Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha

Sipdown! I had a lovely two cups of this today while out by myself looking after the dog and cats while everyone else is away. One cup was when I had a bubble bath! I can’t remember the last time I had one lol, but it was super relaxing :) these cups definitely had more toastiness and rice in them and less oolong, tasty, but I won’t reorder for a bit, because while it was nice and sweet, it seems wintery and i still prefer regular laoshan Genmaicha for a toasty flavor. Happy to have tried it though! See previous notes on this tea :)

I’ve been consciously trying not to drink this one as often because I’m running so low on this delicious tea. However, as it is the beginning of finals week (and perhaps the very last finals week of my entire life), I thought I deserved to have this one. There are so many complex, delicious flavors that complement each other so perfectly in this tea that it’s hard not to love it! Anyway, here is to surviving the rest of this week!

This one comes to me from the wonderful Missb! Thank you :D

This tastes wonderfully malty and grainy, almost, with a dark dark chocolate undertone. Almost reminds me of licorice – and in a way, the maltyness comes out in a way in the aftertaste that reminds me of eating rice.

I have a feeling I may have underleafed this however – so tired this afternoon. :P So a rereview is coming in the future, definitely!

Where have you been all my life, little tea sample from Verdant?! I’ve had this one in my travel with me vintage lipton tea tin for a few months now and have yet to try it. Now that I finished the Traveling Tea Box C, I can focus on my huge swaps and samples and orders I have piling up in my closet. Ha Ha. I am actually making a Verdant order tonight and this baby is getting ordered. I loved the smoothness this tea brought. Defintely could taste all the notes. Chocolate, roasty rice, caramel, love it! Each steep was completely different from the one before which I loved, it’s like have multiple teas in 1. I got 3 steeps out of it before it started to get to late to be drinking a black tea. I should be in bed by 8 for my 4AM shifts:) I also ate with it some chocolate that paired perfectly with it. :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10527140546/
Well I love this one and don’t know what more to say about it. Speechless.

I was in the mood for something roasty and comforting and caffeinated this morning. This is PERFECT right now. This is my 2nd time trying this tea…I got a lot more rice this time. Tasty tasty! Happy Friday everyone :)

I have had relatives visiting for the past couple of weeks which means I have not had the chance to drink much tea. They are strictly coffee people and since I am the only one who can make a decent (seriously excellent) pot of coffee, tea has kind of been in the background. I missed it and I really hope that my moment of off the wagon didn’t start up my addiction to coffee again.

I have been sipping though. I found time to bring out some Verdant teas that I haven’t had the chance to try yet or that I haven’t had in a while. The last time I had Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha was I think around April and I loved it. Like a lot. It was so perfect. So roasty and chocolaty. This time, however, it was a bit too roasty and not chocolaty enough. Perhaps it’s because it’s a bit older. I still like it a lot but definitely not the love I had before. It’s still a reorder though because that first time was so resplendently awesome.

Backlog:

I love LOVE love this blend. I love the reinterpretation of Genmaicha from Verdant … using the Laoshan Black tea rather than the green tea for the genmaicha. Yum!

Sweet, toasty, chocolate-y, caramel-y goodness.

One of my favorite blends from Verdant yet.

I managed to get two cups out of my little sample. Today, I had the second. Is it a sipdown if it was a sample? I say YES! I’m still trying to decide whether to get more of this or not. I really liked it, but I’m not sure I loved it. I’m getting kinda picky lately. Ha!

WHOA WHOA WHOA HOLD ON A MINUTE HERE

Gahhhhh OMG Courtney! Thank you so much for sending me a fresher sample of this!! The old one I had was clearly nothing in comparison!

I’m drinking this as I go through millions (seems that way) of photos I’ve taken of the baby girl since she was born in December, because we need to start developing them. At the rate I take photos (MUST CAPTURE ALL THE MOMENTS!!), it’s going to be a hundred bucks at least just to do a couple months’ worth at a time..

So, right now I’m trying to decide which ones from Dec 2013 and January. It’s really stressful.

BUT THIS TEA!
It’s so chocolatey and rice krispie and delicious and decadent and amazing!

I’m obviously going to order some.

Screw you, overly sweet Davidstea Chocolate Macaroon. THIS is what I want.

I’m rating it in the 90s. So there.

I had a panic moment at first when I poured in the water. “Shoot!”, I thought, “I forgot this has oolong in it too,” because I’d just poured 200 degree water over the leaves. I only have this as a sample size, and I’m making a big enough cup that I just dumped the lot into my infuser.
Worried I’d just scalded half the leaves in my cup, I looked up other tasting notes and was relieved to see that everyone else seems to have done either 200 degree or boiling water too. Phew.

The liquor is very pale. Taking a sip now, all I taste is … oolong. lol. No laoshan black, no chocolate, no toasted rice, just oolong. Which isn’t bad, I like oolong. The oolong used in this blend is one I’ve been wanting to try. But I kinda hoped to taste the aforementioned too. I’m wondering if maybe my sample wasn’t balanced enough with the other ingredients? None of the wet leaves look like Laoshan Black leaves really, and after drinking 8oz of that in a month and a half, I definitely know what they look like! xD

So erm, yeah. Enjoying the cup, even though it’s totally not what I was anticipating. (Again, I like oolong) I’m thinking I might grab a pouch of this on my next Verdant order to be safe though. I really think my sample might not have been balanced. The oolong is much gentler than a cup of Laoshan Black, so I’d imagine it’d overpower the oolong if anything, but I don’t taste it at all. Withholding rating until I’ve tried this another time.

(at least it’s not peppery ;) )