Ingredients: Special black tea (Lapsang Souchong)

Cup Characteristics: A smooth crisp character with the remarkable and heady aroma of a pine and oak wood fire.

Options: Traditionally suggest to add milk and sugar.

Benefits: Black tea is a lot more flavourful and caffeine-laden than its counterparts which do not enjoy this amount of oxidation. Drinking black tea is also help to reduce cardiovascular problems, prevent cancer and lower risk of diabetes.

Fun to know: This special smoked tea has a distinctive flavor sometimes referred to as tarry, and is a special tea from Fujian province. When Lapsang Souchong was first exported to western European countries and became famous on the international markets - it was no doubt due to the distinct aroma and flavor. Interestingly the best Lapsang is produced in the nature preserve located in the Wuyi Mountains where the high mountains with thick pine forests and heavy mist provide the ideal environment for growing top quality tea.
The method of production is as follows: The leaves are first withered over fires of pine or cypress wood. After pan-frying and rolling, they are presses into wooden barrels and covered with cloth to ferment until they give off a pleasant fragrance. The leaves are fired again and rolled into taut strips. Then they are placed in bamboo baskets and hung on wooden racks over smoking pine fires to dry and absorb the smoke flavor. When finished they are thick, glossy black strips, and produce a dark red beverage with a unique aroma and taste.