Now that you’re familiar with lapsang souchong, and you’ve made a syrup with it (you did do that already, right?) you’re ready to make my absolute favorite creamy iced beverage. If this doesn’t give you an “O” face and make you involuntarily quiver with delight while eliciting a soft “mmmmm” from your lips, then you need to check your pulse, because you may, in fact, be dead. Lightly sweetened, creamy, rich with coffee, subtly smoky, slight tannin from the tea that complements the coffee….mmmm indeed.
Okay, ingredients are super simple. Milk of choice (i recommend hazelnut or cashew milk, if you’re using dairy, go for whole for sure, or be crazy decadent and use half and half), espresso, lapsang souchong syrup, and ice. That’s it. I don’t even feel the need to ramble on about what everything is there for, it’s just that basic.
Now, i know not everyone has an espresso machine or espresso pot, don’t fret, calm down, stop yelling. You can make this with cold brew concentrate (homemade or store bought), or, if you must…instant espresso. If you’re making the espresso/coffee yourself, and you’re sort of a coffee snob (total coffee snob here) i really think this is best with a chocolaty/nutty coffee, so use some south or central american coffees with that sort of flavour profile, avoid fruity, citrusy and floral coffees, like ethiopians, since the smoky flavour of the lapsang souchong will compete too strongly with these and doesn’t pair as well.
To put this together, simply toss everything into a shaking container (cocktail shaker, old jar with a tight lid, whatever) and shake the heck out of it! Why? It incorporates air into the mix, really highlighting the soft smokiness and lightly altering the texture of the milk, giving it a richer, creamier mouth feel. After shaking it all up, you can kind of lightly swish it around the vessel of choice to reduce some of the foam, stir the foam with a stick, or use the lid to hold it back while you pour. OR, go crazy and slosh it all in a glass like i did for these shots. Do whatever feels right to you.
Look. At. That. That, up there, yum. Gonna have to go make myself one right now. No joke.
Okay, now that i have a latte in hand, let’s go forward. You don’t have to make this iced, it’s delicious hot as well, simply steam and foam your milk and keep the amounts the same, you can also toss in a 1/2 tsp of chai masala to create a dirty smoked chai (i call that a “Miss Amy” around here, named after one of my dearest friends who LOVES her dirty chai lattes) just add it to the hot espresso to “bloom” the flavours, or add it to your milk before steaming if you’re making this a hot one. If you wanna be super fancy, you can powder some lapsang souchong and toss it in sugar, then use that to rim your glass, maybe add a splash of ginger syrup, or dust the top lightly with some good cocoa powder…all of those are excellent options. I usually just take mine straight up, but when there are guests around sometimes i add a little somethin somethin to make things a tad more elegant. Now go forth and caffeinate.