Kusmi Tea

Remember those chocolate oranges they had in the 90s? This smells just like them.
This tastes lightly sweet with a lingering floral or orange aftertaste. Not positive that I love this, but I was craving a nice black tea. I like this with milk – it brings out the orange floral notes.

I normally hate the combination of orange and chocolate – those chocolate orange balls you smack and eat like orange segments? Not my cup of tea.

This tea, however, is totally my cup of tea. The loose tea in the tin has a very strong aroma – you open it and you get that immediate whiff of chocolate with a touch of orange.

Steeped in the cup, you still smell the chocolate, but the orange dominates the flavor and the chocolate remains on your tongue in the aftertaste. It still helps kill my chocolate cravings.

Also, the Kusmi tin says it’s strongly caffeinated – I’ve noticed it’s strong and sweet enough to perk me up in the afternoon for a mid-afternoon class and keeps me up to get my reading done. I will admit that my main source of caffeine is tea or coffee and soda gives me jitters, so your mileage may vary.

The first cup I made using a teaspoon and a half of tea in my strainer was strong (nearly as black as a coffee americano), sweet, and thick with no bitterness. I reused the tea in the strainer for a second cup which I steeped for about seven minutes – it was substantially weaker (light, golden brown) with more balance between the flavors on the tongue but a lighter aroma.

This is a keeper, especially if you have cravings for chocolate but not the calories.

An excellent mint tea. Wonderful flavour, extremely refreshing. I prefer spearmint to other mints, so this is my first choice among mint teas.

Sometimes when you have been waiting so long to try something, then it becomes available to you, you are slightly frightened.
At least, that is how I felt when I finally was able to try this tea.
I have been wanting to try it for so long, but then…what if it is not as wonderful as I had hoped?
OR what if it is beyond my wildest dreams and I have to instantly buy some and never be without it!?
But, I should have just trusted the Earl (he has never let me down before)
I smiled when I opened the cute little tin that Angrboda had packed this tea in just for me.
Well, Hello, My Russian Cowboy Earl, where have you been all my life?
I think Kusmi blended this perfectly, there is smokiness but you can still smell a nice bright bergamot.
Neither overpowers the other.
Which makes it mysterious to me…how did they do that?
Mysterious? So now the Earl is a Russian Cowboy 007 Earl. Good Grief.
While the tea is brewing, again there smokiness and bergamot.
Taste is just what the name says it is…A Smoky Earl.
Bergamot and a bit of smoke, perfect for this chilly morning.
Since I have only tried two Kusmi teas maybe I am not a expert on this, but I am finding them to be of good quality, their bergamot seems to be nice and bright and one of the better bergamots I have had in teas.
I want to thank Angrboda for sharing this tea with me.
It is certainly a tea that I will be saving my pennies for.
If you are a Earl Grey lover, I implore you to try some of this Russian Cowboy 007 Earl soon.
Or don’t…then there is more for me.

Backlog.

I’m annoyed because I can’t remember what this tasted like the other day – but wow, it was delicious! Again, no internet access right now while I’m typing this note, so I can’t see my previous thoughts on it, nor can I see an ingredient list, but I believe there was some citrus, and I found it to be quite enjoyable. Thanks again Sil!

So, this morning I decided I was bored with the work tea stash, but didn’t have a lot of time to pick things out. However, I remembered that Sil had sent me some black teas, so I grabbed a handful of things and left! This was the result :)

I brewed this up not having the faintest idea what to expect. It looked like orange pieces in the tea, but I wasn’t all that sure. I didn’t manage to drink the tea hot (had more important things to do in other buildings), so it sat cooling on my desk for about six hours, and I’m just getting to it now.

I am having a very difficult time describing the flavour/aroma here. After reading the description, I can taste cinnamon and perhaps some citrus and vanilla as well, although they are very muted. It tastes much like Red Rose, but with some flavouring making it tasty enough to drink straight. I’m not sure what I would have thought about it if I hadn’t known what was in it though – I think “flavoured black”, perhaps with some spices, would have been the farthest I got. I’m just not good at articulating what I can taste!

Either way, it’s not bad (I drank it rather quickly just now), and not astringent/bitter, so I’d definitely drink it again. Not a tea I’d pick up for myself though – this combo of flavours is done better by DT in Glitter & Gold, IMO.

Thanks for this one, Sil!

Smells like green cocktail olives (which I hate) and tastes like wet cardboard. I adore Kusmi, and there are 8 tins on my countertop, but it seems I’ve found the one flavor I don’t like. I don’t get any vanilla out of this at all, and my overall impression is a tea made for someone who smokes. And possibly drinks hard liquor… or smokes a cigar… or likes wet cardboard…. lol, shrug

Made with honey and half and half, frothed into a latte. So good. almost like a light cocoa.

Today shall be a fibery day, in between the chores. I started a load of laundry, emptied the draining rack, and took out the trash. It’s time for browsing my knitting forum while I sip, and then I have singles to ply into yarn, and a shawl that needs a knitting.

I got my spinning wheel! happy dancing
It needs some work – the wood was never finished, and it’s fairly dry. I woke up to rain though, so I can’t sit outside and do the feed-n-wax treatment I was wanting to do. The feed-n-wax doesn’t seem that stinky, but it has Dire Warnings on it that say to be in a ventilated area. Maybe I’ll pull hubby’s truck out and sit in the garage.

Now I am sitting with a mug of Kusmi Caramel frothed up with half&half and sugar. Nummy. And I’m off to do some wheel repair research. The thing that moves the mother-of-all up and down to adjust the drive wheel band tension is missing altogether, and the 1 bobbin it came with needs an end glued back on. I am wondering if I should order a new tension thingy or if I can find a bolt to use at the hardware store. And I am not sure if I should put some feed-n-wax on the bobbin first and then glue it, or glue and then feed-n-wax. It’s very dry, and I don’t know how it will affect things.

I managed to get half of my dirty dishes done last night, including my Lock & Lock, so this morning’s “toss in the leaves and run” is Kusmi Caramel.

Drinking it straight, slowly. It’s not really appealing to me this morning though. I wish I’d grabbed some Keemun Concerto or the black dragon pearls that I found I still had this morning.

I think the problem is that I’ve got summer fever. It’s just too darn hot for leaving the house, even in the morning. I’d rather be drinking my tea out of a teapot with some real cream and sugar than the office. I am feeling grumpy, and I want the ritual. But I can’t have it at the moment and it’s making me grumpier! Harumph!

I made some vanilla ice cubes from almond milk last week to try a recipe from Pinterest. I tried them with my Adagio Masala Chai, and didn’t like it. Today I tried them with this, Kusmi’s Caramel, and it’s quite good! It’s not cold all the way through, but very enjoyable. This is definitely something to play more with. I’ll be writing up more info about it on my blog, and that will probably be up Monday, if I feel like writing tonight.

Drinking plain.

It’s morning, and my allergies are kicking my boo-tay.

This tastes a little burnt instead of like carmel. Just an undertone though, not enough to make me not like it.

I’ll have to try it on the weekend when I can brew it in something I can remove the leaves from.

I wish this tea had the ability to let me go back to bed and start the day over.

Glumph.

This tea reminds me of Earl Grey. A nice, nutty orange flavor. This is lovely without additives.

I don’t even usually like liquorice, and this is one of my favorite teas! It tastes sweet, slightly spicy but not overwhelming. The loose tea is beautiful with pink peppercorns and big green cardamom pods. It smells delicious, like chai and candy, and doesn’t require much added sweetener. The color could be prettier, but isn’t a drawback. A must buy whenever I’m in Disney World’s Epcot!

I really enjoy drinking this tea. I take it to work in the morning and resteep it a few more times throughout the day. It resteeps very well! The dry tea smells absolutely horrible, but the flavors balance out once brewed.

This is a really interesting tea. The smell when we first opened the tin was intense and lingered well after the lid had been closed. Citrus, cinnamon and the cloves all blended together. Once I steeped it, the cinnamon and cloves became the dominant scent. Really enjoyed the tea hot..but as it cooled off the citrus notes became more dominant leading to a strange blend of flavours. Would love to see how this tastes with milk added to it.

I am generally not very fond of Kusmi teas (I often find the taste disappointing vs the fantastic promise of the smell – the promises were too much beautiful regarding what I finally get in my cup of tea)

2 main exceptions : Anastasia and Prince Wladimir (in French the Prince is named with a W not a V – weird…)

Prince Wladimir delivers all his promises : a huge flavour of citrus fruits combined with a soft but very present Vanilla and overall spices (Especially clove)

However in this Kusmi tea you’ll get real pieces of citrus fruits in addition of natural flavours

A real travel in Russia… thank you Pavel Kousmichoff !

When I serve several Kusmi teas at my annual borscht party, this one is always the favorite. Some guests sweeten it with a bit of Earl Grey jelly.

Iced, this is the first thing I ingest on a summer morning. The lightly grassy flavor interests my palate without overwhelming it. An invitation to enjoy life.