Premium Formosa Lapsang Souchong (TT70)

I’ve been drinking 3-4 cups a day of this lately to clear some room in my cupboard for newer teas. As simple as it is, it’s still quite refreshing in its balance of sweet, bright (acidic), and smokey. It never gets bitter, which is a plus when you make larger quantities and risk oversteeping the last bit of the pour.

What can I say? I was curious. This one has actually been in my cupboard a long time, but it does not call out to me very often. It is quite smoky, and the first time you open the bag is a real shocker. For most people, it is a love it or hate it affair. I, however, can tolerate it on occasion, but rarely crave it. After all, there are so many teas that I deeply enjoy. So, why bother with something that is only OK?

Why are these ratings so low? I don’t even like smokey teas but I genuinely enjoyed drinking this, much more than I expected to anyways.

The dry leaves smell of campfires, charcoal, smoked meat

I’ve only ever had one lapsang souchong other than this and i believe it was from davidstea (do they have one? They must, I don’t know where else I could’ve gotten it.) but I dont even know if DT properly counts because this smells much stronger. Oh wait I think it might’ve been zen tea. oh it totally was, anyways dont worry about that:

The tea itself is much sweeter than it smells, it’s a bit peppery, but it does still have all of the campfire, charcoal, smoked meat of its smell, but it tastes a bit more like barbecue sauce.

There’s quite a strong astringency near the end, and I get hints of cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, which are really easy to discern; it’s almost like the smokey notes show at the back of my mouth, but the leaf’s own sweetness settles on the tip of my tongue, creating sort of a spectrum of sweetness beginning at the front of my mouth and smokiness at the back, it’s an interesting sensation.

The smokiness is nearly gone by the fifth steep but after that point it stops steeping out, so it never really leaves,

the tea finishes sweet, with a honey-like taste and a very slight bitterness creeping in

First things first. I really like LS. I like most, if not all, varieties of LS.
This was my first venture into the Formosan variety. It turns out there was a reason LS did not originate from the Formosan region. Tastes cheap whether steeped short or long. Will try another Formosan variety (TT72) to see if it’s just my palate – that is averse to Formosa teas or TT70 is really bad.