Lapsang Souchong Black Tea - Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong

Lapsang Souchong Highlights

• Taste the world's very first black tea.
• Freshly handpicked during this year's Spring season.
• Direct from the original region Tongmu.
• Subtle, but not excessive smoky flavour.

Subtle Smokiness

Often times, Lapsang Souchong teas (or 'Zhengshan Xiaozhong') outside of China tend to be overly smoky, covering up all the delicate flavours and aromas this well known black tea can potentially deliver. In practice, strong smoky flavours are mainly applied to lower grade raw leaves.

We're proud to present you Teasenz' amazingly well-balanced Xiaozhong consisting out of delicate hand-picked leaves from this Spring. It's carefully processed in the most authentic way under strict quality monitoring by experienced tea masters. The leaves are traditionally roasted on pinewood to obtain a 'subtle' level of smokiness, while the amazing aroma and flavours are still able to shine through. It's naturally delicious.

Origin & legend

During the late Ming dynasty (1568) a group of soldiers were passing by Tongmu. Due to the chaos caused, the villagers had no time to process the leaves into green tea. The second day, the leaves were withered. In attempt to save the tea leaves, the farmers started to roast it with pine wood.

By surprise, the villagers and soldiers loved the tea resulting from this improvised and innovative processing method. As a result, year after year the amount of orders increased and the villagers weren't able to keep up with the demand. Especially, when this tea was presented during an international trading fair in Fuzhou, it attracted many European traders. Zhengshan Xiaozhong eventually became a tribute tea to the royal court of United Kingdom.

Today, Tongmu is within the one of China's key national nature reserve and classified as a world heritage by UNESCO.

From which tea region is Lapsang Souchong tea?

Our Lapsang Souchong tea is from the Wuyi region of the Chinese province of Fujian. The Wuyi Mountain is blessed by nature: mild weather with sufficient rainfall and sunlight and fertile soil, making it one of the most famous tea growing area in the world. Apart from this black tea, the Wuyi Mountains also produces other famous teas belong to the so called “Wuyi Cliff Family” of teas.

Tea Pairings: What food goes well with Lapsang Souchong?

Most tea enthousiasts will agree that this tea should be consumed without any snacks or dishes. When you would like to enjoy this tea with some snacks than different kinds of nuts and seeds are the most suitable as they have a fairly neutral taste. If you really would like to pair Lapsang Souchong with a real dish then go for curry and beef dishes. Other tip: avoid sweet dishes.