Where is Lapsang Souchong tea from?
Since opening the shop we’ve had many wonderful conversations with customers about all things tea & more. One of our jobs, apart from keeping Penny the cocker spaniel fed & loved, is to decipher what tea will best suit a customer’s tastebuds. Throughout the course of these brief questions there are two teas we’ve red flagged as ‘Marmite’ teas; being that people either love them or couldn’t possibly stand near them. Our Mint teas are Marmite as well as the curiously smoky, rich & earthy Lapsang Souchong.
Lapsang Souchong can be overpowering to those looking for a more traditional brew. If you take the time to brew a cup to your liking, lapsang souchong is a tea that keeps on giving. What blooms from the cup is at once comforting & enlivening. Got a long drive ahead of you? Lapsang Souchong. Need to pay attention to the Eastenders omnibus before monday night? Lapsang Souchong. Want to impress your friends with Lapsang facts? Carry on reading below.
Where is Lapsang Souchong tea from?
Boasting the perfect climate to cultivate tea–high rainfall in humid hills– the Wuyi mountain region is the birthplace of tea. Nestled at the northernmost edge of Fujian province, Wuyi is famous for its Rock Tea, an oolong that delivers a honied-molasses cup, but is also the home of Lapsang Souchong tea.
Lapsang, meaning from the Wuyi Mountain Region, and Souchong, meaning “small-leaf plant” comes from the Bohea tree.
Not only is Wuyi a national preservation zone, but UNESCO have protected the region under their “Man and Biosphere” project. This programme places science at the forefront, using all manner of data to enhance the connection between people and the environment using sustainable practices and policies to build thriving societies within the biosphere.
How does Lapsang Souchong get its flavour?
Different from a traditional black tea, Lapsang Souchong gets its flavour by being smoked over pine needles. Usually, it’s the bud and top 2 leaves (Pekoe) that are used in Lapsang Souchong, but come the second flush in May/June, the bud and first 4 leaves (Souchong) are used. Once withered, rolled, fermented, fixed and rolled again, the leaves are dried above a pinewood fire.
Large bamboo baskets called honglongs are filled with the processed leaves and smoked over pinewood, pine tar or–more traditionally–pine needles until the tea master is happy with the leaves’ profile. The absorption of the smoke is aided by Wuyi mountain region’s 80% humidity.
Tea has a long and varied history. Along the way many origin stories attach themselves to different teas–true or apocryphal–but it’s widely accepted that Lapsang Souchong started life in wartime.
Between 1850 - 1864, the Taiping Rebellion ravaged a large swathe of China leaving millions dead and a country in ideological crisis. Moving north, the Taiping soldiers would carry with them, among other items, stinkpots, jingals, swords, cooking implements and cushions filled with Camellia Sinensis Bohea. Sitting on them constantly crushed the leaves and thus began the oxidation process. To fix the tea in a hurry, taiping soldiers would light pinewood fires and smoke the tea to stop it from ruining, incidentally creating Lapsang Souchong tea.
“We sat there peacefully, while I sipped my cooling tea (Lapsang Souchong, smoky and peculiar) and felt the strangeness of my life, and where I was”
Different Types of Lapsang Souchong Tea
There are three different types of lapsang souchong tea–Lapsang Souchong, Smoked Lapsang Souchong & Smoked Souchong–and their differences lie in the manufacturing process.
Lapsang Souchong
Once plucked, the tea leaves are solar withered on bamboo sheets to start reducing the moisture content. They are then withered indoors at 60 °C above a heating room, where floorboards are spaced 5cm apart and pine smoke is left to rise up. The leaves are then rolled as per normal CTC & orthodox tea production, but then fermented in honglongs to preserve heat from the withering stage. Using deep woks, the leaves are then pan-fixed to stop oxidation and then immediately rolled for a second time and then again dried in a heating room above pine smoke.
Smoked Lapsang Souchong
As the name suggests, this souchong takes Lapsang Souchong and smokes it after the second drying stage. Performed over a small hole, the leaves are smoked in honglongs above a bed of smouldering charcoal and pine wood without its bark. Flame is avoided in this process as there is no air flow to the hole.
Smoked Souchong
As you can see, the omission of Lapsang in smoked souchong points to the fact a different tea cultivar is used. Smoked Souchong is made in the same process as lapsang, but unsmoked congou tea, imported into Wuyi region, is used instead of the native Bohea.
Infusion time for Lapsang Souchong
Our Lapsang Souchong is available to buy in 50g, 100g, 150g & 300g. It’s intensely smoky yet perfectly balanced. Personally, I prefer this tea after a third infusion, once the harsh, tobacco flavour has rounded off and mellowed.
As always, we recommend 1g/per 100ml of water with all of our teas and tisanes. Using 1tsp/200ml of boiling water, we suggest an infusion time of 2-3 minutes for this Lapsang Souchong.
And not only can you drink Lapsang Souchong, but also eat it. Last month we compiled a blog of 3 must try Lapsang Souchong recipes. If you like ice cream, spinach or cocktails, then take a read and get some inspo!
T x