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“All the way back in August, when my dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday I sent him a link to white2tea’s black tea page and he picked some out for me. It took a while for the tea to arrive...” Read full tasting note
“7g dragon ball in a 110ml glazed gaiwan at 205F. Steam: Pinesmoke and fruit, surprisingly. And a hint of zoo smell. Rinse (10s): gold-brown-orange color. Sipping tastes brothy, like a watery tomato...” Read full tasting note
“Gongfu! Usually, I just blind cake all of the smoked black teas because at this point I’m just so confident I’ll enjoy each of them, but this one was a little bit more expensive so I decided to...” Read full tasting note
Sun dried old arbor assamica varietal from Yunnan province that is typically made into raw Puer. We commissioned these black tea productions in 2024 and sent the blend to a smokehouse in Tongmuguan village in Fujian to be pine smoked by a veteran Lapsang smoker. The three day smoking process occurs at temperatures from 100C to 120C in an old style Lapsang smokehouse.
An answer to a question that nobody asked, “What if high quality old arbor Yunnan black tea materials were made into Lapsang.” The result is what you’d expect; all of the heavy full bodied soup and full feeling of quality Yunnan material with aromatics that mirror the traditional Fujian smoke, all singing together in harmony. We blended four different old arbor black teas in 2024 to create this blend. The result is a truly special treat for black tea lovers and smoke aficionados alike.
Pressed in 2025. Each cake is 200g. The cakes are in bamboo tongs, with five cakes per tong.
All the way back in August, when my dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday I sent him a link to white2tea’s black tea page and he picked some out for me. It took a while for the tea to arrive from China, and I’m just getting around to reviewing some of these teas. It’s interesting that this is a cake, and that it was smoked, but I don’t find this much different from a regular lapsang souchon. Its not all that smoky and it is very smooth, so I could drink more of this. I steeped this western style, but I might try grandpa style with some of the remaining sample. It is certainly smooth enough and won’t get bitter as my last steep was over 20 minutes.
Flavors: Smoked, Smooth
7g dragon ball in a 110ml glazed gaiwan at 205F.
Steam: Pinesmoke and fruit, surprisingly. And a hint of zoo smell.
Rinse (10s): gold-brown-orange color. Sipping tastes brothy, like a watery tomato soup almost, not quite as smoky as I’d expected. Honestly not at all the taste I expected in general. Lid aroma is also tomato-y.
Steep 1 (10s): Liquor is a light orange. Tomato note is up front. Smoke in the mid/back. Theres some other flavors in there, mostly savory.
Steep 2 (15s): Liquor is pumpkin orange. Lid aroma still has the strong pumpkin note. Still strong tomato note, bit of smoke, some fruit notes in the background.
Steep 3 (20s): Dark pumpkin orange liquor. Lid aroma same. I feel like I’m going crazy with how much this just tastes like tomato soup to me.
Steep 4+: The flavor isnt evolving much. I don’t know if there’s something up with my tastebuds this morning but It just tastes like a tomato tea, so I’m going to stop taking notes.
Overall: I don’t think I’ve ever had a tomato note in a tea before. It’s not bad but I’m not sure it’s my thing? It almost confuses me. I was expecting more of the Yunnan black chocolate note.
Flavors: Savory, Smoke, Tomato
Gongfu!
Usually, I just blind cake all of the smoked black teas because at this point I’m just so confident I’ll enjoy each of them, but this one was a little bit more expensive so I decided to play it safe and start with a sample. And, well, let me tell you that I immediately regret that choice. Not only is this so smooth with such a rich, clean, and aromatic woody pine smoke flavour, but it’s also deeply chocolate tasting with a bit of caramelized sugar! A perfect cross between the sweetness of a milk chocolate and the pleasantly bitter bite of very high quality dark chocolate. And if you’ve ever had smoked chocolate before, you know it’s fantastically divine. If there were just a bit of a graham note, then I feel like this would be such a dead wringer for the straight/scented tea equivalent of a smoky campfire s’more. It’s pretty close, though!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJH-JU3yEhc/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-nTEsxPlVY&ab_channel=Husbands-Topic
