I guess Fava doesn’t carry this one anymore—it’s not on their website. Too bad, because it’s tasty. It reminds me of the “house tea” at Russian Teatime, a restaurant I used to visit near the Art Institute in Chicago. (I so love the classic Russian tea glass in its elegant silver holder…) In general, though, I don’t have much liking for Russian teas—just the black currant flavored ones. So I was excited to find this at Fava awhile back.
And yet I didn’t drink it much because I have only recently become less timid with caffeine. So this is my first logging of this tea.
Smell in the bag is fruity, maybe mango or peach, with the black tea hanging back and not adding much to the scent. In the brew you definitely get the black currant flavor, but not overwhelmingly and not an artificial smell. Neither does it taste artificial. The medium brown brew is clean-tasting, a “basic black” with a friendly layer of currant laid on top. I added rock sugar because it is always sweetened at Russian Teatime, but that’s not to say it has to be sweetened, just that it takes well to sweetener.
Strangely, after a night of sitting on my nightstand, the remainder of this tea was slightly concentrated (=bitter) but still drinkable. I am not one of those people obsessed with temperature in my tea. I stirred up the sugar and finished the mug!
