ZS90: Lapsang Souchong Black Dragon

Had this this morning using the ForLife mug I’d bought my mom as a gift (since replacement teapot has yet to arrive). I think that my tea mojo is slowly making a comeback. There’s still a ton of stress in my life (job interview tomorrow and the GRE looming), but I think that I’m starting to handle it a bit better. I think. NE

BIG storm coming. Pushing Summer out, and bringing what little of Autumn we will see riding in the wake.

Time to ride the dragon.

Thank heavens! Youngest had finished her lapsangs on Friday. How on earth could she do geometry without it? As it happened, we went in a different order today so this very generous sample from SimplyJenW arrived in the mail just in time for geometry!

Youngest opened the bag and sniffed. Ahhhhh! This smells heavenly! She was quite taken with it.

She made a pot of tea as I was running out the door to drive to Cary to pick up birthday worms for hubby. (He really loves his earthworms…he has two compost bins, one compost pile, and a Worm Factory 360. LOL! I told him we could harvest worms from the yard for him. He said no, they were to remain free range worms. He was going to get rescues. I think these don’t qualify as rescues. It’s a worm mill, for cryin’ out loud!)

I took a cup of the tea and told her to call me in ten minutes and let me know how she liked it. She loved it! She said didn’t the tea didn’t last nearly as long as geometry did.

As for my cup, it was very sweet and light, and the smoke is pretty light. It is very present in the aroma, but isn’t one that leaves a lot of lingering ash flavor in the mouth – whether that is good or bad depends on your love of

This is a great first Lapsang for people who are afraid of it, a good tasting tea base. And even if you love strong smoke and lingering ash flavor, this one has a lot going for it. It deserves the hype it has received on here.

Thank you, Jen! :) Looks like she will make it through the week! And in spite of the dramatic doodles, I am pleased to report that she made an A on her first geometry test last week!

I got my Upton order today!!! Super quick shipping also which was nice. I put a sample of this in with my order and I am excited to try it. In fact, this is the first tea I’m trying from my order. I’m also extremely terrified of this tea. I have started to develop a taste for smoky teas, but I’m wondering if this will be too smokey, too soon…. The scent is straight up smokey almost bacony….but not off-putting.

Okay, I’m too much of a chicken to try it straight up so I added a healthy dose of cream and a bit of sugar. Here goes…..wow, this is actually pretty good. I don’t know about drinking it plain but as a milk and sugar tea this is good. Perhaps even great, but I’ll have to see if this is something I crave. The tea initially hits you with a whisper of smoke that blossoms into more sweet smoke. Even though I added stuff to the tea, I can tell that there is a natural sweetness. I’m liking this.

Tea of the morning (thanks to the recent review from Jim Marks…)

I had nearly forgotten about this one. But it is the perfect version of lapsang souchong for me. The smoke is light and homey, and it really warms me up on a cold morning. I did notice my tin getting low, so I had better add it to my Upton list!

Usual teapot method.

I love ordering from Upton Tea Imports. Everything they have available you can also get in a sample size, which is great for people like me who get sick of drinking certain teas after trying them once or twice.

I got a brand new Finium tea cup with a fine mesh gold filter, which I think is AWESOME!

This tea was a surprise, it is definitely one of the lighter lapsangs I have tried up until now. The smoke is subtle and the tea has a nice sweetness to it and brews up to be a reddish amber color. The flavor is almost floral like! I was not blown away by it but it was certainly very pleasant and delicious. I think I still prefer Hu Kwa which has a more unique aroma and flavor, but this was good!

Since I wrote my first, fairly cautious tasting note on Upton’s LS Black Dragon, I have returned to it again and again. It has become my everyday first thing in the morning tea. I have at least two cups and I slurp and slobber and am very unladylike. I have not found a Lapsang Souchoung I dislike, but I like this more than others. It’s got a touch of natural sweetness and it’s also not quite as tarry as some LS teas.

I like the balance of smoke and sweet. I like this tea black, but I also like it with milk and sugar when I’m in the mood (often).

This tea became what I had hoped that Jackee Muntz might be—but Jackee is in limited supply. I am no longer “dating” Black Dragon tea. We are married. We’ve said the vows. We’ve plighted our troth. We are in this together for better or worse, till death do us part. I may take some afternoon lovers; I may have many French liaisons and I may have other trysts, but I’ll always wake up with you!

Me: sips tea Hm.. interesting. Pups, you like this?
Snuggles: sniffs thoroughly and gives a curious lick when offered a drop. Goes back to sleep
Cali: Sniffs twice and turns away. Gives a polite lick
Husband: Sniffs and makes a horrified face. Tries to give mug back
Me: Come on! The pups are braver than you! Man up!
Husband: Sips …didn’t I hear you flush a minute ago?

And that’s how my family reacted to this tea. :)

EDIT: For those who are interested, I made a marinade with soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, grated garlic, dad’s homemade hot chili sauce, and a strong brew of this tea.
Marinated some cubes of pressed tofu and shrimp for 5 hours or so. They were so very tasty. Smokey, sweet, spicy, savory, and totally awesome. I served this over some rice with sauteed cabbage. Drank a cup of this tea with my meal. Perfection.

As husband was going in for his second helping I said to him, “You know that tea you thought was disgusting earlier?”
“Uh huh?”
“I made this food with that tea.”
He mimed throwing up, and then ate the rest of his dinner. What a silly goose. :D

On another note, I went to make a pot of green tea with the same strainer I had used to make this tea. I noticed it smelled strongly of smoke, so I soak it for a few minutes in boiling water. Out of curiosity, I sipped on the liquid the basket was steeping in and it definitely tasted like smoke. Yeah… this stuff sticks!

This is a really good LS. It’s smoky and woodsy but not overdone. It’s not bitter and doesn’t leave a funky aftertaste. It has a mysterious hint of pine as well which is nice. I really like this!

I was hoping for good things from this tea and maybe that’s my problem – my expectations were too high. I mean, it’s not a bad tea. It’s a gently smoky tea with a nice sweetness at the end of the sip. Super-faint hints of cocoa occasionally pop up, as well as something almost floral. It’s got a nice depth of flavor and actually reminds me of Teas Etc’s Bohea (which I love).

All of this sounds great, right? But there’s one thing that makes this one a non-happy tea for me. The aftertaste. There’s a little twinge of something on the end of the sip and in the aftertaste. I can’t quite peg what it is but it’s a little… off. It makes me think I’ve just walked through a big cloud of hairspray while inhaling through my mouth. Something sticky and a little perfume-ish/chemically. It’s not a very strong aftertaste so it’s almost ignorable, especially if I sip a little more quickly. But ultimately it means that this tea gets no love because there are other softly smoky teas in my life that behave better.

I’m wondering if Upton does something to their leaves that gives them this aftertaste. This funkiness isn’t near as strong as the ick that was the Extra Bergamot aftertaste (that one was bitter and sticky and wrong) but they could theoretically be related. Perhaps the way they store or package or maybe even flavor their teas? I see nothing that indicates that this tea is artificially flavored but maybe?