Laoshan Gongfu Black

Used around 4g, 90ml @ 212F.

Starting off with a really quick wash — small leaves = fast diffusions.

First off, the smell after wash was fantastic. Smelled primarily of roasted dark chocolate with cherry hints

Steep times were 5s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 10s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 40s

First steep. The smell was identical to hot chocolate. As for the flavour? hot chocolate. A tiny bit bitter but the trade off for that hot chocolate taste is absolutely worth it

Second steep. Imagine hot chocolate which has some cherry extract added to it. This is the second steep

Third steep. The dark chocolate with cherry hints remain. The bitterness is starting to change and open up with a woody flavour instead.

→Temperature is now around 190-200F

Fourth steep. Zero bitterness. No taste of the wood, but instead it tastes like hot chocolate with milk mixed in (i.e. milk chocolate).

Fifth steep. Cherry hints disappeared (probably due to lower temp), but the ‘dark hot chocolate’ taste moves towards a ‘milk hot chocolate’ taste. Quite delicious.

Sixth steep. Absolutely the same as the previous steep.

Seventh steep. Same as sixth, just much fainter.

Eighth steep. Same flavour as seventh, but getting much sweeter.

Ninth steep. Tastes like the eighth. Probably has a couple more steeps in it before going kaput.

Overall a really nice black tea. Instead of having the honey’d sweet potatoe taste that most chinese black teas taste like (at least from my experience), this brings to the table a whole new chocolate viewpoint towards black teas.

Really tasty and lasts for several steeps, highly recommend!

This review is for the Laoshan Gongfu Black of Autumn 2016 from Verdant Tea.

Preparation style: Gongfu in Gaiwan with 5gr of tea to 150 ml with multiple infusions in 205F water at a consistent 10 seconds each.

With notes of burnt sugar, malt, and dried currant and apple cider, the first infusions show a full-bodied tea with a darker flavor, without bitterness.

The primary aroma is a combination of burnt sugar and tart apple — think home-made candied apple and you’re close. The flavor, however, is less sweet and fruity than many (esp. Taiwanese) hong cha. I like this tea, and infused correctly it could easily become a favorite.

This tea can easily be over-steeped and the lovely fruit notes and sugar will be lost in a murky dark brew. In other tastings found 12 seconds bring out an overly dark tea, whe re the tannin profile tends toward darkly astringent without bitterness.

I would recommend this for small-pot western style brewing only with careful attention to the short steeping time and quick tea basket removal.

I used the spring gongfu in the reblend of Chocolate Laoshan Genmaicha, so why not try the Autumn?

This has a drier feel with more of an Assamic bitterness tiving this tea the dark chocolate element over plain chocolate. The spring came out better for sure, but this is more suitable for a breakfast tea over the spring as it would pair with food beter due to the strength it has over the subtle notes the lighter stuff had in spring.

Still, such a unique and wonderful tea. Would blend up well with either a little yancha or dianhong for sure; like 20% of either added.

Sipdown…kinda boring..might as well just drink LB regular

I have been meaning to get a review of this tea up for awhile now. I was just looking back over my notes and realized that I should probably go ahead and post this while I have the time. This review references the Autumn 2015 edition of this tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I more or less followed Verdant Tea’s suggested gongfu brewing method, though I did make a few slight alterations. Rather than using 205 F water, I used 208 F water. I did not really mean to do this, but unfortunately I just glanced at the suggested temperature and ended up misreading the number. I did not realize my mistake until after I had finished the session. After a very quick rinse (approximately 2-3 seconds), I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 208 F water for 5 seconds. I followed this infusion with 10 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 8 seconds, 11 seconds, 14 seconds, 17 seconds, 20 seconds, 23 seconds, 26 seconds, 29 seconds, 32 seconds, and 35 seconds. I could have easily gotten 1-2 more infusions out of this tea, but decided to cut it off a little early since I did not see any surprises coming down the pipe.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves presented a slightly dusty aroma. There were also fairly strong scents of dark chocolate, black cherry, and roasted grain. Following the rinse, I picked up on strong cherry, chocolate, roasted grain, malt, and toast aromas. The first infusion presented a similar aroma, though there was a slight honey presence that I did not pick up on before. In the mouth, forceful notes of dark chocolate, roasted grain, black toast, toffee, char, black cherry, clover honey, and marshmallow swirled around the palate. Subsequent infusions saw the roasted aromas and flavors recede momentarily, allowing a balance of dark chocolate, black cherry, clover honey, toffee, and marshmallow to envelope the palate. By the fifth or sixth infusion, this had turned into a very mellow tea, presenting a balance of the aromas and flavors previously described and a hint of minerality on the finish. The final series of infusions saw the tea gently fade. It lost a good deal of its grainy character, as milder aromas and flavors of toast, malt, cherry, chocolate, honey, and minerals flitted across the palate. By the final infusion, everything I was picking up on was very mild, though the tea was not quite flat.

I am a little bit surprised to see that this tea has an aggregate score that is substantially lower than the regular Laoshan Black here on Steepster. I found this to be a very good and very interesting tea despite a few rough edges. To me, this tea seemed a little more focused and a little more powerful than the regular Laoshan Black, though I also felt that it had a bit more heavy-handed of a grainy, toasty presence that I could see being a turnoff to people looking for a sweeter, lighter tea. Still, I thought this one had a lot to offer.

This tea has a pleasing cocoa and toasted bread aroma. It is sweet with flavors of chocolate and toast. It is tasty, but I still prefer the Laoshan Black over this tea.

Sipdown (#3).
The leaves aren’t as pretty as the picture suggests. More broken up than I would like to see, but no matter,
It has lots of cherry, malt oats, dark rich chocolate, it tastes very similar to their laoshan black, but i believe this is stronger in the cherry and sweeter. it’s very soothing and calming, the astringency is strong, but not overwhelming, it’s a nice amount. More chocolatey and rather sugar-like in the mddle steeps, it’s rather a course sweetness, tastes just like if I had added sugar to it. Also marhsmallow, it fades out to wood and oats and some malt, a bit of chocolate, I actually prefer this to the regular laoshan black, but I didn’t properly notice until I took the time to write about them both! I find reviewing teas really helps to deepen my appreciation of them :)

Nice enough tea. Smells a bit like a wet dog, but the flavor for me was honey and wood/cedar. I’d be fine to drink it, from time to time, but I don’t think it would ever become a staple.

I had some this morning and it was SO GOOD. Malty, bready, biscuity, but not overpowering. I love how the dry leaf has a hint of dark chocolate to it.

This is some seriously good stuff. Once I have my cupboard under control (and hopefully, by then, currency conversion won’t suck so bad), I’d love to get more Laoshan Black in general.

F#%K!!!
That’s really f#%king good.
Damn