Wild Lapsang Souchong

The Tea Practitioner Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 10

I had a lovely little gongfucha session with this one today, using my (very neglected) hongcha-dedicated yixing teapot.

I did several steeps starting at about 10s and ending at maybe 30s. I could’ve gone longer, but I was full of tea ha ha. The flavor didn’t change much over the course of the session, but I still enjoyed going through the process and feeding my clay teapot some yummy tea. This tea had a lovely smooth and malty flavor with notes of raw grains and caraway seeds. There was a rich fruitiness to it that reminded me of cooked plums and had a lovely subtle tartness. And then there were some soft floral notes, couldn’t tell you what kind of flower but it reminded me of the the duck shit oolong I had the other day. Anyway, it wasn’t a strong enough floral note to put me off, thankfully, but added a nice aromatic top note to the flavor.

Anyway, yummy tea, and an enjoyable afternoon gongfu session. :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmAj5v3uQ1e/

Adventaggedon Day Ten – 4/5

Gongfu!

Oh, wouldn’t you know – another tea that I already own! Maybe the problem here is me, and I just own too many teas. Maybe. …nah, that couldn’t possibly be it. Jokes aside, though, I love this unsmoked black tea, and I just knew it was going to be an awesome session.

Initial steeps had such beautifully sweet and syrupy top notes of jammy red fruits, fresh berries, and red wine – but with really grounding and slightly more umami and spiced notes of caraway bread in the undertones and finish to pull the tea back from even daring to come close to cloying. Later steeps almost seemed to reverse, with more savory elements softened up by the same fruitier elements and notes of honey. Really hard to go wrong here!

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmAN8XEuu6t/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOx7jVwV-2E