Lapsang Souchong

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea
Flavors
Earth, Pine, Smoke, Sweet, Burnt, Dark Wood, Mushrooms, Wet Earth, Camphor, Menthol, Smooth, Ash, Char, Caramel, Cedar, Malt, Spicy, Tar, Toast, Vanilla, Wood, Campfire, Metallic, Leather, Meat, Fireplace, Smoked
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf, Tea Bag
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by JulieWyant
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 3 g 9 oz / 264 ml

From Our Community

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9 Want it Want it

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75 Tasting Notes View all

  • “EDIT: I think that Adagio has done something very WRONG with their Lapsang Souchongs in the past year—or else my taste has evolved. I would not order from them again. It’s weak and...” Read full tasting note
    15
  • “Le sigh… I realized that I haven’t had this tea in about 2 months due to my overflowing tea cupboard (and bookcases). I actually picked up some decorative picture album boxes this weekend to use...” Read full tasting note
    86
  • “Cold, rainy weather…check. Long, rough day at work…check. Strong desire to get new samples of tea…check. All of these things mean it is time for some comfort, coming tonite in the form of tomato...” Read full tasting note
    86
  • “i got a small sample bag of this so i could keep tinkering with my personal sherlock blend. but i put one scoop aside so i could try it straight. not the best lapsang i’ve had. but still smokey and...” Read full tasting note

From Adagio Teas

Lapsang Souchong is a black tea from the Fujian province of China, famous for its smoky aroma and flavor. To create this, the finished tea is given some extra drying over a smoking pine fire, imparting a sweet, clean smoky flavor to the tea. Lapsang Souchong sometimes gets a bad rep for being brashly smoky, but really fine examples aren’t like that at all. Our Lapsang Souchong is very approachable: clean and slightly cool smokiness in the aroma, like menthol. Sweet, refreshing smoky flavor, crisp and edgy. Golden-coppery color in the cup; the mark of a Lapsang that hasn’t been smoked to a jerky. Sweet pine flavor, lightly evaporating finish. It’s amazing all the dimensions of ‘smoky’ you can experience in one, very well made cup of fine Lapsang Souchong.

Famously soft-spoken American painter Bob Ross is famous for his quote, “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” And throughout the history of the world, this has proven to be the case. Penicillin, the world’s first antibiotic, is one example. Post-its are another. But did you know that Lapsang Souchong, perhaps the world’s oldest black tea, was also created by mistake? While there are several competing theories as to its creation, most involving soldiers, bandits, and a major production backup, one thing we’re sure of, we’re glad it happened.

Black Tea | High caffeine | Steep at 212° for 3-5 minutes.

About Adagio Teas View company

Adagio Teas has become one of the most popular destinations for tea online. Its products are available online at www.adagio.com and in many gourmet and health food stores.

75 Tasting Notes

1
141 tasting notes

Most either love or hate Lapsang Souchong tea. I love Lapsang, but absolutely hated Adagio’s rendition. Instead of a pleasant smokey fragrance, the tea had an acrid almost chemical aroma. When brewed, it was sour and tasted (as I would imagine it to taste) like turpentine. It’s possible that the tea was dried too close to the pine or some of the resin made its way into the tea. Maybe I received a bad batch, but I’ve had a lot of really good Lapsang from other merchants so I’ll stick with them.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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9 tasting notes

Very smoky, but the scent mellowed as the tea cooled slightly. I enjoyed the sensory freak-out, but after this cup I developed a killer headache. Not sure what happened there. I’d like to use this in more unorthodox ways, such as marinades.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec

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80
330 tasting notes

They say you should start a new year out doing what you intend to do in the new year. So for New Year’s Eve I am drinking tea (it’s already next year in about half the world now), and will do so all of my 5 day birthday weekend. My b-day is Monday, so I took Friday and Monday off. My office is closed tomorrow and we closed at noon today, so I am having an early start on my long holiday weekend. I shall have a tea-filled holiday.

I decided to try and polish something off, so I brewed the last of my Adagio LS. I actually had to toss in a little A&D Assam to get enough for a pot, and it blends in quite nicely. Now the next time I am in the mood for LS, I will get to try my Mandala LS. Yay!

So Happy New Year to all my Steepster friends. I hope you have a lovely one.

Flavors: Smoked

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69
6 tasting notes

I have been consistently disappointed with Adagio’s teas since ordering several of their sample packs last week. I decided to order a large amount of blacks, greens and whites to try the brand, after hearing so many good things. Unfortunately, Adagio does not live up to the hype. I find myself having to steep the teas far longer than instructed just to get SOME flavor out of them, even at the proper steeping temperature. They are weak, thin, and the only characteristic I am close to being thrilled about are the scents and smells. They are spectacular, if only the flavor itself lived up to the smell.

That said, of the teas I’ve tried, this one seemed to be the closest to satisfactory. I’m not sure if it’s that my taste has been thinned from drinking weak teas all week, or if I’ve actually stumbled across a decent tea. It’s smoky, the liquor is darker than other Adagio black teas I’ve tried, but still far lighter than a black tea should be. I am being generous with the rating because I didn’t hate the experience. And the smell is giving me the kick I was looking for in the tea itself.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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68
13 tasting notes

My first Souchong was one cup from a local coffee house a long time ago. This is my second, so I don’t have much to compare it to. It’s not as smokey as that first cup, which is good. In fact, this feels like the right amount of smokiness – like inhaling campfire smoke, but not enough that you’re choking to death. This tea would go great with marshmallows.

As for the negative: once you get past the smokiness, there’s not much else there. I don’t get much of a tea flavor. Is this tea, or diluted Liquid Smoke?

But whatever, I like it. And I love the smell – I think I get more enjoyment from smelling it.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec

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81
7 tasting notes

Not as smokey as some lapsangs that I have had that I’d equate to drinking BBQ. It is however fairly tasty and goes to show that the smokiness doesn’t have to be the main attraction and one can pull almost minty notes from it.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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81
22 tasting notes

I’m quite pleased with this one. Delicious smoky aroma — satisfying without overpowering the sweet notes underneath. Very smooth even texture and flavor. Lacks any harsh astringency.

[Consider brewing a bit stronger next time.]

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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73
20 tasting notes

incredibly smoky and awesome.

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90
17 tasting notes

Lapsang Souchong, that infamous Love It Or Loathe It tea. I fall into the Love It camp, but even then I still have to be in the right mood to drink the stuff. Luckily today was chilly and brisk enough to give me a craving for liquid bonfire after I’d gone to the dentist for a tooth cleaning. (Begone, pesky tea stains!)

I usually just take my tea straight, no sugar, no milk, no lemon or anything. I made an exception today though. I got out a giant mug which I’m fairly certain is intended for soup and holds the same amount of drink as my teapot (it’s a personaliTEA from Adagio) and after putting the water on to boil I added a fair helping of sugar and milk to the mug. I started to panic a little when I finally poured the Lapsang, sure that I’d used far too much milk as it pretty much still looked like milk when I’d emptied my small teapot into the mug. Wonderfully, though, it tasted perfect! It was sweet and creamy and smokey and even better than I would have hoped it might be! I’ll probably never be able to replicate those ratios of sugar, milk and tea again though.

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99
8 tasting notes

SO GOOD!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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