Lapsang Souchong

[tjkdubya]

https://lapsangstore.com/products/yuanz ... g-souchong

Lol Songgan selling for $32/50g when it's 52 rmb on Taobao...

Yeah, this is why we got pissed off enough to want to sell.

[tjkdubya]

Thanks for the recommendations. Specific reference points such as this are really useful. Planning an order for when prices hopefully normalize after Single's Day. Might add something from Zhengshantang.

It's no problem! As a point of principle we sell the majority of our teas across all genres at or below mainland producer retail. If you find something of much better value we'd be happy to take a look. All our customers in mainland don't need to be told how to shop on Taobao or elsewhere, so, yeah, we're not to trying to just be better than random online shops that mark up 300+% above mainland retail; we aim to be better than mainland retail.

[tjkdubya]

https://lapsangstore.com/products/yuanz ... g-souchong

Lol Songgan selling for $32/50g when it's 52 rmb on Taobao...

I'm still doubled over by stuff like this. The maddening thing is, people spend this kind of money for this kind of low quality mass produced stuff, then form opinions about tea, like, Souchong is this Souchong is that. It's truly mad.

[Balthazar]

It's no problem! As a point of principle we sell the majority of our teas across all genres at or below mainland producer retail. If you find something of much better value we'd be happy to take a look. All our customers in mainland don't need to be told how to shop on Taobao or elsewhere, so, yeah, we're not to trying to just be better than random online shops that mark up 300+% above mainland retail; we aim to be better than mainland retail.

At the danger of getting off topic: I don't doubt it. Having dabbled a bit in one corner of the Anhua heicha scene this last year I now have access to *certain teas* at lower cost than they go for at TB/JD. But this has required a significant time investment that I do not think I will be able to keep up in the long run, and definitely not to expand beyond that little corner of the tea world. So I do appreciate the work certain vendors (such as yourself) put in. Even without knowing the retail price for the teas offered I would not automatically assume they are unreasonable (whatever that means) or more expensive than Chinese retail.

Edit: About the lapsangstore price, one redeeming factor for me is that are at least transparent about what the tea is. While most consumers probably won't, they could still search around and compare the price. It's something else when the teas is just "white-wrappered" with all traces of it's origin lost

[Maerskian]

My thoughts exactly, was wondering if smoked versions were deemed as the truly traditional way to do it instead by reading the opening post .

From the link shared by Bok:

A: Can you tell us a little about the history of Lapsang?

J: Lapsang is over 400 years old already. Yet the Lapsang we see in the market today only exists for less than 20 years: unsmoked Lapsang. For centuries, Lapsang was traditionally smoked with pine. This is still the case nowadays, but it is much rarer and most of the market is filled with unsmoked Lapsang as this is much more aromatic and flowery and therefore more popular among tea drinkers.

I like both smoked and unsmoked lapsang, but have found it difficult to find smoked lapsang of decent quality for many years now.

Thanks for pointing it out.

I wonder how did this kind of processing began back then. Feels like some of those accidental discoveries while trying to do something else ( either the kind you don't speak proudly about or just somebody loving how smoked fish/meat tasted... and deciding to test it on anything ) .

Have you tasted both versions from Wuyiorigin ?

[Bok]

I wonder how did this kind of processing began back then.

Remote area and the need to urgently get rid of moisture after harvest for further transport, same as Puerh.

[Balthazar]

Have you tasted both versions from Wuyiorigin ?

Unfortunately I haven't.

[GaoShan]

@Maerskian, I haven't had any of the smoked Lapsangs from Wuyi Origin, but have enjoyed their unsmoked Old Bush Lapsang. Their entry-level version from outside the Wuyi protected area was also pleasant.

Like some of you, I had a couple cheap smoked Lapsangs when I was just getting into tea that completely turned me off. I tend not to gravitate to smoky teas in general.

I'm interested in trying a small amount of better smoked Lapsang, but am primarily looking for recommendations for the unsmoked variety. Maybe I should start a separate thread so I don't take over this one, as I did with the bad habits thread earlier. This seems to be another one of my bad habits.

[Maerskian]

Maerskian, I haven't had any of the smoked Lapsangs from Wuyi Origin, but have enjoyed their unsmoked Old Bush Lapsang. Their entry-level version from outside the Wuyi protected area was also pleasant.

Like some of you, I had a couple cheap smoked Lapsangs when I was just getting into tea that completely turned me off. I tend not to gravitate to smoky teas in general.

I'm interested in trying a small amount of better smoked Lapsang, but am primarily looking for recommendations for the unsmoked variety. Maybe I should start a separate thread so I don't take over this one, as I did with the bad habits thread earlier. This seems to be another one of my bad habits.

Come to think of it... this message just made me check my inventory and looks like i still have a couple bags of (both unsmoked) "old tree" & "wild" versions from 'em !! , bought 'em back in 2019 ... good thing i need to re-organize my whole storage tomorrow ( unavoidable, 2 full boxes of sheng coming... at this moment don't have any space left ) ... just made a note and will locate 'em no matter what.

[LeoFox]

Some useful info

[GaoShan]

Some useful info

That's interesting. Thinking of Lapsang Souchong as a product line similar to Da Hong Pao makes sense, especially as vendors rarely mention the cultivar or picking standard. However, this makes it very hard for buyers to consistently get something they like. It's also difficult to tell if you're getting value for money.

For instance, I searched for Xiao PinZhong No. 506 and didn't find anything.

I recently bought all four unsmoked lapsangs from Daxue Jiadao and am looking forward to trying them.

[tjkdubya]

It's a rather confusing post... The cultivar 506 refers to huangmeigui, which was developed very recently. Many other cultivars that were specifically selected/bred/hybridized by the tea
Tea Research Institute of Fujian Province will have a cultivar number associated with it, for example 105 is huangguanyin, 204 is jinguanyin, etc etc.

Tongmu region xiaozhong is typically referring to the area's "native" tea varietals that propagated by seed over many generations, and are not "cultivars" in the same sense.

One would only be talking about a 506 xiaozhong from a farm that planted a monoculture garden.

[GaoShan]

It's a rather confusing post... The cultivar 506 refers to huangmeigui, which was developed very recently. Many other cultivars that were specifically selected/bred/hybridized by the tea
Tea Research Institute of Fujian Province will have a cultivar number associated with it, for example 105 is huangguanyin, 204 is jinguanyin, etc etc.

Tongmu region xiaozhong is typically referring to the area's "native" tea varietals that propagated by seed over many generations, and are not "cultivars" in the same sense.

One would only be talking about a 506 xiaozhong from a farm that planted a monoculture garden.

I've seen Huang Mei Gui made into an oolong, but not into a black tea. Is it typical for oolong cultivars to be made into black tea in Fujian? I've tasted a black Chun Lan from Wuyi Origin (a.k.a. Benefit Tea) that I thought was pretty nice, and have had a few black Jin Guan Yins, though I'm not sure exactly where they came from in Fujian (probably nowhere near the protected area, as they weren't expensive).

If I'm reading your post correctly, it seems that Tongmu Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong says little about the varietal and just describes the origin and picking standard. Is there any information that can help people distinguish between a mediocre Xiao Zhong and a good one?

[tjkdubya]

Same way you'd distinguish between a mediocre rougui and a good rougui, or a mediocre longjing and a good longjing. You don't do that with "information" but rather with direct knowledge and experience of what constitutes good tea, and experiencing the tea itself.

This is not a matter of knowing the specific cultivar or not. There are plenty of huangmeigui aka No. 506 that's mediocre in quality and/or processing, and some that are not.

[tjkdubya]

And typically when you're talking about "native" teas of a region (and some places might refer to them as quntizhong aka "group/community varietal"), there will be some genetic diversity because of seed propagation. They're not all clones of each other and therefore is not a single cultivar.