Lapsang Souchong Star (Organic)

So I was feeling adventurous today when I bought this, because I’ve always wondered about smoky teas. I found a smoky beer that I absolutely fell in love with at a local brewery, but they aren’t brewing it anymore, so I’d like to see if I appreciate a smoky tea as much.

I smelled it in the store, and intense wood smoke scent hit me in the face. The clerk said that lots of people use it for cooking, I was like yeah so will I if I don’t like it haha! I only got 15 g of it though, so we’ll see how it goes.

I brewed it for 4 minutes, as that seemed to be a sweet spot on Steepster for the good reviews. The steeped smell is not quite as smoky I don’t think, and there’s a stronger pine note. I am totally picturing camping amongst the spruce trees with a fire crackling and cooking smokies on the fire :) at least this is so far taking me to my favorite activity to do in the summer, camping!

So now the taste, and the verdict is…this actually is not too bad. It is definitely a more savoury tea haha. The first taste is a bold, rich flavor, then tapers off into the smoky aftertaste. The pine flavor is also present, moreso in the breathing in of the scent when you take a sip. I definitely would liken this to beef jerky, a heavily smoked beef jerky. Haha, my boyfriend had the first sip and I was like so what do you think? Is it like whiskey or smoke or beef jerky? and he said like eating a piece of charcoal haha. I can see where he gets that from, though.

Overall, I am happy I have tried this. It’s not something I will drink frequently, but it will satisfy those savoury salty tea cravings I sometimes get. I don’t think I will be running out to get anymore, but I would be open to trying other LS from different companies too, so I’m not scared off! I also might have to try adding some of this to salmon, I imagine it would be excellent. Yay for exciting tea experiences!

ETA – Yes. I have found a very tasty way to enjoy this tea. By eating cheese while drinking it! The salty cheese complements the smoke and tones it down nicely, and the illusion of eating applewood smoked cheddar is also created. Happy I found that this pairs nicely with one of my favorite foods :D

ETA again – so while this was ok when I had it, I’ve unfortunately had a lingering smoke smell/taste in my nose and mouth all night, and I’m quite tired of it now. Blarg. Removing rating as maybe I just am not a fan of this type of tea.

Okay. A coworker gave me some of this to try a month or two ago but I have been so afraid of it that I held off trying until today. I used a scant teaspoon in my perfect tea mug for 3 or 4 minutes and am rewarded with a golden amber brew that smells like a campfire. This is feeling a bit more like a punishment than a reward, but maybe I’ll like it.

Over the past few years I have come to enjoy and even embrace a light smoke note in tea. Note the word light. This is POW. This might have my coworkers wondering if the office is on fire. Oy. Initially, I get a sweet taste that morphs into smoked ham. Then I am left with a mouth full of ashtray. Hm. The ashtray thing isn’t actually as bad as it sounds, but it isn’t good either. I’m clinging to the sweetness of the tea under all the smoke as if it were a lifeboat. I can drink this, but I really don’t think I want to. I do really want some smoked ham now…

Backlog

More of the same deal, learned pretty quickly I didn’t care for David’s actual tea leaves in general. On the plus side, I used the rest of the pouch to make a vegetarian-friendly smoke rub per Sally Schneider—you just grind it to a fine powder in a spice or coffee grinder and store it until needed, and it gives things like beans a smoky bacon-y flavor.

Big Trouble in Little Lapsang! #1 of 3

Let me start by saying that I like Lapsang Souchong (or at least the three I tried) as a deviation from the more popular or mainstream fare and my scores for all three in this series indicate to how much I like each one in relation to the others, not whether or not I like this kind of tea at all. After reading many poorly scored reviews on several different LS offerings from those who simply don’t like this kind of tea in any fashion, that seemed like it needed to be clarified.

Ouch! Sorry, I tripped falling off of my soapbox. Anyhoo.. Of the three I tried, this one from DavidsTea was by far the most robustly smoky in the bunch. I ordered it a while back and had never tried a LS before so I didn’t have any frame of reference although I thought it was passable in the evening when I wasn’t looking for much of a caffeine kick. I enjoy both a dram of scotch whisky and a taste of maduro cigars on occasion so my temperament for this sort of thing should probably be taken into consideration if you’ve never tried a Lapsang Souchong and are considering it.

This one is closer to a cup of burnt embers than smoky subtlety. While that is not necessarily a bad thing if it’s what you’re looking for, I found it to be a little over the top. It is the only flavor I was able to taste. Although I am rating this one between the other two, it actually would match my mood better from time to time and could be a go-to on those evenings. Adding sweetener of any kind here is a waste unless you plan to throw it out instead – look elsewhere for variations on this type of tea that will respond better to that sort of meddling. Drink this one neat.

ehhhh, not as good as Teaopia. (minus serious points!)
There’s something missing, that certain malty depth that makes tea so satisfying for me. It’s smoky, but still weak. I almost wonder how this one would taste with milk(minus points). The teaopia one was just fine on its own but I had to add some agave here(minus points!!)…
Not much else to say about this one, not when I’ve had so much better. If it wasn’t for that I think this would get maybe five extra points from me.
EDIT: ok so I may have been quick to judge… I tried this with milk and it’s a bit better. Bumping it a few notches. The Teaopia version would be terrible with milk so I assumed the same for this one!

Hurray! Something interesting :)
After the disappointing tuo chas, I’m actually glad that I have no idea what to think about this.
From the beginning, I was fascinated by this tea and I really wanted to like it. I opened up the bag and was baffled – it was so much smokier than I had expected! I brought it around to my dad who likes whiskies and asked his opinion. First he said it smelled like a wet campfire which is, I think, what it was reminding me of. Then I mentioned the whiskey aspect and how it was made and he said he could absolutely see that.
My sister thought it smelled fabulous. I’m still on the fence. The piney scent really smells like some kind of carcinogenic chemical to me.
The flavor isn’t bad… it’s super interesting and less abrasive than the scent.
I’ve never tried anything like this before – the smokiness really lingers in my mouth and I can’t tell if I despise it or if I love it. It is one of the other.
My (vegan) sister mentioned that the scent smells a little like beef jerky – that scent/flavor started coming out more as the tea cooled.

Halfway through the cup I decided I like it :)
I tried adding milk to it at that point. I really like that too! I think this would be the perfect breakfast tea on a rainy day. The smokiness with the fogginess, the dark mellow notes with the color of the day, the sharpness with the drumming of the rain… yup. I’m sold!
ETA – I want to try brewing this for 3 minutes next time and see if it’s easier to drink black.

A sample of this has been sitting in my shelf for about a month now and I’ve been hesitant to try it because the scent is so smoky, it’s off-putting. It smells, honestly, like burnt gunpowder and campfire. Which, don’t get me wrong, I love the smell of gunpowder – reminds me of the model rockets I used to shoot off in the summer, before the engines got to be crazy expensive. But I wasn’t sure I’d like it in a tea.

I don’t dislike it, though it’s not my favorite. It’s certainly not as campfirey as it smells, though it’s smokier than anything I’ve ever had. It’s dark and malty and a little bit chocolaty. It brews a darkish red-brown, and I think it would fit in best with a winter snow, a fire in the fireplace and a book I’ve read a hundred times before.

Well, my first encounter with smoky tea, was Mr. Morgan’s tea (http://steepster.com/teas/the-pierpoint-morgan-library/15626-mr-morgans-tea) and if you take a look at my review, you’ll know that it wasn’t a good one.

I went to David’s Tea to talk to one of the girls about Mr. Morgan’s tea and the fact it smelled like cigars and she suggested I try this one. So, although I was a bit worried that I just didn’t have a thing for this kind of tea, I thought I’d give it a shot.

It’s definitely different! If you like smoky teas I recommend it. I let it steep for quite a while (totally forgot about it) but the tea didn’t become too bitter or strong! The flavour lasts though, and the smell reminds me of a fireplace—which makes me feel warmer!

A good thing since I’m about to start facing down a Canadian winter!

Ummm…. EWWW!

I had to plug my nose to actually drink this! it smelled great, like kindling and hot dogs (don’t ask where the hot dogs came from) but it was terrible! Most certainly NOT a tea I will buy more of! Thank-fully I did not break the bank with this one at a mere 10g it was only $2 worth of tea.

So I’ve never actually had a cup of this, but I go through a 100g every other month or so, because I cook with it constantly. Tonight it was the star of a bacon and brussels sprout risotto…well as much as anything can be a star when sharing the stage with bacon ;) But oh my goodness it was delish and add so much more flavor than the 4 cups of water the recipe called for!