Sunday 1 February 2015

TeaVivre: Smoky Black Lapsang Souchong


About three years ago I brought a box of Twining's Lapsang Souchong from my local Tesco's. I was excited by it's exotic name and at a loss for something new to try I brought a box. It was, quite honestly, vile. It was a odd shade of orange and no matter what I did with it, it reminded me of smoked kippers. I was, I thought, put off for life.

Last month I received a lovely email from the fab people at TeaVivre. I have previously sampled some of their wonderfully earthy, gorgeous and very pure green tea's. (I actually still have some left to review).  They kindly offered to send me some of their black tea's this time to sample and I, with much enthusiasm, accepted.

Within the packet were two samples of their Lapsang Souchong tea. Unusually for me, the samples were not binned. I kept them and today had the urge to try one. This surprised even me. As a lifelong Souchong hater why did I want to try this? I couldn't really answer it, but an hour ago I was filling up my infuser and inhaling the scent of the delicate smokiness.

The instructions said to brew this between 1 to 5 minutes. As a novice I went for three just to be sure I wouldn't have a cup that was too strong.

Here is a picture of the lovely dark leaves.



The aroma of this tea however is far different to that which I experienced with Twinings. It has a lot softer smokiness to it. Instead of being right out there, stinking out your kitchen, this had a interesting scent, a subtle smokiness that enhanced but did not overpower the tea.

I was, I'll admit, somewhat relieved that the aroma to this tea was far more natural then what I had experienced previously with Lapsang Souchong. But, I was nervous about trying the tea. What if the taste was hugely different to the scent. What if it just tasted of smokiness and nothing else.

I need not of worried. I fell in love with this the minute I tried it. And there are many reason's why.

As with all of TeaVivre's tea's the base tea - a black Chinese tea - is of impressively high quality. And this tea is no different. Due to the smokiness being very delicate I could actually taste the tea behind the exotic flavour.

So what of it's flavour? Well it has a wonderful earthiness to this tea and a full bodied flavour that I really, really liked. It's a strong, unforgettable tea, but not because it had loads of artificial flavouring added but because it holds it's own in quality, it's delicately flavoured and incredibly moreish.

I think Lapsang Souchong is one of those blends where it pays to buy the highest quality blend you can afford. I think most of the mainstream tea's available in supermarkets will not do the blend justice - and it's exactly why I'll never drink a lot of Lapsang Souchong simply because I can't trust that the supermarket versions will be of a higher quality like TeaVivre's is.

Nobody was more surprised then me that I have actually enjoyed Lapsang Souchong. I wouldn't of said that when I woke this morning. And I'm so glad that I got to experience a high quality, but more importantly, a nice blend.

If you are thinking of trying Lapsang, try TeaVivre's wonderful blend. It's smokiness is sexy and attractive, alluring even. If you visit the supermarket you won't be getting the same experience at all.

I'm off to have another cup of tea and enjoy a tea I never thought I would.


2 comments:

  1. Laura - what's going on? You HATE Lapsang. I can't believe it! - Juliette.

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  2. Hi Juliette!

    I know, I was shocked too. But this is a very different sort of Lapsang. It has a hint of smokiness but doesn't go overboard. It's really quite nice!

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