Prince Vladimir

Ooh, smells like Vlad is a spicy boy.
Got this from Cameron B.! Thanks again!

Going to have to keep this short since Mondays are so busy. Anyway, bright citrusy notes of orange peel, spices, and something earthy. Something about the earthy note puts me off and makes me wish this was Constant Comment. Others are saying they taste popcorn? I kinda get that.

This is the first Kusmi tea I wasn’t impressed with.

I had this tea with breakfast and again with lunch. I am trying to cut the stash but I am resteeping things that resteep well, because there is no need to be wasteful, especially with something good!

I have enjoyed the Kusmi teas I have tried, and thank goodness this one is good but not one I feel I have to order, becasue I am already cringing at the tea I am wanting to buy. Anastasia, White Anastasia, and Troika are on my list and I don’t need to want another! Ha ha!

The black tea base is good, the bergamot is at a nice level for me and not sharp and overpowering, and lemon stands out in this one to me. I don’t really do lemon in tea much unless it is super softened with other things, so maybe that is why this one is a like and not a lovelovelove. But it was good! And it was a good companion for my breakfast. I definitely would prefer this one with food rather than on its own.

Apparently, last time wasn’t really a sipdown, because I still had another sample tin, from another set of samples. I guess someone at Kusmi thinks that this one is the best thing ever and everyone should try it? Or maybe they just think that it’s really versatile, and that’s why they included it in two different sample sets?

Either way, I’m still not really tasting any spices, but since this tin is newer than the other one, I guess that’s because the steep was too short – another case of “should have read the reviews first!”(I’m thinking now I probably should have given it a 5 minute steep).

I grew up on Good Earth Sweet & Spicy. My parents probably helped bring it outside of California when it first came from the Good Earth restaurant chain back in the 80’s This tea didn’t stand out for me since it reminds me of a dulled out orange spiced tea a la Good Earth Sweet & Spciy. It’s just ok to me, maybe since I get spice overload when I make my own chai, too.

So I took a trip to France, forgetting that Kusmi, which I’ve always wanted to try was from Paris. Then I saw the giant Champs-Elysee store and knew I had to go. I picked up a caramel tea, as well as three of the tins, including this one. I told myself I needed them because I was about to be on a boat for a week and a half without tea if I didn’t get them.

Well now I’m back and many of these are proving to be great breakfast teas. I had this one this morning with some almond milk. Very smooth and tasty, with lots of bergamoty goodness. So glad I got to go to the store and ask about teas in my broken French!

got this in the kusmi russian blends sampler. caught the cola flavour i heard i might expect right away, i liked it quite a bit. by the end of the pot the spiciness was getting to be a bit much for me, mainly cloves. very good, but i will make this on a cup by cup basis from now on.

04/28/17 this really does taste like cola when you add sugar to this (like i do).

Sipdown 78/393!

I received this in my secret pumpkin swap with KittyLovesTea.

After several attempts to get excited about this, I’ve reached the end of my sample and must finally admit defeat. I’ve had some lovely teas from Kusmi in the past, but this one just isn’t for me. I mean, there’s nothing actually wrong with it per se, but there’s nothing particularly right about it either. It just sort of… is. The grapefruit is fleetingly discernible but usually hovers around ‘general citrus’, though it is brought out more by a little sugar. I don’t get much in the way of spices from this, it’s really more of a creamy citrus tea to me. The vanilla actually is noticeable, and especially comes out after adding a drop of milk, which pushes the citrus to the background further. This was definitely best with both milk and sugar added, which surprised me as I’m moving away from additives in most other teas at the moment.

I was happy enough to drink this but it really was very average, and I have several other teas in a similar vein (i.e. Blue Sky Blend, Winterspice, Christmas Orange) and I prefer them all to this one.

Nice, balanced mixture of bergamot, vanilla, cloves, citrus zest and an impression of slight smokiness in aroma.
The taste is also smoky and quite woody, dry, with all the spices and adjuncts in the background.
Good, solid tea not overdone with adjuncts.

Bought this in Paris CDG Airport at the departure lounge. I was so sad I wasn’t able to buy teas from Mariage Freres. I thought this smelled nice – not too perfumey. I like teas with bergamot and vanilla. However when I tried this tea I was a little disappointed. Nothing special about this tea – can’t taste the spices. The black tea was very powerful that I can’t even taste vanilla. I don’t know, maybe I steeped for too long. I’m giving this another try.

SIPDOWN!

So this tea has been different all 3 times I had it (and I’ll note that all three cups were from the same batch). The first time, I got heavy ginger and lemon notes (so what it’s actually supposed to taste like), then I got popcorn with salt and pepper (?!), and now this final cup had a very heavy almond flavour with a hint of lemon (not even enough to really call it lemon, just a overall citrus vibe that was noticeable, but really in the background).

Similarly, when I finished off my St. Petersburg I got a heavy chocolate note that 1) I didn’t notice before and 2) shouldn’t be there. In both cases, the teas were delicious (I’d even say they improved with age), but I kind of feel like I’m going crazy. They’re not that old (I think I got them in July) and they’re tea bags (individually sealed) then kept in an airtight container so I don’t think they could’ve picked up the flavours of other teas.

Good, but bizarre.