Formosa Lapsang Souchong

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Smoke, Astringent, Brown Toast, Caramel, Cedar, Dark Chocolate, Leather, Marine, Molasses, Pine, Walnut
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 22 oz / 650 ml

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2 Tasting Notes View all

  • “This is a pretty nice tea. It is quite smoky, but I think a medium smoke as Lapsang Souchong goes. This is not a tea I drink straight. I added sugar and just a splash of creamer. It is the only...” Read full tasting note
    81
  • “It looks like I am the first to get to this one. This lapsang souchong is the only Taiwanese black tea offered by Simpson & Vail at this time. The folks at Simpson & Vail bill this as being...” Read full tasting note
    86

From Simpson & Vail

Like the China Lapsang, the Formosa Lapsang Souchong is an acquired taste. Unlike the China Lapsang, which is primarily smoked with pine, Taiwan’s version uses a combination of woods to smoke their tea; and the resulting taste is a stronger, heavier Lapsang tea. The gray-black, slightly twisted leaves produce a bright orange liquor with a distinctive smoky flavor.

About Simpson & Vail View company

Company description not available.

2 Tasting Notes

81
1758 tasting notes

This is a pretty nice tea. It is quite smoky, but I think a medium smoke as Lapsang Souchong goes. This is not a tea I drink straight. I added sugar and just a splash of creamer. It is the only tea I take with any sort of creamer. I believe it is still the only black tea from Simpson and Vail from Taiwan.

I brewed this in a 36oz Cobalt Betty teapot with 6 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 minutes.

Flavors: Smoke

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 6 tsp 36 OZ / 1064 ML

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86
1048 tasting notes

It looks like I am the first to get to this one. This lapsang souchong is the only Taiwanese black tea offered by Simpson & Vail at this time. The folks at Simpson & Vail bill this as being heartier than their Chinese lapsang, and I must say that they really aren’t kidding about that.

I brewed this tea using a simple one step Western infusion. Again, I normally do not resteep black teas unless it is specifically suggested by the vendor. To prepare this tea, I steeped one teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 3 minutes. I also tried 4 and 5 minute steepings of this tea, but the aromas and flavors were consistent across the board despite a slight increase in strength and astringency, so I will just stick to presenting the results of the initial 3 minute steeping for this review.

After infusion, the resulting liquor was a dark amber. Strong aromas of woodsmoke, pine, nuts, leather, molasses, and sea salt were present on the nose. I could also detect subtle scents of tobacco and toast. In the mouth, strong notes of woodsmoke, pine, cedar, black walnut, hickory, leather, molasses, tobacco, and sea salt were underscored by subtler flavors of caramel, dark chocolate, and brown toast. The finish was full of smoke and wood flavors with more than a bit of astringency.

Overall, I quite like this lapsang. It really lives up to the description of a hearty black tea provided by the vendor. Honestly, Simpson & Vail’s Chinese lapsang souchong does not even really compare to this one. This lapsang is just so much richer, stronger, and smokier. Still, I don’t expect the many people who are unexcited by any lapsang souchong or really heavy black tea to take to this one at all, but as someone who tends to enjoy lapsang souchong, I cannot say that I would have a problem recommending this tea fairly highly to fellow lapsang aficionados.

Flavors: Astringent, Brown Toast, Caramel, Cedar, Dark Chocolate, Leather, Marine, Molasses, Pine, Smoke, Walnut

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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