Tongmuguan Cauldron: Lapsang Souchong Sampler

Tongmuguan is the legendary birthplace of black tea not only in China, but in the entire world!  The teas that are produced in this region are unlike any other black teas ever produced: they are clean and sweet, robust and wild, and embody both the traditional processing of the people and the barely touched nature reserve from which they come.

In the box we offer 6 different types of Lapsang Souchong (正山小种 - Zhengshan Xiaozhong).  Two of these teas have been smoked in the Zhang family’s traditional Qinglou (wooden smoke house).  While the other four have been made in the Unsmoked, new production method.  The Zhang household is are a five generation tea making family and have some of the oldest, tallest, and most wild black tea bushes we have ever encountered.  Their beautiful trees, the isolated high-mountain location of their land, and their generational knowledge of tea production all give these teas a very special place in the One River Tea lineup.

The sampler includes a total of 50 grams of the highest quality black tea on our site:

• 10g Tongmuguan Fruit
• 10g Tongmuguan Flower
• 10g Tongmuguan Smoke
• 10g Tongmuguan Spice
• 5g Masu Old Bush Cinnamon
• 5g Masu Old Bush Pine

While the production of all these teas has been handled by the Zhang family in the Masu Village at the height of Tongmu Pass, only the teas labeled Masu come from their old bush garden, the Tongmuguan teas are from younger tea bushes in the reserve.

This sample box has three purposes.

To taste the difference between the New Production methods (i.e. unsmoked) and the Traditional Production style (smoked).

To taste the difference between Laocong (old bush) and younger bush teas.

To taste the difference between true Masu Old Bush teas and their Tongmuguan cousins, the Masu pick and production is much coarser, of larger leaf and less beautiful than the smaller, more thread-like Tongmuguan teas, which is one way to tell if a Lapsang Souchong comes from the Masu Village or more generally from Tongmuguan.

We are so happy to be able to provide such a wide range of tastes and flavors and hope this tasting set goes far beyond just a simple introduction to Tongmuguan teas.  With this box, hopefully in the future you can more clearly identify true Laocong flavors, True traditional smoke flavors, and identify Masu Village tea. 

We are very excited to share this tea tasting opportunity, as it is one of the few ways to really understand the complexities of certain types of teas.

Check out the full offerings from the Zhang Family!