What is Lapsang Souchong tea?
Lapsang Souchong is a distinctive Chinese tea smoked over pine wood. Lapsang Souchong is steeped in history, being the world’s first black tea. Its birthplace – near Tong Mu Guan in the Wuyi Mountains, Fujian province – is a protected area today. Foreigners can’t enter this region at all, and even Chinese citizens require special permits to visit. The legendary Zhen Shan Xiao Zhong tea continues to be produced here. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of ‘fake’ Lapsang Souchong on the market today that doesn’t actually come from this region.
Tasting notes in reviews 
Lapsang Souchong is bold, smoky. The aroma is strong and might be overwhelming – “love it or hate it.” Some tea drinkers consider it “very manly, smokey tea” and recommend it for those who love “smokey whiskeys” and “the smell of a bonfire.” Definitely, “a punch of smoky flavor” is “not for the faint of heart.”
What are the health benefits of Lapsang Souchong?
Being a black tea, Lapsang Souchong promotes cardiovascular health by increasing blood flow and lowering cholesterol levels. Its antioxidants also pitch in by preventing cholesterol from clogging up your blood vessels. Like other teas, Lapsang Souchong contains L-theanine, an amino acid that lowers stress levels and keeps you relaxed and focused all at once. There are plenty of other benefits of this distinctive black tea, such as improved immunity, reduced occurrences of inflammation, and high metabolic activity that can lead to weight loss. One unique advantage of drinking Lapsang Souchong tea is that despite its bold, smoky flavor, it contains less caffeine than other black teas. Meaning you can replace coffee with it and get your daily dose of energy minus any jitters or restlessness.
Tea tips
- Loose-leaf Lapsang Souchong is used as a base for Russian Caravan tea blends. Give it a try if you want just a hint of smoky flavor. You can also make your own Russian Caravan by adding some loose leaf Lapsang Souchong to your favorite breakfast blend.
- Mix Lapsang Souchong to your favorite spices and make a smoky dry rub for cooking.
- Despite its powerful character, Lapsang Souchong is lower in caffeine than most black teas. Feel free to pair it with your Chinese or Thai meal for a late night dinner without wreaking havoc on your sleep.
- Also, try other Chinese black tea varieties. Some of the most popular are Keemun, Golden Monkey, and Yunnan Dian Hong.
6 best Lapsang Souchong teas to buy online 
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Lapsang Souchong Lapsang Souchong is a black tea from the Fujian province of China, famous for its smoky aroma and flavor. To create this, the finished tea is given some extra drying over a smoking pine fire, imparting a sweet, clean smoky flavor to the tea. Lapsang Souchong sometimes gets a bad rep for being brashly smoky, but really fine examples aren't like that at all. Our Lapsang Souchong is very approachable: clean and slightly cool smokiness in the aroma, like menthol. Sweet, refreshing smoky flavor, crisp and edgy. Golden-coppery color in the cup; the mark of a Lapsang that hasn't been smoked to a jerky. Sweet pine flavor, lightly evaporating finish. It's amazing all the dimensions of 'smoky' you can experience in one, very well made cup of fine Lapsang Souchong. |
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Assam Souchong Black Tea RICH and MALTY Black Tea Loose Leaf Its long, loosely-rolled leaves are selected from the upper elevation estates of Assam It carries the impressive aroma of black tea cured in oak wood smoke and a pleasant fragrance of frost flowers A fine and delicious smoky tea which is best enjoyed as a plain black tea A specialty blend, from the divine region of Assam, soaked in an enticing aroma of Oakwood smoke. A malty Assam summer tea sourced from aged chi-nary bushes that results in a lively cup! The blackish-brown long leaves are loosely hand-rolled and are interspersed with treasured buds. It carries the impressive aroma of black tea cured in oak wood smoke and a pleasant fragrance of frost flowers. The bright amber liquor is smoky and features notes of oak wood fire in the front and the soothing undertones of a forest. A cup of unique character and a lovely mouthfeel. |
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Lapsang Souchong Smoky Black Tea Healthy, smoky and fruity. This Lapsang Souchong is handmade by an experienced tea master, Mr. Wen, who has relied only on using traditional methods until recently. Making this kind of tea requires at least twenty separate steps followed by complex traditional crafts, including cooling, withering, rolling, fermentation, and drying, among others. All of these processes must be done in 'Qing Lou', a traditional three or four-floor building.Generally, the first floor of Qing Lou contains a large fireplace used for baking over pine wood, allowing the tea leaves to absorb the smoky flavor of the burning pine. As a result, the tea takes on its characteristic smoky scent and flavor, strong in the first few infusions and slowly fading through subsequent steeps, but never disappearing completely.Another processing step is to 'cut the tea short', which is aimed at saturating the tea with this smoky flavor to give it a better fragrance and richer taste. |
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Lapsang Souchong Wild Black Tea (Ye Sheng Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong) Strong honey and caramel flavor. Lapsang Souchong Wild Black Tea is known as Cai Cha Lapsang Souchong by the local people. You might assume that all lapsang souchong teas have a bitter, smoky taste, as long as you have some knowledge of the traditional pine-tree drying process used to make it; this time, however, since this is both a high-quality and semi-wild tea, this particular type has amazing unique characters and no hint of bitterness in its flavor.Unlike other wild teas, TeaVivre's wild lapsang souchong gives off a strong dried longan aroma, with a smooth drinking feeling without any astringency. The unusual wild undertone, mellow taste, and reddish liquid brought out by the traditional rolling process all contribute to its exotic and unique flavor. Once you drink this tea, you will never forget about it. |
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Organic Lapsang Souchong Scotch & Cigar Lovers Organic Black Tea. Organic Lapsang Souchong black tea, from the Wuyi region of the Fujian province of China, is the single malt scotch and fine cigar lovers tea of California Tea House. It has an amazing smoky flavor and aroma due to its drying process. This is the highest grade Lapsang in the world, also known as Royal Grade Lapsang, and is smoke-dried using only Wuyi local pine wood. This is one of our unique favorites that is sure to find a following as we open up our collection. Buy organic lapsang souchong with our 100% satisfaction guarantee.Just as cigar smokers favor either a light leaf or dark leaf wrapper, you will find your own perfect steep time somewhere between 3 to 5 minutes (longer for a darker effect). Use 1 teaspoon of tea per cup in filtered or spring water at just below boiling water. |
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Isabelle is a freelance writer, self-taught tea nerd, and tea blending enthusiast. She is a herbalist with a strong interest in Ayurveda. Each year Isabelle travels extensively, returning with tea samples from around the world. She is a big fan of handmade teaware and Japanese green teas.