Spring Harvest Laoshan Black

Spring 2018 harvest.

Gone gaiwan. 5g, 150mL, 205F. Flash rinse which I ended up drinking and 7 steeps at 10s/15/20/25/30/1m/3m.

Dry leaf smelled awesome with rich chocolate, pastry and caraway. Rinsed leaf also awesome with riiich dark chocolate, honey and dark-roasted barley. The liquor was a clear brown-orange and smelled of honey, grains and dark chocolate wth pumpernickel coming in later. The tea was lightly astringent and very light-bodied, tending toward watery. The taste was not what I was expecting after having tried the Laoshan gongfu black. I picked up on watered down chocolate, honey and grains, ending the session with just caraway/pumpernickel which was pretty tasty. Ehhhh. Maybe it’s stronger brewed western. Seemed to be low in caffeine. I drank it late at night and had no problems falling asleep.

According to their website, the weather for this year’s harvest was unfavorable, so maybe my dissatisfaction is due to that. I’d like to try next year’s if it’s ever on sale.

One more Laoshan black to go. Thus far, I’m leaning toward the fall harvest roasted oolong.

Thank you to Mackie for this sample! I already put in a Verdant order a few days back, but I might need to make another one soon after I try all these samples.

Spring 2016 harvest of Laoshan black (He family collection) from Jimo City, Qingdao Shandong, China.

The looseleaf smells of burnt food, cherry wood, and tobacco.

~6g looseleaf, 150 mL of 92*C water, 10 second steep
Steep 1: Flavour is roasty, minerals, savoury, toasty, charcoal, nice tea flavour, no bitterness at all

Steep 2: 150 mL of 90*C water, 7 second steep
Very roasty/charcoal, tobacco smoke, burnt food, leather.

Steep 3: 150 mL of 90*C water, 7 second steep
Lots of tea/tannins, burnt sugar, tanned leather, oxidized tea, lots of tea flavour, honey

Steep 4: 150 mL of 90*C water, 10 second steep
Malty, burnt sugar, cocoa, dark wood, toasted grain, miso, honey

I’m sure this is a fine tea from great origins, but to me, it just tasted like burnt food and chewing on a tanned leather belt. The whole charcoal roasted/smoked thing doesn’t appeal to me. Because I dislike this type of tea, I’m not going to rate it because I feel it would be unfairly low.

This is a lovely tea! I got this one in a sample pack from Verdant, and I will definitely be ordering more with my next order. It is rich in aroma and taste, has a nice soft mouth feel and attractive color. I pick up sweets notes of nuts and honey, raisin bread, and even caramel. I however was not able to get many steeps out of this one, on the third one it started to get pretty light.

Oh no, I am almost out of Laoshan tea! It always makes me so sad when I don’t have something from Laoshan in my tea cabinet. Now that this one is gone, I only have small amounts of four other Laoshan teas remaining. Anyway, this tea is yet another strong offering from the He family. So far, the 2016 harvests have yielded some strong teas.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse (2-3 seconds), I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 8 seconds. I followed this up with 10 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 19 seconds, 22 seconds, 26 seconds, 29 seconds, 33 seconds, 36 seconds, 40 seconds, and 50 seconds.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves gave off a dusty aroma that momentarily obscured rich scents of malt, dark chocolate, roasted grain, and black cherry. After the rinse, the malt, cherry, chocolate, and roasted grain aromas became much more focused. The first infusion yielded a similar, yet even richer aroma. In the mouth, I picked up robust notes of roasted grain, dark chocolate, black cherry, malt, orange, and honey underscored by a hint of caramel. The following 5 infusions produced a tea that was more mellow in both aroma and taste. The caramel notes became more pronounced, providing a nice balance to the touches of black cherry, dark chocolate, roasted grain, malt, orange, and honey. I also noticed a slight creaminess chased by very light minerality on the finish. The final series of infusions presented delicate aromas and flavors of malt, roasted grain, cream, honey, black cherry, and dark chocolate. The orange notes became increasingly floral and fragile. The minerality was also amped up somewhat, though not significantly.

Woah, this one surprised me. I’ve been getting a bit weary of black tea lately since I’ve ended up with a surprising number of different kinds in samples, but my water was already boiling when it came time to pick out a tea and I’ve been wanting to work on crackling my new ruyao ware, so black tea it was. 3-5 grams to a 100 ml gaiwan, preheated, boiling water, 25 seconds to start.

It’s as if this tea heard my misgivings and gently placated my concerns this grey morning by delivering a much more subdued, but still intensely rich and comforting chocolate flavor with only tones of the black tea maltiness I was starting to grow a bit bored of. Surprisingly sweet for any tea I’ve had, it has a honey sweetness to it that I find hard to believe is a natural byproduct of just tea leaves. This sweet lingers strongly in the back of your throat after each sip, it is definitely the sweetest tea I’ve had to date. The lighter orange amber color seems to reflect the tea’s lighter flavor as well, although the first steep or two does have a predominately intense chocolate flavor I also enjoyed. Overall, I would place this as a much lighter but no less comforting alternative to hot chocolate anytime, I may have to stock up on this tea.

My absolute favorite tea. You can brew it for 20 seconds or five minutes, and it yields different and interesting flavors and qualities. It’s good sweetened and with milk, or without either. Very Chocolaty, and very Malty, very addictive. It can be mellow and refreshing, or rich and creamy like hot chocolate. Definitely try this.

work has exploded this week…i swear it was less busy before the wedding! So i’m trying to do my damndest to make sure i bring tea in to work every day so that at least there’s that. Still working through this most recent harvest of this and while it’s not the same tea…i still like it more than last year.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @95C, Western style, steeped four minutes, drunk bare.

Happy sigh.

Dry leaves are tiny, curled, and very smooth, alms silly, to the touch. I know about the smoothness because I had way too much on my spoon and pinched some tea back into the bag.

Dry leaves give a strong cocoa scent, with some sweet malt.

Wet leaves are long, and some are still twisted, mostly brown with some dark green. Wet leaves smell of cocoa, malt, and, i the distance, vanilla. (This is not, of course, a flavoured dessert tea.)

Liquor is dark copper. Liquor smells of — you guessed it — cocoa and malt, also soybeans and deciduous trees.

Taste: cocoa and malt, of course, and a bit of soybean, with sweetness and some vanilla notes in the finish. I haven’t tried this year’s batch labelled just ‘Laoshan Black,’ so I can’t comment on any differences between that and this, the Spring Harvest Laoshan Black. I can say this tea gives everything I remember falling for in Laoshan Black.

The finish is very soft.

I forgot how wonderful Verdant Teas could be. I haven’t been able to afford them for awhile, and this sample came with a recent Steepster select shipment, so I brewed up and re-steeped several times to make the very best of the leaves.

Nice clean taste with excellent tones of Cacao, honey and dried fruit. Golden brew with a heavenly aroma and flavor. Three steeps, and more joy in one cup that you really have to savor slowly. So very, very good. :)