Laoshan Village Chai

First cup of the morning. I was very curious about this tea, since I’ve heard good things about it. But I’m not a huge fan of chais in general so I wasn’t sure how I would like it. I was surprised at how mildly flavored it is, very light in the spice flavor. The flavor is initially of herbs with a subtle spicy aftertaste that lingers. It was ok without milk and sugar, but with it becomes a smooth, warming cup that reminds me a little of gingerbread. Thank you to KiwiDelight for this sample! I’m saving the rest of it for the fiancee, who loves chais!

-Dry blend has medium black and brown tea leaves with dried berries and pieces of spices and herbs.
-Dry leaves smell lightly earthy and of fresh herbs. Tea liquor aroma is of warm spices.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark yellow color.
-Light herb flavor and finish. Subtle spicy aftertaste that lingers.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Light chai flavor with warm and sweet spices. Slightly reminiscent of gingerbread.

Uhoh. One whiff of the dry leaf, and POW ginger assaulted my senses like it just screamed in my face.

I’m thinking I already know how this is going to go. You see, I hate ginger. And I mean I hate it. I knew ginger was in the ingredients, but I was hoping it’d be more mild and make way for the more favorable ingredients like cinnamon and cardamom. But if the scent is any indication, it’s going to be the exact opposite. Dx

Overall the taste is better than what I was expecting, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with the full ounce… I’m going to refrain from rating as it wouldn’t really be fair to the tea, since I’m just not into ginger. If you enjoy a gingery chai, then I’m sure this is the one of the best to be had. I can definitely appreciate that this tea is well crafted.

I seem to have difficulty finding a chai that isn’t heavy on the ginger. I like my chais to be cinnamon and clovesy and cardamomy, so if anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears. :D

This cold has got me down. In the last two weeks, I’ve had the actual flu, which turned into a sinus infection and eye infection. Last friday I finally felt 75% better. Saturday morning I woke up with another cold. I fear this one is turning into another sinus infection. One of the many annoyances of being sick is that I have all these teas to try and my tasters aren’t working properly! I’m trying my best not to waste any new ones before I can actually enjoy them, but I couldn’t wait on this one any longer, and I was hopeful it would be a strongly flavored chai that would make me feel a tad bit better.

I made it using the stovetop method so that I had the highest chance of getting the most flavor out of it and added some milk and honey. This is an amazing chai. The spices are so perfect and I love that the ginger and peppercorn make it a little spicy. I wish I could taste the Laoshan Black underneath and but I’m sure that’s cause my taster is on the fritz.

I’m currently on my 3rd steep of this. For number three I added more water to the pan, brought it to boil and then covered it and let it sit while I ran errands. Still just as strong in flavor and spice. This time I used almond milk as dairy isn’t doing my any favors with my sinuses.

I think I’ll try for #4, cause, why not?

I can’t believe I never reviewed this delicious chai but glad I had just a little left from last year. With the weather cooling off, I’m now in the mood for some of the teas that I enjoyed last fall and winter, but was no longer craving in the summer. This is a delicious chai-the flavors are perfect. I added some frothed milk and stevia for a chai latte. I’m reordering.

Oh my, this is good. I opened this up this early afternoon and sipped it while watching Felix Baumgartner jump from the stratosphere. That was very cool.

The tea doesn’t have the spicyness I normally associate with chai, but it’s a very good, very enjoyable tea. It’s a very gentle chai I suppose.

Frothed a small amount of stevia and half and half, then added the chai after steeping it in my ingenuiTea.

I am defnitely getting some maltiness – it’s more chocolatey than the chocolate chai as I did it yesterday in the gaiwan.

Ohh goodness! Verdant’s chai blends are soo amazing! Such quality ingredients, both the base tea and the spices. It is apparent as soon as you open the pouch, both the aroma and the sight, heavenly and beautiful. And the taste oh my! So sweet, smooth, clean and balanced. The words elegant and fine keep coming to mind.

I don’t know why I was so hesitant about ordering this one late last winter, probably because I was burnt out on Teavana’s chai many of which are gritty, require sugar or honey and are just have none of the traits above.

I told myself I’d order some in the fall but with the special Zhu Rong Chai, I had to compare and David graciously allowed me to order by the half ounce so I could try lots of tea on my budget. An old friend of mine just placed her first order and got quite a bit of the Chocolate Phoenix Chai so we’ll be swapping in the near future, I’m relieved because while I will be placing an order soon it will be for three of my favorite teas that are low stock.

So back to this, it tastes a bit lighter bodied and sweeter than the Zhu Rong Chai which I prefered with milk, this one is definitely better straight. I love anything made from Laoshan black and green and this newest harvest is fantastic. I brewed this short which works wonderfully for my tastes, now off to reinfuse, next time I’ll play with longer infusions.

Thank you “Bonnie” For this Tea Sample! (And MANY others ;-))

While I don’t have much experience with Black Teas.! They also have not been my favorite among the varied, green, white’s and Oolongs which I prefer ;) This is the first time I am trying “Verdant” teas (Thanks to Bonnie) and I have to say that it is a very high quality tea!

I brewed My tea in a “Forlife” Curve Teamug http://www.forlifedesign.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_5&products_id=36 at 195 F for 3 minutes and only using Stevia (Stevia Clear) for a sweetener! After steeping I noticed that the wet leaves had a bright fresh ginger/cardamom smell with a light woodsy -smokey afternote.

The taste of the tea (for a newbie like me) is kinda hard to describe!! It had a VERY WELL BALANCED (Chai’s are usually very heavily spiced from what I remember) Smokey-black tea flavor with hints of warm ginger /cardamom and a chocolatey aroma. Finishing off the palate with a buttery smooth mouth feel. It was still flavorful after it’s 2nd steeping and if this is the quality of “Verdant” teas…I’m definitely SOLD!!!

I got an ounce of this when I placed my first Verdant order. I finally got around to trying it yesterday, and I had it with about 3 parts water to 1 part soymilk. It cooled off super quickly because of the soymilk, but I put it in my lovely travel mug and it still stayed fairly warm. I sipped it during breakfast with a dear friend from the summer yesterday—she had just gotten back into town, I was just about to leave. It was great to catch up. The chai tasted very nice, but I think I had drowned it out some with the soymilk, and I would have liked it to be hotter.

I had saved the leaves from my fantastic, amazing day spent with Autumn Laoshan Black the other day; I had gotten 15 delicious infusions from them and I finally had to go to bed! I figured it was a shame to compost them just because of that when they had so much more to give.

How does this connect? I put the not-yet-spent pure leaves together with the chai-spiced ones from yesterday and brewed it all gongfu style. I now can taste all the smooth, spicy intricacy of this delicious chai, coupled with the beautiful base of the Laoshan leaves (which are perfect for this kind of thing, by the way). It’s so complete on its own that I don’t think I’ll drink this with milk…

I got this in a recent swap with kimquat and decided to have a chai night last night :) I did noticed when I was measuring my dry leaf out I noticed goji berries. Oh no! Goji berries and I don’t agree. I don’t know what it is about them But the taste doesn’t agree with me. Aw man! This was spicy chai too. Ugh. I’m so sad.

I tried this yesterday and didn’t like the way the flavors went together, then I got really sick which probably wasn’t the fault of the tea but I don’t think I want this anymore. Any takers?