TeaChat

Can someone explain the difference between Lapsang Souchong and Russian Caravan tea to me? I was previously under the impression that they were just different names for the same type of tea but was resently told that this is not so.

I'd be interested in the answer to this, myself - I've always thought they were one and the same.

Adagio's Lapsang Souchong (which is called Lapsang Souchong on the website) comes in a container marked as "Eroica Caravan."

Thanks for the great question.

While they really are the same thing, some companies have tranformed them into two different teas. Russian Caravan has become a blend of a few teas (usually a mix of Lapsang Souchong and Keemun), but this was undoubtedly not the original form. The name "Russian Caravan" refers to the long, overland journey that tea would travel on from China to the markets in Moscow. Chests of tea would travel on camelback, often taking a year to complete the journey. Russian-bound tea was famous for the smell of the many campfires it would absorb along the way.

Supposedly, though, the smoking process was already discovered by the Chinese and called Lapsang Souchong. According to legend, an Ancient Chinese teamaker was late to the market one day, so he lit some pine wood to hasten the drying of the freshly plucked leaves. Not only did the tea reach the market in time, but the smoked pine flavor created a sensation!

Here is our Lapsang Souchong (or Eroica Caravan -- whichever you prefer!) if you'd like to have a taste of this historially rich, but oft confused, smoky tea.

Your favorite Ancient Chinese teamaker,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

All I know is that they're both delicious! Whatever the name, you gotta' love the taste on a cold winter evening.

...I'm sorry, Chris, when I first read that I thought it said "Erotica Caravan." I had no idea adagio was publishing tea porn!

~teaspoon

I am totally envisioning some kind of wild gypsy caravan with like dancing teapots and teaspoons and stuff.

Tealicious!

Oh TSP, your mind is always in the gutter (and not a teacup)...

Oh you know it, Chris! I like it down here in the gutter *swim,swim* All my friends are here! Just ask Ghost of Tea over there... he knows... heeheehee...

~tsp

Oh we used to DREAM of living in a gutter. When I was young, there were 138 of us living in a shoebox in the middle of the road. Teatime was awful for us. We didn't have money for milk or sugar...or tea. Best we could manage was to suck on a damp cloth and call that tea. Gutter! HA!

P.S. Yes...most of the time she does...and we like it that way.

LoL, you see what I have to deal with?

~tsp

I think Ghost is going to fit riiiight in here.

I was under the impression that Russian Caravan is a blend of Lapsang Souchong and Vanilla flavored black tea? That is certainly how it tastes, and it is how I learned to blend it when I worked at a little tea and coffee place in Colorado.

Hope this helps!