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“In my search to find high-quality teas that could be used like everyday teas, this one didn’t work out for me. My brewing of it today is much closer to the suggested brewing time and proportions...” Read full tasting note
Cypress Smoked Small Leaf is a traditional Chinese smoked tea. Often called Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong in Chinese, the unusual sweetness and clarity of this tea stands in stark contrast to the heavily smoked lapsang souchongs available in the west.
This tea was picked April 2016 from an organic tea garden in northern Fujian Province. The variety is a small leaf tea indigenous to the area. Only young leaves were plucked for this tea, and after bruising and a period of enzymatic breakdown, the leaves were dried over cypress pine fires.
This drying process is what smokes the tea. The smoke is gentle, and the slow drying develops sweetness and dried fruit notes in the tea. This is in contrast to the typical lapsang souchong’s intense smokiness, which in actually is a defect that comes from attempting to smoke already dry, and often low grade tea. This tea was made by the same tea maker who produced our Cypress Smoked Wild Leaf.
This tea brews with clarity and sweetness, with the sweetness of raisin, the spirited aroma of dried longan fruit, and a hint of scotch.
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In my search to find high-quality teas that could be used like everyday teas, this one didn’t work out for me. My brewing of it today is much closer to the suggested brewing time and proportions and the taste has already become much more interesting. I have to admit, I was most hopeful that this one would fare well with your more-standard 1.5 teaspoons per cup proportions and five-minute time. It smelled impressively smokey and sweet. The flavors just never came out using those methods. I have a little left that I will attempt to make proper-like so as not to waste it.
