Tea isn't just for the ladies you know, real men, the really REAL men drink tea too.
Here are a couple ideas for that special dude in your life.
Smooth and clean with a powerful smoky scent. Traditionally dried with smoke from burning pine root.
Many China teas have a subtle toasty note, but Lapsang Souchong has a dominating smoky flavor. Legend has it that the smoking process was discovered by accident. During the Qing dynasty, an army unit passing through a village camped out in its tea factory, which was filled with fresh leaves awaiting processing. When the soldiers left and the workers were able to return, there was not enough time to dry the tea the customary way. So they lit open fires of pine wood to hasten the drying. Upon taking the tea to market, to their surprise the new tea created a sensation. Today, Lapsang Souchong is first withered over pine root fires, then panfried, rolled and oxidized. The leaves are then placed in bamboo baskets and hung on wooden racks over smoking pine fires to dry and absorb the smoke. The result is a powerfully smoky aroma coupled with a sweet and mild taste.
This is my favorite all time tea, it is comparable to a single malt scotch and appeals to scotch drinkers as well.
Don't drink tea? Well your in luck! Lapsang Souchong makes a wonderful rub for meat and makes a nice touch to any BBQ.
The boldest and darkest of the green teas, makes a great iced tea and is wonderful to infuse with vodka! Yes, I said vodka. Steep the tea loose in vodka for about an hour or two and then strain into a bottle, makes a great green tea vodka soda.
Puerh tea is an aged tea that is amazing at lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol while raising HDL (good) cholesterol. Great for those men that love their red meat. Because it is aged the tannin content is extremely low making it a very smooth, earthy tea. You can drink it hot or cold and it also makes a good rub for lamb.
