Gottatea Blog

You can ask any tea expert what tea is especially famous for its strong smoky flavor and one possible answer you will hear is Lapsang Souchong tea. Would you like to discover the mystery world of this fantastic beverage - Lapsang Souchong black tea? Welcome to GottaTea.com!

Lapsang Souchong tea is traditionally a black tea that originates from the Wuyi region of the Fujian province in China, and the best Lapsang Souchong black tea is considered to be produced in the native reserve, where high mountains with thick pine forests and heavy mist provide an ideal environment for growing this top-notch quality tea. Since Wuyi is a rather small area and there is continuously increasing interest in this variety of tea, organic Lapsang Souchong tea from the original source is rather expensive.

In fact, Lapsang Souchong black tea is a member of the Wuyi Bohea family of teas. It is sometimes referred to as smoked tea due its distinctive smoky aroma that makes organic Lapsang Souchong tea the most identifiable tea type among other ones. Lapsang Souchong leaves are traditionally smoke-dried in bamboo baskets over pinewood fires, achieving an ideal balance of smoke and tea aroma, and this is the secret of its unique flavor.

You may consider that having such a rare and unique name, Lapsang Souchong tea must have a long and complicated history of origin wrapped in multiple ancient Chinese legends. However, we have a very short story to tell you: Lapsang Souchong was created during the era of Qing dynasty when a group of army passing by the community of tea farmers delayed the annual drying of the tea leaves in the Wuyi hills. Trying to satisfy this demand, the tea producers sped up the drying process by having their workers dry the tea leaves over fires made from local pines. This forced method resulted in a smoky aroma on the tea that somehow created a positive appeal for tea lovers. Hence, an ingenious type of black tea was discovered and became widely known until now.

While traditional organic Lapsang Souchong tea features a strong smoky aroma coupled with a sweet and mild taste, its high grade variety possesses a taste of dried Longan, a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia, for the first few brews. Some tea drinkers find the flavor of Lapsang Souchong black tea similar to Latakia pipe tobacco, some note that Formosan Lapsang Souchong tea has a stronger flavor and aroma, and all they agree that the most extreme variety is Tarry Lapsang Souchong, which is smoke-dried, as the name implies, over burning pine tar.

An interesting fact, but Lapsang Souchong black tea is often the favorite tea of those who prefer Scotch whisky and fine cigars, maybe because they find the strong flavor of Lapsang Souchong being somewhat complimentary to the depth and strength of these luxury items. In fact, for a long period of time it used to be almost exclusively a man's tea, but more and more women are drinking it as well now.

When brewed in hot water these black leaves produce a bright reddish-orange beverage in your cup. As organic Lapsang Souchong tea has a strong taste, some connoisseurs of this tea, especially Western people, prefer to drink it with milk. We would rather not suggest you to add lemon as it would only get drowned in the tea's natural flavor. Lapsang Souchong black tea can be served with spicy or salty dishes and it also perfectly combines with a mixed cheese board. It is a wonderful beverage for outdoors, especially after physical activities, as it can help boost your vigor.