Wednesday April 9, 2008 | 8 comments
A few days back, while reading Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar with a normally frolicsome group of our nation’s sixteen year olds, I found myself falling asleep. I tried the usual tricks of alertness, from pinching myself to assigning a student to give me a shake.
It wasn’t working. Amazingly enough, the students were enthusiastic about the play, jumping out of their seats to volunteer to read parts, laughing at the arguments between Brutus and Cassius. Nevertheless, it is not considered good form to fall asleep in class. There is nothing quite so embarrassing as startling awake to twenty-six pairs of eyes staring at you, knowingly.
It was late afternoon. There was a little more than a cup of water, hot and ready to use, in the Zojirushi. Not enough for a whole pot, but enough for a cup. I rummaged around, trying to think of a way to make just a cup, when I remembered that a student had thoughtfully brought me a ziplock of assorted tea bags. I sorted through them, finally settling on a twinings variety called “lapsang souchong.” I gave the students a little chat break while I steeped the bag. I do not often drink bagged tea- so I was ready to be disappointed- but I needed a diversion, a sip every twenty seconds to keep me awake. I removed the teabag from the cup and walked back to my seat in the circle.
“Ewwwwwwwww,” the boy next to me said, “that smells like an ashtray!” I gave the brew a quick whiff. The lad was right. It had a distinct tarry, smoky odor. But there was something else.
“Let me smell!” another boy demanded. I took a tiny, tiny, sip and nearly spit it out on the poor girl reading for Octavious. “Yuck,” I exclaimed, “it smells like . . . an ashtray with a bit of fish oil in it!” I dumped the tea into the wastebasket, and the students passed the empty cup from chair to chair, giving it a sniff and a withering evaluation. “How can you drink that stuff?”
“The tea we usually have,” one of the Tuesday Tea Regulars assured, “does NOT come in bags, and does not smell like THAT!” Obviously someone likes this tea, as Twining’s has gone so far as to market it in handy tea bags. Is the distinct smoked fish taste and odor a function of processing or something else?
There was no longer any danger of falling asleep.
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Oh R3, now you’ve done it.. Now all I want is a nice strong cup of Lapsang Souchong.. I don’t know about the ‘fishy’ part, but lapsang is smoke-dried over a pine fire.
Alex, my ability to inspire you has survived the six years since you were captive in my English class. I think you have landed on it . . . I am associating the smoked pine aroma with my childhood experiences along the Klickitat River, where proud and resourceful native Americans smoked salmon, steelhead, and trout. Have you had that strong cuppa, yet?
I once had a pot roast recipe that used Lapsang Souchong; I think it took 10 teabags, carefully torn open and the leaves used in the marinade. It smelled heavenly, and tasted pretty good, except for the gritty tea leaves all over.
As previously mentioned, Lapsang Souchong is prepared by smoking the tea over pine logs, and you’re not alone in finding it unappealing. It was one of the first teas I liked when I began experimenting, but now I can’t really drink it unless it’s a particularly fine grade. I’ve tried the Twining’s bags before, and I would certainly not count it among the better L.S. versions I’ve encountered.
Regena,
I would have to agree with David. I personally enjoy Lapsang Souchong, but it hasn’t always been that way. My first encounter with it was the same as yours, I tried a Twinings tea bag and I wasn’t impressed. I later tried in loose leaf form what Twinings called “Russian Caravan” tea, another type of smoked tea which I found to have a much better taste for my liking. I now upon occasion use a good quality whole loose leaf form purchased from my favorite tea shop (OK it’s my only actual tea shop where I can go physically) and I know actually enjoy that wonderful smoked taste. GO figure, maybe, like many of us, my tastes have changed for the better. This isn’t my regular daily tea mind you, I still prefer for my black tea a good darjeeling, but it is a nice change of pace. I’d suggest that you might wish to try and find one that is of loose whole leaf variety (in a small sample amount of course) and see what you think. Who knows, try it maybe you’ll like it.
Cheers and Peace
Keep drinking the teas that you love to taste
Fr. Patrick
Regena,
By the way I should mention that from our parish office personnel when I brew this particular variety of tea (even the good stuff) I get the same reaction from the staff that you get from your sixteen year olds, basically EWWWWWWWWWW and YUCK! I usually try to keep that particular brew only in my office or after office hours when they aren’t around to smell it.
Peace
Fr. Patrick
These descriptions make Lapsang Souchong sound like the cigar of the tea world!
After cupping tea in preparation for opening a shop for three years I actually tried Lapsang Souchong for the first time yesterday, some good quality loose leaf. I didn’t like it at all but could picture using it for cooking with fish.