Tarry Lapsang Souchong

ohhhh my smoky goodness! this was amazing.
Now, it may be that some of my tastebuds are dampened due to a case of allergies, but today, I simply do not care. It tasted like liquid campfire! errr minus the ash and twigs, and burning haha.
The tea itself is rather light, taking a seat way in the back of the bus, but I can atleast recognize that it’s there. The smoky part rides up front, permeating my senses and taking me to a far away forest where I once spent evenings roasting marshmallows (hmmmm, I wonder what that would taste like in this tea??) and telling stories.
I really should not be buying any more tea(for now), not for take-home anyhow… but darn this one is tempting me!!
No milk, no sugar…. this one stands on it’s own, and that in my books is more rare, and yes, prized-to me, than I like to admit
Oh and I love that there is absolutely no astringency or bitterness. It’s not quite sweet, but I could see how one would derive that conclusion, if they can get past the smoke.

…Oh dear GOD, the smell.

A friend of mine who works at Teaopia recommended this one to me. And after reading about it, I was quite excited to try it. I love smoked meats and cheeses, and so thought – hey, why not smoky tea? Sounds intriguing.

When I stopped by the store to pick it up, I asked an associate if I could smell it first. Whoa. I have been told that I have quite a sensitive nose (finding scents overpowering from across the room that others standing over the source could barely detect), and the scent of this one nearly put me on the floor. I was honestly expecting the smoke in the scent to be more subtle, but this is like standing over the smoking ashes of a wood fire…in an enclosed space. I recoiled, and the associate said, “Yeah, it’s pretty strong,” and immediately put it back on the shelf without a further word from me. I had to tell him that, no, I would take it!

Perhaps that was a mistake. When I steeped this, I could barely breathe through the awful reek of smoke. I questioned the idea that I’ve ever liked smoky foodstuffs in the first place. It smells like my house burned down and there were no survivors!

Now, the taste…it’s honestly hard to evaluate the taste of something that is so overshadowed by its own scent. It tastes like smoke of course, warm like winters in the ski lodge. My first impression of it was, “delightful!” and I only wish it had stayed that way, but the smoke taste was so much stronger than I would have preferred. A few sips seemed to scratch my throat much like, well, breathing in smoke would. But the next sip would be incredibly smooth, so I never knew quite what to expect. At certain points I started coughing – I’m not sure whether it was the aroma or the tea itself, but something was setting off my asthma slightly (something I foolishly never considered, even after smelling it). Luckily, mine is not too severe, but NOTE – asthmatics beware!

There’s definitely an underlying sweetness to it, and I taste the saltiness that Asiaticfox mentioned as well. I feel like there’s a lot to this tea that I’d like to explore in further cups, but the smell keeps making my head spin and scattering my ability to focus on the taste. It smells like a forest fire devastated Banff, and wounded deer are limping from the smoldering ashes! I think I can smell their burnt fur and flesh now. God, stomach-churning, and now I also have a headache. Oh, and my eyes sting.

So I just don’t know what to do with this tea. I have 50g left (minus one cup). Continue to try to drink it in the hopes I acquire a taste for it? A shorter steep, perhaps? Use it for cooking? Throw it out? Donate to charity? Does Teaopia have a return policy for tea? I’m going to have to go drink something as far from this as possible…like a flavoured rooibos, maybe. This may very well have ended the obsessive “straight black” kick I’ve been on recently.

And to think I was so snobbily convinced I’d like a tea with such a strong taste note to it. I feel like a boob, really.

But dear GOD, the smell…

The smell of this tea is super smokey! Upon the first sip, the burnt wood and smokey flavours reminded me of getting a tiny bit of the burnt wood from roasting marshmallows over a fire. Which is a darn good memory! It was sweet and salty with only hints of bitterness at the end of each sip; Strangely juicy and almost addictive. I thoroughly enjoyed this tea, but I wouldn’t drink it all the time!

10 down – 490 to go!

Warm, comforting, and extremely relaxing all at the same time. Not for people who don’t enjoy a kick to the throat, ten times over in fact. When I first tried this tea, I was outstanded by its unique flavor, and smell. When I need to ease out, and focus, I turn to this tea specifically.

This tea just did not want to quit. Starting off like a smoky punch to the throat, gradually becoming a mixture of sweet (honey, honeysuckle), salty, and smoky.

By the ninth or tenth infusion, the main taste was starting to get sort of watery, but the smoke and the saltiness kept lingering. The strength of this tea is amazing. It is very medicinal, I find. When I had it, I was suffering from a cough/sore throat, and it really made the soreness go away, and it even seemed to help loosen the phlegm in my system. Move over cold medicine! This tea is a treat. It reminds me of summer campfires, and also cooking in the kitchen (the smoke aroma and taste of the later infusions begins to be less like a campfire and more like a mixture of oregano and black pepper). Also, after the second and third infusions, you will probably begin to feel tea-drunk. By the sixth or seventh, you will probably feel sort of heavy in your head and in your limbs. I would not recommend any serious activity for a good while afterwards.

I recommend this tea to those who have an open mind, seeing as it is very intense, and quite out of the ordinary for a black tea. Your basic Earl Grey lover might not appreciate (or be able to handle) it.

I reallllly want to emphasize that this is a very acquired taste, and I really recommend trying before buying.
To me it tastes like bacon. And after trying it once, even smelling it makes me nauseous.

Too strong my tastes to drink as a cup. “Smokey punch to the throat” as another reviewer described about sums it up for me. Smells like a campfire – which is nice, but not to drink. However, I do use it in cooking, so it gains some points for that. Makes a nice marinade for salmon.