I have struggled with this one for 20 Years! SMOKED LAPSANG SOUCHONG
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- čas přidán 29. 04. 2022
- After two decades of tea sourcing, I have tasted far too many Smoked Lapsang Black Teas. I always find that there is something missing in even the top quality smoked tea and so I have come up with my answer to the problem.
Traditional Lapsang Blending Set: meileaf.com/p/tea-lpsc
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Love Lapsung, the smokier the better, it relaxes me and lowers my blood pressure.
I just love sharing a cozy hot cup of lapsang souchong tea.
We all love a good Pingas Joke
PINGAS!
Your weekend videos always drop right as I am sitting down for my breakfast tea session here in the US. Perfect timing, Don!
Always when I brew some Lapsang Souchong I immediately want a dram of Laphroaig since it has the same smoke flavour profile. It´s just very interesting how these two beverages coming from very different places in time and history match up (even namewise). Slainte Mhath
Longan Lapsang has been the best smoked lapsang I ever tasted by far. I’m so sad to hear, that it’s not coming back. - But this new kit of to lapsangs, made a compliment each other, sounds like fun. Would be interesting to try to match the ensuing tea with variously peated whiskeys and with cigars.
Wow, my stash of Longan Lapsang (91 g. left) just became a whole lot more precious to me. That is very sad news. How long would you dare to keep the longan lapsang, Don? Would it be okay to spread out my consumption of it over 5 years, 10 years? Finish it within 2 years?
Once had a sample of a "Lapsang Souchong" which,after the initial pine smoke,opened to a rather citrusfruity,almost perfumy taste,very fresh in the throat and persistent.The aftertaste was so fresh and complex and I was surprised how multifaceted and fruity it was.Not sweet,but no adstringency.Great experience,maybe too special for my budget,as it wasn't cheap and I thought I wouldn't want this every day...I also tried mixing a medium quality smoked that was lacking with an unsmoked sweeter one with notes of dark melasses...didn't work for me,the sweetness made it almost unpleasant as it took the fresh 'elegance' from the smoke.This taught me that character/elegance in tea often results from notes that are MISSING!!!
First time I tried lapsang souchong I didnt like it much at all, but I figured I'd try mixing it with this random black tea I had rather than toss it. I found the same thing! The mixing really makes something unique and delicious. What a fun idea to sell a mixing set!
I loved this video! I am a lapsang souchong lover and I definitely have had quality and cheap lapsangs. I must admit that I do love the smokiness so even the cheaper ones are my jam but the quality lapsangs melt my heart! The blending set is on my wish list now!!!!
THANK YOU for your efforts to bring forward an acceptable Lapsang!
I'll place an order and give your solution a shot.
I really want to see a repeat of the "Wildwood" hongcha you had. I absolutely adored that intense floral flavor. That was my absolute favorite red tea experience. No other red has satisfied me since.
Ahhhhhh campfire tea as I like to call it. I love this stuff. Great show. Great channel.
I bought the tea and I absolutely get what Don is talking about, the teas harmonize really well but I think I might just not be a fan of smoked Lapsang. Still interesting to taste it at least once in my life, I think it was a really fun idea.
I have some of the Longan smoked Tea it's really unique stuff I love it. I'll have to try this too.
I had my first Lapsang Souchong this week and absolutely loved it. Defn a suprising favor but really enjojed it.
The first type of lapsang souchang I tried tasted like liquid smoke and I didn't like it (was bagged tea from a decent brand), but now I buy loose leaf and it's been my favorite for the last several years. When we were wearing masks, I loved how it made my breath smell like a fireplace.
Came here to learn how to smoke tea.
Left with a refound understanding of ancient tea processing traditions.
I love it on its own, I love it mixed. Probably helps I love smoked foods🤤
Regarding the brew colour and missing body, I wonder if the smoking deposits resins/oils on the leaf that makes them slightly 'waterproofed', for lack of a better word. With proper smoking I can't imagine the actual leaf temperature getting high enough in the process to drive off volatiles in the tea, but I may well be wrong about that. Do you notice the smoked tea lasts for a few more infusions? That would certainly add credence to my hypothesis.
My favorite thing is using a 30/70 percent of an herbal tea (chamomile) as a pairing with it and it gives it a nice open interestingly menthol feeling and lighter taste of smoke that works well
Hm I always loved lapsang suchong. Since the first sip.
I agree it’s not for everyone it’s kind of a thing.
But I agree, underneath the smoke blanket there is something missing. It’s like laphroig in peated Whisky.
It never occurred to me that you can make a lagavulin out of a laphroiag by mixing them, so to speak. I will give this a try.
The first time I had smoked Xiao Zhong it hit me in a strange way, but I loved it. And I like smoked black teas (and even oolongs to some extent) ever since.
Regarding the blending set: I don't think that I ever be a tea curator or a tea blender, but I love these little sets. I enjoy the blending or the blind tasting/rating sets.
Here just to see how to pronounce lapsang souchong and this did not disappoint
The first and only smoked lapsong i had from a well known tea company in the usa so i see how its a tricky one. i like other roasted teas like the ding ding but the that one smelled like a burnt house after it was sprayed with water. that is a nasty smell if you ever smelt that before. the taste was very light though. hope to try the duo sometime.
I know that too, I miss something about a tea in terms of taste,
I have even had several teas where I miss something.
I try a tea, make notes about the taste, write a conclusion and then look at the description on the page where I bought the tea and what other people have written about it as reviews.
I often have the feeling of having had a different tea.
This always happen to me with higher quality steamed green teas,
the cheaper ones only have their simple base flavours and are a bit coarser than the higher quality ones, and I can't expect much from them.
The high quality ones I have tried only taste a little fresher to me with a slightly different subtle flavour and a little umami in the background compared to the cheap senchas.
They were overall just a little different to each other for me, I had already tried different cultivars like Yabukita, Oku Midori, blend of Asatsuyu and Asanoka.
I had once bought a sencha set and the blend of Asatsuyu and Asanoka was a sample I got with it.
When I tried the Oku Midori, which only cost about twice as much as the cheaper one, and I noticed that it tasted better with a bit of umami, I had an aha moment.
That's what better sencha tastes like. But the description and what people wrote about it ruined that moment.
According to the description, it should have a fine sweetness with this balance and mild umami, and the dry tea should smell very berry-like.
I didn't taste the sweetness at all and the tea didn't smell like berries to me, only finer than the cheaper sencha I knew before.
The people who had rated it were also pretty united that this tea also tasted very berry.
Which I also didn't taste at all 😞.
I feel like I've wasted a lot of my money on steamed green teas because they are very similar to each other for me,
then one would have been enough for me, and I could have invested the money in other teas that I can distinguish better.
The strange thing is that almost all the roasted green teas I have tried, tasted very similar to me as the descriptions and what others have written about them,
with only small variations.
Like the apricot note that comes with a Chu Lu has even slain me because the tea has tasted almost only like apricot fruit tea.
Yet, this tea should taste less like apricot fruit tea.
This tea should taste less like apricots than the Pi Lo Chun that I tried, this one had the more delicate apricot note for me and not the Chu Lü.
My carnivore genes get tickled by this Type of Tea.....back in the caves days....I Love it!
Your opening description is pretty "spot on" how I reacted to my first sip of smoked Lapsang Souchong tea. After my taste buds and brain adjusted to the smokiness of the tea I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the cup. To me it's kinda like do I like this or not -- it definitely turns what you think a black tea is supposed to taste like upside-down. As I already said I enjoyed it but a 100% pure Ceylon will remain my benchmark. If you feel adventurous try this tweak to Ceylon tea. Immediately after brewing a cup of Ceylon tea for 2 minutes place it in the freezer for 20 to 45 minutes depending on several factors -- size of cup, material of cup, coldness of your freezer. I use 10 ounce ceramic tea cups with fairly thick sides and for me it's 40 minutes in my freezer to ice cold but not frozen. Obviously if you prefer your tea hot you probably won't like this but try it anyway because it totally transforms the flavor profile.
My only worry is if this tea is carcinogenic, but I love it. Unbrewed it smells like dried tobacco (not tobacco smoke) it is a wonderful smell.
I've just tasted smoked lapsang for the first time, not even very high grade, and I liked it. It's not something I'd drink daily but it's a good tea if a bit different and unusual. I haven't had non-smoked lapsang yet though so I can't compare.
Hi Don, do you plan to sell the unsmoked lapsang individually? It’s soooo good
the yout' prefer vaped lapsong :)
I definitely like the fragrance and taste of smoked Lapsang Souchong(Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong), however, it makes my throat itchy and leaves me feel heavy and listless, probably due to a black tea/caffeine allergy. Small leaf dosages definitely makes my experience much less trying.
Love smoky Lapsong suchong...
I love lapsang from the first sip. It has all the flavor of eating delicious bacon without the calories!
I've only ever tried the Twinings Lapsang souchong tea. It was very nice, but guessing it's not the best available.
The smokier, the better in my opinion. I don’t mind the non-smoked ones, but if a Lapsung says it is smoked, it better be smoked to the point of having a tar flavour!
The weird thing is lapsang Souchong is delicious with willows tea room in Glasgow and also twinnings loose leaf but sometimes it I buy it from another brand it comes off as really strong almost chemical like taste do you know why that happens?
Hope can got your reply and we would like to invite you to our Tongmu village again and have a very good time here.
Longan Lapsang is the best smoked tea I've ever tasted. I still have some left in my cupboard and want to drink it all, but I also don't want to say goodbye to it for it will not restock 😭
That's what we produce all the time
What a great idea. You found your Lapsang Unichorng 🦄.
Lapsang is actually how I found you guys. It used to be my hangover cure with a fatty English Breakfast. Lapsang led me to Pu'erh (mediocre unwashed) and trying to figure out how to brew Pu'erh led me to you. Thank you peated whisky hangovers.
Why is it banned in the UK?
I guess I’d better drink my Longan Lapsang slowly! Once it’s gone, it’s gone!🌱🥃🌱
Wuyi origin has two types of smoked Lapsang souchong, I considered it too expensive to buy.
I used to think (many years ago) that using lapsong souchong would help make jollof rice smokier but I ended up becoming disillusioned from it. It doesn’t work like that, even the specially-smoked variants.
I don't like it when it goes very much in that flowery Bready direction, if it's just a little then it's OK.
There are often red teas that go very much in this direction, I don't buy them.
I'm not a fan of dried prunes either, I don't buy teas that go in that direction either.
I also skipped lung ching because I had bad experiences with chestnuts as a child, I didn't like the taste.
It was just because we didn't know that chestnuts should be boiled in water and not in the oven like we've always done it, so they become floury and dry and have an unpleasant taste.
My parents' cousin really liked the ones from the oven, and we children collected chestnuts in the forest when we were with them on holiday.
The pre-cooked ones that I needed for my Bûche de Noël last Christmas tasted very good.
I believe what the Asian palet seeks in Lansang is entirely an entirely different expectation than the European wants. I'm a barbarain, and never had Lapsang other than Iced.
Laughing now, but I had a deeply smoked Lapsang sitting in my cupboard for over 10 years before I just threw it away. I should try again, right?
I went in for all the aromatics, but I found it sour and overwhelming with creosote flavor!
@@selfeaten yes, I had the same experience.
Longan Lapsang really was the only smoked lapsang I ever liked.
@@beth.7 Never tried it with longan wood! I gotta admit that the whole thing scared me away from anything similar sounding until now
"The quality of the smoked lapsang souchong generally is declining, and a lot of the stuff that hits the international market is not worth your time."
I think that answers a question I had when I just now learned Twinings has discontinued its Lapsang Souchong tea. Twinings cites "challenges importing the blend", but other brands are still selling it - apparently not having the same difficulty. Which leads me to suspect that Twinings has been able to import better quality tea than its competitors, and was not willing to compromise on quality.
_However,_ Twining's replacement - "Distinctively Smokey" - has been absolutely slaughtered in the reviews, so I'm not sure Twinings made a good decision here.
I only just got started on tea a few years ago, and I quite like the smoked tea. So, I don't think I fit in that group.
Stories goes this Tea was created by accident or a way to quickly preserve tea.
It's an acquired taste.
Don't tell me this while I'm broke
I think that unsmoked stuff is not really zheng shan xiao zhong... it's like carbonara with cream... no thanks. But I have never tasted it, you really are too sophisticated for me...
This is a tea I do NOT like at all. haha
It's an aquired taste. I dislike it immensely.
i purchased (here in italy) from some chinese importers. i drunk it only once (later i'll have my second cups of tea)and i really did not tasted the "smoked", it catched me by surprise to be honest because i was searching that flavor. It was sell as smoked, later i'll try to taste it better, otherwise i know where to find some good on mei.leaf =D