HOLY SMOKES!
This morning I decided to drink some tea in my collection that I haven’t tried yet. I found a package of this buried deep in my tea drawer. For some reason I expected this to be boring, maybe that’s why it’s been sitting around collecting dust. This was definitely NOT a boring tea.
I read the label before tearing open the package and figured the “aroma of pine wood fire” was going to be one of those nuanced things that only people with more refined taste/smell would detect. Imagine my surprise when I tore open the package and BAM, instant campfire smell. I had no clue that lapsang souchong is actually smoked! (As a side note, the small silver zipper bags that DAVIDsTEA uses are amazing at blocking the smell. I wish I could buy these bags to store/swap tea in.)
Once steeped, the tea still has a strong smoky aroma and flavor, though not quite as overwhelming as the dry leaves. It definitely had a whiskey-like quality to the taste as well. I got a very good three steeps out of this (adding 30s to the steeping time with each resteep). It’s probably good for another steep or two, but I just can’t make myself drink that much smoky tea. I would be interested in trying other varieties of lapsang souchong to see how this compares.
The bottom line is that this tea has an excellent smoky smell and taste that is reminiscent of whiskey, but you should definitely be in the mood for it.
