Tasting Two Lapsangs
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- čas přidán 14. 07. 2017
- Lapsang Souchong (a phonetic translation of Zhengshan Xiaozhong) was the first Black tea ever produced in the little mountainous region of Tong Mu in Wuyi mountains.
Buy Little Tong Mu: meileaf.com/p/tea-tonc
Buy Souchong Liquor: meileaf.com/p/tea-slqc
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Watch a video about Jin Jun Mei: • Tasting One of the Mos...
Buy Jin Jun Mei: meileaf.com/p/tea-gbrc
In this video we taste two Tong Mu unsmoked Lapsangs and I am amazed at how the same tea variety, from the same area and the same processing can taste totally different depending on tiny factors.
The story goes that in the 1600's the villagers of Tong Mu were in the middle of producing Green tea when an army of soldiers came bundling through this high mountain valley. The residents fled to the forests while the army took over their homes, ate their food and rested before moving on.
When the villagers returned they found that all of their freshly picked Green tea leaves had oxidised and they considered their tea ruined but needed to try to sell it nonetheless. So, one creative person suggested that they lightly smoke the tea over Horsetail Pinewood fires to try to mask the flavour.
After smoking the tea, the villagers brought it to Xingcun where they managed to convince a trader to take their tea to the markets. After several months the trader came back asking for more of that special smoked Black tea and so Black tea was declared a type of tea.
After a while, the international market began to demand stronger smoked tea and so the people of Tong Mu began smoking the tea over heavier, older pinewood with richer resins and the famous Smoked Lapsang was shipped all over the world.
But the producers in Tong Mu were not making big profits and they were restricted by the size of the area, unable to produce the volume of tea to satisfy demands.
In 2006 things changed when a master (Liange Junde) in Tong Mu was asked by a government official to make an unsmoked black tea from the buds of the Xiaozhong variety. The result was the highly prized and expensive Jin Jun Mei and the people of Tong Mu began discarding the smoking techniques in favour of super high quality UNSMOKED Black tea.
Since then the quality of any smoked Lapsangs has declined and much of the production takes place in other provinces like Hubei with lower quality leaves. The magical terroirs of Tong Mu creates rich tea which can stand up to the smoking but most other Lapsangs that I try are weak and overwhelmed by smoke which is why we have not stocked a smoked Lapsang for many years.
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Okey, I have to make a case for Don here. There is a comment like "OMG
Céline is so beautiful" under every single Meileaf video with Céline but
nobody ever compliments Don. There are just people saying that his hair
is too gray for his age, for example. Just saying: Don, you look great! :D
+jangtsedude haha thanks!
The only grey thing that I see with Don is Tiger Spirit :)
Thank you for the explanation of the history of lapsong. I just purchased both teas from you and, even as a pretty experienced tea drinker, I was amazed by the flavors! Thank you for sourcing and making these available.
Lapsang souchong is probably based on the Cantonese pronunciation. 立山小種 laap6 saan1 siu2 jung2
Love the video! Gotta get back into black tea. Your excitement for tea is contagious-always gives me a smile :)
Oh my gosh, I found a channel with other tea nerds who nerd out about tea. Watching other people appreciate tea has this transcendent quality. SUBSCRIBED
Thoroughly enjoyed the video! Lapsang Souchong (smoked) has been a favourite tea for a couple of decades now and my go to on a cold Canadian winter day. Must try the un-smoked version though I can`t see it ever being a replacement.
I always look forward to your tea videos! Our local tea shop is making a fortune off me as a result. Now the next step is ordering from Mei Leaf and comparing the differences.
Thanks so much for taking the time to do these videos! I only recently discovered them and have learned more from you over the past several months than I have over years of dabbling in teas!
Happy exploring Kimberley.
Thank you for making this video I was trying to decide between these two teas and now I've decided that as soon as I get a chance as long as they are in stock I will buy them both.
One of the (only) charms of living in an area where it's pretty much grey and rainy all-year-round: it rarely feels too hot for black tea or too cold for green tea! I'll be ordering these teas shortly :)
Literally learn something new every video, fantastic content as always guys. living in South UK we really need to get to your shop to chill and share teas. not many tea addicts near here (Devon sticks) haha. keep it up
Lapsang Souchong is my fav tea. Thanks to you guys, I now know so much about it
Hey there. I have to say your videos are incredibly good. I am by no means a teadrinker or even someone who regulary drinks tea, but occasionally I do. And I really like to watch your videos. They are so interesting and foremost made with love. I cant stand your low viewrates, when imagening that people rather click on the next emoji-spammed caps lock title with no content, when they could your Quality content. Its a shame. So go on and produce these videos! You might not have the hugest crowd, but surely on of the proudest and most loyal!
Thank you for your kind words - we will keep making the videos if people are watching and commenting!
Nice video, Celine was so funny :)) I watched while sipping some Lapsang Souchong myself but a smoked one.
I love tea and the cultivars and regions. Keep up the good work Don. Hire a room in a hotel and do a masterclass, Midlands cover all the country, and I'll be your first customer.
I was just having a cup of lapsang souchong' tea while watching it has a very nice flavour, I must get a little glass tea pot, specially for clear teas, without milk or sugar,, loved the video👍
My mouth is watering for the Souchong Liquor... great video! Amazing to taste the difference in terroir! Love this.
i just picked some up, it has blown my mind. Nicest black tea i've tried by a mile
just got both of these, drinking Souchong Liquor after the Little Tong Mu. Mu is a bit lighter than the black i usually drink very floral like Darjeeling, Souchong Liquor heavier with nuts and chocolate rather than floral but not as malty as an assam
Oh! A teapet modeled after me :-)
Little tong mu has quickly become my favorite. By far
thank you again !!
I wish you could teleport the aromas through youtube to Vancouver
I just finished a session with souchong liquor before watching this video and have to say that it is a really great tea for those who are trying to cut down on sweets and still want to be able to satisfy their chocolate cravings.
I just love sharing a cozy hot cup of Lapsang Souchong Tea!
Im a coffee and whiskey-guy , i find tea pretty boring and naturally eh..watery with just some taste, but some years ago i discovered the invention of lapsang souchong, someone made a smokey tea?! I tried it and loved it! Im a modern guy living in an old body so i like teabags mostly and yesterday i finally found lapsang souchong as bags! Tried it again and Yes this is my tea! Love that big heavy taste, much like coffee, i understand why this was churchills go-to tea! Its deffintly my go-to from now on!
I can finally drink the rest of my Eastern Beauty without worrying if I'll get a replacement for it. Little Tong Mu is pretty much an instant replacement for it. I'm pretty shocked at the similar taste. Did not expect that from a black tea.
Thanks for pointing it out on the 2nd live stream, glad I added a LTM taster with my last order. This is going to be my go to tea for the clay pot (which I use for black teas).
+Kristian Rother yes it is crazy how a black xiaozhong can have similar flavours.
Hello Don. First I must say thank you for the great videos you make with your wife Celine. I watch all of them with my wife. She come from China. We enjoy to drink tea. We became a present from the sister of my wife. It must be a jin jun Mei. But which one I don't know. Also a ripe pu er tea from Yunnan. We don't know about the age of these tea. Maybe you can tell me soenthing about this two teas? Greetings from Germany. Michael
It's "Bohea" because that's how Wuyi is pronounced in the local Fujian dialect, Minnan.
I like the heavy smoky flavors though. Kinda like I like a nice smoky Islay Scotch. Is there a nice kind of tea that I could maybe blend with the really smoky tea and not break my budget? I've heard of a "Russian Caravan" blend where it's blended with a cheap Dian Hong, like Golden Yunnan. Maybe get a better version of that?
I just love sharing a cozy hot cup of lapsang souchong tea
Tried Souchong Liquuor today for the first time. Fantastic flavour.
Since your out of the tea than has the chai powder what other black tea would be good to used for a great chai?
Celine's outfit is on point! She's so gorgeous!
very nice to watch your videos. thanks for the content
It's my experience that if you take chocolate with a tea that has also got a chocolate flavour, the chocolate, especially if it's very dark chocolate, completely overpowers the chocolate flavours in the tea. Could be it's different with white or milk chocolate, haven't tried that yet..
True, which is why I checked myself in the video :)
Does this tea have a calming affect for the body?
Have you tried a Chaozhou pot with the Souchong Liquor tea?
Can you give us more information about the import issue with smoked tea? I'm not really finding anything on the internet so far...
That's what I was wondering as well and also what the reason for this would be...
Hi. EU law restricts benzo(a)pyrene in foods to certain limits and it is causing issues with importing smoked Lapsangs.
Interesting.
Don, today I just happened to talk about Lapsang Souchong with a friend of mine from Fujian, which said that people there in her family usually store good teas in the fridge, like this one in particular. Do you have any opinion or experience about this?
Refrigerating tea is always possible for very green teas but Lapsang Souchong is less important in our opinion.
Hey Don, do you know when we can expect to find 2017 harvest matcha tea on your web shop?
Aah Maxim, we have been tasting matcha since May and we have found some incredible and some pretty bad matcha out there this year. The incredible stuff is very expensive but we have made a deal with a farmer to buy up 10kg of his phenomenal matcha which should be arriving in a month. This will be a super premium matcha. For our ceremonial matcha we are making our final selection in the next week and we should have it on sale in a few weeks. Sorry for the delay but we are being very choosy with our tea as always.
That's terrific news, can't wait to have some of the best matcha this year has to offer. Thanks for the reply and providing us with great products and information :D
This was sold by Hokkien merchants. Zhengshan is also known as “Lishan”立山 “Lı̍p-san in Hokkien
小種 sió-chióng in Hokkien.
武夷 Bú-î in Hokkien Wǔ yí in Mandarin.
That is to say... English is much closer to original, vs the much more “bastardized” Mandarin.
Also as another commenter pointed out, it seems the English may also be from Cantonese.
Mandarin shouldn’t be used as the standard regarding words in languages of South China!
first! ...please make a video about Japanese (green) teas :)
+Rok Sraka on its way
Mei Leaf yeahh japanese tea please!! Some sencha and gyokuro :)
How many steepings can lapsang shochongs be steeped?
At least 5 good steepings.
Why do you pour tea over the pig? Does it serve a purpose of reducing splatters, or is it like a good luck/superstitious practice? Are tea caddies like the one you use like portable sinks to get rid of excess water?
can you make korean ginseng tea
Hey Don why don't you taste indian teas? Like Darjeeling or Assam?
We focus on China, Taiwan and Japan but we will try to taste more from India and Sri Lanka.
All your descriptions on the darker version match pretty well with roasted teas, so as you are saying: it's roasted compared to the other one. Mystery solved. A roasted version of the same tea can change the taste completely.
No this is a lot more than the roasting differences - it is much more about terroirs.
25:30 Drink it while eating peanuts :-)
17:16 is that a shoutout?
I saw you open your eyes
10:40 if you want to get to the tea.
ScottOne - OR just watch the video and appreciate the work they put into this video :D
Hang on, so black tea only dates back to the 17th century?
Supposedly so! Early 1600's.
Thanks!
I can't see how Lapsang Souchong is appealing to anyone; but I must concede that it is evidently so. Perhaps the overpowering smokiness might not be a big deal to smokers - which I am not. I just find that no matter how much you sugar or cream it - things that should never be necessary for a good tea, you simply cannot overcome the tragic event overtones that come from smoke.
Tea snobage
You say that like it's a bad thing.
LOL, hate it. I use it in the BBQ grill for pork.
12:50 Don's secret support for brexit is revealed :p
Only idiots Support Brexit.
Who categorises tea types anyway? Sometimes I hear different things from different people. According to you, a Lapsang Souchong can be an unsmoked tea. However, somewhere else somebody told me that the smoke is essential for a Lapsang Souchung. I get really annoyed by this since, as a philosopher, I'm interested in the proper definitions of terms! :)
This is a point of contention like a lot of definitions in tea. Lapsang Souchong is a phonetic version of Zhengshan Xiaozhong which does not strictly have to be smoked tea. You could say that Zhengshan Xiaozhong is a type of tea from a particular area and can be smoked or unsmoked but Lapsang Souchong is the name of a smoked version. However, in China farmers will supply teas labelled as Lapsang Souchong that is unsmoked so there is no official agreement really.
Thanks! :) It's always nice to learn things
Mei Leaf Yes, I have imported some unsmoked lapsing souchong, I love it! But I have never tasted the smoked type. (It's on my list)
notification squad.
Useful videos but I can't help feeling a bit awkward when he gets kind of bossy and slightly impacient with Celine. If that happens in front of the camera ...
She is hot! I came for the tea but stayed for her!
Don, your hair turn gray. Check your hear at the doctor. A bit too quickly for your age.
Look at Celine's hair. It''s the same effect. I'd put this down to lighting and humidity. Besides, do you know how old Don is? They say tea has anti-aging properties, after all...
K. Haugland Well, I see Don's hair have significantly turned to gray at the root level compared to footage in last 6 months. This is a bit too quick. It doesn't mean automatically reference to cardiovascular issues but males have link between getting gray hair & cardiovascular probles. The other question is weather there's problem at all or will the MD discover anything.
+lennutrajektoor the lighting is doing some craziness, my roots are black (that's something I would never have imagined writing online!)
K. H. - Yes, Don is 80 already but because of all that tea he still looks like 25. 😉