Today’s review is a newer offering from 3 Leaf – a seller that has expanded a loose leaf tea line. When I was introduced to them, they did pretty good flavored matchas.
I was excited to see Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong. Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong is an uncommon find. “Regular” Lapsang Souchong is a very common find in most loose leaf tea shops here in North America as it is a very western taste bud friendly tea. I know many people who love the intense smokey flavor, plus Lapsang Souchong is one of the most common teas to cook with. If you go to a more traditional, Chinese tea seller, they likely carry both styles of Lapsang Souchong, smoked for western people and a more traditional, unsmoked. However, I cannot stand “regular” smoked Lapsang Souchong. It’s smokey, peaty and rich, but to me it tastes like I’m steeping a tire fire or liquid smoke.
Dry Leaf
A very uniform, long gentle twists of black leaves. The scent is low and a little grapey. It is very obvious here this is unsmoked lapsang souchong as it doesn’t smell like charcoal BBQ scrapings.
Steeping Method
I went off the deep end. Since I’m stuck with one gaiwan, and when sent samples I’m often left with an awkward amount of tea unused if I use my usual ratio. I did what my tea buddies call “Warrior Style”, which is essentially very high leaf and flash steepings. I did 1 gram to 10ml. Actually, more like 1gram to 9ml, I had a bit more leftover tea and I should just use it.
I used boiling water, a rinse, and flash steeps. The fastest I could pour it. Way to follow steeping instructions Owl.
Tasting of 3 Leaf Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong
First and Second Infusion: The Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong steeps up dark looking in my cup with a strong burnt caramel scent.
It sips in strong with some great notes. It has an rich savory dark roux note, one I started to get tired of stirring so there’s some black flecks in it. The finish gets sweeter, like a burnt caramel. Mmmm burnt.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: The Lapsang Souchong is getting sweeter, letting the burnt caramel take over. The flavor intensity is high, but not intense to grow hair on your chest. The finish has a bit of a tannic note, but still not dry or tart.
At the fifth steeping the gaiwan is just about full after the pour.
Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Infusion: lightening here so i’m stopping flash steeps, going up around 30 seconds to 2 minutes. The tea has an interesting mix of caramel, malt, cinnamon spice, cream and tannic. The tea is actually pretty sweet. The texture is getting dry adding a chalky feel to the roof of my mouth. There is barely any burnt flavor and very little savory notes as with each steeping it gets sweeter. Despite the dryness, the sweetness and combination of flavors is pretty good.
What is funny is that this is around a 70ml gaiwan. The leaves are practically filling the gaiwan and when I pour I’m getting about 20ml of tea to drink, not even a full cup! usually when I go a standard 1g 15ml ratio I get a perfectly full cup.
Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Infusion: I did a 5, 10, and 20 minute steeping here. The Lapsang Souchong tastes minerally, malt and spun sugar, however is very dry. My cheeks and tongue feel like they lack moisture. I kept steeping longer and longer until the tea died.
Comments
3 Leaf‘s Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong a pretty good unsmoked lapsang. I had fun with the complexity here and the later steepings were the best. If you like black teas and never tried an unsmoked Lapsang, or tried lapsang and hated the smoke, give this one a try and you’ll be sure to enjoy it. I should try this method with other unsmoked Lapsang Souchongs to compare better.
3 Leaf’s pricing is pretty good at $7 an ounce and there is samples available if you want to give it a try.
(tea provided for review)
