Lapsang souchong

Lapsang souchong (thé fumé)

What it is

In Tongmu the leaf dries on bamboo sieves in a loft above a smouldering pine fire, and the heavy-smoke grade is largely an export style — the village drinks an unsmoked version of the same tea. The wood is Pinus massoniana, which is why the note reads as pine resin rather than the fruitwood of a Western smokehouse.

In the kitchen

Treat it as a smoking fuel you do not have to light: 30 g of leaf under salmon or scallops in a covered pan off the heat for eight minutes, or ground into a cure. In a pot, 2 g per 200 ml for two minutes is plenty — longer and the phenols read as ashtray.

Goes with

Salmon Duck Egg Prune Dark chocolate Butter

Same species

Assam tea Ceylon tea Da Hong Pao Darjeeling tea Earl Grey Genmaicha

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