Laoshan Roasted Oolong

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea
Flavors
Bread, Citrus, Cocoa, Floral, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Yams, Brown Sugar, Burnt Sugar, Cherry, Chocolate, Cream, Oats, Roast Nuts, Roasted, Toasty, Oak, Orange, Rye, Toast, Vanilla, Astringent, Cookie, Dark Chocolate, Wet Earth, Wood, Creamy, Earth, Nutty, Pumpkin, Thick, Plum, Toasted, Butternut Squash, Caramel, Vegetables, Almond, Roasted Barley, Scotch, Brown Toast, Dark Bittersweet
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Vegan
Edit tea info Last updated by CHAroma
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 30 sec 4 g 14 oz / 425 ml

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86 Tasting Notes View all

From Verdant Tea

“With notes of scotch, roasted barley and melted chocolate, this world premiere harvest from the He family transcends the boundaries between black tea and roasted oolong to reach new levels of complexity…”

Mr. He is extremely proud of his oxidized teas. He is the only farmer in the whole village of Laoshan who has mastered the art of creating the rich malt chocolate flavor that the tea can yield. He is able to produce such incredible tea because of the labor he puts into the process. In addition to meticulous chemical-free farming and hand picking before dawn, Mr. He adds the traditional three day sun roasting oxidation to this tea for a truly full body. Next, he sets aside a full eight hour day of hand-tossing the leaves over extremely low heat to create the enzymatic reaction that defines oolong.

The full four day process from picking to finishing that created this batch of less than thirty pounds is well worth it. The flavor is uniquely sweet and citrusy like pineapple with cinnamon caramel notes usually only seen in budset Yunnan black teas.

Of course chocolate notes similar to Laoshan black come through strong, but there is a potent aftertaste akin to highlands scotch, and a thick wheat bread aroma. As the tea continues to steep out, dark florals come through to add texture to the creamy potato base flavors. The malty notes are reminiscent of Tibetan tsampa, made from roasted fresh barley mixed with butter tea, and eaten for its sustaining properties at such altitude and extreme cold.

We hope that you enjoy Mr. He’s master experiment as much as we do. Mr. He wants to make oolong an important part of the tea craft in his village, so this will likely be the first of many seasons of history-making experimentation in tea making.

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86 Tasting Notes

3294 tasting notes

The Day She Planted the Sweet Potatoes
Parts Three, Four, Five, Six, & Seven
To make a long story short, after several trips to Lowe’s I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to give each sweet potato it’s very own raised circular bed, although 12 of them did get their own private circular beds. Also, it was starting to look like rain. Also, I realized that if I picked the Napa cabbage (which I needed to pick anyway, & start a batch of spring Kimchi), I could plant 4 plants there. And I was gonna be harvesting Garlic soon, so I could plant 4 plants in each of 2 of the garlic beds (a little companion planting, right?).
Here’s what happened next. I opened the little box, which had 6 cute little bundles of sweet potato slips. There were suppose to be 4 of each type. In reality, there were 10 – 12 of each!! OMG! I don’t have anywhere else to plant them, so I clustered a few together in each prepared place. Just as I started planting them it started raining like crazy, of course!
When it stopped raining, I went outside & planted the rest of them. I was finally done at 9pm, & I think maybe that was the filthiest I’ve ever been, LOL.
My reward for this very long day was a hot shower, followed by this cup of tea.
That’s all I got.

Veronica

I hope you end up with an amazing harvest after all of that work!

TheTeaFairy

Now what, Napa cabbage? Is there something you actually don’t have in that magical garden of yours?
I love Napa so much, I stir fry it at least once a week…I also like to “mandolin” it in salads, so yummy crunchy!

Terri HarpLady

Veronica: me too! It’s always more fun when that happens! Plus, I’m really excited to taste all those different varieties!
My dear Fairy: I’m not growing okra. I have grown it before, but not lately. I’m also not growing corn, it’s too much of a prima Donna, & I can’t eat it anyway, LOL. It dawned on me today that I haven’t planted green beans yet this year. I’m not growing eggplant either. Or potatoes. I need to take a photo series & start sharing them on my Terri’s Airy Fairie World blog. It’s been months since I posted there.

TheTeaFairy

Will have to check that blog of yours :-)
(Loving the name!)

TheTeaFairy

Do you have a link? Didn’t see it in your profile…

Terri HarpLady

[email protected]
It’s been awhile since I posted, but there are some nice pics from last years garden on there :)

Terri HarpLady

Terrilangerak.wordpress.com

TheTeaFairy

Lol, you cave me only an email address ;-) I want to SEE it!!!

TheTeaFairy

(I meant “gave” of course)

TheTeaFairy

Ah! Okay, got it!

TheTeaFairy

Oh, I love the blog and all the wonderful pictures, please post moooore!!!

Ok, after watching, I can’t help showing you the only thing I grow except herbs, cause well, they pretty much grow themselves, I’ve got nothing to do with it…also, a picture of my cat…cause she looks so much like one of yours!!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/14286269407/lightbox/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/14286119358/lightbox/

Terri HarpLady

Yay for sunflowers! I planted 2 varieties, years ago, one bigh yellow from a package, & the other a red one from a friend’s garden, & every year they come back. They’ve been cross pollinating all these years, over & over again, & each one has retained different traits, but they are almost always VERY tall, so I always move them to the fence & run a few strings, otherwise they come crashing down. I love sunflowers because they attract so many bugs & birds, & my beloved goldfinches.

Terri HarpLady

And your cat! Definitely looks alot like my son Leif’s cat, Gizmo! He is the son of a black smoke persian I once had in my family, who managed to sneak out the doggy door & have a secret trist with a neighborhood alley cat. Se la vie!

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93
361 tasting notes

On my first steep of this. Finally found an oolong I really enjoy. It’s like the laid back little sister of Laoshan Black. I can’t wait to see what the next few infusions bring. Definite re-order!

ETA: So I did a few more steeps of this and this crazy sweet honey flavor came out in the last steep. But there wasn’t much other flavor. Just a sweet flavor.

I decided to make another cup, but let it steep forever and get all the flavors out in one cup. I’m not sure if that’s like sacrilegious or something, as the website says to not steep for more than a minute, but it just sounded right to me. And man was it! I let it go until all the leaves were totally uncurled. And it tastes like creamy sweet chocolate pudding. Not a hint of bitterness or astringency. Just creamy. And sweet. And chocolatey. This is the only way I will be making it from here on out. Yum.

One more add — After looking at the verdant website again, I realized I prefer brewing this Jingshan Style. I love finding new teas that make me giddy. This is definitely one of them.

Lily Duckler

Great tasting note (and definitely not sacrilegious!). Since this is a completely new kind of tea, there is no “traditional” way to steep it. We set out some recommended guidelines based on the ways we’d brewed it so far and the way the He Family made it for us in Laoshan, but that’s it: guidelines and suggestions. It’s excellent to see the results of your experiment! I want try it Jingshan-style myself this evening. :)

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95
1040 tasting notes

I’m not sure what was wrong with me the first time I drank this, but today – lots of leaf, low water temp, long steep = OMG I’m having a tea moment AMAZING.

Stephanie

I love those moments :)

Dexter

I’m at work, sticking my cup under people’s noses – saying things like – “OMG can you smell those cocoa notes” – they of course are looking at me like I’m nuts…..

Stephanie

HA! I’m pretty sure my coworkers think my tea obsession is a little nuts, too :)

Sil

haha

ifjuly

Dexter, that image of you at work is cracking me up.

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676 tasting notes

Because Laoshan Village just launched two ‘first ever’ Oolong’s with Verdant Tea, I’ve decided to prepare tea in a style common to that geographic area.

Laoshan Style Tea: (No special equipment required)
Heatproof glass tumbler, 175 degree filtered. Pour water over aprox. 1tsp or so leaves (1/4 inch). Wait until most of the leaves sink to the bottom of the glass, then sip.

Refill the glass with water throughout the day using the same leaves.

The signiture aroma and flavor of chocolate, potato and barley that I love in Laoshan Black Tea is present in this Oolong, with a lighter more delicate and sweeter taste.

One sip and you know, this is tea from Laoshan Village and Mr. He!

Throughout the first tasting, I couldn’t help comparing Laoshan Black Tea with the Laoshan Roasted Oolong while swishing and swirling the golden liquor.
The cocoa brown tea leaves had plumped a full 2 inches high in my glass and left a filmy haze of tea oil. Good leaves!

The tea’s medicial benefits were taking effect with a golden, light warmth elevating my sense of well-being.

I relaxed, sat back on the couch…and passed the tumbler in front of my nose to catch the floral and fruity scent.

More water into my tumbler, and the glass was dark topaz from the cinnabar-brown leaves that filled it.

The flavor was lighter, not as potato-chocolate as the first steep, and spicier. Cinnamon, caramel, citrus.

This particular Oolong is in the flavor profile of Laoshan Black but lighter, sweeter and more floral. I look forward to seasonal changes and roasting experimentation.

Personal Note
I sat today and remembered the first time I drank really great tea and what it was like. How do you explain it?
Everyone knows what a ‘Flash Mob’ is. Well, when I was drinking bagged tea’s and highly flavored tea, it was like a flash mob…all dancers and bands and noise. A fun show!

There comes a part when everything stops and there’s a reveal. The one special moment when everyone points to a single person because that is the point of it all. The show and everything is about that moment…the ‘reveal’!

One layer after another of people is removed…they point to a spot and…‘tah dah’!

For me, my moment, or ‘reveal’ with tea was when I drank my first high quality, unflavored loose leaf tea. I was blown away!

I had no idea that tea could have such a pure, clear voice. Without apology…it changed my tea journey and sent me down a path of discovery.

Now I know how to use equipment and how to pour tea, and like going to Grammar School I’ve learned lots of facts.

Weeks ago when recuperating, I drank copious amounts of fine tea to help heal my tired-from-migraine brain. The tea helped a great deal!

I’ve been thinking about the need to learn to ‘drink tea’ and it’s time to sit still more often and heal in many ways.

Lesson #1
I know very little about tea.

Alysha

That’s a great analogy! I felt that “reveal” when I tried some of the unflavored teas from Verdant and Butiki for the first time. I’ve realized that my favorite thing about quality tea is that I experience that same feeling every time I have it again!

Tommy Toadman

Delicious Tea, I tried a sample now I’m patiently waiting for tea of the month box to get some more of it, I’m excited.
Can’t wait to try Laoshan Green Oolong too :)

High Adventure

“The tea’s medicial benefits were taking effect with a golden, light warmth elevating my sense of well-being.” Sold! I’m trying my sample of this tea post-haste. I couldn’t decide which (ah, what a problem — too much tea to choose from) but this one sounds like it’s what the tea doctor ordered. Thank you!

Autumn Hearth

Mmm you are right about the tea oil! I felt it before I noticed it visually. I think perhaps this is the first tea I’ve been fully conscious of feeling the oil in my mouth and I love it!

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99
464 tasting notes

I finished off my little packet of this, but I have a 1 oz paccket ready and waiting. I had this in my travel mug this morning. ( Sacrilege! I know! ) It brought out the roasted flavor more actually Probably because I left steeping for more than I would normally. Still good this way!

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85
15386 tasting notes

SIPDOWN! soooo this basically tastes like laoshan black to me lol. I’d have to do a side by side comparison as i’m sure there are differences that my immature tea mouth can’t pick up. soooo this is tasty delicious, but i’m not sure i’d add this to my cupboard given the similarities for me.

Indigobloom

Oh wow I didn’t even know that was a thing :/

Sil

haha silly goose. clearly you aren’t visiting verdant site daily for your rewards

Indigobloom

pfffft nope. I need a new computer so getting my reviews up and checking fb, or the occasional tv show is about the best my lenovo can manage atm. sad but true!

Terri HarpLady

I’ve already visited 3 times today! :)

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92
1113 tasting notes

Sample sip down! This is my Monday all day at work tea selection. I really enjoy everything out of Laoshan. I do prefer the green oolong to this one though. I am REALLY tempted to order some stuff from Verdant before the Laoshan sale ends…I already have SO MUCH tea though, ugh.

Fuzzy_Peachkin

I just pre-ordered 4oz of Laoshan black… I couldn’t resist.

Stephanie

YUM! I love Laoshan black too. I really want to try the bilochan green while they still have some too… I’ve never tried it OR the Laoshan white. They’re high on my “must try” list!!!

Terri HarpLady

I got 4oz of LB right before they announced this sale, but I still want to pre-order 4oz…

Fuzzy_Peachkin

I don’t think I even knew there was a Laoshan white. Now I want to try that too!!

Stephanie

I’ve only seen it here http://steepster.com/teas/verdant-tea/27833-laoshan-white never for sale on the site or anything. waits

Lily Duckler

Hi Stephanie! The He Family experimented with a white tea last year, which is why you’ll see it on Steepster. This year, they decided to try out other new teas (like this Laoshan Roasted Oolong and the Laoshan Green Oolong!)- since the He Family didn’t make any white tea this season, we don’t have any to sell through the website! If Mr. He decides to make white tea again, we’ll definitely let everyone here know.

Stephanie

Cool, thanks Lily! I’m ALWAYS happy to try something new from the He Family. The oolongs were really fun. Can’t wait to see future offerings from them! Right now the Autumn Harvest Green is my favorite Laoshan tea so far.

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90
2201 tasting notes

I forgot I had some of this tea. I ordered a sample of this with my Black Friday order, and the sample pouch came open in the mail, so I salvaged what I could out of the box (and picked out bits of packing peanut haha) and stuck it in a small empty tin I had lying around. The other day I opened the tin and was surprised to see it in there!

So I brewed it up (had to pick out a few more peanut reminants). This is quite a delicous tea, and I understand when people say it reminds them of Laoshan Black. It’s definitely chocolatey, malty, and honeyed, though I find it slightly lighter and sweeter than LB. It also has some bready roasted-oolong notes going on that suit it well. Very nice, and I’m glad I was able to salvage enough to try it out finally!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

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87
1379 tasting notes

My husband asked for a black tea or similar that is not too dark but neither too light and has some flavour and complexity. I chose this sample with the hopes of granting his desire.

This tastes rich, malty and smooth with hints of chocolate, smoked hazelnut and mature honey. The balance of strength and combination of flavours is perfect. There is no astringency or harshness.

Very similar to Teavivre – Fengqing Dragon Pearls in terms of strength, sweetness and maltiness but the Laoshan features more complexity.

This is a very nice tea, something that I could most certainly get used to. Could be one to consider purchasing.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 45 sec

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612 tasting notes

Still more sampling from Nicole’s great giveaway. Thanks Nicole!

Tastes so much like Laoshan Black—which means it’s delicious, but maybe for me redundant, esp. considering how forgiving and flexible LB already is.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Sil

That was what I landed on as well :)

ifjuly

I was JUST browsing the other reviews after I posted and saw that you said so and was like “yay I’m not the only one” ha!

Fuzzy_Peachkin

Wow! I thought they tasted completely different!

ifjuly

Well, I have a really subtaster palate I’m pretty sure. I figure there’s tons of stuff flying right over me I miss. Whoosh. Ah well. (:

ifjuly

And to clarify, I don’t think they taste identical…just similar enough I think I could get away with just LB.

kb.tea

I found it really similar to LB as well, still a good tea but wouldn’t bother reordering.

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