Lapsang Souchong - A Mountain That Became a Word

Before It Begins · Oct 8, 2026 · 5m

Lapsang Souchong is a cup that deepens in colour almost as soon as the water hits the leaves — amber, copper, then a dark red-brown. The leaves themselves are long and dark, with a faint sheen as if they spent time near a fire. Lift the cup and the first thing you find is smoke: pine fire, old wood, leather, and a dark sweetness underneath. This style of tea comes from the Wuyi mountains in Fujian, and in the eighteenth century, those mountains gave English a word — Bohea. It started as a name for somewhere rare, and ended up meaning something ordinary, by being wanted. What else becomes…