gurdymonkey | FOR SCIENCE: Special Grade Laoshan Gongfu Black

10s @ 200F, half portions (about 2g) in flavor neutral gaiwan and unglazed clay teapot, using identical teacups.

On huffing the bag, the scent is black tea and flowers. Leaf is dark and tightly twisted. Good red gold color in the cup for both brews.

This is special, all right. Flavor is deep, with a fruity, sweet plummy thing melding with those floral aromas, and a darker, slightly spicy thing going on in the background.

The Yixing zisha clay teapot is brand new. It's been properly rinsed and seasoned, but it's NEW. My rational brain is yelling at me that it has not had time on a single steep to do anything. Emperor's new teapot and all that. But - is that black licorice???? The difference is so subtle I'm having a hard time being objective. Is the clay brewed tea flavor just the teensiest bit warmer? Or is my brain just wanting it to be?

I don't know. What I do know is that this is a delicious tea and I will dump the gaiwan leaf into the teapot and happily enjoy more steeps.

From the seller, info about this tea. https://verdanttea.com/spring-laoshan-gongfu-black-special-grade

Second steep, all in the teapot, drinking from a thicker walled chawan now. Still delicious, warming. This tea is a winner and I need to make sure I note that on my spreadsheet.

In other news, that high edged plate from Reannag Teine works quite nicely as a tea boat. The plate was a token from the late Countess Berengaria for representing her in the 2018 Valkyrie Rose Tournament at Great Western War. Miss you, Bera. These clay teapots benefit from getting wet with tea, so you're supposed to overfill the pot a little bit, which means you need something that catches the water, like a "tea boat" or slotted tea tray with a reservoir under it. (If you saw "The Blind Banker" episode of "Sherlock," there's a scene showing the Chinese ceramicist character pouring tea this way as part of maintaining the pot.)

In the "Phew, I didn't buy a fake" column*, the pot pours efficiently and elegantly without the need for a strainer, the lid fits snugly and the pot sheds/absorbs water from the overpour almost instantly. Besides, that woodgrain pattern is just gorgeous! (Buying off the internet makes it hard to examine what you're getting and the shipping mixup on the extra teapot set alarm bells ringing in my head. BTW, they emailed yesterday to tell me to please keep the extra teapot as a gift and would I mind giving them a review? So I did: pleased with my purchase but careful to point out how long it took to ship and that they did send that second pot by mistake, which means somebody somewhere did not get their order, so I hope they're fixing that.)

Third steep, darker and even richer because I let it steep for a bit longer. Good stuff, this!