Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha

Tea type
Black Oolong Blend
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Chocolate, Cocoa, Nutty, Pastries, Roasted, Toasted Rice, Nuts, Malt, Earth, Rice, Toasted, Bread, Dark Chocolate, Roasted Nuts, Raisins, Toast, Grain, Caramel, Dirt, Roasted Barley
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Kaylee
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 12 oz / 366 ml

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101 Want it Want it

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56 Own it Own it

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207 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I enjoyed the green/white/floral blend, but I really want something more robust, so I’m trying again, this time with a favorite. Although I’m still getting bitterness, particularly in the...” Read full tasting note
  • “My other morning tea, thankful that i brought two with me today since i haven’t had 5 mins to get food or anything. What a day! first day back with all the people who have been off for a week or...” Read full tasting note
    74
  • “Holy crap. So I brewed this one up tonight, and was instantly in love. Chocolate, intensifying the natural notes of the Laoshan Black, plus toasty rice flavour. Seriously guys, I’m sure the second...” Read full tasting note
    100
  • “Another sipdown – but this one is bittersweet. I’m now at 72 teas (yay for meeting my own self imposed limits) but this one is SO. DARN. GOOD. I don’t know that I won’t be restocking as soon as I...” Read full tasting note
    100

From Verdant Tea

A warm and comforting take on classic Genmaicha with the addition of Wuyi oolong and cacao nibs. . . .

Genmaicha has humble origins- originally toasted rice was mixed into a pot to make expensive tea leaves go further in a time of less plenty than today. Toasted rice was combined with green tea or even broken twigs and stems to make a hearty and warming brew. At the time, green tea was for more widely available than black tea, but given the warming qualities of genmaicha, we thought that a humble hand-picked black tea from Laoshan Village would be the perfect companion for toasted rice.

This batch of Laoshan black is particularly malty and sweet, qualities drawn out by hand-crafted Minnesota wild rice and organic fair trade jasmine rice toasted in small batches. We add organic cacao nibs to give a darker and more comforting aftertaste, and a touch of Shui Jin Gui Wuyi oolong for its nutty caramel notes and savory aftertaste. All together, we think this new take on Genmaicha very much embraces the tea’s humble origins and stays true to the warm and satisfying nature of toasted rice tea.

Western Style
Use 4g of tea (about 1T) in 6-8oz of fresh-boiled (205°F) filtered or spring water. Steep for 30 seconds in a brew basket or equivalent. Enjoy many infusions. Add 10-15 seconds with each steeping, or to taste.
This tea is very forgiving, so feel free to use more leaf and slightly shorter steep times for more potent tea. It brews up equally well in small quantities as it does in big pots. This tea can also be enjoyed with a meal since it is so hearty and rich.

Iced Tea (Cold Brewing)
Use about 4 grams of tea for every 12oz of water. Combine with room temperature water in a covered vessel and refrigerate for 8-12 hours. Enjoy!

Iced Tea (Flash Chilled)
Use 1TB (5 grams) of tea in a 6-8oz vessel. Steep for 1 minute with filtered boiled water. Fill a martini shaker (or equivalent) with ice, then add brewed tea and shake until well-chilled (usually 10-30 seconds). Pour out through martini-shaker top over fresh ice in a new glass and serve.

About Verdant Tea View company

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207 Tasting Notes

85
1186 tasting notes

Sipdown! I had a lovely two cups of this today while out by myself looking after the dog and cats while everyone else is away. One cup was when I had a bubble bath! I can’t remember the last time I had one lol, but it was super relaxing :) these cups definitely had more toastiness and rice in them and less oolong, tasty, but I won’t reorder for a bit, because while it was nice and sweet, it seems wintery and i still prefer regular laoshan Genmaicha for a toasty flavor. Happy to have tried it though! See previous notes on this tea :)

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98
592 tasting notes

I’ve been consciously trying not to drink this one as often because I’m running so low on this delicious tea. However, as it is the beginning of finals week (and perhaps the very last finals week of my entire life), I thought I deserved to have this one. There are so many complex, delicious flavors that complement each other so perfectly in this tea that it’s hard not to love it! Anyway, here is to surviving the rest of this week!

Courtney

Good luck!

Jennkay

Thanks! You too, right? We can do this!

Courtney

Haha, I just began a new spring course, though I have a midterm tomorrow. But it isn’t my last set. I have until next April to go. But that’s so exciting you’re nearly done!

Jennkay

Yeah, I’ve been seeing stuff about exams in your tasting notes and empathizing a lot. I’m actually pretty excited to be done soon!

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71
97 tasting notes

This one comes to me from the wonderful Missb! Thank you :D

This tastes wonderfully malty and grainy, almost, with a dark dark chocolate undertone. Almost reminds me of licorice – and in a way, the maltyness comes out in a way in the aftertaste that reminds me of eating rice.

I have a feeling I may have underleafed this however – so tired this afternoon. :P So a rereview is coming in the future, definitely!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Roswell Strange

Mmm, this one sounds great. Shopping list!

Sil

this one resteeps well too, i think :) just go for a bit longer, with a bit cooler water

Yvonne

Does it? Oooh, thanks :D Glad I kept my leaves!

caile

I agree, it re-steeps great!

Sil

anything from verdant tends to resteep well for a second steep..often you can get more than the second one as well, depending on how strong a brew the others are.

TeaLady441

I was just talking about this yesterday and the sound of it got me excited.

Did it not taste like a Crunch chocolate bar? Because that’s what I want and if it doesn’t I’ll be very disappointed.

TeaLady441

Also, good luck with the re-steeps! Verdant tea is awesome for that. It’s expensive stuff but you can really make it last.

Yvonne

It did taste SLIGHTLY of a Crunch, now that you mention it, but without most of the sweetness of a Crunch. Like a dark chocolate Crunch. :P Very weak though…I’m pretty sure I underleafed. :(
Thank you for the good luck wishes! :)

Plunkybug

This is one I have been craving to taste. I have seen so many people review this one. I love genmai cha, and with the chocolate, how can it be bad? It’s on my shopping list. I need to sit down one day and see what I want to get from Verdant…or maybe I’ll do a co-op order with local tea friends so we can make a large order and share.

JustJames

i like the sneaky under tongue honey flavour.

TeaLady441

I added it to my list, only to realize that they’re out of stock! Well, I can wait a few more months for the next harvest. I guess. Gives me more time to earn points!

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98
206 tasting notes

Where have you been all my life, little tea sample from Verdant?! I’ve had this one in my travel with me vintage lipton tea tin for a few months now and have yet to try it. Now that I finished the Traveling Tea Box C, I can focus on my huge swaps and samples and orders I have piling up in my closet. Ha Ha. I am actually making a Verdant order tonight and this baby is getting ordered. I loved the smoothness this tea brought. Defintely could taste all the notes. Chocolate, roasty rice, caramel, love it! Each steep was completely different from the one before which I loved, it’s like have multiple teas in 1. I got 3 steeps out of it before it started to get to late to be drinking a black tea. I should be in bed by 8 for my 4AM shifts:) I also ate with it some chocolate that paired perfectly with it. :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10527140546/
Well I love this one and don’t know what more to say about it. Speechless.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Courtney

Haha I quite literally JUST ordered this half an hour ago.

BrewTEAlly Sweet

Ha ha i am just about to order mine. Sadly the main tea I wanted is now out of stock because I fell asleep before I processed my order last night. Wang Yanxin’s Budset Jin Jun Mei.

Courtney

Oh no :( That’s the worst! I’ve never ordered from Verdant actually, and I went a little crazy and placed way too many orders the last few days :/ At least I’ll have a bunch of tasty teas!

JustJames

i do love this one….. when i have a bad day i plunk myself down on the couch and drink this……. possibly while getting lost in skyrim. =0D

BrewTEAlly Sweet

Yes I had a very bad day today. I came down hard on my room mate for stuff that is getting out of hand. I went to work at 4AM so mad I was shaking all day and my adrenaline was through the roof, so this one was a MUST have after work.

Stephanie

Aww, that’s the worst. Tea is super comforting sometimes though. Yesterday sucked and my two new Mandala teas really made a bright spot in it for me :D

JustJames

this tea plus skyrim….. cannot advocate strongly enough! lol. very zen. there are no room mates in skyrim.

tea-sipper

Another person about raving this one! I need to try this one and soon! Maybe tomorrow!

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97
1113 tasting notes

I was in the mood for something roasty and comforting and caffeinated this morning. This is PERFECT right now. This is my 2nd time trying this tea…I got a lot more rice this time. Tasty tasty! Happy Friday everyone :)

Rie

Happy Friday!! :) Enjoying your birthday stash?

Stephanie

Both of my birthday orders are expected to arrive today. I can’t wait! :D

High Adventure

I’ve been drinking this tea this morning too! Yum…

JustJames

this is an excellent tea… verdant is very good.

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94
97 tasting notes

I have had relatives visiting for the past couple of weeks which means I have not had the chance to drink much tea. They are strictly coffee people and since I am the only one who can make a decent (seriously excellent) pot of coffee, tea has kind of been in the background. I missed it and I really hope that my moment of off the wagon didn’t start up my addiction to coffee again.

I have been sipping though. I found time to bring out some Verdant teas that I haven’t had the chance to try yet or that I haven’t had in a while. The last time I had Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha was I think around April and I loved it. Like a lot. It was so perfect. So roasty and chocolaty. This time, however, it was a bit too roasty and not chocolaty enough. Perhaps it’s because it’s a bit older. I still like it a lot but definitely not the love I had before. It’s still a reorder though because that first time was so resplendently awesome.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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97
4843 tasting notes

Backlog:

I love LOVE love this blend. I love the reinterpretation of Genmaicha from Verdant … using the Laoshan Black tea rather than the green tea for the genmaicha. Yum!

Sweet, toasty, chocolate-y, caramel-y goodness.

One of my favorite blends from Verdant yet.

Chelle

I definitely want to try this sometime. I just read how it has toasted wild rice and jasmine rice. Very interesting.

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818 tasting notes

I managed to get two cups out of my little sample. Today, I had the second. Is it a sipdown if it was a sample? I say YES! I’m still trying to decide whether to get more of this or not. I really liked it, but I’m not sure I loved it. I’m getting kinda picky lately. Ha!

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94
652 tasting notes

WHOA WHOA WHOA HOLD ON A MINUTE HERE

Gahhhhh OMG Courtney! Thank you so much for sending me a fresher sample of this!! The old one I had was clearly nothing in comparison!

I’m drinking this as I go through millions (seems that way) of photos I’ve taken of the baby girl since she was born in December, because we need to start developing them. At the rate I take photos (MUST CAPTURE ALL THE MOMENTS!!), it’s going to be a hundred bucks at least just to do a couple months’ worth at a time..

So, right now I’m trying to decide which ones from Dec 2013 and January. It’s really stressful.

BUT THIS TEA!
It’s so chocolatey and rice krispie and delicious and decadent and amazing!

I’m obviously going to order some.

Screw you, overly sweet Davidstea Chocolate Macaroon. THIS is what I want.

I’m rating it in the 90s. So there.

Flavors: Chocolate

Courtney

Haha yes! Also the choosing of pictures sounds like you’ve really got it rough over there. :P

ohfancythat

OH IT SO IS! How can i possibly choose which perfect digitally captured moments are the ones worthy of being printed!?

ohfancythat

(digitally captured perfect moments)

Courtney

Hahaha. #momproblems

ohfancythat

haha so true

Sil

Photobooks!

Also LB + cacao is equally delicious…and you get to ditch the oolong

Terri HarpLady

I love this tea WITH the oolong included :)

ohfancythat

i don’t mind the oolong!

Courtney

LB and Cacao is delicious. Just as another option, since I also enjoy this one.

Sil

Stupid oolong….get out of my tea!

ohfancythat

seeing as how i’m debating a cacao order (thanks to you), that is a great suggestion!

ohfancythat

haha Sil, what do you have against poor little oolong!?

Courtney

Mwuahaha.

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87
111 tasting notes

I had a panic moment at first when I poured in the water. “Shoot!”, I thought, “I forgot this has oolong in it too,” because I’d just poured 200 degree water over the leaves. I only have this as a sample size, and I’m making a big enough cup that I just dumped the lot into my infuser.
Worried I’d just scalded half the leaves in my cup, I looked up other tasting notes and was relieved to see that everyone else seems to have done either 200 degree or boiling water too. Phew.

The liquor is very pale. Taking a sip now, all I taste is … oolong. lol. No laoshan black, no chocolate, no toasted rice, just oolong. Which isn’t bad, I like oolong. The oolong used in this blend is one I’ve been wanting to try. But I kinda hoped to taste the aforementioned too. I’m wondering if maybe my sample wasn’t balanced enough with the other ingredients? None of the wet leaves look like Laoshan Black leaves really, and after drinking 8oz of that in a month and a half, I definitely know what they look like! xD

So erm, yeah. Enjoying the cup, even though it’s totally not what I was anticipating. (Again, I like oolong) I’m thinking I might grab a pouch of this on my next Verdant order to be safe though. I really think my sample might not have been balanced. The oolong is much gentler than a cup of Laoshan Black, so I’d imagine it’d overpower the oolong if anything, but I don’t taste it at all. Withholding rating until I’ve tried this another time.

(at least it’s not peppery ;) )

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Tealizzy

Wow! That’s a bummer! I hope you get to try it with a better sample!

CHAroma

I had a very similar experience with this tea.

Chizakura

Oh really? Darn. I was hoping it was just bad luck with a sample. My Verdant order (which included an ounce of this) just came in a few minutes ago so I was hoping for a better experience with it. Fingers still crossed!

CHAroma

I just posted a note about it. I don’t enjoy Wuyi oolongs much though, so that may have biased my experience. I hope you have a better go with it this time!

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