How can I get the most smoke flavor from Lapsang Souchong tea?

When I open a bag of Lapsang Souchong tea, it has an overpowering aroma of pine smoke. After brewing, there is still a smokiness in my drink but it is far more subtle, and in particular seems to vary fairly widely from cup to cup.

I wonder what factors would cause this inconsistent extraction, and, more to the point, how I could focus my efforts to tweak the final product. For example, if I steep hotter, or cooler, or longer, or shorter, or covered, or stirred, etc.

Best Answer

For overall full-flavor, these instructions produce the best cup:

Use a teapot and cup made from glass, or other material like porcelain. Use soft water for preparation of tea. This is suitable to effectively extract most of the substances from the tea leaves. Hard water is not suitable because it contains higher levels of mineral ions which suppress extraction of substances from leaves, subsequently, the taste become very flat and thin. Besides, mineral ions react with polyphenols substances which will give a dark brown color. Use fresh water which has not boiled before. Bring the cold water to boil, and then pour in boiling water that has been freshly drawn which the temperature is > 95?C.=Boiling Temparature. Warm the teapot and cups well by rinsing it out with boiling water. This should be done just before adding the tea leaves, so that the leaves benefit from a gentle humid heat. For black tea, the main component is tannin which required high temperature for efficacious extraction. It is necessary to keep container warm in order to maintain* adequate temperature in brewing water.

Got that off this site promoting their LS tea from the Wuyi Mountain area of Fujian where I have toured and sampled: http://hojotea.com/item_e/b02e.htm The part about only boiling once should not be underestimated: tea needs the oxygen to react and release those magical substances.

Have you experimented with second brewing? Drink the first cuppa after a short brew and cover with water again and see if that is indeed smokier.

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How do you make Lapsang Souchong taste better?

Traditionally Lapsang Souchong is consumed as-is. If preferred, add a slice of lemon or a dash of honey or vanilla to enhance the smoky flavor profile.

How do you make tea taste smoky?

Smoke Baking:Scatter tea leaves on bamboo sieves placed in the baking room and dry them with pine fire and bake them with pine smoke from the bottom of bamboo sieve holders. During the whole process, tea leaves continue to absorb pine aroma and ends with distinctive pine flavor.

Can you smoke Lapsang Souchong?

Lapsang souchong is smoked over pinewood, which results in a very strong smoky note. Today, other types of wood may be used too. However, not all lapsang souchong teas undergo intense smoking.

Can you smoke Lapsang tea?

The tea originates from the Wuyi Mountains region of Fujian, China and is considered a Wuyi tea (or bohea)....Lapsang souchongOriginFujian Province, ChinaQuick descriptionBlack tea that is smoke-driedTemperature95 \xb0C (203 \xb0F)Time2\u20133 minutes19 more rows

Lapsang Souchong Tea: We Smoke it AND Drink It!

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Images: David Disponett, Hanbo Wang, Tima Miroshnichenko, Disha Sheta