Lapsang Souchong has a long history of over 400 years. There is no reference saying that the exact time of its origin. But it could be proved that Lapsang Souchong, the earliest black tea in the world, was first produced in the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in China.
Lapsang Souchong is produced in a small town named Tong-mu-guan in the area of Wuyi Mountain, Fujian Province, China. In Song Dynasty (960-1279), the natives lived in the Tong-mu-guan made a living by producing the tung oil and the “Gong-tea” (Long-tuan-feng-bing). In the end of Ming Dynasty, the current political situation is troublous and there are many chaos caused by war. Meanwhile, the small town, Tong-mu-guan was an important place between Jiangxi Province and Fujian Province. Once, an army came through the Fujian Province and stopped in the village. In that period, they took possession of the tea production place. Because of the occupation, the tea production was affected and was delayed for dying. Hence, much under-processing tea leaf turned red. In order to reduce the losing, the tea producer used the deal which is a kind of flammable wood to dying the tea leaf. Hence, the smoky taste and the aroma of longan came from the dying wood—deal.
From then on, the Lapsan Souchong was first created by accident and it became more and more popular in the world.
Gong-tea: the tea produced only for the emperor.
Dec 17th, '07, 01:25
Posts: 1559
Joined: Jan 28th, '07, 02:24
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Contact:
Space Samurai
Dec 18th, '07, 02:31
Posts: 552
Joined: Aug 23rd, '07, 00:42
Location: Somewhere in the wilds of Montana, but never without a teacup.
Contact:
skywarrior