This was my first foray into Lapsang Souchong and it is pretty tasty… and pretty, pretty, prettttyyy weird. I heard that Winston Churchill liked this tea and that makes sense, it tastes more like a fine bourbon than a tea. :) It’s awfully unusual so don’t serve it to distinguished guests who have only ever drank PG Tips. This is more like a punch in the face than a tea, so be careful. But it definitely has it’s time and place.
Note that it has a very distinctive odor. Put less politely, it STINKS. So if you put it in your tea cupboard, it will spread it’s smell around like an unwanted college roommate. I had mine in the Twinings Box and it couldn’t contain this power house. I had to eventually chuck out the box and just put the tea bags in their sachets into a ziplock bag. That seems to have roughly done the trick so that everything in my tea cupboard doesn’t also taste like Lapsang Souchong. What a crazy tea!
Anyway with all this yapping it’s still a great tea. Seems like probably some people have gone nuts and made a much stronger version of this tea so I suspect despite it’s insanity that this tea is actually “tame” as far as Lapsang’s actually go. I am keen to experiment some more though. It’s very weird, but it’s a fun and interesting tea. Never had anything like it before and it’s an acquired taste, which I quickly acquired.
Have fun and be careful. Your Grandma (unless she is super awesome) will probably hate this.
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you are right, there are much smokier versions than this one (OTOH there are some much wimpier mixes which are often too smoky for most people). I think Lapsang Souchong you either love or you hate. This version is maybe the easiest to find to me, and I find it so comforting, just right.
I hear lapsang souchong tea is usually lighter in caffeine, and personally this mix seems low on caffeine to me, which is good, means I can take it later in the evening which is when I like it best.
well said, cteresa! Thanks for your comments. I just recently had the Baker St Blend from Upton Tea House and that has been a really interesting route to go – it’s a Lapsang blend so it’s less intense but still retains a bit of the smoky flavour. Really, really good.
I wasn’t aware of the lower caffeine, that’s great news. I’ve been searching for more interesting evening teas as too many of those herbals can get boring after a while :)
Oh, try the caffeine test with care, I can not swear to it, though googling a bit, it seems lots of different sources agree LS is light on caffeine compared to other teas – though it might still affect people.
For no caffeine teas, I have became a rooibos fan, though admittedly a rooibos snob – a lot of rooibos, particularly the cheaper ones (urgh! I warned you about the snobbery. but sort of true) seem muddy to me, but nice good rooibos it´s just there in a much nicer way than herbal teas, without messing with my sleep. Ok, warning you yet again about the snobbery, but Mariage Freres makes some very good rooibos mixes.
mmmm sounds good!
Rooibos is super awesome, good call. I am actually not a huge herbal tea kinda guy but yep, Rooibos is such a great fit for the no-caffeine evening tea for me too. Tasty stuff.
Thanks for the recommendations!
This made my day. Haha I fully agree with the punch in the face comparison.
you are right, there are much smokier versions than this one (OTOH there are some much wimpier mixes which are often too smoky for most people). I think Lapsang Souchong you either love or you hate. This version is maybe the easiest to find to me, and I find it so comforting, just right.
I hear lapsang souchong tea is usually lighter in caffeine, and personally this mix seems low on caffeine to me, which is good, means I can take it later in the evening which is when I like it best.
well said, cteresa! Thanks for your comments. I just recently had the Baker St Blend from Upton Tea House and that has been a really interesting route to go – it’s a Lapsang blend so it’s less intense but still retains a bit of the smoky flavour. Really, really good.
I wasn’t aware of the lower caffeine, that’s great news. I’ve been searching for more interesting evening teas as too many of those herbals can get boring after a while :)
Oh, try the caffeine test with care, I can not swear to it, though googling a bit, it seems lots of different sources agree LS is light on caffeine compared to other teas – though it might still affect people.
For no caffeine teas, I have became a rooibos fan, though admittedly a rooibos snob – a lot of rooibos, particularly the cheaper ones (urgh! I warned you about the snobbery. but sort of true) seem muddy to me, but nice good rooibos it´s just there in a much nicer way than herbal teas, without messing with my sleep. Ok, warning you yet again about the snobbery, but Mariage Freres makes some very good rooibos mixes.
mmmm sounds good!
Rooibos is super awesome, good call. I am actually not a huge herbal tea kinda guy but yep, Rooibos is such a great fit for the no-caffeine evening tea for me too. Tasty stuff.
Thanks for the recommendations!
This made my day. Haha I fully agree with the punch in the face comparison.