Lapsang Souchong (#47)

Smoked black tea
Pipers Loose Leaf Tea
 
Pipers' Lapsang Souchong is a very special tea. While many teas are made from the delicate buds and the first two leaves of camellia sinensis, Lapsang Souchong commits to boldness with the full-flavored third and fourth leaves of the plant. It is then cured in Swedish pine smoke, making an unforgettable taste.



Deep, almost gray color to the dry tea.



The Pipers packaging is just adorable! It comes in a drawstring bag with a small card describing the tea. They even wrote me a note!

A larger amount of tea can be purchased with their signature pot and cork lid. 



The scent of the dry tea permeates from the bag. I can smell it from room to room.

And now, to brew:




First brew, early pour.




First brew, finishing the pour.



The brew is incredible! It is smooth with just a touch of smoke. It smells like sweet campfire, with an almost fruity softness. It echoes a great cigar or Scotch whiskey, but delicate enough to really enjoy it.

If you don't like cigars or Scotch, don't let that description turn you off. I don't usually partake of those either. The smokiness of this tea is polite but with character. The smoke is stronger in the smell than in the taste. The tea is high quality; I only used one teaspoon, as the card says.

Don't add anything into this tea. It's perfect, and cannot be steeped poorly.

Normally my husband just drinks whatever tea I hand to him, but he couldn't stop talking about this one. So, I took notes:

Husband: "Yeah, you can really get the undertones of smoke. I like it. I really like it. Yeah, that's smoky. Reminds me of Scotch, kinda. That's really good."

The judge has spoken.

There's a longevity to this tea. I brewed it three times in my Adagio Teas teapot! The first brew was the strongest (this isn't a tea you need to coax to open up), but I kept going to test the flavor. This is still the same teaspoon of tea.

The second pour:



I love the spiral coming from the spout.

Finishing the second pour:

Beautiful color.



Here is Day 2, steeping for the fourth time. Yes, the same teaspoon of tea!



 
I'm amazed at how much this tea expanded, but that must be because Lapsang Souchong is pulled from the larger leaves of the plant. That's an oversized teaball in the photo.
 
The smoke flavor lasted through four steeps, but I would stick to two steeps for the full tea taste on this one.

Something fun to try with this tea: Cheese! Chocolate! Anything you'd pair with other smoked drinks.

In a later steeping I nibbled on cheddar and sour cream chips. Please don't tell the tea police. The cheese flavor was so manly with the smoked scent.

And there's nothing un-manly about tea.

Thanks so much to Pipers! 



Like smoky tea? You can read about a dragon-inspired Game of Thrones tea here. 

This sample was provided by Pipers Loose Leaf Tea.