Lapsang Souchong

I love tea, and have loved tea as long as I can remember loving anything, except bacon. I want to emphasise that when I say tea, I’m talking about products of Camellia sinensis, so that includes black, green, oolong and white tea. If it’s not one of those things, it’s not tea, though I have no doubt it’s very tasty, and that the first ingredient is apples (don’t ask me why).


Tea has a sliding scale with antioxidants at one end, and caffeine at the other end. After the tea is picked and exposed to air it begins to oxidise. As it oxidises the liquid gets darker, and the wonderful antioxidants that occur in the leaves turn in equally-wonderful caffeine. White tea is steamed as soon as it’s plucked, so it’s low in caffeine and very high in antioxidants and expensiveness. The steeped liquid is kind of a yellowy gold. Green tea has more caffeine and less antioxidants, but still has lots of antioxidants and it’s… green. Black tea has more caffeine, less antioxidants, etc. 


Then there’s the black sheep of the tea world- Lapsang Souchoung. It’s smokey. Really smokey. Beyond smokey. Smoke is great- without smoke there would be no bacon, there would be no barbecue sauce, heck, theres would be no barbecue, period. 


Maybe you like smoke and its ensuing carcinogens enough to literally lean over a fire and bellow ‘bring on the smoke!’ Before you asphyxiate, me not so much. I don’t know what they do to this beautiful plant to create such an abomination, and I don’t want to know, but I feel like no plant or animal should be subjected to that treatment.


Hurray for tea, nay for Lapsang Souchong.

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