From the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian.

Where the smoke began.

Our Lapsang Souchong is crafted in Xingcun village in the Wuyi Mountains — the birthplace of smoked black tea.

Grown at elevations between 3,500 and 5,000 feet above sea level, the tea develops in cool mist, mountain air, and pine-covered terrain. These conditions give it natural smoothness and subtle sweetness beneath the smoke. Hand-harvested and processed by generational tea makers, this is tea with heritage and intent.

A word on the name

Souchong is a Fukienese word for a sub-variety of tea leaf — the more mature ones, hand-picked from smaller-leaf bushes during peak harvest in early May. That maturity is where the body comes from. The smoke is what we add to it, with pinewood and patience.

Where smoke meets legend

"Born by accident in the Qing dynasty. Crafted today with purpose."

The story goes back to the Qing dynasty. An army passed through Xingcun — Star Village — and camped in a tea factory mid-harvest, halting production. With leaves rapidly oxidising and a market run looming, the tea makers lit fires of local pinewood to dry the crop fast. What came out was unlike anything before it: dark, smooth, and unmistakably smoky. The merchants shipped it anyway. It sold out. The "accident" became the method.

The land

The Wuyi Mountains are a UNESCO-listed nature preserve — protected forest, mineral-rich soil, mist that hangs in the valleys for most of the morning. You cannot bottle that terroir. You can only let the leaf grow in it.