Lapsang Souchong

The ratings on this are all over the place. I rather liked it. I actually got three steeps out of the bag. The first made me think bacon. The second was pulled pork. The third was lighter but still full of flavor. The base is a little hard to detect. Basically a respectable smoky cup.

Twinings sample bag.
First LS I have ever had in a bag.
I was surprised. It is not terrible.
Not a very strong LS though.
But,I would actually purchase some of this to have on hand for a quick tea time or for stashing in my purse for traveling or visiting.
Also, might be good for those timid about trying a LS for the first time.

I usually LOVE me some Lapsang Souchong. But this one is just pure gross. I won’t mention what it reminds me of… I don’t want to ruin anyone’s tea appetite. I think I might not even finish this cup and that never happens. It just doesn’t seem like it was genuinely pine smoked. It might be some kind of artificial smoke flavoring that reminds me of BBQ sauce (but I like BBQ sauce). I never have any luck with Twinings… I think they might be my least favorite company. I’ve tried so many Twinings and they never seem to work for me.

TO ANYONE WHO HASN’T LIKED LAPSANG SOUCHONG: If this is the one you’ve tried, do NOT give up on them. There are much better blends out there.

This was my first foray into Lapsang Souchong and it is pretty tasty… and pretty, pretty, prettttyyy weird. I heard that Winston Churchill liked this tea and that makes sense, it tastes more like a fine bourbon than a tea. :) It’s awfully unusual so don’t serve it to distinguished guests who have only ever drank PG Tips. This is more like a punch in the face than a tea, so be careful. But it definitely has it’s time and place.

Note that it has a very distinctive odor. Put less politely, it STINKS. So if you put it in your tea cupboard, it will spread it’s smell around like an unwanted college roommate. I had mine in the Twinings Box and it couldn’t contain this power house. I had to eventually chuck out the box and just put the tea bags in their sachets into a ziplock bag. That seems to have roughly done the trick so that everything in my tea cupboard doesn’t also taste like Lapsang Souchong. What a crazy tea!

Anyway with all this yapping it’s still a great tea. Seems like probably some people have gone nuts and made a much stronger version of this tea so I suspect despite it’s insanity that this tea is actually “tame” as far as Lapsang’s actually go. I am keen to experiment some more though. It’s very weird, but it’s a fun and interesting tea. Never had anything like it before and it’s an acquired taste, which I quickly acquired.

Have fun and be careful. Your Grandma (unless she is super awesome) will probably hate this.

Got this from the “three free samples” promotion from Twinings, and I have to say it isn’t half bad! Pretty smooth and fairly smokey, but bear in mind this is the first lapsang souchong that I’ve tried.

Ugh. Rough day, lots still to do. The answer – Lapsang Souchong, or “Warrior’s Tea”. I used to drink this while playing arena, hence the nickname.

Hmm… I’d say it was fairly neutral in flavour, but there’s a hint of a malty aroma, and somehow a piping hot cup of this seems to focus everything a bit more. Great for getting on with things, I hope ;-)

I have seen that Twinings offers a bagged Lapsang but have never been able to find it in a store…..until now. Picked up a box when I went to grab lunch. Nice Aroma. A little more subdued than Dr. Teas Lapsang, but that comes with bagged vs loose leaf. The tea is smooth and has a nice smoke to tea ratio. If that makes sense. I told one of my buddies at work that I would share tea with him sometime so I shared this one. He gave me the thumbs up. I really like this one.

I like a Lapsang from time to time, but this is not ‘that time’. However, I’m unconcerned as I know ‘that time’ will come around again.

In the interim, I notice my male guests are suddenly partial to the rich, smokey notes of this dark, mysterious tea. And that’s fair enough because it smacks of a nicely rounded machismo that I find tremendously appealing.

This is an all round winner and a staple in my house when I have COMPANY.

I am not sure whether I like this tea or not. I have never had a smoky tea before – it tastes like liquid smoke added to boiling water. The aroma is stronger than the taste, and I put the teabag back in to steep more after a taste. A little milk is fine, but sugar changes the taste and makes it more ordinary. It might be good with smoked meats or barbecue.

Lapsang Souchong has been my favourite tea for many years. There is simply no comparison between the loose tea and tea bags in Twinings Lapsang Souchong – the tea bags still have the smokey aroma, but the loose tea has the same distinctive aroma as well as a richer and more robust flavour.

When my little brother was younger, he used to refer to my Lapsang Souchong as “bushfire tea” because of the smoky aroma. I often drink this tea alone, as my wife doesn’t like it – in fact, she won’t even let me brew it in her teapot! I always look forward to sharing a cup with my best mate whenever he visits (thanks Geoff!).

Nowadays it’s almost impossible to find Twinings Lapsang Souchong loose tea on supermarket shelves around here (regional Victoria, Australia), so I’m usually stuck with the tea bags. Occasionally I treat myself to the loose Lapsang Souchong from Lupicia.

As with all other teas, I drink mine black with no sugar.

I don’t often feel like lapsang souchong but this really hit the spot yesterday

This was an impulse buy the other day. I’ve been craving Lapsang for a while now and saw this at the store. Score!
Very much enjoyed this smokey tea :)

“remember that old Saturday Night Live skit about Pork Soda … well, what was said there applies here … “it’s like drinkin a pig” A good tea if you can’t decide whether you want a cup of tea or a slightly overdone boar on a spit."

That was my old review. Now, I’ve completely come around on this tea. I drink it after a hard day or if I’m not feeling all that great and the smoky flavour puts me beside a campfire in the outback of my youth. True, it does take a little bit of mental gymnastics at first i.e. ’it’s not bacon, it’s bamboo, it’s not bacon, it’s bamboo’ … but once you’ve done it, this tea really pays off. My new favourite.

Oh, I don’t know what to say. I got this tea because a while back, when I first heard of lapsang souchong, I thought it seemed like an interesting idea. Today, I saw the mini 10 packs of this for sale at the supermarket, so I thought I’d give it a try. I had it with sweetener and soy milk.

The aftertaste of this, especially at the end of the cup, reminded me of when I was young and stupid and used to smoke sometimes. That’s not a good thing to be reminded of, because as a firm non-smoker these days, an ashy taste in the mouth is pretty repellant. Otherwise, this tea smelled a bit like bacon before brewing, which was also not promising to me. But I do love the smell of burning wood, and mixed with the creaminess of the soy milk, it was kind of cool. I think this tea could be better mixed with something vanilla-y, like a black tea with vanilla, or some vanilla bean. The smoke element is very strong here. Maybe it wasn’t a good choice as a first lapsang souchong, but I got it mainly because I didn’t want to spend heaps of money on a fancier one when the smoke could be a deal breaker from the get-go.

I’m going to drink this at least one more time, for a better review and to really get my thoughts about the combination of tea and smoke together, but it’s really weird. If you don’t eat meat, it might make a good thing for cooking, because it’s strongly flavoured, and the smokiness is reminiscent of smoked meats and wood smoke, which is always good in savoury stuff.

So today was quite an adventurous day for me and my husband. Among the adventures, we went to a British Marketplace in South Florida and I bought several new teas to add to my cupboard. I looked like quite the rugged American laying on the floor sniffing tea boxes on the bottom shelves in their store. Oddly enough, I couldn’t smell this one through the wrapper. I’m quite certain that was for good reason.

I had seen this one on the Twinings website and was going to order it if I didn’t see it at their shop. I was intrigued by the use of “smokey” to describe a tea. Now I understand. I understand completely.

It smells like burning wood. It was the first tea that I was unsure about even steeping once I caught a whiff of it. It doesn’t taste as strong as it smells and is actually enjoyable after a few sips. But this is a tea I’ve come across yet that I could personally compare it with. I ended up removing the bags and tossing the box and putting the bags in a big ziplock bag because after about ten minutes it was starting to drift throughout the cabinet like a plague.

Oh, and apparently Oprah mentioned this tea on her show and it was flying of the shelves at the British Marketplace according to the owner.

Not a favourite, though it’s alright. Just didn’t seem very flavoursome. I will have to try others to see how they compare.

I picked out this tea because of the smoky flavor, but I’ll admit I was a bit alarmed when it seemed to make my whole kitchen smell like campfire the first time I brewed it. Don’t be alarmed; while the smell is quite smoky, the flavor is smooth and strong, not overly smoky. The scent did seem to linger in the kitchen, though, and I definitely smell this tea when I open the tea cabinet even though the bags are individually wrapped. If strong scents bother you, you should probably skip this one. Definitely a distinctive tea – not one I go for every day.

One of my favourite teas, with a smokey and somewhat smooth taste that fits any time of the day or year.

One of my very favorites

My preferred lapsang.
I have a “vintage” edition (dated on 2005 and found at the bottom of a cupboard) that is stronger and more pleasant that the regular one.