Lapsang souchong
ingredient / ingredient-lapsang-souchong
ラプサンスーチョン / Lapsang souchong (smoked black tea) / Camellia sinensis
Lapsang souchong is a black tea originating in the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian, China, made while smoking it with pinewood smoke.
On this page (8 sections)
Reading the bitterness
The stage at which smoke is applied also changes the aroma. From the Jinmudan cultivar, 5 samples were made: an unsmoked sample, 3 samples using a dedicated fuel stick at the withering, fermentation, and drying stages respectively, and a sample made by the traditional 「正山小種」 (Lapsang Souchong) process; 5 expert assessors each rated them 3 times. The traditional-process sample showed a distinct smoky aroma, and the sample that used the fuel stick at the drying stage scored highest on overall aroma. This is a comparison in which process temperature and time also differed, and it does not show the effect of the smoking stage alone or any change in bitterness.
In a sensory evaluation comparing standard reference samples of 「正山小種」 (Lapsang Souchong) graded by the national standard, 10 qualified, experienced assessors scored the special, first, and second grades on shape, liquor color, aroma, taste, and infused leaf, each out of 100 points. The special grade scored highest on all 5 attributes and on the weighted overall score, and the second grade scored lowest. Here, taste is an overall evaluation attribute, not a value measuring bitterness and astringency separately. Nor can the grade differences be explained by the amount of smoke alone.
Sources for this overview
Different smoking processes with the special fuel rods: Impart a smoky aroma to Souchong black tea
Checked for this overview: Supports, for Jinmudan, 5 process samples, 5 experts with 3 repetitions, the smoky aroma of the traditional-process sample, the highest rating for the drying-stage sample, and the limitation that this concerns aroma, not bitterness
Checked for this overview: Supports, for 3 standard grades, 10 experienced assessors, 5 attributes out of 100 plus weighted total, the special grade highest and second grade lowest, and the limitation of no independent bitterness scale
Other names: 正山小种 (zh)
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Lapsang souchong →is processed by→ pine smoke withering
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Sensory (2)
Scope: Jinmudan cultivar. 5 samples: unsmoked, dedicated fuel-stick smoking during withering, during fermentation, during drying, and the traditional 「正山小種」 (Lapsang Souchong) process. 5 expert assessors, 3 repetitions
Note: The traditional process and the experimental process using a dedicated fuel stick are distinguished. The evaluation covers the type, intensity, and persistence of the aroma, and does not measure bitterness or taste intensity.
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ingredient-lapsang-souchong —has_sensory_response→ (the claim sentence above)Scope: Standard reference samples for the special, first, and second grades under DB35/T1838-2022. 10 qualified, experienced assessors, each attribute scored out of 100, with the overall score a weighted sum across attributes
Note: This is a grade comparison among 3 standard reference samples. Taste is an overall evaluation attribute, and bitterness and astringency are not measured separately.
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ingredient-lapsang-souchong —has_sensory_response→ (the claim sentence above)How processing and cooking change it (1)
Scope: 「正山小種」 (Lapsang Souchong), a traditional production method originating in the Tongmu area of the Wuyi Mountains, Fujian Province.
Note: In the pine-wood smoking step, aroma constituents from the tea decrease while pine terpenoids (such as longifolene) and pyrolysis products (such as guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol and 4-ethylguaiacol) increase markedly. These were identified only in this kind of black tea. The abstract gives no figures for smoking temperature or time. External audit N2-2 (2026-10-20): the basis was replaced from a search-engine summary with the official PubMed abstract (PMID 16248572), and the process detail not in the abstract (hanging the leaves in bamboo baskets over the fire) was removed.
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ingredient-lapsang-souchong —is_processed_by→ process-pine-smoke-withering