Smoked teas

Lapsang Souchong is traditionally a Black Tea, although some Green Lapsang does exist in the shape of Pu-Erh cakes from Yunnan.

There is a surprising range of grades among the Lapsangs. You can taste many Lapsang teas and find the quality of smokiness varies greatly between productions. Tastes vary from industrial, harsh, overpowering teas to fine, light and sweet.

Smoked tea production

The tradition for these teas has always been quite strong. Villages have been smoking teas for centuries using wooden equipment.

Smokiness is produced by withering Black Tea in production sheds filled with smoke. Fine producers prefer to smoulder, using pine wood roots. There are other approaches, but they are rare.

But as the demand for Lapsang has increased, small-scale production methods have been abandoned, and most of today's mass-market Lapsang is produced by an industrial process of forcing smoke across the withering leaves in machines. This gives a sharper flavour.

Sources of fine smoked teas

Some of the finest Lapsang comes from remote parts of Fujian Province China.

One of the rarer Smoked Teas, because they are not Lapsang, is Pu-Erh. This is not a smoked tea per se. You can find Pu-Erh that is slightly smoky, but the most of this production is not smoked.