Traditionally smoked lapsang from the birthplace of Black tea - Tong Mu Guan. Extra high grade not only because of the quality of the tea from the old Xingcun small leaf bushes but also because of the wood used for smoking.
On a visit to Tong Mu village, we were told by a village elder and tea producer that the key to the most delicious Smoked Lapsang is in the quality of the wood used for processing.
Older trees are richer in resin and the complexity of the aromatics in the resin is enhanced by the years of experience that the tree has had as it defends against stresses. He said that villagers would have to walk further and further away from the village to find older pine trees to make the best tea and that the vast majority of Smoked Lapsang (even from Tong Mu) uses young or medium-aged pinewoods.
The quality of the tea and the smoking process are clearly also paramount but when using the finest and more aromatic woods, the producers will naturally reserve the best leaves and the most careful processing to maximise the potential of the prized trees.
So, when sourcing this tea we focussed our attention on the wood rather than the tea and found a Smoked Lapsang which has been smoked over very old trees (estimated over 50 years) which are rich in very complex and heavy resins. This blesses our tea with a sweet and spicy taste.
This is next-level traditional Lapsang which is heady with aromatic wood resins reminiscent of agarwood - sweet, spicy and entrancing. The texture is oily and thick (unlike most smoked Lapsangs) and the aftertaste is so long with allspice and dried longan juiciness.
A winner and from now on we will start with the wood to find the tea!
