Pine Sap Lapsang

Sipdown! (19 | 216)

Definitely a nice smoked lapsang. The smoke is prevalent but not overwhelming. It has a nice savory, meaty barbecue flavor, but then underneath there are woody and mineral notes, and maybe even a hint of cinnamon?

It’s not something I would keep in my cupboard, just because I never crave smoked teas. But I can appreciate that it’s a good quality tea with nice depth of flavor. :)

Steeped western; 4 grams/300 ml.

After smelling dry leaf, I thought it will be very smoky, but in fact; not that much.
Brewed tea has lovely level of smokiness, complemented with pine wood aroma and it was also a bit meat-y. But that is probably association in my brain that says smoked stuff => smoked meat.

Also, it somehow reminded me cigars and tobacco, which is something I have very limited experience with as a no-smoker, so I never tried it. But of course, you ran across thorugh different people.

It was a perfect hit to today gloomy and rainy afternoon.

This is quite smoky and meaty. With milk and sugar, it’s drinkable, but I wouldn’t really want a whole mug of this. A few sips is plenty. It’s slightly more nuanced than other lapsang blends, I guess due to the pine, but it’s still too much smoke for me.

I’m not usually a fan of smokey teas but wanted to compare this one to White2Tea’s other lapsang souchongs.

The smoke/pine is always present but not overwhelming (for me) like some cheaper smoked lapsangs I’ve had. For me the most interesting part of this tea sits behind the smoke. It actually has a really nice, full and surprisingly sweet aftertaste. It’s rather warming with a thick texture, slight notes of caramel and butter. The smokey bits still aren’t my thing to be honest, but I’m enjoying this tea a lot more than I expected, specifically when brewed gong fu style with a lot of leaf.
It’s not a tea I’ll buy more of but I’m definitely not going to have trouble finishing my sample.

Dry leaf has a strong smell of savory smokeyness. I used 7 gram sample in a 130 ml gaiwan. The tea doesn’t taste smokey at all to me, with a mild pine\ pine sap taste and smell, and a slight sweetness. Overall feels very high quality, it is quite mild but still very good, probably the best lapsang I have tried yet. Got 7 brews overall and didn’t lose most of it’s flavor.

Gongfu Sipdown (1073)!

I recently bought a new tea pot so that’s what I used to brew this session. This pot was crafted by a local Quebec artist, Marie-Helene Fleury and it’s absolutely stunning!! I ordered on Monday, during the Pugs & Pigs grand opening and it arrived on Wednesday, so quite fast turn around as well!!

This Lapsang is this year’s Pine Sap from W2T – I got a single session sample in the August Tea Club. “Smoked Lapsang” as a general tea type was my #SeptemberSipdown choice for this day’s prompt of a “tea you always have stocked up”, so it was the perfect excuse to break into this sample!

It tastes just like I remember last year’s production tasting, so it’s an excellent session filled with plenty of notes Applewood, hickory BBQ sauce, and – as promised by the name, resinous pine sap!! I personally gravitate to a slightly heavier smoke, but this is excellent! Got a solid five steeps of it. Tonight’s comic is Captain Canuck – which felt appropriate for the local made pottery and pine-y tea!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CE-SJQKACnp/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zto4eoEVEgk&ab_channel=Zaia