Lapsang souchong facts for kids

4g of Lapsang Souchong tea in a porcelain tea vessel

Lapsang souchong is a special kind of black tea from China. What makes it unique is that its leaves are smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. This gives the tea a very distinct smoky smell and taste.

The tea leaves can be smoked in different ways. Sometimes, raw leaves are smoked gently (cold smoke) as they are being prepared. Other times, leaves that have already been partly processed are smoked with hot smoke. The amount of smoke flavor depends on how close the leaves are to the fire and how long they are smoked.

Lapsang souchong tea has a flavor that reminds people of wood smoke, pine, smoked paprika, or even dried longan fruit. It's not usually bitter, so you don't need to add sugar. You can even mix it with milk. This tea comes from the Wuyi Mountains in Fujian province, China. It's also made in Taiwan. Besides drinking it, people sometimes use lapsang souchong in soups, stews, or as a spice to flavor food.

History of Lapsang Souchong Tea

Lapsang souchong tea first appeared in the Wuyi Mountains area of China. This was during the Qing dynasty, a long time ago. People say it was first made around 1646.

How Lapsang Souchong Was Discovered

One popular story tells that tea makers had to quickly dry their fresh tea leaves. This happened when soldiers from the Qing dynasty were moving through the Wuyi Mountain area. To save the tea from spoiling, they dried the leaves quickly over fires and then stored them in sacks.

Later, even though the tea smelled smoky, it was sold to Dutch traders. Back then, it took many months for tea to travel from China to Europe. The smoky drying process helped the tea stay fresh during this long journey. The Dutch traders liked the smoky tea and asked for more.

Another story says that soldiers during the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) used sacks of fresh tea leaves as beds. This delayed the drying process. So, the tea makers had to use hot pine wood fires to dry the leaves quickly. This also gave the tea its smoky flavor.

The Name "Lapsang Souchong"

The name lapsang souchong comes from the Fuzhou dialect. "La" means pine, and "Sang" means wood. "Souchong" means "small sort," which referred to the type of tea leaves used. Before the British East India Company started calling teas "black" or "green," teas from the Wuyi Mountains were known as "bohea."

Over time, the word souchong became part of a system for grading tea leaves. It now refers to the fourth and fifth leaves on the tea plant, which are larger and wider.

How Lapsang Souchong is Made

Lapsang souchong is usually made from the larger, tougher leaves of a special tea plant called the Bohea cultivar. This type of plant is good at soaking up the smoky flavor. The bigger leaves also allow the smoke to stick to them better.

Even though these larger leaves have less natural flavor than younger leaves, the smoke flavor makes up for it. Sometimes, other woods like cedar or cypress are used for smoking, but Pinus taiwanensis (a type of pine) is most common.

The Smoking Process

Making lapsang souchong is similar to making other black teas, but with an extra step: smoking. There are a few ways to do this.

• Traditional Method (Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong): In the traditional way, the tea leaves are processed entirely inside a smokehouse. This is like a "cold smoke." Most of the smoky flavor is added during the final drying stage.

* First, the leaves are spread out on bamboo mats to dry a bit indoors. * Then, they are rolled to break their cell walls, which starts the oxidation process (where the leaves change color and flavor). * Next, the leaves are put into cloth bags to oxidize for about 5 to 6 hours. * After that, they are quickly heated in a pan to stop the oxidation. * Finally, they are rolled again and dried for 8 to 12 hours in the smoky air.

• General Lapsang Souchong: For more common lapsang souchong, leaves are collected from different farms. They are partly processed (like partly dried or oxidized) and then taken to a central smoking building. Here, they are "hot smoked." This method can also help make a good product from older or less flavorful leaves.

Tea makers can change how strong the smoke flavor is. They do this by changing how long the tea is smoked or by placing the leaves closer or farther from the smoke source. Some smokehouses have several upper floors where leaves can be laid out, allowing different batches to get different amounts of smoke. Besides Fujian, tea smoking facilities are also found in Taiwan. Taiwan's lapsang souchong is known for being very smoky.

How to Prepare and Enjoy Lapsang Souchong

Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong lapsang souchong in two small teacups.

Like other black teas, lapsang souchong is brewed with hot water. The water should be just below boiling, around 95 °C (203 °F).

Brewing Tips

• You can brew it once for 3 to 5 minutes. Use about 2 to 3 grams (one tablespoon) of loose-leaf tea for every 150 milliliters (about 2⁄3 of a cup) of water.
• Or, you can brew it multiple times. Use 5 grams of tea for 30 seconds to one minute at a time, with 110 milliliters of water.

Flavor and Aroma

The dry leaves of lapsang souchong often smell like bacon! The brewed tea has a strong, lasting smoky flavor. Other tastes you might notice include wood smoke, pine, smoked paprika, dried longan fruit, and even peated whisky.

This tea is not usually bitter, so you don't need to add sugar or honey. It's a "full-bodied" tea, meaning it has a rich, strong flavor. You can drink it plain or add milk. The unique smoky smell of lapsang souchong comes from special chemicals, many of which are only found in pine smoke.

Tea Blends and Cooking Uses

Lapsang souchong is often mixed with other black teas. This helps to make the blend taste richer and smell stronger. For example, it might be blended with an Earl Grey tea.

Famous Tea Blends

One famous blend is called Russian Caravan. It usually has about 60% Keemun tea, 20% lapsang souchong, and some roasted oolong tea. This blend is meant to remind people of the camel caravans that traveled from China to Russia long ago. These caravans carried tea, and the tea would sometimes pick up campfire smoke during the journey.

In British culture, lapsang souchong is often linked to Winston Churchill, who enjoyed this tea.

Cooking with Lapsang Souchong

Because of its unique wood-smoked flavor, lapsang souchong is also used as a spice to flavor food.

• It can be added to stock for soups, stews, and sauces.
• It's used in vegetarian recipes.
• It can be part of meat rubs.
• Some people even use it to flavor boiled eggs.

When drinking lapsang souchong tea, it pairs well with meals like tuna, cod, game meats, eggs, or brunch foods.

See also

In Spanish: Lapsang souchong para niños