The 'Original' Lapsang Souchong  Zhen Shan Xiao Chung   Mainland China

• Fujian Province, China

• Smoked and fully-oxidized

• Slender leaf of even size

• Very slight smokiness, rich deep flavor

• Toasty exotic aromatics

• Dark liquor tinged burgundy

Organic ‘Zhen Shan Xiao Chung’, the authentic and original ‘Lapsang Souchong’, is a fine-leaf tea that is rarely available outside of China.

Genuine Zhen Shan Xiao Chung is produced in one protected, natural area deep in the mountains, in a cluster of smoking sheds that manufacture a very limited quantity of this unique tea.

On our most recent tea-sourcing trip to eastern China, we were granted the special permission necessary to visit this restricted area where Zhen Shan Xiao Chung is produced. The tea bushes that yield the leaf for Zhen Shan Xiao Chung grow in a natural habitat that is isolated from their surroundings, and the smoking sheds are staffed by professional tea processors who are specialists in the difficult manufacture of this unique tea.

Zhen Shan Xiao Chung is elegant, light and exotic, much more similar to a soft, deeply-flavoured Puerh than to the assertively smoky (or ‘tarry) Lapsang Souchong of export that so many of our customers love.

Although a fully-oxidized tea, Zhen Shan Xiao Chung is one of the few Black teas that can usually be re-infused for a second cup, depending on the duration of the first infusion.

Steep 1 infusion at 3-5 minutes.
Water temperature should be 190˚ - 200˚ F