Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Upton Tea Imports
Tea Description:
Blended especially for Upton Tea Imports, this tea is a pleasing and subtly complex variation on a rich, smoky classic. The perfect gift for the Lapsang Souchong drinker who seeks a less smoky cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Lapsang Souchong Black Dragon is a very interesting Lapsang Souchong. It is, as the description above suggests, less smoky. This is evident even in my very first impressions of the tea when I first opened the package and smelled it. Smoky, yes, but, it wasn’t an overwhelming smoky aroma.
I didn’t follow the brewing parameters from Upton, instead, I first gave the leaves a “rinse” – a fifteen second infusion and then I tossed the liquid and re-steeped the leaves for 3 minutes.
And this is one of the nicer Lapsang Souchong teas I’ve yet to taste and the reason is because it’s less smoky than the typical Lapsang Souchong. I like the lighter smoky taste, which allows me to explore some of the fruity notes of the tea – which seem to be highlighted because of the smoke, but they’re something that I don’t really enjoy quite as much as I am here because the smoke tends to be so overpowering for my palate.
But not with this Black Dragon! This is smoky but not too smoky. I’m tasting delightful notes of fruit. Notes of pine and a pleasant caramel-y sweetness. It’s very smooth until the tail when I note a slightly dry astringency.
It’s a lighter bodied Lapsang Souchong, which are usually much stronger and bolder in flavor (and in smoke). But I like that. I like the lighter approach of the Black Dragon. If you’re one who tends to shy away from Lapsang Souchong because of that heavy smoky essence, I think you’ll find that this is much more appealing.
Smoked Maple Oolong Tea from Shanti Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Shanti Tea
Tea Description:
A lightly smoky blend of dark oolong and maple, a best-selling breakfast Oolong.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oolong is not a tea that I would ordinarily think of as a “breakfast tea” but this tea changes things up a bit for me and is making me think a little outside of the box. While it isn’t quite as hefty as, say, an Assam or a Yunnan tea, the Oolong base of this blend is a robust, full-bodied tea that would make a really nice alternative to the typical breakfast tea.
And did I mention the delightful maple-y note to this? Mm-mm!
Even though this is a flavored Oolong, I decided to brew it the way I would typically brew an Oolong: in my gaiwan. I combined the first two infusions to create my first cup, and it’s a cupful of gently smoked, maple-y joy! The dark Oolong base is smooth and lightly smoked. It has a rich, buttery undertone with nutty mid-notes. There is some dry astringency to the cup that arrives toward the finish.
The rich, flavorful Oolong melds really nicely with the sweet, maple notes. It has a really delightful flavor that’s smoky and sweet and tastes just like breakfast in a teacup! It’s really good.
With my second cup (infusions 3 and 4), I started to notice less of the maple notes while other flavors began to emerge. I noticed the nutty flavors of the first cup were a little stronger this time, and I started to notice a hint of peach to the background. The smoky tones were still present but not quite as powerful this time.
The third cup (infusions 5 and 6) was a very smooth tasting cup. It tasted lighter though, reminiscent of a Oriental Beauty now, but with hints of smoke. The maple notes are quite distant now, and almost indistinct. The smoke notes are not nearly as strong as they were in the first and second cup, but there are still “wisps” of smoke to this. I still taste notes of fruit and nut, but, these are also quite a bit softer than they were in the previous cup.
Overall, a really flavorful cup. The first two infusions would make a really nice alternative to the standard breakfast tea, with the subsequent infusions tasting lighter and making a nice way to transition from the stronger cup of tea in the morning to the lighter taste in the afternoon.
Lapsang Souchong Black Tea from Steepster
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Steepster Select
Tea Description:
Our Lapsang is a hearty black tea which has been lightly smoked over aged pine. Surprisingly sweet and complex, note how the pine aromas start strong up front and soon diminish revealing a very structured and delicate flavor.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve never made any big secret of the fact that I’m not particularly fond of overly smoky teas. And as I typed the previous sentence, it occurred to me that is probably not the first time that I said that here on this blog. So, when this Lapsang Souchong Black Tea was included as part of the Steepster Select box this month, I wasn’t exactly doing the happy dance. I wasn’t … unhappy … exactly, but, I wasn’t thrilled either.
As I sit here typing, my hot cup of tea sits before me and the aroma of smoke wafts from the teacup. It isn’t an overpowering scent, that is to say, it doesn’t make me feel as though I’m sitting ’round a campfire. But, the smoke is there. It’s smoky.
I brewed this cup the way I typically brew a Lapsang Souchong or other strongly smoked tea, I gave it a quick, hot water rinse.
This time, I did a 20 second rinse rather than my usual 15 seconds, not sure that the extra five seconds will do a whole lot different, but, I just kept counting after the fifteen and I didn’t realize – hey, it’s time to dump out the rinse water. What can I say? It’s still early and this is my first cup of the day, I haven’t had any caffeine and my brain isn’t functioning properly.
Anyway, after the 20 second rinse, I brewed the cup for three minutes. I’m glad to say that the tea tastes less smoky than it smells. It still has a fairly strong smoky taste, but there are a lot of other interesting flavors in this cup as well.
I can really taste that delightful caramel-y undertone. As much as I am not fond of smoky teas, the thing that I’m quite captivated by with a smoky tea (and the one thing that keeps me coming back to try a smoky tea now and then) is that caramel-y undertone. I love the way the smoke and the caramel meld together. It’s quite magical.
As the description above suggests, this is a hearty tea, but it isn’t quite as hearty as you might expect such an aggressively smoked tea as a Lapsang Souchong to be. It doesn’t quite have the roundness that other hearty teas have, like a top-notch Assam or a Fujian Black tea might have. It certainly doesn’t qualify as a “thin” tasting tea, but it’s lighter than I’d like my first cup of the day to be.
That said, the lighter body of the tea allows me to explore some of the other flavors in this cup. I taste notes of fruit which marry beautifully with the smoked notes, giving them a taste of charred fruit, as if I grilled them. Nice! The fruit notes are difficult to distinguish, but I do taste a distinct stone fruit, like perhaps plum or nectarine, or a hybrid of the two.
I also taste notes of pine. Not surprising, right? This is a Lapsang Souchong. But, I actually taste the wood and not just the smoke. I taste the woodsy tone of pine, and that is very complimentary to the smoky tones, not adding to the smoky flavor but giving it some dimension and making the cup not be all about the smoke.
Overall, this is a pretty decent Lapsang Souchong. One of the nicer ones I’ve had. I enjoy the complexity of this.
Lapsang Souchong Black Tea from Tea Forté
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Forté
Tea Description:
Exceptional, large leaves delicately smoked over smoldering embers of local pine for a tea with strong, smoky character. The burnished liquor delivers a teasing crisp quality in harmony with hazel-sweet notes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Even though the photo above shows Tea Forte’s “signature” pyramid sachet, this Lapsang Souchong Black Tea actually came to me in loose leaf form, which I prefer over the sachets. Sure, the sachets are fancy and elegant, but, I’ll take the superior flavor of a loose leaf tea over fancy elegance any day.
Not a bad Lapsang Souchong. I brewed this with a quick rinse (15 seconds in boiling water and then strain the liquid and discard) and then for 3 minutes. The flavor is robust and smoky, with notes of caramel and a sweet nutty note.
I think that it’s the underlying sweetness of a Lapsang Souchong that actually won me over to the smoky side. I wasn’t always a big fan of smoky teas and Lapsang Souchong seems to be the smokiest of them all, so it was usually on my “least wanted” list. And while I can’t say that I LOVE Lapsang Souchong now, I don’t dislike it the way I used to.
Because once you get past that heavy smokiness, you find all these wonderful layers of sweet caramel and even a sweet nutty tone that melds beautifully with the toasty notes of the smoky essence. It becomes less like a “campfire” (or other, less appealing descriptives) and more like a sweet, toasty, cozy cuppa that I enjoy curling up to now and then.
It would seem that some Lapsang Souchong teas are more smoky than others and I would say that this one from Tea Forté is not quite as smoky as some that I’ve encountered … it’s what I’d categorize as a medium smoky quality as compared to some of the heavier smoked Lapsang Souchong teas. Sure, it’s still SMOKY but it’s less intense as some I’ve tried, making this an excellent choice for those who are looking for a good, middle-ground sort of Lapsang Souchong. An enjoyable cuppa.
Smoky Bacon Flavored Black Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Smoked Lapsang Souchong blended with imitation bacon bits and all natural bacon flavor.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I was a little bit apprehensive to try this Smoky Bacon Flavored Black Tea from 52Teas, to be completely honest. I had seen one review of this and the taster said that it was so bad that she had to go brush her teeth after drinking it. That’s bad. Funny … but bad.
So, I worried about whether this would be a tea I’d like. I mean, I love bacon. Seriously, it’s one of my favorite foods. And the moment I saw that 52Teas had offered a maple bacon tea way back when (for the week of November 16, 2009 – wow … time flies!) I was buying it as quickly as I could. That became my very first purchase from 52Teas.
But, with my prickly history with Lapsang Souchong, I was really unsure if this was a tea that I’d like. But, when a “Bacon package” was offered as one of the rewards on the recent campaign fundraiser that 52Teas had, I decided to choose that as one of my rewards. I figured, hey, if I don’t like it, hopefully, I’ll find someone who does and I’ll send it their way.
And, I’m enjoying this. There is more Lapsang Souchong flavor than there is bacon-y flavor, and I’d like there to be more bacon. I think that a slightly lighter base (perhaps a blend of Lapsang Souchong and a Keemun and a little bit of Ceylon to soften things up a bit?) might have offered a less robust background so that the bacon flavors could develop more.
However, I am enjoying this. I’m wondering how it will taste when I combine this with some of the maple bacon tea. I’m thinking yummy.
I brewed this the way I would brew a Lapsang Souchong, by first giving it a quick rinse and then steeping it for 2 1/2 minutes. I added a pinch of Kosher salt and about half a teaspoon of turbinado sugar to the brewed tea.
The result is a strong tea that has a good amount of smokiness, but it doesn’t completely overwhelm the bacon-y goodness. The sugar brings out some of the sweeter notes of the bacon, and the Lapsang Souchong does give this a nice “smoky bacon” kind of flavor. As I said before, I’d like more bacon-y goodness, but bacon is almost like chocolate as far as I’m concerned: more bacon = better.
Overall, a really enjoyable cuppa. It’s difficult to compare it to other bacon teas because as far as I know, there aren’t any other bacon teas out there with which to compare it except for the bacon teas that 52Teas has created: Maple Bacon (after I wrote this review I found a better way to brew the tea and I’ll be doing a follow up review for this blog sometime in the near future), Chocolate Bacon, and Pineapple Bacon Rooibos. Of these four bacon teas, I think I enjoyed the Chocolate Bacon one best, then again, I’m a chocoholic who loves bacon.
By the way, yeah, I’m aware of the “bacon” teas that some of the Adagio customers have custom blended, but those aren’t bacon teas that have been made with bacon flavoring, instead, they’re teas made with Lapsang Souchong and other teas that are supposed to trick the taste buds into thinking that they’re tasting bacon. Nice idea, I suppose, and I haven’t actually tried those so I don’t know how close to the mark they are.
But I do know that this tastes like smoky bacon to me. As the tea cools slightly, I notice an almost “burnt” kind of flavor to it, kind of like the edges of the bacon that got a little too done. But I like my bacon crisp so it works for me. A good bacon interpretation.