What Is Zhengshan Xiaozhong / Lapsang Souchong?

Lapsang Souchong (LS) is a black tea originally from the Wuyi Mountain in Fujian province. The original LS is produced by the specified tea tree (called Xiao-zhong) which originated from Tongmu village (桐木村 Tongmu Cun), part of Xingcun Town (星村鎮 Xingcun Zhen) in Wuyi City (武夷市 Wuyi Shi) of Fujian Province (福建省).

HOJO particularly focuses on the Lapsang Souchong produced from the Tongmu area, located in the national nature preserved park of Wuyi Mountain in Fujian Province. The high mountains, with their thick pine forests and heavy mist, provide the ideal environment for growing top-quality tea. The best Lapsang is produced right here. In addition, we choose organic tea as our standard. Our original Lapsang Souchong has a very distinctive and aromatic flavor with Dried Longan Flavor in addition to a subtle smoky flavor. The secret is due to the drying process using pine wood. The adjustment and control of the fire, called Wen-huo (文火, smoldering fire), is the most critical factor in producing this tea. The real Lapsang Souchong is rare as Wuyi Mountain is a small area with great demand. There is a significant difference between real LS and widely available LS.

1. History and Culture - The World First Black Tea

LS has had a long history behind it. With more than 400 years of history, it was said that LS is the world’s first black tea. LS was produced as early as during the Qing Dynasty. Dated back to 1604, the Dutch imported LS to the West. It was regarded as a precious medical product and sold at pharmacies. At that time, there was no other black tea in the market. Thus, it was believed that LS is the earliest black tea invented, and Tongmu Village was the cradle of the black tea in the world. The Dutch dominated the European trade in LS until 1669, when the English first imported it on a commercial scale. By the time the English East India Company began trading in tea, the drink was well established at the English courts, where it was no longer valued primarily for its medicinal benefits, but was drunk socially, as an invigorating beverage.

According to historical records, in the year 1662, Princess Catherine from Portugal who when was married to Prince Charles had brought along her favorite LS tea to England. Her passion for tea had played the important role to promote the LS in England. LS was treated as a luxury drink in England, France, Dutch and The Netherlands. In England itself, LS is recognized as the representative of Chinese Tea, and it used to serve England’s Royal Family thus it was known as the Royal Black Tea in England.

The name of LS originated from Wuyi Rock Tea (武夷岩茶). It was an oolong tea in the very beginning of history. Its name was recorded as early as year 1734, where the name Souchong or Xiao-zhong referred to the best quality tea trees grown at the rocky area of the mountain which was used to produce the oolong tea.

Why the Wuyi Rock Tea became the LS?

It is said that during the Qing Dynasty, due to the unstable political situation, the army marched to the Xingcun Town (星村镇) at Tongmu Village (桐木村) and stationed in the tea shop. The Xinchun Town was the original place where many tea farmers lived and produced oolong tea. The farmers used to produce the oolong tea, after withering, fermented, maceration and partially dried, the wet mass of semi-processed tea leaves will be sold to the tea shop and the subsequent drying was done in the tea shop. Due to the invasion of army, the workers in the tea shop went into hiding to save their lives. Because the bag of tea leaves was still warm (due to the non-enzymatic oxidation which caused an increase of the temperature of tea leaves), the soldier laid down to rest on the bags of tea. The next day, when the soldiers left and the workers returned, they found that all the tea leaves inside the bag turned red and gave a specific fragrance (due to post fermentation under the humid and warm condition). However, they were not able to dry it at once since the drying facility was occupied by the freshly processed tea leaves sent by farmer in the morning, yet they did not want to waste the product, thus, the worker roasted the tea leaves in the pan to dry it and at the same time, lighted up the fire using pine wood in the room to accelerate the drying. As the smoke from pine wood was absorbed by tea leaves, the final product resulted in producing the scent of smoky pine. When it was introduced at Fuzhou, it drew the attention of foreign traders and was widely sold to European market, and eventually became used as a tribute to the royal court of UK.

How the Lapsang Souchong was named?

In the very beginning, when LS was produced, people were astonished by the ‘black’ appearance, thus it was called Wu-cha (乌茶, means black tea). When brewed, the black dry tea leaf gave a reddish liquor, and thus, the name Hong-cha (红茶, red tea), is used. Since it was produced using the Xiao-zhong (小种) tea leaf, the name “Xiao-zhong Hongcha is used (the pronunciation in Chinese, 小种红茶). Throughout history, Hokkien or Fujian (福建) people were the main group of people actively involved in tea manufacturing and trading. They spoke the Min-Nan language (闽南语). When the tea was first brought to Fuzhou (福州, a city with a seaport that was located at Fujian Province), it was introduced as Souchong black tea by those Hokkien people (小种Xiao-zhong, is pronounced as Souchong in Min-Nan language).
After all, since the tea was produced at Tongmu Village, it was also called Tongmu Xiao-zhong (桐木小种). Besides, some people called it Xingcun Xiao-zhong (星村小种) since the tea was gathered at Xingcun town for trade purpose.
Due to its increase in popularity, many tea producers would take old tea or other varieties, and send them to Xingcun Town where smoke was added to the finished product before trading. However, due to its poorer quality, people named it as Yan Xiao-zhong (烟小种, means smoky souchong).
At the later stage, other counties started to produce black tea. From a geographical point of view, Tongmu Village was located deep inside the Wuyi Mountain. Thus, tea produced from there was named as Nei-shan Xiao-zhong (内山小种,means inner mountain Souchong) and is the opposite to tea produced from other areas that was recognized as “Wai-shan Xiao-zhong (外山小种, means outside mountain souchong). During Qing Dynasty, the Min-nan language pronounced the word 内 as Lap, thus, the name Lapsang was invented.
Looking at its fame and promising earning which could be gotten from the sale of LS, many tea producers took old tea and smoked it heavily, and sold it as LS. Eventually, the authentic LS producer used the word 正 (pronounced as Zheng in Chinese, meaning genuine) in replacement of 内. At last, 正山小种 (Lapsang Souchong) is used in Chinese writing up to the present time. The naming of LS is summarized in the following table:

Various Names Used in History

Chinese	Pronunciation	Fujian	Traditional Chinese	English	Remark
乌茶	Wu-cha	-	烏茶	Black tea	The name is used referring to the dark appearance of dry tea leaf.
红茶	Hong-cha	-	紅茶	Red tea	This name is referring to the reddish color of liquor when brewing the tea.
小种红茶	Xiao-zhong Hongcha	小種 = Souchong	小種紅茶	Souchong black tea	This is the first name used which refers to its name of the original tea tree that was grown at the Wuyi Rock Mountain
星村小种	Xingcun Xiao-zhong	-	星村小種	-	Some people called it Xingcun Xiao-zhong (星村小种) since the tea was gathered at Xingcun town for trading purposes.
桐木小种	Tongmu Xiao-zhong	-	桐木小種	-	Since the tea was produced at Tongmu Village, it was also called Tongmu Xiao-zhong
烟小种	Yan Xiao-zhong	-	煙小種	Smoky Souchong	Referring to the tea (sometimes old tea) which was sent to Xingcun Town where the finished product was smoked before trading. Due to its poorer quality and excessive smoky flavor, it was named Yan Xiao-zhong (烟小种, means smoky souchong).
内山小种	Neishan Xiaozhong	內山 = Lapsang	內山小種	Lapsang Souchong	Tea produced from Tongmu Village which was located deep inside the Wuyi Mountain, named as Nei-shan Xiao-zhong (内山小种,means inner mountain Souchong). During Qing Dynasty, the Min-nan language pronounced the word 内 as Lap, thus, the name Lapsang was invented.
外山小种	Waishan Xiao-zhong	-	外山小種	-	Tea produced from areas other than Tongmu Village was recognized as Wai-shan Xiao-zhong (外山小种, means outside mountain souchong).
正山小种	Zhengshan Xiao-zhong	-	正山小種	Lapsang Souchong	The authentic LS producer used the word 正 (pronounced as Zheng in Chinese,

At last, Lapsang Souchong became a most well-known name now.

2. Tea Growing Area

The tea garden at Tongmu Village is scattered around the Wuyi Rocky Mountainous area (800-1500m a.s.l). At this mountainous area, the present of primitive forest is rich in decomposed soil and it consistently supplies minerals to ensure exuberant growth of the tea plant naturally. One of the essential factors for good black tea is its mellow taste. This taste is originated from amino acid found in tea leaves, known as theanine. Young buds contain high level of theanine and when tea leaves receive sunlight, theanine is converted to polyphenol such as catechins. At high elevations, the area is often covered by fog which blocks direct sunlight on tea leaves. Consequently, tea leaves are very rich in theanine as the conversion to polyphenol is not effectively taking place.

Besides, at high elevation, there is a huge temperature difference between daytime and nighttime. During the daytime, there is sufficient sunlight and tea leaves vigorously produce plentiful of substances such as amino acid and carbohydrates, which are essential for the exclusive quality tea as well as the growth of tea leaves. At night, if the temperature is high, the metabolism is continuingly taking place, and tea leaves will consume the substances that were produced during the daytime. However, at high elevations or mountainous area, the lower atmospheric temperature at night caused the tea leaves to become less active and therefore those substances are remaining in the leaves. With these factors, you will discover that the tea leaves are very rich in substances that contribute to the quality of black tea.

3. Tea Cultivars and Plucking

Due to the high Wuyi mountainous area and low temperature, the only cultivars that survive under this stringent growing conditions is the Wuyi cultivars (武夷菜茶). The first flush comes rather late on account of the lower temperature. The plucking season starts only somewhere in the second week of May. When the first buds grow and fully develop, it is called Zhu-ya (驻芽, which means fresh leaves without buds). This indicates the starting of the harvesting season. Usually, black tea in China is produced using 1 bud plus 1-3 leaves, and black tea with plenty of buds is highly sought after, such as Keemun, Yunnan Golden Bud Tea, etc. (please refer to the table below). For LS, the more mature the tea leaves, i.e., the first two to three leaves are plucked. In the production of black tea, the combination of amino acid and polyphenols content at the right ratio contributes to the good quality of tea. The content of amino acid is higher in young leaves than more matured leaves, while the polyphenols content is higher during summer (more sunshine and higher temperature), but it is gradually reduced due to the aging of matured leaves. Thus, the timing of plucking is important to obtain the leaves with the right content of both substances.

Relationship Between China Black Tea and Plucking Method

Black Tea of China	Plucking
Lapsang Souchong正山小种	The fresh leaf (驻芽) on top following 1 - 2 leaves
滇红 Yunnan Black Tea	1 bud 1 leaf
金芽茶 Golden Bud	Single bud
祁門 Keemun Black Tea	1 bud 2 leaves (higher grade) or 1 bud 3 leaves
宁红 Ning-hong	1 bud 1 leaf or 1 bud 2 leaves
九曲红梅 Jiu-qu Hong-mei	1 bud 2 leaves
政和工夫红茶 Zheng-he Black Tea	1 bud 1 leaf or 1 bud 2 leaves
英德红茶 Guandong Black Tea	1 bud with 2-3 leaves

4. Process

萎凋 (Wei diao) -Withering

After plucking, the leaves are withered over pine wood fires. At the Wuyi mountainous area, sunshine is weak especially during spring. Thus, the withering has to be carried out with additional heat from burning pine firewood. This is not the identical process for LS, it is rather the common practice in the production of other kinds of tea. The firewood is burned with a strong fire (明火 Ming-huo), generating heat to aid water evaporation of tea leaves. This does not contribute to the smoky flavor of end product. Tea leaves is placed on bamboo mat, piled at 3-7 cm thick, and the mat is placed on the wooden rack. At the bottom of rack, pine wood is arranged and burned. In the withering room, the atmospheric temperature is controlled at 30˚C, and the tea leaves are turnover and mixed well every 20 minutes. When the leaves become soft and are not shiny anymore, they are removed from the wooden rack and placed on the floor to cool down. The leaves are then rolled into taut strips (called 揉捻Rou-nian, which means maceration).

发酵 (Fa xiao) - Fermentation - Production of flavor and color

After the rolling process, tea leaves are placed into wooden barrels and covered with cloth for fermentation to take place. At high altitudes of the mountainous area, due to the much lower atmospheric temperature, the tea leaves are gathered together and kept in the barrels in order to maintain the optimum temperature for enzymatic reaction. When the weather gets cooler, the barrels will be placed nearby the cook-stove to keep tea leaves warm. When 80% of the tea leaves have turned into a copper color and begin to emit their own pleasant flavor, this indicates the fermentation is sufficient.

過紅鍋 (Guo hong guo - chao) - Pan frying - inactivation of enzyme

Unlike any other black tea which is dried immediately after the fermentation process, LS is instead pan fried followed by subsequent drying. During the pan-frying session, the high temperature in a short time heats up. This treatment will inactivate the enzyme instantly and stop further fermentation, stabilize the quality and characteristic of fermented tea leaves prior to long hour drying (8-10 hours) in the following step. When the pan temperature reaches 200˚C, fermented tea leaves are placed into the pan and fried. It takes 2-3 min to give off the greenish and grassy smell of tea leaves, and further improve the aromatic flavor of tea leaves.

複揉 (Fu rou) - Second Rolling

While the fried tea leaves remain hot, it is quickly macerated for the second time. The tea leaves are rolled and tightened, more tea fluid is squeezed out and remain on the leaves’ surface. The expression of the juice over the leaf particles increases the strength (i.e. the soluble matter in the liquor when brew). In addition, it helps to absorb the smoke at a later stage.

熏焙 (Xun bei) - Drying with Small Fire

In China, during the production of high grade tea, regardless of whether it is green tea, black tea or yellow tea, drying of tea leaves in the bamboo basket (烘笼) that is heated over burning firewood was the common final step. However, for LS, there are two critical differences which contribute to the Dried Longan flavor and smoky flavor:

1. Unlikely to other kinds of tea, pine tree was used as the firewood for LS. Pine tree contained amber (琥珀 Hu-po), i.e., the fossilized pine tree resin.
2. For other kinds of tea, drying through burning of firewood at strong flame (明火Ming-huo) is used. However, when LS is produced, the first drying stage with strong flame, reduced the moisture content of tea leaves to 20%, and then, the burning of pine wood is suppressed. This additional drying step with smoldering fire (文火 “Wen-huo”) is proceeded until the tea leaf dried to <5% of moisture.

Therefore, due to the incomplete combustion, the smoldering pine fire generates the smoke containing vaporized amber essence, absorbed by tea leaves, and giving the typical pine smoke flavor. The drying process takes 8-10 hours in order to ensure complete drying and develop the distinctive flavor of LS. Besides, this crucial step of drying also gives rise to the luster dark reddish color (乌润 Wu-run) of tea leaf as its absorbed amber essence.

In the past, the popular belief that LS has the typical dried longan flavor in consequence of the specified tea leaf used – it is proven to be a false statement. Another tea cultivar, Zheng-he Xiao-zhong (政和小种, tea cultivar named after the Zheng-he County at Fujian Province), was used to produce both Keemun black tea and LS, and result showed that only LS gave the dried longan flavor but not the Keemun black tea. Apparently, the crucial drying process using smoldering pine fire is the decisive step in making LS with unique dried longan aroma with smoky flavor.