Green St Petersburg

This is another tea that came in my little set of 1 oz. Kusmi tins…

yeah it’s a gunpowder tea which I thought was kind of amusing. I have to wonder why they choose this particular tea. I’m definitely getting the fruity element here as well as the caramel and a bit of orange. It’s a really nice afternoon tea, I can’t say I am blown away by it, but it’s tasty. I wonder what this would be like iced?

TGIF!!

once a goth, always a goth….
approx 1996
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#not an actual tea review

Another little tin among the 5 included in the Afternoon tea set I was given for Christmas. This one was actually the one I really looked forward to drinking the most…
It looked lovely in the small tin and also smelled delightful with an appealing citrus whiff reaching my nostrils.
Then I brewed it: probably putting too much of it given how much the tea expanded in the filter. That was only the first mistake: then I also left it steeping for way too long (not sure but probably between 5 to 10 minutes) and got a very bitter brew, with no flavors except bitterness.
My second steep, shorter but still too long probably, around 3 mn, was less bitter, but not completely devoid of bitterness, and did not have so much flavor as I expected.
The brew is also murky, with a lot of floating dust in the cup. Not so appealing!
I tried it again later, with water that was a bit cooler but still too hot probably, as I had difficulty drinking it right after brewing.
I was extra careful not to put too much gunpowder leaves in the filter and not to let it steep for more than 1 minute.
Right after taking the filter out, I got a nice whiff of citrusy scent. It was also quite present each time I picked the cup to drink it. However the taste was rather milder than expected and did not really work out for me: the caramel was much stronger in flavor than in smell and almost completely covered the citrusy taste. The tea quality however seems rather good as it’s still very fragrant at the third steep.
Capricious, contrary and twisted. Those would be the “qualities” I would associate the most with this tea. I brewed myself 7 or 8 cups of it today and succeeded only in getting 1 that was correct, all the others were between meh and real bad.
I so want to empty those little tins to refill them with nicer teas, as they’re the perfect size for my office desk. It’s going to be tough again with this one!

The green version of my beloved St. Petersburg!!!! :D The signature notes of red fruits and caramel are just as fragrant and delightful… it’s virtually the same as St. Petersburg but only lighter and sweeter. I personally think it’s great for evenings as it is a soothing, gentle tea.

It seems I’m the first to review this one… how nerve-wracking.

Another from my Kusmi sampler. I love these little tins!

It’s a gunpowder tea! Since I’m easily amused, these are my favorite. Even in my small sampler the leaves smell quite strong, though I can’t place the scent—a little musky, a little cirtusy. Though not unpleasant.

The cirtus really comes out in the tea itself, and while it cools a little it tastes more fruity. The description says it’s better as an “afternoon” tea, which I obviously ignored (9:30 a.m. at the moment), but it would be a rather good choice for the midday break, when I’m mentally prepared to shut down. Though next time, I’ll consider shortening the steep time. The more I drink, the sweeter it tastes, and I don’t love fruity tea that much.

This was one of the teas in a six-set Kusmi sampler that my parents brought back from their recent trip to Paris alongside some Damman Freres (although no Mariage Freres or hand-blown French tea pots . . . thanks, Mum!) although it is one of about ten Kusmi teas I have been interested in trying.

On initial inspection, the tightly rolled Gunpowder pellets are fairly even in size. The scent is rather strong, reminiscent of traditional boiled sweets or stodgy-English puddings and desserts. It’s not quite citrus and not quite caramel. The scent intensifies when hot water is poured into the tea pot.

After brewing for just under three minutes, the colour is a beautiful, light-caramel colour. My initial impression is that it’s an interesting blend, perhaps rather too complex to make more than the occasional appearance at afternoon tea. Perhaps future tastings may change this, but I find red fruits in my tea a little too intense to drink on a regular basis. The sweetness of the caramel tempers the earthy leatheriness of regular gunpowder tea and gives a full-bodied mouthfeel, the red fruits leaves a tingling sensation on the centre of the tongue between each mouthful, but I can’t really detect the vanilla.

It’s rather fitting that I’m drinking this very French tea – despite it’s Russian origins – out of those ubiquitous French espresso glasses which are just perfect for white, green and fruit teas. I would be interested in learning of any real connection that this tea has to St Petersburg, or is just one of a series of Kusmi teas bearing a Russian name? At any rate, I will definitely be trying this tea again, perhaps at a French-themed afternoon tea.

This is such an excellent tea. soft, citrusy and sweet, but with a bit of green bitterness. the aroma is incredible and with a slightly lower water temp and shorter steeping time, it is perfect, sans sugar, milk, or creme – it needs absolutely nothing but a big mug to hold it in.