Bergamot Rose Laoshan Black

Drinking a fabulous cup of this before I go off to the pediatrician. My kid is pretty sick today. :( 101.4 degree fever, has only woken up to cry and drink some milk and went right back to sleep. She actually asked me ( in cry-speak) to go back to bed!!
This tea is just. So. Good. I can’t get over Laoshan black. It makes me so happy, and its blended so perfectly with the rose petals and bergamot. I have an unopened packet of Earl of Anxi that I’m anxious to try as well..maybe after the doctor visit! :-P

This came from Terri HarpLady – thanks!

I was waiting for the right time to try this… today was a lazy day, but a good day. I finally got to sleep!

The first steep of this, and I can smell the Laoshan black in here. Bready and rich and dark, it dominates the smell. When I first take a sip, it’s all perfumy dry rose, and that goes well with the astringency of the black. It’s very smooth.

The second steep, and it’s completely different. This is oranges and dark chocolate. What was dry and stiff and powdery and polite is now warm and inviting and rich and smooth.

It’s such a wildly different experience that I can’t decide which I prefer. It’s a fantastic tea.

This was the final tea for our little teaventure this afternoon. I made this for her because she said she tried earl grey at a friends house over the 4th and really liked it. And she likes floral herbal teas. And I don’t like either. Good time to make a cup I think i won’t like but that someone else might.

This tea smells weird. Just a funny combo of smells. Steeped it smells even stranger. And the taste? Definitely not my cup. Earl grey is a no no for me, as are floral teas, especially rose. I was surprised that she didn’t like it either, but as a super taster, I think it kind of made her head explode.

But many thanks to TerriHarpLady for sending me this! It made our tea party even more interesting!

Backlogging tea of yesterday afternoon…..

Very pretty! Long wiry black leaves with rose petals and pieces of citrus peel. Dry leaf smells strongly of chocolate, but there is not much of the bergamot. I will do a more in depth review later, but my first impressions of the brewed tea were heavy on the dark chocolate (definitely not in a bad way, though) and very light on the bergamot and rose. I also had time for only one steeping. I am going to let it sit for a week to see if the flavor oils will blend in a little more before trying it again. Right now, I wish the bergamot was a little more present.

Usual mug method.

Several weeks ago I decided to order a bunch of Verdant samples so I had a good idea of what I wanted to reorder come Black Friday. Now that the TTB is on its way I’m going to dedicate the next few days to sipping them down.

I made three steeps of this, the first one I drank on its own, but the second and third were mixed together to take shopping with me tonight. They are sitting out in the car waiting for me to get my errand running done, as cold as it is tonight I’ll likely have a nice cold glass of tea to drink on my way home from the coffee shop.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the package was just how beautiful the rose petals looked. I love rose tea in every shape and form and order it often, but these were by far the prettiest looking rose petals I’ve ever seen in a tea. I am yet again blown away by the quality of Verdant’s teas.

The bergamot did not stand out nearly as much as I had expected, I find that I wanted it to edge a little more towards a traditional earl grey flavor, but the combination of Laoshan Black, rose, and bergamot was still very enjoyable. The base has a very complex flavor lending a bit of malt and chocolate to the rose and citrus flavors.

I think this will likely be a reorder for me at some point, but most likely it will wait for spring. This tea just doesn’t suit my tastes as much this time of year.

Thank you so much Terri HarpLady for sharing this one with me !
And even a double thanks as Terri sent me a second parcel because the first one has been lost.
I wanted to taste this tea for ages. Loving bergamot and loving rose I was sure it was a tea for me. And was right.

First, it’s a lovely tea : the blend is full of petals of rose, exactly as on the picture here.
The scent of the dry leaf is fantastic: rose & citrus

After brewing, the liquor is darker than I thought, amber.
The dominant taste to me is rose and behind bergamot.
I don’t get the chocolate, sorry but not a problem as I am not the hugest fan of chocolate in tea (especially because it never equals a real cup of hot chocolate to me :) )
The tea base (which is more than a tea base as it seems to be one of the best seller of Verdant) is absolutely fantastic and welcomes ideally the flavours.
I am in love really, the kind of teas I would have every day without problem.

This tea is lovely! It looks and smells beautiful before you even add the hot water. Rose chocolate and orange. I can smell the orange more than the bergamot though both are definitely present. Dark bread crust and chocolate from the base, sweet nectar from the rose, and a lively citrus zest. It’s so balanced and well conceived! I would expect no less from a Verdant blend. I’m glad I got a sample of this. The next time I order, I’m getting a few ounces if this.

Hmmm, I have been looking at this for a while now and thought I should sample it. This was one of my 7 samples that I purchased. I must say Im not a huge fan of rose, and I have a few blends from Verdant that have it in it. I would have never have thought of combining it with a black tea infused with bergamot, but here it goes.

Well Im not a fan of this, but I’m glad I got a sample of this before it was discontinued. I have tasted every Verdant tea in the last year, and did not want to miss one…

This is so beautiful and delicate looking, lovely light pink petals floating in the cup. The rose and the bergamot are indeed tame as other’s have noted, which I appreciate, though I did try the proto-type and if memory serves this tastes like it has a bit more bergamot. But the star here is the chocolaty Laoshan Black base. I love exploring all the different ways to enjoy Laoshan Black and it sometimes seems less intimidating to brew up a cup of one of these Alchemy Blends than the pure tea, so I could see myself stocking up on this and enjoying it more often. I have the perfect black tin with white cranes and delicate sprigs of pink cherry blossoms on it, the ivory colored one is reserved for a future order of Eight Treasures Yabao and the purple will receive Peacock Village Shu in just a day or two (I had originally thought I wanted Elderberry Pu’er but I much prefer the pure base). Though I may just wait for he autumn harvest of Laoshan Black and just stock up on that. But for now, I need to go reinfuse this!

This tea is not what I usually expect from an Earl Grey blend. The black tea itself and the flavoring are both rather creamy and mild. The tea base is mellow, malty, and chocolatey. The rose and citrus flavors make it smell like a tray of cakes flavored with orange, rosewater, and something with a few milk chocolate chips. This is definitely my favorite Earl Grey ever.