Five Lapsang Souchongs to drink for the 2022 September White2tea Club – I hope you like hongcha!
All these teas can be purchased at White2tea, so this is a sample haul of the newest crop. White2tea has quite a selection of Lapsang Souchong giving a good representation of what is a good Lapsang Souchong. So much of the typically available Lapsang is a tire-fire bitter ashy nightmare.
For all teas, I used close to the instructions, so around 1 gram of leaf per 17ml of boiling water, no rinse.
Traditional Lapsang Souchong from the September White2tea Club
The leaves smell of maple candy. After a rinse, it is even more candy-like.
Traditional Lapsang tastes like sweet potato, caramelized candy topping with a herby oregano background. This is a traditional lapsang – there is not a lick of smoke or burnt.
The early infusions are lovely candy, though as it goes on, it develops a malty deepness, but also with some astringency and rustic woody minerals. The final infusions, which I steeped longer than usual to push it, have a deep cherry wood and potato flavor, with a pep of dryness.
Surprisingly, I enjoyed this Traditional Lapsang quite a bit. This batch is pretty good. A good introduction to good lapsang or black teas. It’s full of flavor, approachable, and with a light astringency.
Smoked Lapsang
Smoked Lapsang smells smokey bbq with my brain trying to fill in bacon. After a steep, it smelled in a delicious way that is hard to describe… roasted apple? Overcooked caramel? Tasty plastic? But it’s not bacon or melting tires like commonly available lapsang is.
Smoked Lapsang starts off tasting umami smoked apple wood. My husband and his friend smoke their own Canadian bacon. It tastes like the sweet smokey scent of apple chips, without the salty pork. There’s a buttery texture that I can chew on. As this tea steeps, it gets more apple fruity and charred wood, with some astringency.
I would love to use this Smoked Lapsang tea in cooking, it would be good on salmon!
Pine Sap Lapsang
The leaves smell of smokey pine. After a steep, the leaves are warm fire pine on the winter holiday.
Pine Sap is a sweeter, lighter version of Smoked Lapsang. It is smokey pine needles and wood, a sweet mineral that’s soft and silky. It’s umami but also sweet, all while each infusion gets peatier. This tea resteeps consistently peaty, pine wood, and sweet minerals.
Pine Sap Lapsang is for those who want an elegant smoke leaning more peaty. For this round, I prefer Smoked Lapsang this year as it came out very well, though Pine Sap is reliably more balanced and approachable.
Fruit Bomb Lapsang
The leaves smell close to red licorice, even after steeping.
Taste wise, Fruit Bomb Lapsang tastes sweet red berries, with a rock candy finish. It’s mysteriously astringent already. As Fruit Bomb Lapsang steeps, it gets a malty background, but fairly consistent with each infusion, carrying more of the same flavor. This lapsang is quite aromatic, wafting the fruity berry flavor as I drink.
This black tea is wonderfully sweet and fruity. It’s fine as is, but be great as iced tea. Get this one if you love fruity berry black teas.
Strawberry Lapsang
The leaves are distinctive strawberry scented.
Strawberry Lapsang is what it sounds like – it has a natural, jammy, strawberry flavor with a malty lightly woody background, with a creamy texture. It has a light tartness to it and is a bit less aromatic which makes it different from fruit bomb.
A power steep for the final infusion tastes crisp, tart natural strawberry with a bite of honey wood flavor.
Strawberry Lapsang is another fruity hongcha lovers drink and also would be great iced. This one has some tartness and distinct flavor, making it very unique black tea.
For 2022 the Lapsangs, my pics are the Smoked and the Traditional Lapsang, which is a change from previous years. All the Lapsang Souchongs are quite good, depending on your personal tastes.
