Smokey Mountain sTEAp- Organic Lapsang Souchong, Organic Se Chung Special Oolong & Organic Assam

Lapsang Souchong seems to be a love it or hate it kind of tea. I personally like smokey teas: not TOO smokey, but a hint of it can really elevate a blend. There’s a maple lapsang from Tealux that I am in love with, so I had high hopes for this blend. Smoke, chocolate, vanilla, sign me up!

Now, there are a lot of s’mores teas out there… and this isn’t one of them, of course. But they all lack one thing: sure, you’ve got the chocolate, marshmallow, graham cracker, but the best thing about s’mores is cooking them over a campfire. This tea… it’s s’mores in a cup! Gentle yet present smokiness, rich chocolate, a creaminess from the vanilla. It’s rich and scrumptious, but the smokiness really keeps it from being overly-sweet and dessert-y. I really love this one! It honestly makes me feel like I’m camping, and it is so perfect for this cooler weather.

I do get the coffe vibes too. It doesn’t really taste like coffee exactly, but the flavor profile reminds me of DT’s Coffee Pu-erh. It’s got a latte vibe going on for sure! A smokey latte of course haha. If you’re on the fence about LS, this is really a great tea to start with.

THIS is the LS for all those out there who don’t think they like LS! Lapsang Souchong is what I mean by LS.
Really the smokiness is JUST at the right level in this one!
This is going to be a STELLAR compliment to my vegetarian chili I am making!
Not vegetarian anymore but sometimes I go back to my roots, and I am sick of all the factory farming, meats from god knows where BLECH.
I may be reverting! Not a bad thing.
Anyway I am going to go review this on http://sororiteasisters.com/ so look for it on the 22nd! :)
SO GOOD!
Thank you sTEAp Shoppe for this sample!

I’m not a fan of Lapsang Souchong – or at least the little that I’ve tried. Something about “smokiness” in my teas just doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t know what it is.

Anyway, I tried this with hesitation, and it’s not bad. It’s definitely a muted smokey flavor, and not unbearable like a straight LS might be. I’m not really getting any of the coffee or chocolate flavors either, though, unfortunately.

I’d recommend this to someone who doesn’t like LS, but doesn’t hate it either. I wonder what someone who LOVES LS would think of this.

Thanks, STEAp Shop for the sample! This is for the Virtual Tea Tasting 9/23/12

My co-favorite of the samples provided by sTEAp Shoppe. The smoke is heavy by my standards, but it isn’t overwhelming and it never feels like someone dumped an ashtray in your cup. This is a good kind of smoky. It blends really well with the other flavors. There is a bite in the back of the throat. The smell, the bite, and the aftertaste remind me of rooibos – though this is better and more complex. A few more sips and now this reminds me of the smell of sawdust when you are running a dull circular saw through a fresh piece of pine – kind of woodsy, kind of burnt.

In cup two the smoke does not diminish, rather the oolong just comes out of hiding a little more. It gives it a nice floral note. The throat bite is not so noticeable in this cup. This is maybe even a little better than the first. If not better, at least different. Nice.

I went three cups with this one. It was lighter than the first two. Though the smoke still stands out this is a civilized cup. A pleasant ending to this tea.

One thing I noted is that if you let the cup get cold, the taste of this tea perks up even more.

It is pretty intense. Unless you are a huge smoky tea fan, I am not sure you would want it everyday. That being said, it is different than the normal fare and just happens to be really good.

Yay! Marshmallow roasting time!
Seriously the dry leaf has the lapsang souchong scent but with another sweeter note. Marshmallow!
I have a special fondness for marshmallow (good marshmallow, that is). I have the incredible privilege of living near the great salt marsh. My sister and I grew up playing on it, running across it, conquering its muddy rivers and creeks. We would leap into the salt water at high tide and at low tide we slip down the slick muddy banks and go like seals or penguins through the bottoms of the creeks. The sun would bake the mud onto us and as the tide rose again we would rinse off and let the winds and grasses dry our legs.
It really is that free and perfect.
Marshmallow is not just the sticky stuff in a tub, it’s also a plant. Sometimes around here you can find decent homemade marshmallow. I love the word though – we named our boat “Marsh-mallow” (or Marsh-mellow, we never could decide!).
In good weather we take the boat through the inlets and channels. We push the throttle up and skim across the water in the big channels and then laughing, let it putter down and muddle through the water sending only smooth ripples to run around us.
We beach ourselves at a little scrap of sand and marshgrass where snails are always in abundance. I like to leap off the edge of the boat, plunging down into the increasingly chill water until I just touch bottom and push off to the surface. Then someone throws me a tow-rope and we drag the boat closer to shore. You have to be careful not to step on all of the little snails that litter the beach there, hundreds of them. Horseshoe crabs lurk underwater as well, so boat-shoes are a must!
We eat sandwiches, leap around amongst the driftwood, and then after we are getting chilled we change into new clothes (if we were smart enough to pack them) behind towels and pack up onto the boat.
The ride back is a study in wonder as the sun sparks flintlike on the water and hits the back of our eyes, closed to the wind, in meandering patterns that map themselves like rivers in the mind. We drive fast now because we are all cold and tired. Speeding along, riding at the bow, leaning over the edge, drunk on sunlight and salt air is a moment of transcendence.

Great Salt Marsh. Seriously. Read about it. Go there. Donate to save them. I hate to think about the damage being done to them by building, contamination from trash, as well as whatever was causing them to die off up and down the coast. We are always careful when we go not to damage them. We might play on them, but we avoid the nesting birds and are careful not to cause erosion on the banks.

You can see some pictures of the changing seasons here: http://www.townofstratford.com/content/1302/402/625/1100/5066/5085.aspx

Ahem
Back to the tea. It is good. It reminds me of camping (which is a completely different set of free associations, although still marsh related as we used to go camping at the beach when I was a kid). I like the smokiness of the lapsang with the sweet burned marshmallow.

the mystery swap tea box i got from TastyBrew came with a note. it said the box contained “teas i don’t love as well as some of my favorites”. so The Game Is Afoot!!

actually, i realized that i have already cheated cuz i’m a big peek-er. and i looked up tastybrew’s opinion already. haha oh wellz

fact is, i love lapsang blends.
i really do. cuz lapsang seems like a tea that wouldn’t be blended with anything well and it’s always a surprise.
i also read a lot of sherlock fan-fic. and last night i stayed up till 4am in the morning getting half way through a really long story. and lapsang is always sherlock.
but i digress.

the vanilla and coco nibs are mild, but i can get a hint of the vanilla. i would have never thought of a vanilla added to lapsang but i now realize it’s OBVIOUSLY a great idea and i will hope to find a really good one someday.
i do think this tea itself is pretty mild. and i brewed it according to instructions. but next time i will probably try brewing it longer. (that is, when i brew my last cup. cuz i already drank 3 cups of this hah)

I got this in a sample size on a whim when I placed order at sTeap. I have never liked smoky teas, but wanted it give it another try. I was excited for the s’mores aspect of this tea but a little apprehensive of the smoky. Well my distaste of smokey flavor won out. I can’t say I dislike this. I added some honey and frothed milk and I’m still drinking it. But the smoke flavor just isn’t for me. It always seems meaty to me, which confuses my tongue. It’s a simple tongue. But, I think if you don’t mind smokey this is probably a super good tea. I love the chocolate and gooey marshmallow flavor. I think if it didnt have the LS I’d be raving about it.

Finally finished up the sample. :( Definitely want more of this!

Edit:
Ah! Totally thought I had reviewed this before! I thought I wrote down stuff somewhere but I can’t find it. Anyway, this is fantastic. It’s like s’mores over a fire. :) I’d write more but I really drank this quickly, I’ll just have to wait until I buy some. Very good!

So. Smokey mountain is the perfect name for this tea it smells and taste like a smokey campfire with hickory wood I like the tea but its not one of the faves this will take time to get use to it leaves this smoky flavor on my tong and in my nose hehehehe very good tea just not something I’m use too.
my husband reminded me that As i drank this tea Ronnie millsap Song Smokey mountain rain ran threw my head :)

I was sent a few samples from sTEAp Shoppe for their Virtual Tea Tasting tomorrow (9/23). This one is called Smokey Mountain and it definitely lives up to it’s name. This tea blend contains Organic Lapsang(which it was my first experience tasting this), Organic Assam and Organic Se Chung Special Oolong. It also contained organic cocoa nibs and organic vanilla bean.

I brewed Smokey Mountain to approximately 195 degrees fahrenheit. I steeped it for approximately three to four minutes. The tea liquor was a medium brown color to a dark brown color, it resembled the color of coffee.
It tasted very smoky as well as rich and astringent that also reminds me of a characteristic of coffee. It also possessed a bit of sweetness. I believed that this tea blend has complex flavors that make this very unique. The scent was a scent of smokiness. My friends commented that the tea smelled like bacon or beef jerky.

I had a wonderful experience drinking Smokey Mountain. This is my first experience drinking a tea with more of a smokiness to it. I love having the opportunity to expand my tea drinking experiences by trying a range of flavors.

I would like to once again thank sTEAp Shoppe for giving me the opportunity to try their wonderful samples! Thank you!

Due to the demands of the semester, I have been drinking more coffee these days. After an interesting day, I felt like I needed tea to end the night. I still have many teas to get through in my cupboard, but I remembered I still had this sample hanging around. The smell is wonderful with hints of chocolate and smoke. I acutually over-steeped this tea by accident, but it had no effect on the flavor.

This tea reminds me of bonfires in autumn with s’mores! Given the fact that I do not eat flour and sugar, this was wonderful. I might wait to make my next cup when the temperatures drop, as this would be the ideal time to drink this marvelous tea. I am going to purchase a full amount when I need more! :-)

As I related in my notes for Milk Chocolate Caramel, the Smokey Mountain sTEAp sample made its presence known immediately upon opening the envelope. I waited several days to try each tea, but couldn’t resist giving this one an occasional sniff; it smelled SO good! After a few days the strong smokey smell subsided somewhat (sorry about the blatant alliteration… well… no, not really…), but the tea still smelled wonderful.

First steep (3 minutes): Odor still lovely campfire smokey, but not overpoweringly so. Taste has a bit of astringency (bitterness?), but it’s not unpleasant. Perhaps I should have given it a rinse, or perhaps it’s just the chicory. I generally like the odor of Lapsang Souchong better than the taste, but can’t recall ever having tried it in a blend. (I’ve lived a sheltered tea life.) This has a good, comforting taste; nicer and definitely more interesting than the straight Lapsang Souchongs I’ve had previously.

Second steep (4 minutes): I’ve never sweetened this type of tea, but while waiting for my kettle to reheat I idly took a sniff of the wet tea leaves in my infuser and was surprised to note some sweetness, so I decided to experiment and added a wee bit of stevia to my second cup in the hope that it might bring out some of the vanilla and/or cocoa. This resulted in a sweeter smokey taste, but the smoke still dominated (which is fine, as that’s what I love about LS tea!). I might add that it tasted suprisingly good with a bit of sweetener; something I would have doubted.

In conclusion, I can honestly say I liked this a lot and it’s going on my Shopping List. (I just received a sample order of Russian Caravan from another company expecting it to be mainly Lapsang Souchong but, to my disappointment, it contains not even a hint of smokiness. I can see I have a lot to learn about tea.)