I have had this tea for a while but it wasn’t on Steepster so I didn’t get around to reviewing it. I finally roused myself from my laziness and added it.
I think my daughter bought this for me because I have said that the tea of this same name by Dammann Freres was my all-time favorite Lapsang Souchong, at least of the smoked variety. (Teavivre’s unsmoked Lapsang Souchong Ancient Wild Tree holds my heart in the unsmoked department.)
How do the two compare? The DF version is darker and stronger, and excellent in its own way. This is a smoked Taiwanese tea as opposed to the more customary Chinese LS and it is a thing of beauty. These leaves would lend themselves very well to oolong.
We have had a lot of rain and clouds and I needed comfort food today. I had skipped breakfast but refused to eat anything but comfort food, so while I was convinced I was slowly starving, I put together a pot of soup (and oh my it was worth waiting for – really hit the spot) since soup is one of my favorite comforts. Diced tomatoes, cannelini beans, roasted carrots, onions, and garlic, peas, rosemary sprig, and lots of herbs and spices. After the soup I HAD to have tea, and on short, cloudy days of fall and winter LS calls to me.
This is a pretty foolproof tea. I have forgotten their parameters and made it at higher temps for longer steeps without a problem. The smoke is pronounced but not overpowering. The Taiwanese base is elegant. It is, in short, just what I was looking for today.
