Spring Laoshan Black

Sipdown! (39 | 400)

I recently ordered the spring and autumn harvests of Laoshan Black (and green) because I wasn’t sure which one to get. I’ve been enjoying both of them and haven’t paid enough attention to notice much of a difference, so I thought with my last servings, I would do a side-by-side comparison to determine which one I want to order.

First up, the spring version! Very smooth and malty with lightly toasted grainy notes. It has a very creamy texture and a slightly creamy taste as well. More woody notes in the middle, and a touch of musty hay. Then the end of the sip brings some subtle floral notes. And underneath it all is a wonderful deep flavor with dark cocoa notes and a touch of burnt sugar.

And then there’s fall! Definitely noticing some differences now that I’m trying them together. This one is rounder with noticeable maple notes. I don’t get the same creamy, full texture, but I do feel that I get more sweetness. Similar toasted grains and wood, but noticing less mustiness and a “cleaner” taste overall. Definitely some autumn leaf vibes going on. The finish is more toasty and less lingering. Does still have those deep cocoa notes.

It’s crazy tasting the spring version after the autumn, it almost seems like it’s had milk added to it. And yet I do love those sweet maple notes from the autumn harvest. Spring is definitely stronger in the finish, with long-lingering toasty notes and gentle florals. Also worth noting, the spring would’ve been a bit fresher as I purchased these in the summer.

Hmm, I feel like I didn’t decide which one I prefer, LOL. Maybe I’ll just order both again… I think as soon as the autumn harvest is available for this year, I’ll just pick up 50g bags of both and see how I feel about them in a few months.

Sipped through another 25g bag. I could drink this tea everyday. It’s just so unfussy and consistently delicious. Though, I prefer the autumn varietal over this one, as it’s a bit more chocolatey.

sweet aroma with a gingerbread taste. Lingering sweet aftertaste and a very subtle spiciness.

This one is more toasty than chocolatey but still an enjoyable cup. I’m on the second brew but it might be able to go for a few more. Caramel, hay, butter, and toast. Pretty yummy, but I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to purchase.

EDIT: I dumped the leaves in my go cup for grandpa style brewing. still toasty warm bread to the last sip. This tea sure goes a long way. Thanks Shae for sharing!

Spring 2020 Harvest
Date of Picking: Late May 2020

On to my next Laoshan Black from Verdant. This time I made it the way I would normally steep my black teas. In the bag, it has that chocolate syrup aroma that I love so much. Baked bread while steeping, that same mineral note in the first sip that I found in the Autumn 2019 harvest. The chocolate is more forward in this cup than in the last, which I enjoy, but I also did a poor job steeping the last one so it wouldn’t be fair to compare them too closely.

Sad Sipdown -but I can’t get enough of this tea! Thankfully it is still offered on the site. It literally is the perfect companion to a Monday going wrong on a few levels. We’ve now had two direct exposures to COVID which is not a good thing at all but with our kiddo-Parker going thru treatment at St Judes, things are really scary. (Two of our kids are currently in healthy quarantine too) Parker was hospitalized last week with a cold and we ventured into some pretty scary waters. My hubs and I are both feeling really overwhelmed and both have made up new cuss words. Oversharing here but I’m sort of at a loss today. Tea is the ultimate comfort.

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.