About Lapsang Souchong
“Here I must leave him, for I grow pathetic,
Moved by the Chinese nymph of tears, green tea!
Than whom Cassandra was not more prophetic;
For if my pure libations exceed three,
I feel my heart become so sympathetic,
That I must have recourse to black Bohea:
‘T is pity wine should be so deleterious, For tea and coffee leave us much more serious,”
-Don Juan Canto the Fourth by George Gordon, Lord Byron
Bohea is the world’s first black tea created purely by the innovation of tea farmers in a small village in Northeastern China. Tongmu village, while small, has been a major thoroughfare for trade and travel from Central China to the port city of Fuzhou in Fujian province. Due to its mountainous terrain, tea instead of rice crops has had a long history in this region. In fact, prosperous green tea production in this area goes back to the Ming Dynasty where for generations green tea was used to make tribute tea.
The destiny of this small village and tea throughout the world would dramatically change in the late 16th century. It was time of warring armies who frequently used this passageway as the only way to travel through this part of the Wuyi Mountains. During one season, farmers had just picked the tea crop and were preparing to dry the leaves when they hastily fled to the mountains as soldiers suddenly occupied their tea factory. After the soldiers had left, the farmers returned to the factory to find the tea leaves had turned brownish red ruining their green tea crop. It was at this time they came up with an innovative strategy to try and salvage their crop and avoid financial ruin. They built a primitive brick oven and completely dried the leaves by burning horsetail pinewood. While the purpose was to reduce the decaying aroma of the leaves, it resulted in a light smoky flavor that became its hallmark “longan” flavor.
When the villagers brought their “Wuyi” tea to the Fuzhou markets it became all the rage. Foreigners were very excited to export this new tea and while the Chinese considered it a red tea, Europeans translated wucha to mean black tea thus giving “black tea” to the Western world. This original light smoky tea would undergo both flavor and name changes as a result of cultural differences, economics and political turmoil.
So how did the name evolve from “Wuyi” tea to lapsang souchong? It began as a result of both language and dialect differences between the local farmers, Fuzhou businessmen and Europeans. Since the dialect and pronunciation between the farmers and Fuzhou people are very different the original “Wuyi” tea was pronounced “Bohea” (Boo-he) when it came to the markets. Later as this tea become popular other regions tried to imitate Tongmu’s success. To protect their financial interests they cleverly distinguish their tea grown within 50 square kilometers of the surrounding mountains with the name “Zheng shan xiao zhong” (High Mountain small area in Tongmu). While the written language between the Tongmu villagers and Fuzhou people are the same, the pronunciation is very different thus it was pronounced “jian san xiao chong.” The “la” was added to denote the smokiness from pinewood. The Europeans then changed “la jian san ziao chong” to “lapsang souchong.”
The Dutch were the first Europeans to export this tea which was mainly sold in herbal shops. In 1662, it became the first black tea in England as King Charles II’s Portuguese wife introduced it into royal courts. Later Queen Anne further promoted it as she recommended drinking this tea instead of wine. References to lapsang bohea or souchong can be seen throughout English culture from Lord Byron to Sir Arthur Conan.
The original Wuyi or Bohea tea had a sweet light smoky flavor, but political turmoil in the early 20th century continued to impact the evolution of this tea. At the turn of the century this region was plagued with unrest between different political factions. Due to the continual danger from passing soldiers the small village was unable to process and produce tea. Since the market demand was still high for this tea businessmen found other places to make this tea. They found out quickly they could not achieve the traditional subtle sweet and light smoky flavor so they increased the smokiness to produce a stronger smoky flavor. Over time the region stabilized and the Tongmu villagers recognized the need to produce both the original light flavored tea (Lapsang Bohea) and the stronger smoky flavored (Lapsang Souchong) for the new markets.
Tongmu tea farmers have lived on tea from generation to generation, mastering techniques to make inimitable tea without use of fertilizers or pesticide. The tea bushes are allowed to grow organically in this rugged landscape filled with virgin forests and ravines. This beautiful area is known as AAA Nature Reserve and recognized as a World Natural Heritage site. The tea grows at an altitude of 900-1200m under abundant ultraviolet light which is diffused avoiding too much direct sunshine. These conditions result in aromatic tea leaves rich in amino acids.
Today Tongmu village is composed of 12 groups of villagers, 324 families, more than 1500 tea farmers scattered in 33 small villages in different mountains. While these tea gardens can generate over 4000 piculs, farmers maintain their successful tea gardens by avoiding overproduction reflected by the saying “the seventh time, you can dig the gold. But the eighth time, you can only dig silver.”
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