Roughage

Lapsang Souchong Smoky Black Tea (Yan Xun Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong) from Teavivre

Roughage drank Lapsang Souchong Smoky Black Tea (Yan Xun Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong) by Teavivre

Free sample from Teavivre

It’s a wet and windy day here. It’s raining stair rods and I find myself looking for something to brighten the day up. Most of the samples I have are oolongs and green teas, and that did not suit my mood. Fortunately, Teavivre must have seen today coming because they packed me up with this Lapsang Souchong. Opening the bag I am greeted by a beautiful and not overwhelming smoky aroma. Hmm, smoky bacon crisps I think. It’s definitely a meaty smell and the tea is the same: smoky, sweet with a slightly sour aftertaste that perfectly complements the other flavours. Three steeps in and I am still getting all of this. It reminds me of camping and cooking over an open fire. I like this lapsang souchong. It does not blow me away with the range and depth of flavours. It does give me a sense of a reliable tea that will always bring comforting thoughts of open fires and sleeping under the stars. The flavours are very well balanced so there is enough depth to keep it interesting too. Good one, Teavivre.

2012-06-22 10:16:28 -0400

195 °F / 90 °C

1 min 0 sec

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Bonnie 2012-06-23 17:15:41 -0400

There are other things that I do with this tea other than drink it. I steam broccoli and other veggies in LS. Just put some in a t-sack or whatever you wish. Makes the house smell good too! My local tea shop has the best LS I’ve ever had. Multi-dimensional and a little sweet. The smoke is there but you can still taste the underlying tea. I have another that is tempered with a bit of orange peel and some freeze dried Jasmine puffs. Very smooth.
If you’d ever like any samples of tea from me, drop me a personal note. I’ll follow you…

Roughage 2012-06-25 07:10:29 -0400

Those all sound great ideas. I think I shall have to experiment with cooking with LS. I have been thinking about using other teas to cook with, so it is not too great a stretch to use LS as well.

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I am a professional Vikingologist and I like tea! To be honest, I have always liked decent tea, but in 2011 I started working at learning what good tea really is. I am busily expanding my tea horizons quite significantly, much to the chagrin of my wife, who despairs of my enthusiasm. My favourite teas are Darjeelings and sheng puerhs, but I struggle to find black teas (other than Darjeelings) that really float my boat. My absolute favourite teas at the moment are Anji Bai Cha and Dong Fang Mei Ren both from Canton Tea Co, neither of which are shengs or Darjeelings. Seems odd, but that’s the way it is. I do wonder if the scores I give out actually reflect my predilection for Darjeelings and shengs.

I am slowly adding to my experience by trying as many different products as possible. I like to think that I am developing my palate and becoming more learned about tea, but I suspect that may be wishful thinking!

I find rating the teas difficult. Often a particular tea will appeal to me because of my mood, even though it does not get a top rating on here from me. As a general guide, I use the following ratings:

0-25 Undrinkable
26-50 Really not to my taste
51-75 Ok to good
76-99 Always welcome in my pot
100 – There ain’t no such thing as a perfect score!

As I rate teas, I try to revisit my scores and check that my old scores are in line with the new ones.