The story of how lapsang souchong/ russian caravan tea was created

The Tea Detective
Uncovering and Exploring the Facts About Tea

Lapsang Souchong
The Legend Behind the Tea

Like the discovery of tea itself, the creation of Lapsang Souchong tea (also known as Russian
Caravan tea) happened quite by accident. The story and a bit of history behind how this dark,
smoky black tea came to be is an interesting one I think you'll enjoy.

Lapsang Souchong tea is grown in China in the
Wuyi Shan Mountains, in Fujian Province.

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) a young
emperor named Shunzhi ruled. Emperor Shunzhi's
uncle, Dorghon, controlled the affairs of state for his
nephew, and it was Dorghon's desire to consolidate
the provinces of Zheijang, Fujian, and Canton,
(which is now Guangdon) and bring them all togeth-
er under Manchu rule.

An Accidental Creation

Dorghan ordered the Qing army to invade the area
of Wuyi Shan, causing the terrified villagers to flee

for their lives. A few who had learned in advance of the invasion quickly hid their tea. But to
prevent it from rotting, it first needed to be quickly dried. With no time to waste the villagers had
no choice but to dry their tea with whatever was close at hand, which turned out to be freshly
cut pine boughs from the surrounding mountainside forest.

When the villagers returned to retrieve their tea after the invasions, what they dug up greatly
disappointed them. The tea was dark and smelled of wood smoke, and at first glance appeared
to be ruined.

Dutch traders had been buying tea from the Chinese for several years and bringing it back to
Europe. Most of the tea bought was likely an early version of oolong tea that came down the
river from Wuyi Shan in Fujian, so the Chinese decided to offer their "ruined" tea to the Dutch,
calling it a new tea they had created.

To the surprise of the Chinese, the Dutch traders loved the new, smoky flavored dark tea, and
even returned a year later looking to buy more. It's said the Dutch loved this new tea so much
they even offered to pay twice as much money for it.

And so, a new tea called "bohea" was born out of a disaster.

The term "black tea" was not yet in use, so the term bohea was used to describe all high-quality
dark and leafy teas coming from the Wuyi Shan area at that time.

Eventually this new smoky tea became known in local Fuzhou dialect
as La (pine) Sang (wood) or lapsang. The term "bohea" began to
be used more and more to describe large, dark leaved teas, and it
eventually became too generic. So many of the higher-quality teas
from Fujian were renamed.

Souchong was used to describe high quality large-leaf black teas from this region and so
Lapsang Souchong became the new name for this tea.

Today Lapsang Souchong is enjoyed by millions worldwide, renowned for its distinctive
characteristics and smoky flavor. Enjoy.

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For over 300 years the Chinese government kept the production method and location
in China's northern Fujian Province, deep in the Wuyi Shan mountain forests, a closely
guarded secret.

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