Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, smoked Lapsang, and Wai Shan
One of tea's most famous names covers an unsmoked tea, a smoked version of it, and a large volume made outside the protected area and sold under both. The three are routinely presented as one product.
What is being compared
Why these get confused
Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong is listed as an alias on smoked Lapsang by a great many sellers, which asserts that the two are one tea. The catalogue's own records disagree with each other on exactly this point, and it is the commonest error made about the category.
Point by point
| Aspect | Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong (unsmoked) | Lapsang Souchong | Wai Shan Xiao Zhong |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The Wuyi black tea before anyone smokes it. Generally accepted as the oldest black tea. | The same tea dried over smouldering Masson pine in a wooden loft. | Souchong-style black tea made outside the protected Tongmu Guan area — that is what wai shan means. |
| What it tastes like | Dried longan, pine resin, honey and cocoa. Sweet and lingering. | Pine smoke and tar over the same fruit, which surfaces as the smoke clears. | Honey, dried longan and sweet potato. Clean and sweet, shorter than Tongmu material. |
| Who drinks it | Widely drunk in China and rarely exported. | The export version, and what the English name overwhelmingly means abroad. | Sold everywhere, frequently under one of the other two names. |
| Is it a lesser tea | No. It is the older product and the one the area's reputation rests on. | No. It is a deliberate style with its own following. | No. It is a legitimate and often good tea; the problem is the label, not the leaf. |
| What to ask a seller | Ask for unsmoked, or wu yan. | Ask whether the smoking is pine over a loft or an added flavouring — they are not the same thing. | Ask where in Wuyi. A seller who cannot say is selling this. |
| Price signal | High, and rising as Chinese domestic demand grows. | Wide range. Cheap smoked souchong is usually this style over wai shan material. | The cheapest of the three, which is the honest reflection of what it is. |
The short answer
The single most useful thing to know about this family is that the smoke is optional and comparatively recent as a defining trait. Anyone who has decided they dislike Lapsang Souchong has almost certainly only met the smoked export version, and the unsmoked tea is a sweet fruity black tea with no campfire in it at all.
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