I was all ready this morning to go for one of my favorite, albeit unusual, tea blends, the white Organic Shou Mei, with a pinch of my good old Lansang Souchong. But then I thought, you know, I haven’t had just the Lapsang by itself in quite a while. And that sounds wonderful on this wet, rainy morning.
So I cruised over to the Red Blossom Tea Company website to make sure I had the brewing and steeping directions correct, and I noticed they had an alternate brewing method to get a slightly lighter, sweeter liqueur. Basically, slightly less leaves, slightly lower water temperature, and a low steeping time for this black tea.
So I used about 2.5 tablespoons of leaves instead of the normal 3+ in my 32 ounce Bodum Assam teapot, rinsed like usual, added water that was just starting to boil instead of at a full boil, and only steeped it for 1 minute, instead of the regular 3.
Success. Damn, it’s good. The color is still dark reddish black, but it is not quite as opaque as normal, I can see the tea basket in the middle of the teapot.
The smell is the first thing I notice as pleasantly different. It still has that strong campfire aroma, but it is not as overpowering as when I use a standard black tea brewing method. You can smell more of the underlying black tea qualities, and everything has a very nice balance.
Speaking about balance, here comes the taste. I am a big fan of balance, in all parts of my life. I am a classically trained trombone player and music teacher, and my hobby is extreme long distance cycling. This brewing method brings out a balance in this tea I did not think was possible. Yes, it is a Lapsang Souchong that is actually light and sweet. The earthy, malty, almost woodsy black tea flavor finally has a voice, while the wonderful campfire taste is still the dominant voice, but it has a stage to stand on now, and that stage is what it needs for that proper balance.
Basically, I can almost taste what kind of wood is burning in the campfire, and it is sweet and light and allows the natural black tea flavors to shine through.
And they are wonderful.
-E
Flavors: Campfire, Pine, Smoke, Sweet, Wood
