Oolong Tea to Lapsang Souchong Black Tea: Miracle or Mirage
Of all the Chinese teas available in the market today, one of the most distinctive is Lapsang Souchong. The tea is noted for a subtle smoky flavor and believed to be the ‘grand daddy’ of all Chinese black tea.
Nevertheless, many wonder how such a strangely flavored tea was discovered? Or simply put, who is the ‘grand daddy’ of Lapsang Souchong?
The answer: the oolong tea produced in the Wu Yi Mountain in southern China.
It all started with a series of mistakes.
Centuries ago, there was a small village hidden away in the Wu Yi Mountain known for its natural beauty. There for years, villagers made their living by growing oolong tea. But, this year, there was one problem that was assailing the villagers. The low temperature at night was impeding the fermentation of tea leaves, which could spoil the flavor.
One day, an imperial army arrived in the village for a temporary stay. Without enough shelter, many soldiers took the oolong tea leaves left on bamboo mats for fermentation as their snug beds. Days past, time were running out for the fermentation of tea leaves, yet the soldiers had no intention to leave.
Finally the army left, leaving behind mat after mat of tea leaves out of the best time for fermentation. According to traditions, oolong tea leaves should be semi-fermented, but after being slept on by the soldiers, the leaves become fully-fermented. To save the oolong tea leaves and a year of income, the villagers who were now filled with anxiety burned pinewood to speed up the roasting process. Soon the villagers realized that they’d made an even worse decision. The smoke of the pinewood was soaked up by the tea leaves.
The fate of their tea seemed to be doomed. They’d produced the worst batch of oolong tea in the entire oolong tea history, they thought.
So the villagers sold their tea at an extremely low price. “Next year, we will have better luck”, they hoped. What they didn’t know was that luck was already on their side!
Months had passed! Another season for making oolong tea came. Unlike the past, this year, merchants flocked the village, offering three times the price of that in last year for the smoky tea. All the villagers were surprised!
It turned out that the smoky-flavor tea tastes even mellow and uplifting, and customers embraced it with full arms. This year, in a interesting conformity, every family in the village repeated ‘the mistakes’ for the new tea that was to fetch great price in the market.
Till this day, Lapsang Souchong remains highly popular in the market and is considered one of them best ten Chinese teas.