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You might wonder what an unsmoked Lapsang Souchong is as Lapsang Souchong is known in the west as a strongly smoked tea. Actually the unsmoked Lapsang Souchong (or Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong in Chinese) is much more popular among the locals and the rest of China.
This tea is fully hand-made with young tender leaves that are plucked in the early May by Mr. and Mrs. Jiang. Mr. Jiang is the 8th generation of the family for making traditional Lapsang Souchong. Their tea gardens are located at an altitude of 1500 meters in Tong Mu Guan, Wuyi Mountains, a national nature reserve seen by Chinese tea experts as the core Lapsang Souchong Tea producing area. The tea garden is surrounded by dense pine forests, shrouded in heavy mist providing the ideal environment for growing premium quality tea.
This is a very relaxing tea to drink specially in a late afternoon when you are exhausted from work and you just want to enjoy a nice cup of tea without thinking too much. It’s also a nice tea for drinking after eating oily food for refreshing your palate. It's also a great tea to make a cold brew, simply by putting dry leaves in a bottled water and keep in the fridge for overnight.
No smokiness. A rich, clean taste offering a wide spectrum of floral and berry notes with natural sweetness and a malty undertone that makes this an easy tea to enjoy. The small, tightly rolled whole leaves and buds have a black sheen and yields a clean, bright and lively liquor with a warm aroma of sweet berries and honey.
Mr. and Mrs Jiang's tea garden is located at altitude of 1500 meters in Tong Mu Guan, Wu Yi Mountain, Fujian Province, China.
The tea bushes are between 40 - 70 years old and grown from seeds. In Tong Mu Guan, the garden is sustainable, and the grower implements natural farming method and not using fertilizers or pesticides. As a result, the tea grows very slowly, it has a strong taste, and long-lasting finishing.
1. Plucking: One young shoot with two opened leaves are hand-picked in the early May 2018 which is much later than most regions for its first plucking because the tea plantation is located at high altitude with cooler temperature making leaves growing much slower.
2. Withering for about 7 - 8 hours depending on the weather condition.
3. Rolling: to break the leaves cells but without breaking the leave surface.
4. Placing the rolled leaves in a bamboo basket for oxidisation
5. Heating process to halt enzyme oxidation
6. Drying
7. Sorting - taking out the stems and unqualified leaves
Water temperature: 100°C
Leaf to water ratio: 1g per 100ml.
Brewing time: About 2 minutes.
Tips: Adjust the leaf to water ratio if you prefer to shorten the infusion time or for lighter and stronger taste.
Recommended Water: Try to use natural mineral water or at least filtered tap water, you will notice that the tea is so much sweeter and softer.
Water temperature: 100°C
Leaf to water ratio: 4g per 100ml.
Brewing time: About 10 seconds for the first 3 infusions. Then add extra 10 seconds for later brews or to your taste.
Tips: keep the lid open between each brews allow the wet leaves to cool down and prevent spoiling the leaves which might give you bitter taste for later brews. Make sure to pour every drop of tea liquor out of teapot or gaiwan.
Recommended tea wares to use: both Yixing Teapot and porcelain Gaiwan are good to use. Using fine porcelain tea cup to drink will give you stronger aroma.
Recommended Water: Try to use natural mineral water or at least filtered tap water.
