Lapsang Souchong Tea

The story goes that tea growers in Tong Mu, a small village in the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian in China, saw soldiers coming. To save their tea crop, which was large leaf tea normally made into oolong tea, they hid the tea and also hid themselves in the mountains. To prevent their tea from rotting while they were gone, the villagers quickly dried the harvest using freshly cut pinewood. After the soldiers were gone, the villagers returned to find that their tea was a dark color and tasted of smoke, strongly of smoke, quite unlike the delicate oolong they usually prepared.

Image of Wuyi Mountains, Fujian, China
from Wikimedia Commons.

An enterprising lot though, when the traders from the Netherlands came through to buy tea, these villagers offered them their special smoky tea. Amazingly, the Europeans loved it and came back for more, paying a higher price than for the regular tea!

Lapsang souchong tea is made like any other tea, and it can be drunk with or without milk. For us Brits, with milk is delicious! I have fond memories of my college years drinking Lapsang souchong with my friends.

For those who prefer their tea "black" Lapsang souching tastes fine, very smoky of course, with nothing added, but is also delicious with a touch of lemon.

Image of lapsang souchong showing its rich color
from Wikimedia Commons.

Lapsang souchong tea is so distinctive in flavor, it's like being at a campfire. You can imagine then, that it goes well with savory or salty foods. It's particularly good with cheese as well as spicy dishes. It's good with apples too, for some reason.

Since Lapsang souchong tea is so smoke flavored, using it for cooking is a great way to add that smoked taste. You can use it as a marinade for meat roasted in the oven. I even found a recipe for Lapsang souchong flavored ice cream!

It's also possible to mix Lapsang Souchong with other teas, especially if you find the smokiness a bit too strong.

Tea Pot with Tea Cup
Buy at Allposters.com

Well, Lapsang souchong is a black tea and not usually drunk for health reasons. Still, black teas in general are relatively healthy beverages when compared to the alternatives, which include coffee (too much caffeine), soft drinks (too sweet), and alcoholic drinks (too much alcohol!).

Tea is always touted as having antioxidants which are good for you. And black teas like Lapsang souchong have those.

In any case, enjoying a lovely cup of tea, and a good Lapsang souchong is definitely a pleasure, is a good thing. So even if it's not up the top on the list of healthy things to drink, I say go for a cup of Lapsang souchong and believe it's good for you - and it will be.


Take Time 4 Tea
Buy at AllPosters.com

Copyright © Jennifer P. Tanabe, 2009.
This page was created on May 11, 2009 and is the property of jptanabe (Jennifer P. Tanabe) and Squidoo, LLC. Please do not copy my material!