Thoughts on lapsang souchong?

Normally they are too smoky for me, but I find they pair rather nicely with cheese :P

There are really two types of this tea, smoked an non smoked. The non smoked can be particularly good. It has another name in Chinese, forget what it is. I do sometimes like the smoked version though. Sometimes if the smoked version is too smoky it is good to add some milk and that effectively cuts the smoke.

Traditional Lapsang Souchong I like. Josephy Wesley’s 07 Lapsang is excellent!

The western palate super smoke one I find gross, like brewing up a tire on fire. It is good for cooking and that’s about it.

i dont mind small teacups of LS, but a full mug is overwhelming.. however ive only ever tried the davids tea kind.

I like some versions of the smoked Lapsang Souchong but I’ve not ran across any that I like in a long time, so I’ve only been drinking unsmoked types, typically sold as a higher quality tea, although not adding smoke doesn’t guarantee that. A really nice unsmoked Lapsang Souchong is a wonderful thing, especially when you get the brewing balance right, all the aspects really click together. A so-so version can just be malty and in a decent range but not nearly as interesting.

It’s hard to find the smoked version in a style that isn’t overpowering, or for the smoke effect to come across as warm and pleasant instead of sour. I wouldn’t mind if a tea tasted more like smoke than tea but I don’t like the taste of every form of smoke.

Jin Jun Mei is considered a type of Lapsang Souchong, also a very nice tea, but a considerably different thing.

I love it!! The smokier the better. I really love smoky flavors and scents so it’s right up my alley, I like smoky blends in general.

I had a big cup of Kusmi’s Traktir this morning, which is smoked black tea with bergamot. They have some great Russian smoky blends!

Really love it! Also love blends with it in, adds such depth!

We go through a tin of lapsang every couple months (at least we used to), and hate drinking it. However, used in cooking to replace water or liquid smoke, it adds a smoky, meaty, bbq-y flavour to what you’re making. Sloppy joes, rice, quinoa, chili . . .

I like a smokey tea once in a while, and Lapsang tastes great if I’m craving that smokiness. However, most of the time I feel that in common-grade Lapsang much of the subtleties of the black tea is a bit overpowered or lost in the smokey cloud. It feels like the tea maker must strike a very fine balance otherwise the tea just tastes “really smokey” and thats it. Perhaps I prefer more subtle smoke, and thus not a true Lapsang fan? Still waiting to try Joseph Wesley’s Lapsang!

I used some of a relatively smokey version for a masala chai once and that worked well with the spices. I think I combined it with another black tea as well in that version, trying to get a fuller profile of black tea range and not add so much smoke to the blend.