This is the free sample that came with my advent order. Figured since it’s such a small package and I fear losing it I may as well just drink it up this morning. I actually weighed the tea (surprisingly, I actually weigh most of my tea rather than using imperial “teaspoons”), and it weighs 1.95g — I usually use 2.5g for a 12 oz/350ml cup of tea (up to 3g if I’m trying to use up a bit of leaf and it’s a tea that doesn’t tend to go super bitter on me). Using my favorite leaf-to-ratio calculator, OCTea [ https://octea.ndim.space/#/ ], dropping it to 8 oz/250ml seemed a safe choice. So hopefully the cuppa will balance out correctly! 205F water, 3 minute steep.
The package just said “black tea” but after brewing and smelling that distinct piney smoked aroma, they must have used Lapsang Souchong. I tend to have issues with that tea and avoid it as it is a migraine trigger; occassionally if it is used with a subtle hand with enough other flavors I’m okay (I’ve had some 52Teas blends that worked for me!) so we’ll see… It is a strong enough aroma I’m having a hard time making out any other aromas in the cup, which usually isn’t a good sign for me (it really does have to be subtle, if my head thinks there is smoke in the air, it flips the migraine switch…)
Honestly, I don’t mind the flavor; the lapsang is coming on the most strongly, but I’m getting a strong pine flavor that I really enjoy and the smoke isn’t coming off as a burnt or charred flavor like I get in some teas. But it is still such a strong flavor I’m having a hard time tasting anything else in the cup. I assume that the rooibos (though I can’t taste it) is at least cutting the intensity of the lapsang a bit which is probably why I’m able to tolerate this, and I am getting a little hint of the spices left on my tongue after the sip. But that vanila/walnut/chocolate flavor the tea is supposed to have? That is just impossible to taste against pine smoke. At least for me.
Pleasant, toned back enough that I am not inhaling smoke and going to get a headache, but not a flavor I’d care to have in my cupboard.
Flavors: Pine, Smoke, Spices
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I can imagine drinking this tea somewhere in mountain hut after some long hike. Seems interesting for me :)
Seems an odd choice for a free sample, given smoked teas are so polarizing…
I kind of see what they were going for here, but yeah… I feel like lapsang should just be drunk plain because the smokiness will overpower everything else. I have to keep it away from all my other blends in my cabinet because it will make them all taste like smoke just from sitting near them!
I’ve had a few flavored blends where it worked… I think the key is it was used extremely sparingly so the ratio of it compared to all the other ingredients was so minimal that it added a bit of smokiness but the other tea leaf/ingredients still carried the flavor. I’m assuming the rooibos must have held the flavoring here? Even though there was a higher amount of rooibos to lapsang (from what I could tell in this small sample) it was not nearly enough of a ratio difference for the lapsang to not completely whallop out any flavoring that might have been in the other leaf.
I can imagine drinking this tea somewhere in mountain hut after some long hike. Seems interesting for me :)
Seems an odd choice for a free sample, given smoked teas are so polarizing…
I kind of see what they were going for here, but yeah… I feel like lapsang should just be drunk plain because the smokiness will overpower everything else. I have to keep it away from all my other blends in my cabinet because it will make them all taste like smoke just from sitting near them!
I’ve had a few flavored blends where it worked… I think the key is it was used extremely sparingly so the ratio of it compared to all the other ingredients was so minimal that it added a bit of smokiness but the other tea leaf/ingredients still carried the flavor. I’m assuming the rooibos must have held the flavoring here? Even though there was a higher amount of rooibos to lapsang (from what I could tell in this small sample) it was not nearly enough of a ratio difference for the lapsang to not completely whallop out any flavoring that might have been in the other leaf.