really smells like freshly roasted vegetables. It smells like food! Not tea! Pumpkin. Yes, this tastes like baked pumpkin. There’s a tiny bit of saltiness too that reminds me of toasted pumpkin seeds.

The flavor deepens in the next infusions. It’s rich and malty, full-bodied with a round mouthfeel. I’m definitely getting the chocolate notes now and they’re only getting stronger. I brewed this in my gaiwan and didn’t strain the leaves with a strainer. I just used the gaiwan lid to keep the majority of the leaves out of the cups. I read somewhere on Verdant’s blog that not using an additional strainer can change the mouthfeel of the tea. So I decided to give it a try. Little bits of leaves do end up in each cup, but it’s not bothering me. I wonder if the sediment and leaf bits are steeping the tea longer or if they’re too small to make much of a difference.

This tea definitely benefits from lots of quick steeps. Infusing these leaves for even a few seconds too long can result in a bitter cup. I’m not very familiar with roasted oolongs, but this strikes me as more of a black tea than an oolong. Drinking this when it’s piping hot results in a very nice mouthfeel. It’s like that prickly sensation you feel when you first get into a hot car that’s been sitting in the sun for a few hours and the warmth of the air prickles as it rushes over your skin. I like the sensation and it lingers after the sip.

I think this is the first time I’ve detected a cherry note in a tea. This is really good! It reminds me of Laoshan Black. They’re quite similar teas. In fact, I wish I had some so I could do a side-by-side comparison. I think I like this more than Laoshan Black actually. This is truly chocolaty in a way that many unflavored teas claim to be but aren’t. I love this! Thank goodness I have one more sample. I’d be sad if this was my first and last cup. And let me say that these leaves go for a long, long time! I’m getting many more infusions than I usually do with any tea and they’re staying flavorful. After approximately 15+ infusions, I’ve lost count. These later cups are chocolate and caramel with a silky finish. I think the sandalwood is peaking out a bit more now too. Oooh, yes! This is my kind of tea!

https://instagram.com/p/7idIlGF-hC/

Flavors: Butternut Squash, Caramel, Cherry, Chocolate, Malt, Pumpkin, Vegetables, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 5 OZ / 147 ML

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98
48 tasting notes

First two steeps taste like Chocolate! Love this!
Brewed this in a gaiwan and received 10 steeps from this. Lovely!

Flavors: Chocolate

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 30 sec 2 tsp

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98
1704 tasting notes

….yeah, this is still one of my all-time favorites. Very few teas have the same chocolate notes blended so smoothly with the body. I only have 25 grams left…

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95
121 tasting notes

Hey Steepster friends! It’s been a while!

Works been hectic, and I’ve had very little computer time, but I’m gonna try to reappear a little more from now :D

I got a lovely little tin of this in my last Verdant order (and my goodness do they pack those tins full :D) – I opened it and the smell was just intoxicating. Really, really lovely.

I brewed it up in a lovely little 100ml teapot that I have and made it plenty strong. It produced the most fabulous smelling liquor – dark, roasty, and chocolatey! The flavour of it was much the same, with a definite caramel/burned sugar note that just added even more deliciousness to each sip!

I’ll deffo be enjoying my tin of this tea!

Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Caramel, Chocolate, Dark Chocolate

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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53 tasting notes

I went lazy western brewing with this and used a brew basket. Somewhat sacrilegious, I know, but I was more surprised how good it still was. Plus one to forgiving teas!

Like the Laoshan Black, this is so rich and cocoa-y, with lots of layers of honey. I think this is lighter and even slightly sweeter than the black, though. It definitely has some of the yeasty bread notes I associate wih roasted oolongs again.

I don’t know if I’d have them both in my cupboard together again, but if I ever wanted a change from the LB, I’d grab this is a heartbeat.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML

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85
592 tasting notes

Backlog. The first time I had this tea, it was at work, so I didn’t quite trust myself with exact steeping parameters. So this time, I brought the tea back home to pay better attention to it. The result? I still get a raisin taste from it, and not so much Laoshan Black flavors as several others have commented on about this tea. I don’t know if maybe this batch is different or my taste buds are crazy (which is always a big possibility!), but I’m not really tasting LB. That said, it is still a very nice tea, but not my absolute favorite. I’m glad that I was able to grab a sample with my last order.

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