Smokylicious (Twinings Lapsang Souchong)

Member Name: cerys82

Product:	Twinings Lapsang Souchong
Date:	10/11/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Distinctive taste, good quality tea

Disadvantages: Probably not to everyone's taste

I am the first to admit that strange though it is, the only tea that I do not like is regular. Although until recently that was really only true of fruit teas and herbal teas as opposed to anything with actual tea leaves in. Then a colleague in my office started drinking this tea, I was overwhelmed by the scent, a gorgeous rich smoky aroma. However, it turned out to have a bit of a Marmite effect amongst my colleagues - some of us absolutely loved it, others hated it - thinking that it smelt pungent.

As a rule I do quite like smoky smells, I am always burning candles or incense and think that you cannot beat the scent of bonfires as a comforting scent as the weather gets colder and the nights draw in. I would go as far to say that if you do not like smoky scented things you will not like this, because although this pervades the flavour of the tea absolutely. Essentially the tea leaves are especially smoked to give it such a distinctive taste.

All you need to put in it to get the best result is the smallest amount of milk. I would probably advise that you do not let it stew for very long to begin with just so that you can fully decide for yourself how strong you like it. You should not need any sugar, I personally have never felt the need to try it and think that it probably would not work at all, competing too much with the ashy flavour.

The colour is darker than regular tea, but a lot of the richness of colour probably comes down to the lack of milk in it.

An interesting side effect I have found is that, it can get rid of some unwanted hunger cravings as the flavour is so all consuming that it almost makes you feel that you have eaten something substantial.

The Twinings tea that I buy is different to the picture above. It comes in a large box of 50 as part of the Aromatics range (of which Chai is another favourite of mine and which I have reviewed previously.) The box typically costs around £2.30 from major supermarkets but is often on special offer.

All in all, I really love this tea - being quite heavy it is not an everyday cuppa perhaps but definitely a treat and something nice to curl up with on a cold winter afternoon - not in a comforting way perhaps but as a blast to the senses!

Summary: In my tea storecupboard