What is Lapsang Souchong？

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Lapsang Souchong, a black tea, hails from the Wuyi Mountains of China’s Fujian Province during the Qing Dynasty. The name itself, from the Fuzhou dialect, where ‘La’ means pine and ‘Sang’ means wood, with ‘souchong’ meaning small leaf, gives away the smoking process. Unlike other black teas, Lapsang Souchong is famous for its deep smoky aroma and flavour. The traditional process of Lapsang Souchong involves drying the tea leaves over pine wood fires. This happens in a multi-storey smokehouse where the smoke rises from a fire pit through various processing rooms and envelops the tea leaves in a rich smoky hug. The leaves are first withered, then rolled, oxidised and finally fire dried over aromatic pinewood to produce a smoked lapsang souchong that tastes like campfires and whiskey. The tea leaves are placed in bamboo baskets and hung over smoky pine fires to dry and absorb the distinct smoky flavor. In China it’s also known as ‘Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong’ and is a top grade black tea. The rich flavour profile with deep smoky notes is perfect for those who want a strong and unusual tea.

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