Lapsang Souchong: The Unique History and Flavor of Smoked Tea

Lapsang Souchong is an extraordinary tea celebrated for its unique smoky aroma and flavor, a profile that dates back to the 17th century. The history of this tea is as distinctive as its taste, and over the centuries, this traditional black tea has garnered a prestigious reputation globally. After harvest, Lapsang Souchong undergoes a special process where it is smoked over a pine wood fire, giving it its characteristic woody and smoky flavor. This type of tea, also known as "smoked tea" or "Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong," is notable for its particularly beautiful reddish hue when served.

Hailing from the Wuyi Mountains in China's Fujian region, Lapsang Souchong has a captivating backstory. According to legend, its creation was accidental. Villagers from Fuji were forced to abandon their village during the tea harvesting season, fleeing either from an army or bandits, depending on the tale. Upon their return, they found the tea leaves had fully oxidized. To salvage their crop, the farmers, who were escaping the Qing army, opted to dry the leaves by smoking them over pinewood fires instead of the traditional natural drying method.

These smoked tea leaves were later sold to Dutch traders. Despite the unusual flavor, the tea quickly gained popularity in Europe, especially in the Netherlands and England. Its distinctive flavor profile, with notes of pine resin, smoked paprika, and peated whiskey, set it apart and attracted a dedicated following.

Lapsang Souchong is particularly enjoyable during the colder months, as its smoky and warming flavor provides a cozy and pleasant tea-drinking experience. It also pairs well with various meals, particularly broiled meats, enhancing their flavors with its smoky undertones. Today, Lapsang Souchong remains cherished by tea enthusiasts around the world, valued not only for its rich history and unique production process but also for its distinctive taste that offers a comforting and memorable experience.
Lapsang Souchong: The Unique History and Flavor of Smoked Tea

History of tea in Japan

Japan's history of tea begins around the early 9th century. Japan was introduced to tea by Saichō, a returning Buddhist priest residing in China at the time of the discovery. While studying in China, Saichō discovered tea and brought back seeds from Tang China to grow at his monastery.

Over time, other monks followed suit, and soon small tea plantations sprouted up at secluded monasteries. However, Japan's true tea culture only really started when the monk Eisai (1141-1215) brought back tea-tree seeds from a pilgrimage to China.

Eisai’s zen lifestyle and ideas definitely contributed to the ideas of the Japanese tea ceremony, and they are still a key part of this ceremony almost a thousand years later.

At first, the custom of drinking of tea was not associated with the common people. Tea was used as a kind of medicine and in upper social class affairs.

In the early Heian Period, Emperor Saga is said to have encouraged the drinking and cultivation of tea in Japan. Tea drinking was first referred to in Japanese literature in 815 in the Nihon Koki (Later Chronicles of Japan), recording that Eichu invited Emperor Saga to Bonshakuji temple, where he was served tea.

Tea was immediately embraced by Japanese society and resulted in the creation of the intricate Japanese Tea Ceremony, elevating tea to an art form.

The first export of tea from Japan was in 1610 by the Dutch East India Company from Hirado, Nagasaki. The shipment of Japanese tea (pot-roasted tea, such as Ureshino) was sent to Europe.

In 1738, Soen Nagatani created the steaming method for green tea that is still being used to this day, to capture the freshness of the tea leaves. Even in 2018, this method is still widely practiced all around the world.

With the opening of the Yokohama trading port in 1859, tea became a commodity of daily use. Production of tea increased rapidly to about 24 million kg by the closing year of the 19th century.
History of tea in Japan

Who is Emperor Shen Nong?

In 2737 BC, legend has it that leaves from a tree dropped into Emperor Shen Nong's cup of boiling water. The servant had boiled the water for hygienic reasons before the emperor was to drink it. But this time the water was turned brown by the wayward leaves. The emperor was curious and decided to try some of this new liquid.

Emperor Shen-Nung was the second of China's mythical emperors (3500-2600 BC). Shen Nong is translated as divine farmer. He ruled during the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Emperor Shen-Nung was also known as the ‘Emperor of the Five Grains’.

The emperor taught his people how to cultivate grains as food, so as to avoid killing animals. Shen Nong is credited with bringing agriculture to ancient China.

By inventing the cart and plow, by taming the ox and yoking the horse, and by teaching his people to clear the land with fire, Shen Nong reputedly established a stable agricultural society in China.

Shen Nong is said to have helped people transition from a diet of meat, clams, and wild fruits, to one based on grains and vegetables, and for developing herbal medicine. In addition to promoting agriculture, he is recognized for tasting hundreds of herbs-on one day, more than 70 herbs that had medicinal value-selecting those that were suitable as remedies, and describing their properties.

He was widely considered the father of Chinese medicine; he has catalogued over 365 species of medicinal plants. He is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medicinal value, and is assumed to be the author of Shen-nung pen ts'ao ching (Divine Husbandman's Materia Medica), the earliest extant Chinese pharmacopoeia.
Who is Emperor Shen Nong?

The history of Tea Boh Plantations

John Archibald Russell is the founder of Boh Plantations, which is the oldest and largest tea producer in South-East Asia. Russel arrived in Kuala Lumpur with his father and four brothers at the age of six.

In 1929 Stock Market Crash or also known as Great Crash happened and the world spun into a recession. J.A. Russel at that time had invested in rubber, coal, construction, plywood, and brick and tiles in Malaya. He noticed that the demand for tea never waned and he saw the potential for tea a s a crop in Malaya so he decided to go into tea planting.

He received a grant for 4,000 acres (1,600ha) of land in Cameron Highlands in 1929 for tea cultivation. His partner was A.B. Milne, veteran tea planter from Ceylon and their enterprise that has not only survived but has continued to grow and prosper.

Boh Plantations Ltd was set up and incorporated with a nominal capital of $500,000 to manage the enterprise.

Originally, the plantation was established to export tea in London market, but after WWII, they started packaging for domestic market. There were two brands: Tiger Tea and Boh Tea. Tiger tea is a cheaper version tea. Boh Tea Plantations covers an area of 8000 acres and solely planted with tea and has been recognized as the biggest tea plantation in Southeast Asia.
The history of Tea Boh Plantations

The Origins of Tea Drinking

Today tea is widely regarded as the nation's favourite drink. After all, a nice cup of tea will fix just about anything. But just who was it that came up with the idea of infusing the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to make the refreshing brew we all know and love? It is widely known that tea originated in China and there are plenty of legends about its discovery, but the truth is that no one is entirely sure of who created the first ever cuppa.

According to one popular Chinese legend it was Emperor Shen Nong, the inventor of agriculture and Chinese medicine, who is accredited with the discovery of tea drinking in around 2737BC. As he was drinking a bowl of boiled water, a few leaves from a nearby tree blew into his cup and changed the colour of his drink. Intrigued by the lovely aroma, the Emperor took a sip and was so impressed by its flavour and restorative properties that tea soon became a staple part of his diet. In fact it is said that he used tea as an antidote to the sometimes poisonous herbs and medicinal plants that he tested on himself. See, a cup of tea really does fix everything.

Another more gruesome legend claims that it was the Indian Buddhist Monk, Bodhidharma, who discovered tea when he travelled to China to visit a Shaolin Monastery. The monk was refused entry to the temple and as a mark of protest he moved into a nearby cave where he vowed to stare at the wall for the next nine years. Seven years into his wall gazing he, unsurprisingly, started to dose off. Bodhidharma was so angry with himself that he cut off his own eyelids to stop it happening again. Two tea plants grew where his eyelids landed on the ground, providing a much more pleasant way for Buddhists to stay alert and awake during their meditations.

By around 300AD the medicinal properties of tea were being widely talked and even written about. Tea drinking and its rituals spread throughout the East with the Buddhist faith and the most famous book about tea, The Ch'a Ching (The Classic of Tea) was written by a man called Lu Yu in the 8th century. The book described in detail everything there was to know about the beverage, from the best tea growing regions, to how to make the perfect cuppa. According to Lu Yu it took twenty-four different implements to brew the ultimate cup of tea. By writing this definitive manual on tea, Lu Yu became a celebrity in his lifetime - tea cultivators even prayed to his statue! This book elevated the art of tea to a spiritual and enlightened ceremony that perfectly complemented the Taoist faith and made tea drinking an essential part of everyday life.

However tea came about and whoever made the first cup, its health giving properties and ability to nourish the body and inspire the mind have been known for many centuries. Now tea is drunk in even the most remote parts of the world. Packed full of antioxidants and as refreshing as ever, it is no surprise that a nice cup of tea is the world's favourite drink.
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What is biotea?

The production of organic tea or biotea represents a return to earlier environmentally friendly methods free from chemical additives - the emphasis is on biodiversity and conservation.

In 1980 the German company of Schraders in Bremen, launched it first biotea on the market. It was not until the autumn of 1989 that organic tea first appeared on the market on the UK from the first commercial organic tea estate in the world.

In organic farming, workers are not subjected to the chemical pesticides and fertilizers that damage health as they are sprayed on the crops. Instead, animal manure, compost, organic matter, and ground cover are used to add nutrients to the soils.
What is biotea?

History of tea in Sri Lanka

Tea plants did not figure among the local flora in the island of Sri Lanka, until the early nineteenth century when several entrepreneurs used their estates as test plots.

Tea was introduced by British when tea estates were laid out and first managed by the large tea companies who exported their produce to consuming countries.

Tea brush was introduced to Sri Lanka as early as in 1828. Maurice de Worms of Rothschild Estate was the first to put the tea bush to commercial use in Sri Lanka.

He planted a clearing at Labookellie with Chinese tea, but the venture turned out to be a financial failure due to the high production cost and the inferior quality of the product.

In 1839, Dr Wallich, head of the botanical garden in Calcutta sent several Assam tea plant seeds to Peradeniya estates near Kandy.

Usually the credit for introducing the cultivation of tea to the island is given to James Taylor, who planted tea of the Assamese variety on Loolecondera state in 1867. James Taylor, a Scottish using tea seeds supplied by Peradeniya nursery for first cultivation.

Taylor then set up the first tea ‘factory’ on the island. The tea produced was a success which later was sold locally at Rs 1.5 per Lb.

The first consignment of Ceylonese tea was sent abroad in 1873. Tea cultivation nevertheless remained a minor activity for 20 years.

In 1970, the production came under the control of the Sri Lankan government’s Estate Development Board and tea was sold at tea auctions in Colombo to the distributing companies.
History of tea in Sri Lanka

Invention of tea bags

Before tea bags became available, tea drinkers often used refillable, perforated metal infusers, also called tea balls or tea eggs, which they filled with looses tea and immersed in hot water just lie a tea bag.

The tea bag was invented in 1908 by New York tea importer Thomas Sullivan, who developed the practice to sending small sample of tea in silk bags rather than in the customary tins to retailers.

The purpose is to cut marketing cost rather than sending full sized tins for his customers to sample.

Some of the customers discovered that they could brew the tea right in the bag, and Sullivan was swamped with order for tea bags.

He wasted no time in complying and soon the first tea bag machine was invented.

It was a major step towards making tea an even more popular beverage in the Western world because it could now be consumed in a time saving and comfortable way – just pouring hot water over the tea bag.

It was not until 1944 that the flat rectangular tea bag, made of porous paper filter was invented. Quickly, a tea company sprang into action and patented the tea bag.

Thomas J. Lipton was responsible for designing a four-sided tea he dubbed the 'flo-thru' tea bag, which allowed tea to steep more quickly in the cup than the customary two-sided bag.

Invention of tea bags

History of Caffeine

The drinking of tea and coffee introduced a new drug, caffeine, which has not naturally available in temperate climates, into Western civilization in the 17th century.

With the development of worldwide trade routes during the 17th and 18th centuries, caffeinated products such as coffee, tea, guarana, coca, and mate spread rapidly from their indigenous environment of the parts of the world.

It is the most common stimulant drug in used for centuries, yet it wasn’t until the 1800s that scientists purified it and gave it a name.

Caffeine was first purified by German chemist named Johann Freidlieb Ferdinand Runge. With the aid of chromatography technique he purified a a crystalline white powder with a bitter taste from coffee beans.

Its chemical structure was identified in 1875. Caffeine was isolated from tea in 1827, five years after first isolated from coffee.

The plants contain the methylxanthines have been used to make popular beverages since ancient times.

In the late 1800s, entrepreneurs began selling flavored carbonated beverages with added caffeine. Original claims for promoting used of these products appealed directly to the stimulant pharmacology of caffeine.
History of Caffeine

The Beginning of Tea Drinking

The Beginning of Tea Drinking
The use of tea as a beverage probably dates to the remotest antiquity but not among nations (with exceptions of China) whose literature is available.

Confucius speaks of tea drinking 500 years before Christ. It is not mentioned by any of the classical writers. It was not until the organization of the East Indian Company that tea was brought into England.

In regard to this use in America the only thing that seems to be certain is that it was not brought over in the Mayflower.

It is stated by authority that the first merchant who put on sale in England was named Garway.

By 1660 tea was pretty well known in England among the wealthy and fashionable. By 1664 it was on sale at the coffee houses. Even in 1664 the cost was excessive shillings a pound being the price.

While the first use of this leaf was as a medicine a German named Olearius recognized its value as a beverage as early as 1633.

But many there were who vilified it calling it an “impertinent novelty and the sellers of its immoral and mercenary persons.”

In Boston, tea was on sale by 1690 and in 1691 there were two houses besides those kept by Daniel Vernon and Benjamin Harris.

By 1712 it was advertised in the Boston News Latter and you could buy it from Zabdiel Bolton at his apothecary shop.

The favorite variety was green but the advertisement reads “green and ordinary.” Bohea was favorite and by 1725 it could be purchased in apothecary tobacco and drygoods shops,, as well as those devoted to “small ware.”.

From a commercial point of view the China tea trade began about 1678 by the East Indian Company carrying to England about 5,000 pounds of tea as a speculation.

This quality supplied London for many years before it was finally disposed of.

The exports of tea from China reached a maximum about 1886, when a total of about 300,000,000 pounds were exported.

From 1886 there has been a gradual decline in the amount exporter largely due to the growing popularity of India teas.
The Beginning of Tea Drinking

Tea for Everyone

Tea for Everyone
In 1878, Samuel Phillips Day wrote in his book Tea: Its mystery and History, of the working class family: “What was first regarded s a luxury, has now become, of not an absolute necessity, at least one of our accustomed daily wants....Consumed by all classes, serving no simply as an article of diet, but as a refreshing ad invigorating beverage tea cannot be too highly estimated.”

By the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, tea was the drink for the masses in England, Tea’s importance to the lower classes was exemplified by the women in small villages who sometimes banded together to form “tea club”.

The purpose of these clubs was to get together in the afternoon and share tea, gossip, advice and the like.

When the money was scarce they shared responsibilities as well, one woman bringing the tea, another the biscuits or small breads, another bringing the teapot and so forth.

Tea was served in the finest manor houses as well as the humblest cottage. Tea was served after lawn tennis, on picnics after cycling – just about anywhere and everywhere that people gathered.

Afternoon tea during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century included many of the items that we traditionally associated with modern tea gatherings – scones or biscuits, éclairs, small cakes or muffins, small sandwiches, shortbreads, an larger cakes flavored with almond, ginger, or madeira.

How one drink tea soon became as important as when and with what.

Ladies of high fashion thought that a teacup should be held with three fingers, with the pinky extended.

This tradition went back to medieval times, when the gentry ate with three fingers, and commoners ate with five.

An extended pinky finger became a mark of elitism and is still parodied as such today.

One custom that was not adopted by the British was the Chinese was of loudly slurping tea.

The Chinese drank tea very hot, and it was perfectly acceptable (and even encouraged) to make loud slurping noises while drinking.

The Temperance movement in England during the mid-nineteenth century provided a added incentive for drinking.

At meetings throughout the country, tea was served as a replacement for gin or beer and was thought to be much healthier because it did not contain alcohol.
Tea for Everyone

Origin of Tea and Its Health Benefits

Origin of Tea and Its Health Benefits
The tea plant Camellia sinensis has been grown in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. According to Chinese mythology, it was the emperor Shen Nung who discovered tea in 2737 BC. In ancient China, tea was considered as a medicinal remedy for headache, body aches and pains, depression, immune enhancement, digestion and detoxification; as an energizer and to prolong life.

The Japanese population learned the habit of drinking tea from the Chinese in approximately 800 AD. Tea consumption has now been adapted and assimilated by many cultures around the world. In Kamakura era (1191 – 1333), the monk Eisai stressed that beneficial effect of tea in his book, ‘Maintaining Health by Drinking Tea’ in 1211 in which he emphasized: “Tea is miraculous medicine for the maintenance of health.”

Of all the beverages consumed today, tea is undoubtedly one of the oldest, most widely known, and most widely consumed. Its consumption was introduced throughout the world by traders and travelers. One thing that makes tea attractive is that it is inexpensive and comes in numerous flavors.

Tea drinking is a pleasurable experience that is enjoyed either alone or shared at social gatherings. The Japanese tea ceremony and the English 4 o’clock tea are examples of how important tea has become in the tradition of some cultures.

As the people age, a major health issue becomes remaining disease free. Thus, understanding what to eat and drink and what to avoid is important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Evidence is accumulating that tea has the potential to help reduce the incidence of major diseases, especially when combined with a healthy lifestyle. Such a lifestyle includes plenty of exercise and minimizing mental stress. It also includes consuming a diet that possesses health promoting effects.

Nutrition has, therefore, been an area of intense investigation during the past few decades. Some foods and beverages have a beneficial and protective effect. Daily intake of tea, fruit juice, and soy milk is part of a health promoting dietary tradition. This undertaking is based on differences in disease incidence as a function of locally prevailing nutritional habits.
Origin of Tea and Its Health Benefits