What is your favorite smoky flavored tea? Need suggestions.
Hey guys and gals, I have yet to try a smoky flavored tea and would love to have my first be a great one. Any suggestions? I’ve heard that gunpowder is good but I was wondering what some of your favorites are and where I can get them? Thanks a bunch!
It all depends upon how much smoke you’re looking for. Gunpowder teas aren’t really “smoky” flavored, nor do they possess much smokiness. Some might have a slight smoky taste to them, but, it is very light, and not what I’d recommend if you’re looking for a smoky tea.
If you’re looking for a heavily smoked tea, I’d recommend a Lapsang Souchong. The best I’ve tried … and admittedly, the reason I liked it so much is that it didn’t have such a heavy smoky tone, is the one sold by Dr. Tea’s Tea Garden.
Some Keemun teas have a smoky tone to them as well, and that might be a good place to start. One of the best I’ve had recently is the Keemun Mao Feng from Life in Teacup.
I have never been able to find a smoky note in Gunpowder. Once or twice I think I’ve been close, but part of me has already wondered whether people who find it consistently are being influenced by the fact that it’s called gunpowder…
@Angrboda – I think that might have something to do with it. I notice only a very faint smokiness to it, and it isn’t a consistent thing – that is, in some Gunpowder teas I notice a hint of smokiness and in others … nothing.
I also think it’s because I’m so used to keemuns and LS’s, so that’s the sort of thing I expect when people say smoky. I’m not experienced enough with green tea to really work it out. (Then again, perhaps it’s just not something that I can find. Just because I can’t taste it doesn’t mean it’s not there.)
Gunpowder green tea is green tea in Yunnan Province,China.it is look like “Biluochun”(Chinese:碧螺春).I drank them what come from difficult tea areas in Yunnan.maybe first drew,you can smell smoke favor.but when you begin drink it,cann’t find this smell.instead I found Yunnan Xiaguan Tea Factory’s raw puer tea have smoky flavor.if you like Yunnan puer tea,you can taste it later.
Lapsang Souchong is known as ‘the smokey tea’ as it smells and tastes similar to a campfire or BBQ. That said it is still enjoyable but not for the faint hearted as it’s super strong and packs a big punch to the pallet. A lot of Chinese markets here sell this tea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapsang_souchong
Gunpowder green is lovely and much more subtle than the Lapsang and is probably the safer bet for you to try first. It’s nothing super special but to get you into it Twinings do gunpowder green loose tea. It’s nice just by far not the nicest you can get but still good enough to make a start.
Enjoy :)
Lapsang is like smoke on the water (yes just like the song), I’ve drank that at work and people ask where the BBQ is.
I tend to like Hao Ya Keemun, Teavivre has a great one that is very affordable
Adagio’s Gunpowder gets lightly smoky on the second steep. The Lapsang Souchong Star from David’s is great as well.
It sounds like you are up for adventure, so don’t be timid-go for Lapsang Souchong! I really don’t think liking gunpowder or not gives much indication whether you will like Lapsang.
Harney’s, Teavivre, Mark T. Wendell (Hu Kwa), and Upton have good Lapsang. I would characterize all their Lapsangs as varying degrees of moderately smoky-although some palates may find some of them very smoky. All those sellers are reasonably priced. You could get samples cheap from Upton and if it turns out you don’t like it, you are not out much money.
Thanks for all the great suggestions and personal input. It seems that Lapsang souchong is the majority winner here so I think I’ll go with that. I trust your taste so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. Thanks again for taking the time to help me out :)
Russian Caravan was the very first smokey tea I ever tried and I fell in love. The type I tried was from Tea Desire ( http://steepster.com/teas/tea-desire/27048-russian-caravan )… though, I found Life In Teacup have a really lovely lapsang souchong that is not too smokey and has a nice sweetness to the tea ( http://steepster.com/teas/life-in-teacup/11081-lapsang-souchong-black-tea-grade-ii ).
Good luck! I hope you really start falling for smokey teas =)
Baker Street Afternoon Blend is my favorite smokey tea so far! Queen Catherine has bait of smoke and is a favorite, but I don’t consider the smoke to be a defining factor of it like Baker Street.
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