Lapsang Souchong Butterfly Smoked Black Tea (Pyramid Bags)

🍵 The Origin — A traditional smoked black tea from Fujian Province, China, pine-dried in the Wuyi Mountains using a method unchanged since the Qing dynasty and renowned for its characteristic tarry depth

🍵 The Cup — Dark amber to deep mahogany, full-bodied and warming, with a smooth, low-astringency finish that carries the pine smoke long after the final sip

🍵 The Smoke — Bold, resinous, and powerfully aromatic, with notes of campfire wood, pine resin, and a distinctive tarry richness that sets this apart from any other black tea

🍵 The Bags — Presented in biodegradable pyramid bags that allow the leaf to circulate freely during steeping, delivering the intensity and depth of a well-brewed loose leaf cup with none of the fuss

Lapsang Souchong is one of the most singular black teas in the world — a smoked Chinese tea from the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian Province that announces itself the moment the bag meets the water. Bold, deeply resinous, and powerfully aromatic, this is a tea that has divided opinion and inspired devotion for over three centuries, and the Butterfly grade brings that same unmistakable character in a convenient, biodegradable pyramid bag.

The story behind Lapsang Souchong is as remarkable as its flavour. Widely considered the world's first black tea, its origins trace back to seventeenth-century Fujian, where local farmers — pressed for time as Qing dynasty soldiers advanced through the Wuyi Mountains — began drying their freshly harvested leaves over pine wood fires to save the crop from spoiling. The result was a dark, heavily smoked leaf unlike anything that had come before. Dutch traders who received it were uncertain; European buyers were not. The demand was immediate and has never truly faded.

The production method that emerged from that urgency has since been developed into a careful art. Leaves are withered, pan-fired, and rolled before being laid in bamboo baskets above slow-burning pine wood fires, where they absorb the smoke slowly and deliberately during a long drying process. The high elevation, misty climate, and mineral-rich soils of the Wuyi Mountains contribute qualities that simply cannot be replicated elsewhere. The Butterfly selection is valued for its balanced smokiness — full and confident, tarry in the classic sense, yet smooth enough that the underlying character of the black tea remains present beneath it.

In the cup, the result is a deep, dark amber brew with warmth, body, and a lingering aromatic finish that recalls pine logs and campfire embers. It is best enjoyed without milk, where every note of the smoke comes forward cleanly, though a small pour of milk will round the edges for those who prefer their smokiness a little gentler. The biodegradable pyramid bag format gives the leaf the room it needs to move freely, extracting a full, well-developed infusion with none of the flatness associated with conventional flat-pack tea bags.

High Teas London was founded in 2008 with a single ambition: to bring genuinely exceptional tea to as many cups as possible. With over 350 teas and infusions — one of the largest collections in the country — we apply the same care to our pyramid bag range as to every loose leaf on the site. Lapsang Souchong Butterfly is exactly the kind of tea we were founded to share: a tea with real history, real provenance, and a flavour profile you will not find in a supermarket shelf blend.

Ingredients: Black tea (Lapsang Souchong, Fujian Province, China).

Brewing Note: Lapsang Souchong rewards a little boldness in the brewing. Use freshly boiled water — the full 100°C helps draw out the complete smoky depth from the leaf inside the bag. Place one pyramid bag per cup and steep for 3 to 5 minutes depending on your preference; 3 minutes gives a lighter, more aromatic cup where the pine notes float above the liquor, while a full 5 minutes delivers the deep, tarry intensity this tea is known for. Serve black to appreciate the full character of the smoke. If the smokiness feels assertive on first acquaintance, a small amount of milk softens it considerably without masking it altogether. This tea is a natural companion to cold evenings, open fires, and robust savoury food — salty cheeses and smoked meats in particular.