This year’s gift to myself was the Kusmi sample set of russian blends and this cup http://www.roykirkham.co.uk/images/images/m/577.jpg which is the same series as my favouritest ever teapot. I love how it’s standing there all full of tea and baaa-ing at me.
Anyway, this is the first one out of the sample set, chosen by ippy-dippy.
My nasal membranes are dried out today. I can’t figure out if I’m on the verge of a cold or something or not, but they definitely aren’t working, so I didn’t get much out of smelling the dry leaves. I could smell them, but not well enough to tell anything beyond ‘citrus’ and after a while it just started to feel weird in the nose.
Enough about my health, you’re not interested in that. Let’s just skip to the part where smelling the steam coming off the cup of finished tea went much much better. It’s definitely citrus-y. Primarily bergamot with the others coming in on top. Like Earl Grey With Friends.
I was expecting sweet citrus, but this isn’t really it. Again, the bergamot is in the forefront and it’s got that slightly bitter bite to it. I’m glad the other citruses are there too because without them I’m not sure I’d have liked this as much. As it is, it’s nice but not a favourite. Maybe it’ll change later. It’s been known to happen that I completely fall in love with something I initially didn’t think that much of. The much beloved Tan Yang being a good example of this.
I do wish it was sweeter though, so I tried adding some cane sugar. Didn’t work either. Oh it’s sweeter alright, but not in the right way. The sugar doesn’t really merge with the citrus flavours like I wanted it to. The tea flavour is unchanged and then the sugar sweetness is there sort of next to it.
This is an enjoyable blend, but I’ll keep looking for a favourite, I think.
