Lapsang Souchong

Not Unlike Ricky (in his review of this tea) I was feeling a little experimental today. First I must say I was born and raised here in Texas. Home of the best BBQ in the whole WORLD (okay I know that’s debatable) but this is my review so WE DO HAVE THE BEST BBQ IN THE WHOLE WORLD!

Anyway more important than BBQ on to the tea, I opened the package and was hit in the nose by smoke STRONG smoke (again I know smoke) and I thought Wow Angie, this is either going to go really good or really bad and I hoping for really good.

I finally take a sip and before My mouth hits the cup I smell strong smoke again. I was surprised the taste isn’t bad. I would compare it to liquid smoke but not in a bad way because if someone told me this tea is good it tastes like liquid smoke I’d go okay I’ll think I’ll have some oolong instead please. :) It is more liquid smokeseque not true hard core, intense liquid smoke but just a hint.

It’s a nice tea I wish I would have tried this in the winter when I probably would have enjoyed it more but hey I can always place an order in winter. It’s not a bad tea not an everyday thing but it’s actually kinda good.

So, I… er… hrm.

This one difficult. Really difficult. It’s my first experience with lapsang souchong, and… I. Wow, I’m just flabbergasted.

Well, let’s start with the basics, shall we? I was actually really looking forward to lapsang souwhatever because I really liked the smokiness of gunpowder, and figured that this was the black tea equivalent. And let me tell you, from the get go, Golden Moon’s blend smells fantastic! It smells like BACON. I was practically skipping around my kitchen, sniffing the little package and smiling. Bacon! Bacon tea! MMMMM. The smell is like hickory BBQ, savory and sweet and a bit ashy. I was entranced. I kept thinking of foods to pair with it. “I bet this would be AWESOME with eggs!”

So anyway, I steeped this one up, and that’s when I ran into the first sign of trouble. The leaves smell like ashes. Wet ashes from a cigarette. I’m not a fan of cigarettes at all; in fact, I pretty much loathe the smell of them. So now I’m wrinkling my nose and dumping those leaves, stat. The liquid still has a smoky smell, but there’s really a wet ash smell down in the pit of it. And now I’m not so sure anymore about how I feel about this one… The infusion was a really pretty dark copper, by the way.

So I brace myself and take my first sip. And I’m utterly confused and perplexed. It’s just… weird. Very savory, and very deep and dark. Ultra-smokey. Like I just inhaled a bunch of smoke from a campfire and somehow it’s in liquid form and now it’s in my tummy. I think I’m tasting hints of pine, and touches of the black tea base, but I’m just getting really weirded out by the entire experience.

I almost feel like I’m drinking carcinogens in a mug. Seriously. I keep thinking to myself, is this good for me? As it’s cooling down, the upfront ashy taste is mellowing out, but I’m sipping this one slowly. Very, very slowly. I’m actually not really sure if I like this or not. If I’m just so weirded out by the entire sensory experience and can’t process it properly. If it tastes awesome or just plain horrible. I’m actually leaning more towards the horrible side with this.

And I’m actually sort of tremendously disappointing. My entire family is now complaining that my kitchen smells like smoke. Hell, I’m pretty sure I smell like smoke. This is just very, very strange. I can’t get over how WEIRD this is. Okay, I know I’m babbling though, but… it’s weird. WEIRD.

I think I’m done now.

Thanks to Auggy who sent me the most gorgeously packaged teas ever, I am now sipping this tea. What a magnificent Lapsang! This tea exemplifies all the reasons I love the Lapsang Souchong in particular and smoky teas in general. I am not surprised by the wide range of ratings.

Certainly the aroma is absolutely indicative of a smoky tea. The aroma and the taste got me to thinking of Russian literature. I know that this is not labelled a caravan—but I thought of Boris Pasternak. One of the first literary controversies I was aware of was his Nobel Prize, gratefully accepted and then rejected, probably because of pressure from the Soviets. So I started reading his poetry and then I read his sweeping epic, “Dr. Zhivago” (the book is better than the film, which I haven’t seen for 40 something years).

This tea tastes like Yuri and Lara huddled up in a small cottage with the fire aflame. As Yuri Zhivago ventriloquizes Boris Pasternak, he reflects on winter:

“It snowed and snowed ,the whole world over,
Snow swept the world from end to end.
A candle burned on the table;
A candle burned.”

This tea reminds me of the insistent beat and flame and flare and flicker of the candle burning on the table as the fire roars in the fireplace and the Samovar boils away.

Golden Moon has at this point my vote for Best. Lapsang. Souchong. Ever. I know I’ll drink more—for me the land o’ Lapsang is largely an undiscovered and yet to be mapped country—but I’m placing an order.

I know that this review is more evocative than specific but for what do we live but to be evoked into sensations, emotions, nostalgias, memories and tea, like poetry and music, is a wonderful vehicle. This Golden Moon Lapsang Souchong (spasibo, Auggy), has taken me back to late 19th and early 20th century Russia.

How about a backlog? The good thing about backlog notes is I can make a post even when I’m not actually having any tea. (No specific reason, just drinking something else at the moment) The bad thing is I don’t really want to write up the ones that I didn’t like, so there’s a certain lack of balance in that document…

My Golden Moon debut and the second one of Auggy’s gift teas I’ve tried! When Auggy told me about what she would like to gift me with, she mentioned that this Lapsang Souchong has a surprisingly sweet flavour for an LS. It reminded me a bit of that sweet phantom note in A. C. Perch’s Lapsang that try as I might, I can’t find again.

The leaves smell very smoky, and the actual tea is smoky too. Quite smoky, in fact I’d say. Smoke is just not the first note I’m finding.

At first there is something way more substantial. Something solid. It’s (work with me here, Steepsterites) a bit like pu-erh, only without the earthyness. Without the cowstableness. I mean, it doesn’t taste like pu-erhs at all, it just sort of creates the same flavour intensity sensations.

Then, after that, YES!!! There it is! Sweetness. That same sort of sweet note that has disappeared from my ACP Lapsang. Smoky smoke is smoky, but underneath it the sweetness lies. I can only describe it as kind of thick. It’s not a specific flavour other than ‘something sweet’, but it tastes like something that would come in globs, not in puffs or powders.

There is also a small note of some kind of leaf-y something. It’s not grassy or fruity or any other word that suggests right-off-plant-ness, nor is it an earthy stored note like pu-erh. It’s in between. Like dried flowers (except it’s not a flowery flavour either) or leaves pressed between the pages of a heavy book

I seem to be using a lot of energy describing what this tea isn’t and very little energy on what it actually is. What it is is very nice indeed. I just wish I could recreate this same sweetness in my ACP lapsang.

All in all, I’m totally getting the whole camel driver vibe here.

So…RELIEVED.

I was so afraid that brewing this was going to make my house smell like cigarette ashes. I don’t smoke. I can’t stand the smell of it. More than that, I’m actually allergic to nicotine, so it weirds me out on a totally different level than I think just finding the smell unpleasant would weird me out. Thank HEAVENS that isn’t what this brewing produced. To me, this is campfire. Campfire and the pungent, tart scent and flavor of pine sap. I don’t have any trouble whatsoever locating the pine in this, which is…really quite the unusual sensory experience. It’s a completely independent flavor from the smoke. I can even taste the tea after I swallow each sip.

This is another one of those teas that brings to mind instantaneous memories for me, all of them connected to cabins and wood stoves, most of these enjoyed alongside a feeling of utter boneless exhaustion at the tail end of long day of snowboarding. It makes me think offhandedly of the trips I took to Mesa Verde when I was living in Colorado; some of the old Anasazi cliff-dwelling areas still have fire pits that seem as though they’re going to be stained forever with this sort of scent, where the red rocks have been blackened for all time.

I didn’t expect to like this, but I hoped that I would. I definitely do. I don’t know how much of it I would find myself wanting, but I could easily see myself adding this to my order. It’s so…cozy. So curl-up-on-a-futon-in-front-of-a-fire cozy.

Now that I’m getting halfway through the mug and it’s cooling slightly, it’s becoming surprisingly sweet on the finish! I really didn’t expect that. I thought I was going to have to add milk and sugar to this at the very least, and I haven’t added either, because I’ve been too interested in the flavors to risk covering them up. That’s a good sign.

Yeah. Yummy. Quite believably not for everyone, but I think most tea-ites recognize that lapsang souchong is a love it or hate it affair. I can’t even say that I like it broadly yet; for all I know I might just like this one…but I do like this one. Hallelujah.

I think this is one of those tea types that you will either love or hate. I don’t think that there’s a lot of room for somewhere in between, here. I am in the latter camp. So far, this is the worst tea I’ve ever had.

I was excited about the prospect of trying a completely different, new-to-me kind of tea, and I am still very happy that I got to try it. I’m even happier that I didn’t go out on one of my tea-buying adventures and spend a bunch of money on this; the Golden Moon sampler was more than enough.

I put the water to boil, took out my kitchen scissors, and snipped the end off the packet. There was no need to stick my prodigious proboscis in the packet and inhale deeply—it was like the aroma was just waiting to escape, and within a matter of moments my whole kitchen smelled like a smokehouse. Having no knowledge of lapsang souchong, I was quite taken aback and rather sceptical. Instead of adding my customary demerara sugar to the tea, I actually felt like adding salt. The whole thing was a very strange experience, and I hadn’t even tasted the tea yet.

Well, things only rolled further downhill from there. I took one (unsweetened) sip of the tea and the flavour accurately matched the aroma. I didn’t like it, but I thought I would give it a chance, so I tried a few more sips. In my mind, I was drinking water that had been poured into a mug by way of a bed of coals. This might be the first mug of tea that I couldn’t finish because it made me physically ill. Lesson learned: I do not like lapsang souchong. =)

I bought a couple of samples of this when I placed my first Golden Moon order a little over a week ago. Never having tried it before, I didn’t know if I wanted a tin of this hanging around.

In anticipation of my order arriving I was reading up on the teas that would eventually find their way to my front door. I found a recipe for tea eggs using Lapsang Souchong ( http://steepster.com/discuss/14-cooking-w-slash-tea?page=5 ) and knew I had to try it as soon as the tea order arrived.

I tore into the small sample package and scooped out the tablespoon’s worth of tea. Regret of not buying a full tin washed over me – this is deliciously smokey; as in bacony and barbecue-y.

High hopes for the tea eggs were in order. 6 hours later, I tried the first one. The egg had a slight smokiness to it! YUM! I could see myself going through the trouble of using tea eggs as smoked deviled eggs sometime.

I have to try the other sample of this properly, as a beverage. Regardless of whether or not I like drinking it, I’ll probably acquire a tin of this if nothing more than to cook with!

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #23 (I think)
I am a bad person. Ever since I saw the entry about tea eggs in the cooking with tea thread, I have been wanting to make some. And lo and behold! I have five random eggs sitting in the fridge doing nothing. It is the PERFECT opportunity.

But wait! I am out of Lapsang Souchong! Except…for the Golden Moon sample! But it would be Wrong to use that without trying it! So, compromise! Brew up a smaller cup, try THAT, use the rest for tea eggs! Yay! Once again the day is saved by thinking about something for longer than 10 seconds.

Well, I’m not gonna have results on the tea eggs for a while, but I have mixed feelings about this stuff. At first, it seemed comparatively weaker in its smokiness than other LSes that I have tried. On the other hand, the aftertaste is VERY strongly smoky, so I’m wondering if it isn’t that sweet note that some of the other reviews mentioned making me THINK that the smokiness is weaker.

In sum. I don’t know. I’m not THAT big of a smoky tea aficionado, so I think I’ll just table the issue. Perhaps one day I will meet a Lapsang Souchong that I can’t live without, but apparently this isn’t it.

Golden Moon Sampler No. 2 of 31. Eyes wide shut random drawing.

I’m gonna run a few laps today, I think. Maybe three. This one, the remaining bit of my Life in Teacup sample, and the Samovar sample.

As I think about it, this may end up being a mistake. I may not be able to get the smell of smoke out of my pores and nose hairs for a few days. (So I’m going to stop thinking about that for fear I might chicken out.)

Before I begin, a disclaimer about sample size. My Samovar is the biggest (about 1.8 cups worth) and its steeping instructions call for a cup of water. According to my scale, this is too much water for this sample. Of course, according to my scale, the GM sample is enough for 1.4 cups. So I’m going to steep the GM and the Samovar in the same amount of water in my 12 or so ounce cup and hope that evens things out a bit, even though there will have been more water in the GM than the Samovar (as the GM had no instructions as to the amount of water). The Life in Teacup sample is the last little bit, about enough for .4 cups. So I’ll adjust water volume accordingly, but the memory of its taste is still quite fresh from my last tasting so that ought to balance things out a bit as well.

On to this one. The dry leaves are dark, brown/green. Greener than, and slightly shorter than the others, but not shorter by much. Their dominant scent is ash, but there’s an interesting chocolate note in there. It’s the smell of the air in a calm residential neighborhood on a fall evening when many houses have lit up their fireplaces for the first fire of the season.

The steeped aroma is gently smoky. There is pine, and a tobacco note as well. The liquor color is medium amber. I expected darker, but it’s a very appealing color.

Now here’s where I scratch my head a bit and wonder if I used too much water (though I think I used the right amount). Full-bodied, this is not. At least not in my view of full-bodied. I would call this medium-bodied. It has a high coffee note, and of course, it’s smoky. But unlike my last lapsang experience, it’s not entirely about the smoke. There’s a strong woody flavor; it’s almost as woody as it is smoky. And by woody, I don’t mean woodsy/piney/sap/evergreen/conifer stuff. I mean it evokes an unfinished furniture store or a lumberyard. (Not to be confused with sawdust. It’s far deeper and more appealing than that.) It’s a pleasant taste and endearing to me, as it reminds me of my long dead grandfather whose trade in the old country was cabinetmaker.

It’s only my second lapsang souchong, and I’m looking forward to exploring more. I may change my mind as I sample more but for now I’d definitely drink this again as an alternative to the deep, almost tarry, pervasive smokiness of a more full-bodied lapsang.

The dry leaf smells like meat that’s been soaked in soy sauce before smoking. Or like the meat has been smoked at too high of a temperature and almost burned but didn’t quite. Instead, it’s just really really dark. And salty. I only have the ROT’s to compare it to and this one smells more… carcinogenic.

All brewed up, this tea doesn’t smell near as strong as ROT’s, but instead of sweet maple tones to the smell, I get… pickle. BBQ’ed pickle. There’s a tartness in is somewhat vinegar-y. The husband was actually intrigued enough by the smell to try this before I did and his response was “Not a fan, but good.” I asked him explain because that’s… confusing. He replied that it was a good smoky taste but was too much for him – there was nothing else to it, unlike with overly smoked brisket, at least there is brisket under there. (He pretty much felt the same way about ROT’s – he felt no need to drink Liquid Smoke).

It’s cooled a little so I’m ready to try it. The scent I inhale is sweeter than what I was smelling before. No sweet maple or anything but no vinegar/pickle either. Just like a sweeter BBQ sauce. The taste initially is a lot milder than ROT’s, but it seems to expand in my mouth. Faint smoky tea building until my mouth is filled with a smoky but smooth flavor. If I keep sipping, that taste builds but if I take a little longer between sips, it fades.

I can actually get a little tea undertone to this after I swallow. It doesn’t appear regularly but rather when it’s been a bit longer between my sips so the smoke flavor that has built up in my mouth has faded some. Also, I’m getting a sweet, somewhat meat-like aftertaste.

I’m actually really liking this. I mean, I don’t think I could drink it every day, but I do really like it. To the point that, depending on how the second (and maybe third?) steeps go, I would seriously consider adding this to a GM order when I make one. It’s mild when compared to the ROT but definitely not too mild. Just really smooth and not overpowering. Definitely distinctive but…. relaxing and pleasant. I hope I have enough left of this for a second cup because I want to do a tasting with my dad over Christmas of this one and ROT’s – because if anyone could appreciate a smoke tea, it would be him.

ETA: Second steep @ 6:00. Smooth, smoky, sweet and really yummy. Yeah, I’m going to have to order some of this.

Third steep @ 8:00. Smooth, very sweet and a tail of smoky. SO. FREAKIN. GOOD. <3

I adore Art of Tea’s LS, and I keep that one on hand now. Also love Alberta Street Chai. Very excited to try this LS and see how it is; thanks, Meghann, for sending this sample my way!!

It’s a bit sweeter than Art of Tea’s. It doesn’t seem as fall-leaves-burning tasting, either, rather just plain smoky. And the smokiness tends to linger as an aftertaste. It’s good, but I prefer Art of Tea’s LS with its richer smokiness.

Mmm, what a nice full-bodied smokiness when I open the packet. It took me a while to get into Lapsang Souchong, but now I really enjoy it. For me a good one has a balance between the smokiness and the tea flavors, and the smokiness is itself made up of individual sub-components. Let’s see how this one measures up.

I see that they’re recommending 5-7 minutes steeping time, so I’ll go with 6 and assess it there. The brew is a clear dark golden-brown, and it smells really good. I’m getting a malty scent in with the smoke, and more – just an overall savory quality to it, like a well-cured meat (apologies to my vegetarian friends).

Taste: nice! Good balance there between the elements. The smoke is complex enough for my taste, and features the maltiness I smelled before as well as pine. It does not overpower the taste of the tea and doesn’t burn the back of my throat – both of which I’ve experienced with other Lapsang Souchongs.

Am I crazy to try the second half of this with cream and sugar? What the heck, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Wow, surprising how much that tones down the smokiness, and also brings out flavors that remind me of very dark chocolate. The smoke is more an ambience than the main star at this point, and that works well for me. I’d definitely drink this again – it’s versatile and tasty.

Edit: I’m going to bump up the score a little because now at 15 minutes later I’m still getting this incredible smokey chocolate aftertaste. Yum!

What a pleasant surprise. I truly enjoyed drinking this one. It was smokey but it didn’t hurt my throat. It was as Goldielocks (Sp?) put it, just right. My 3 year old daughter had a few sips and enjoyed it. Although, she loves all tea. Well, that I know of at least. She hasn’t had as manny as I have. LOL :o)

Mmm…I do love a good smoky lapsang souchong, and Golden Moon delivers on that with this tea. The dry leaves have an intensely smoky sweet aroma…almost bacon-y. Almost. I usually mix lapsang souchong with an oolong to get a more rounded mouth feel, but I didn’t need that with this one. The smoky flavor carried through to the initial and second brews. A good morning shakeup from my usual matés.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2.5 tsp
Water: 2 zarafina cups
Tool: Zarafina black-loose-medium
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: campfire
Steeped Tea Smell: campfire, sweet
Flavor: sweet smoke, black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: black tea
Liquor: translucent orange-brown

MilitiaJim was a little excited to have some tea, and grabbed a random Golden Moon sampler pack, so I don’t have pictures of the loose leaf.

The reason I do not like lapsang souchong is not the flavor, but the constant fear and anxiety they give me – I keep looking for the fire and panicking that we need to evacuate.

Overall the tea is a sweet smoky smooth black tea with little astringency.

Resteep: Zarafina black-loose-strong = a very weak cup of black tea with smoky hints

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/04/golden-moon-tea-loose-leaf-black-tea.html

I’m taking abuse in defense of tea! I opened the Golden Moon Lapsang Souchong sampler this rainy, dreary morning. I couldn’t imagine a better type of day to “get this one out of the way”. Opening the package brought back the smells of camping with the Boy Scouts in the East Texas Piney Woods…and abuse from my office mates for stinking the place up! I make no pretense, I don’t like smokey teas; I expected this tea sample to be a trial. So now I’m eating smokey humble pie. This tea is much better than anticipated…the smell is worse than its bite! I’ve adjusted though…no breathing in when taking a sip. The tea is mild and carries the smoke lightly and well, but thats about all I can say. I don’t get much in the way of nuances from the tea itself. Campfire tea!

Ah Lapsang Souchon, after trying a handful of black teas, you’re the one I return to. ::sigh of contentment:: This is the second LS that I’ve tried – the other being from Adagio. I think that I prefer Adagio’s, but it’s been several weeks since I’ve had it. I think that I must have it tomorrow morning to do a mini-comparison. I don’t even know how to describe the tastes of either one of these. This sample seems to be a gentler smell of smoke. My initial reaction is that whereas the Adagio goes “RAWR!” this one goes “Meow.” Nothing wrong with that, but first thing in the morning I’d prefer the RAWR. NE

Ummm this smells reaaaaaly smoked. Idk. Not so optimistic about liking this one. But worth a try. My first smoked tea.

Don’t like this smell and I so don’t wanna try it. Takes a deep breath.
OK well it’s more drinkable than pu-erh. Tastes smoked which is weird – but better than it smells. But I must say id rather eat smoked cheese which this reminds me of than drink this tea.

Wouldn’t buy it. Smoked goes better with food… Imho.
Seeing that it has good ratings from the pro tasters here ;) I will skip mine.

I guess this is a love it or hate it kind of tea…

First thoughts when I opened the package: Ewww, Bacon flavored tea! Who on earth could possibly enjoy this. The aroma was just overwhelming at first, but I calmed myself down and really dove into the tea. I always say ‘Got to try everything once.’ Now I’m pretty sure the bacon scent is coming from how the smoked it with the pine embers. So I loaded my infusing basket and boiled some water and started the brew. When I first stuck my nose into the basket to get a smell the bacon was still very noticeable. I kept at it though, taking in the aroma for all it was worth and sure enough I began to pick up the pine. Okay, this is getting interesting. The liquor has an orange / bronze appearance. It was very hard to find the courage within to take my first drink of this tea. The whole bacon scent, just WOW! Alright, I take my first sip and I get hit with the shivers up and down my body. The smokiness is setting in now. I keep drinking, swirling the tea around trying to get all the possible flavors it has to offer and you know, it’s really not too bad. I found myself getting past the bacon and really enjoying the smoked pine flavor.
I ended up drinking two cups of this tea, and came out rather taken back by the fact that I actually enjoyed this one. I can’t say that I would buy more of this unusual tea, but I definitely thing everyone should at least try this one at least once.

I absolutely love this tea. It smells smoky and woodsy, like a campfire or fireplace on a cold winter night. The tea flavor is different though: there is a sweetness upfront, which melds into a piney-woodsy flavor. This is definitely a love it or leave it tea.

This was drank hot with no additives.