Mr. He's 1st Picking Laoshan Black

Sipdown
I really enjoyed this delicious, malty, cocoa, bready tea.
I got 4 excellent cups of this from just 1 tsp of leaf steeping western style @ 3,3.5,3.5,4 minutes
I am not sure what the difference is between the regular laoshan black but I thoroughly enjoyed this and would order it again

A unique one. I was afraid I had over steepes it when I had to go change my daughter’s diaper but it is fine. Malt. Earth. Slight twig. You can tell just how much thought went into this tea by how easy it goes down. I feel as if that spring water is in my cup as well.

I’ve committed a tea sin.

And I don’t even care.

I’m on this mission to get my stash down, stop hoarding things, and make my cupboard (the real one, not the steepster one) seem less daunting.

So, i drank this to try it out when I got it.
I enjoyed it. But not any more so than I enjoy the normal LB, which is a lot, obviously.

So when I was going through my stash recently, I saw this…relatively new purchase that I had tried once, and enjoyed, but not any more than the normal LB – and I decided to just dump it in with the rest of my LB in its designated LB tin.

GASP!!!

Even though it cost more. I don’t even care. Since I didn’t notice a difference myself, I just decided to enjoy it as regular LB. So now it’s all mixed up.

Feel free to judge me, tea snobs! :)

Backlog:

I absolutely ADORED this tea. Adored it. Loved it. It knocked my socks off. And if you read this review through: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/07/21/mr-hes-1st-picking-laoshan-black-tea-from-verdant-tea/ You’ll see that it made me want to dance the futterwacken (not sure I spelled that right.)

Yep, an awesome tea.

A strong cacao aroma. A delightfully mellow flavor. The chocolate notes experienced in the aroma are tasted. A hint of almond. Sweet cherry notes. A delicious toasty note. Good for many infusions.

A wonderful tea.

I’m not sure why they claim this is the “best black tea” Mr. He has produced because in every measurable way the regular version is better. The aroma is far too vegetal/raw for a Chinese black tea, the mouthfeel is thin even when I brewed it with extra leaf, even close to boiling hot water doesn’t extract much taste (observes the color difference… this one never gets the rich copper color of the other), and if you steep it longer the “citrus of amarena cherries” just gets overbearingly sour. The only thing that is on par to the later picked tea is the aroma of the dry leaf which still smells like dark chocolate.

First, the aroma. The leaves smell like lovely dark chocolate brownies. They are small, black, curly leaves that looked delightful.

Then, the taste. Like a light (watery) cocoa, with a fuller body of flavor. I definitely can taste the malt flavor people meant, as well as the roasted rice flavor. The tea is bright tasting, and smooth. It reminds me of cocoa puffs, or cocoa rice Krispy treats.

I never tasted any tea like it. I received it in the 5 for 5 from verdant and am so glad I did! I would love to order it and am now curious about original LB and the green tea version.

This tea is excellent. It is malty and slightly sweet. I vaguely detect some chocolate notes underneath the malt. There is very little bitterness. The overriding characteristic is the malt flavor, by this I do not mean chocolate malt flavor but that strong tea flavor often referred to as malt.

I brewed this western style with 2 tsp of leaf with 200 degree water in an 18 oz teapot for 3 min.

Another from the Marco Polo TTB, and another thanks for Verdant for the sample.

I tried this in tandem with the regular LB, and I think the regular version was a little more flavorful for me. I liked them both though. Again, I have a hard time identifying what exactly this tea tastes like (and that’s a failing in me, not the tea). But I liked it very much!

Another sample from Stephanie. Laoshan Black is one of the most beloved teas around these parts, so I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now. I think most people who have tried this tea have said that they like the original better, but I’m just happy to get the chance to try either of them. The leaves are smaller than I expected, and jet black. They’re thin and curly. Dry, this tea basically smells like straight cocoa powder with a little bit of malt. I did my usual 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

The brewed aroma has that elusive herb/spice note that I often find in Fujian blacks but can never seen to identify. Whatever it is, it’s very present in this tea. There are also strong malt and grain scents. That mystery herb/spice is also quite present in the taste. This tea has a lovely, strong cocoa flavor with some sweetness to it. It’s also very grainy, which I love, with an ample malty taste. And the overall flavor is very roasty and comforting.

Overall, I find this tea to be very good but not necessarily mind-blowing compared to other similar teas I’ve tried. I would very much like to try the original Laoshan Black, I’m hoping there will be some left in the Lewis & Clarke TTB when it gets to me! :)

Finally done logging everything that came in the order!

This tea is similar to regular Laoshan Black, with less obvious chocolate notes, but still quite rich and mellow. It’s slightly smoky, subtly sweet, and has a malty, grainy fragrance that makes it quite a refulgent experience. If I remember correctly, it’s more complex than regular LB, because the chocolate being less insistent helps everything else come through. There’s also a freshness that’s almost reminiscent of Laoshan Green.

I had been having some trouble making an enjoyable cup out of this tea, and today I finally stopped overthinking it. I used the old tiny kettle, stopped before full boil, and brewed up a mug without really being particular about proportions or temperature, instead just going with what I was habitually used to. And it was perfect. I think there’s something to be learned here…