Tea China unsmoked Lapsang Souchong

 

Reviewing a good quality unsmoked Lapsang Souchong from Tea China (provided by them for review; many thanks!).

Lapsang souchong Black tea Wuyi Rock tea ($15.67 for 50 grams, $40.67 for 200)

In terms of appearance, the tea leaves are plump in shape with a dark, glossy texture. When dry, they emit a unique pine resin aroma and the fragrance of dried longan. After brewing, the tea liquor presents a bright red color and maintains its flavor well even after multiple infusions—its distinctive characteristics remain noticeable even after 4 to 5 infusions. The taste of the tea is mellow and rich; upon sipping, the fragrance of dried longan lingers in the mouth, accompanied by a honey aroma, and the pleasant scent persists for a long time.

This is an unsmoked version.  Other parts of the description mention it can be smoked or not smoked, and doesn't really clarify which this is, but it's clear enough when you taste it.

Review:

First infusion:  I thought this would be smoked, but it turns out it's the other version, unsmoked.  That's typically higher quality material, often a bit fruity, and complex, and this is like that, it's pretty good.

Flavor range is kind of what I'd expect, for a good quality version.  There's fruit, which is kind of hard to identify, something dried, maybe, or possibly 2 or 3 inputs.  One part seems like warm and rich malt.  There's a mineral layer, but it's not pronounced, more a supporting element.  A complex woody range stands out.  It's aromatic, so interpretation as dark wood plus spice would make sense.  To me it seems like some kind of incense spice, maybe like sandalwood, but my incense burning days are pretty far behind me.

It's complex enough that interpretations could vary from there.  Someone thinking that this tastes a little like citrus, like a tangerine peel, would make sense.  I'm not really "getting" cacao but it's not so far off that.

It's clean in effect, and sweetness level is good.  Feel is rich.  It could be more full, but then this is brewed on the light side, and that may emerge better in a longer second infusion.  I went with a lower proportion than I typically ever use, maybe 4 grams, maybe 5, which is a good bit for Western brewing, but I tend to usually overdo it.  There aren't really flaws to mention, although a balsa wood sort of note bordering on a trace of sourness some might not like.  It's not really tart, one black tea aspect that I tend to not care for, but I don't remember that coming up in Lapsang Souchong before anyway.

Infusion 2:  brewed stronger.  Mineral base and heavier tones come out more, replacing some of the light fruit.  That would be partly from brewing it stronger and also a transition related change, I'd think, just how later rounds often go.  Dryness picks up, or feel structure does; to me those are two ways of saying very similar things, or they could be seen as overlapping.  

The spice note is interesting in this, one positive transition.  It's not really better or worse, just different, since the heavier tones and swapping in some spice for some fruit all depends on preference, in order to judge it.

I brewed a third infusion and it was still pretty good, which is good for longer duration Western brewing.  I just didn't write notes on that round.

Conclusions:

It's good.  Mixing some of the second round back into the first balances it really well.  It's cooler than the too-hot second version, stronger than the slightly light first version, and the heavier tones balance the rest nicely.  I guess that's the opposite of Gong Fu brewing, mixing your Western infusions to get more complexity and improve balance, while truncating the transition effect.

I've tried a good bit of better quality Lapsang Souchong, it's just been awhile.  I probably last tried a version on this level 3 or 4 years ago.  I think the best of what I tried from Cindy Chen (Wuyi Origin) was a bit better, more distinctive, with more pronounced fruit inputs, but then this might compare better with their more ordinary batches.  The material character varies from year to year, based on growing conditions inputs, per Cindy's comments.  It's not really a fair comparison to describe this in relation to the best tea of this type from the best source I've tried, for this general range and others, but that does help place it.

Related to buying random Lapsang Souchong described as this style from a conventional resale vendor this is pretty far up the scale.  You might find better, but it would often tend to take a few tries to do so.  Most versions from marketplace vendors wouldn't tend to be quite this good, although they could be comparable, in a similar general range.  If a vendor carried enough tea versions--across a broad quality range--one might be better.

It would be a stretch for me to put a fair market value on this, so maybe I'll just critique the selling point version they present.  It's $15.67 for 50 grams, $40.67 for 200.  So either 30 or 20 cents a gram, at those two different volumes.  I guess that's about right.  Let's check the Wuyi Origin pricing, to see how it compares to that.

Their wild Lapsang Souchong lists for $16.50 for 50 grams, and $49.50 for 150 grams (no volume discount at all; that's odd, but it does work that way for their site's pricing, which I guess lets it make sense to buy smaller amounts of different teas at pretty good values, for what they are).  They describe the flavor as "Natural citrus notes with creamy and peach fragrance."  Right, so good and fruity. 

In relation to that comparison it makes the most sense to buy this Tea China version at the higher volume, more reduced pricing option.  Unless someone is unfamiliar with good quality unsmoked Lapsang Souchong the results are what you'd expect.  On average other versions wouldn't be this good, but even better range is out there, but the cost for it tends to be higher.

To be honest I'm surprised that they are sourcing teas this good.  That sounds like a statement about a lack of confidence, doesn't it?  This version might be better than three fourths of what is out there, at a guess, or more if you also consider higher volume, more broadly marketed teas, not just versions from dedicated specialty tea outlets.  Most of that other range would probably be cheaper for them to source; for sure they picked this version because it's that good.  It's surely that balance that they're looking for, connecting quality and value, and it seems to fall in a favorable place.