Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Bergamot, Ceylon Black Tea, Chinese Black Tea, Flavor, Indian Black Tea, Mandarin, Orange Flavoring
Flavors
Bergamot, Malt, Orange, Citrus, Citrus Fruits, Fruity, Orange Zest, Brown Toast, Floral, Tea, Tannin, Honey, Smooth, Sweet, Mandarin
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf, Sachet
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Teatotaler
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 45 sec 11 oz / 315 ml

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From Our Community

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72 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I had a sample tin of this two years ago, in that Russian Blends sample sets, and back then I rather liked this one. But I finished the sample and didn’t pay any further attention to it. Untill...” Read full tasting note
    80
  • “I think I will try another of these Kusmi teas. They have been the victims of changing tastebuds, because there are several Kusmi teas that I used to love (or at least enjoy), and now they are not...” Read full tasting note
    71
  • “Thank you Will Work For Tea for this Sample! I know for sure that God is watching over me! I am a dumb woman who almost got herself killed tonight! After the monsoon thunder and lightning storm...” Read full tasting note
    84
  • “Thank you for this one, Will Work For Tea! This is the kind of Earl Grey I could drink plenty of. It’s not in your face but it still definitely has the flavor of bergamot. There’s additional orange...” Read full tasting note

From Kusmi Tea

BERGAMOT, ORANGE AND MANDARIN-FLAVOURED BLACK TEA

A Russian classic, Troika was the name given in pre-Revolutionary Russia to a team of three horses pulling a carriage. Here, Troika means a combination of three royal citrus fruits: bergamot, orange and mandarin, in a blend of black teas from China, India and Ceylon.

About Kusmi Tea View company

Company description not available.

72 Tasting Notes

80
1353 tasting notes

I had a sample tin of this two years ago, in that Russian Blends sample sets, and back then I rather liked this one. But I finished the sample and didn’t pay any further attention to it.

Untill recently when it suddenly got inside my head that I wanted it again. I mean I wanted it! So after going around for a while with that want in the back of my head, just to see if it would stick around or go away or what, I finally decided that it was staying and not just a passing thought.

So I bought me a tin.

Drinking this now is like meeting up with a friend I haven’t seen in a long time. Everything I said in those posts of a few years ago still stands.

Daniel Scott

A tea vendor relatively close to me carries Kusmi teas. I was curious to know what they were; the site doesn’t explain it all that well. Is this a brand of loose leaf?

Ysaurella

yes absolutely look at their us website : http://us.kusmitea.com/our-teas.html
when you click on a product, you can choice if you want it bagged or loose leaf (in a tin apparently for US). In France we can buy loose leaf by weight as well

Ysaurella

and here is their story :http://us.kusmitea.com/140-years-history.html
(not easy to find out on their website, complicated website architecture)

Ellyn

I love Kusmi but I agree the website is not that easy to navigate.

Angrboda

Daniel, Kusmi does both loose and bags, but you’ve probably seen that already if you clicked the links from Ysaurella. When it’s bagged, it’s loose leaf sewn into a little muslin bag, so the difference isn’t very big.

Ysaurella, I can only get the tins and bags as well here in Denmark. Husband and I were in Paris on a long weekend a couple of years ago though, and we stopped into a Kusmi shop. That’s where I first had the Smoky Earl Grey and the Caramel which I love. :)

Ellyn, I agree. I’ve only tried to order from it once and I had a hard time finding my way around it. It’s not fair of me, but I must admit that when the Danish post service managed to actually loose my parcel without a trace after having firsted attempted to deliver it in the wrong city, I rather lost interest in trying to order from the site again. (Besides in the meantime I found a place which had a large selection of their tins, and I worked out the price would come to more or less the same)

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71
2201 tasting notes

I think I will try another of these Kusmi teas. They have been the victims of changing tastebuds, because there are several Kusmi teas that I used to love (or at least enjoy), and now they are not tasty at all to me. All the Russian blends apparently have the same base (a blend of Chinese, Ceylon and Indian teas), and one of the components doesn’t sit well with me. It’s not any sort of bitterness or astringency but a flavor I just don’t care for.

Yeah, no. This one is the same way. It’s pretty frustrating really, to have a quality tea that you just don’t like anymore. The one good thing is that I still like the teas cold brewed, so I guess I’ll be drinking a lot of iced Kusmi this summer.

Edited: Actually I ended up enjoying this one enough to drink the whole cup. Maybe it was the combination of citrus fruits but even though I didn’t love it, I liked it enough. It did get a bit astringent when it got really cool, though.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec
TeaBrat

the Russian blends are all full of bergamot for one thing…

Dinosara

Haha, well it’s definitely not the bergamot that’s bugging me… That’s why I wanted all the Russian blends! I’m sure it is one of the base teas, though its hard to know which one exactly.

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84
676 tasting notes

Thank you Will Work For Tea for this Sample!

I know for sure that God is watching over me! I am a dumb woman who almost got herself killed tonight!

After the monsoon thunder and lightning storm this afternoon had finished (I thought), I decided to head 20 miles South go to Vespers at St. Spyridons Greek Orthodox Church.
As I drove closer to Loveland, the sky look ominous. Dark clouds were thickening but nothing was happening. Maybe they would scurry past to the Prairie, I thought.

Somewhere towards the end of the service when the Chanters (and those present) were singing “Lord Have Mercy” in English, Greek, Arabic and Russian…BANG! ALL…you know what…broke loose! We kept singing and at the end scurried to our cars (which were now becoming flooded with a Noah-esque like downpour of rain). I had to wade in ankle deep water to my car.

The lightening and thunder was banging overhead. Somewhat like having my picture taken by the sky…bang…flash…over and over and then…I hit a pocket of water on a 4 lane busy main road and hydroplaned!
The water covered my car and I was blind! I came out of the tunnel of water to a bang flash. I was scared but my brakes were ok. I kept going..inching home.
I had a funny intuitive girl feeling that something else wasn’t right.
My car is a titanium silver Rav4 and not that easy to see at dusk in a rainstorm.
I DROVE 15 MILES WITHOUT MY HEADLIGHTS ON! Freaked me out!
As soon as the bang boom fear, watery feet and hydroplaning terror kicked in…I was a white knuckle, all hands on the steering wheel mess. I am never going out in the rain like that again ever, ever!

I chose this tea for it’s great Russian name Troika! The horse drawn sleigh. Visions of some of my favorite old Russian movies came to mind. The Brothers Karamazov with Yul Brynner and We Live Again from 1935. Wintry days with hot smoky tea. Even though this is Summer, the cool stormy weather seemed right for it.
I used only 6 oz. water to make a strong cup and 1 tsp tea. Brew time was 3.5 minutes.
The flavor was smoky and citrus fruity. Somewhere between an Assam and Orange Pekoe with more smoke though. At first I notice a light bergamot creaminess then as it cools there is astringency.
I wouldn’t call the flavor weak. It’s a pretty hefty brew.
I added sweetening eventually which was good, then cream which was also acceptable (and the cream cut the tannin).

My advice is not to walk away from this cup and let it cool down. It gets way to astringent. Drink it hot and it’s pretty tasty. A good blaster for handwarming while riding in your Troika!

The Lord really did have Mercy on me tonight! http://youtu.be/vyFkPd6fEuI Tchaikovsky (Song of the Cherubim which is a song sung at every Liturgy but not always this particular version by Tchaikovsky)

Scatterbrain

Glad you’re okay.

Joshua Smith

Oh dear, I just looked up the radar for your area, and that was some nasty stuff. I’m glad you’re okay!

On a brighter note, I’ll keep this tea in mind for winter. My college campus doesn’t have enough trees, and the wind howls right outside the building I’m living in this year. A nice strong Russian tea might be exactly what I need to warm up after braving the elements.

Bonnie

Thank you Kwinter!!!!
Joshua Smith… It would be good Russian style with sour cherry jam. You put a big tablespoon in the tea and shlurp some out as you drink the tea with your spoon. Really good.

VeryPisces

YIKES- I am glad you got home safely! Freaky thunderstorms scare the heck out of me and are one of the reasons I live in the desert southwest these days. Glad you had your tea to alm you down.

Kittenna

That sounds super scary! The few times I’ve driven in downpours have not been fun, so I’m glad you made it home safe :)

Daisy Chubb

I second Kwinter <3

Indigobloom

oh my, so glad you are safe and sound now Bonnie!! phew ;s

Dylan Oxford

Glad you’re okay. This is one of those times where I’m thankful for Washington’s perpetual rain, instead of surprisingly abusive instant-rain!

Angrboda

Gosh. Kindly don’t do that again, Bonnie! O.o

Ninavampi

Happy to hear everything turned out ok!!! :)

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1220 tasting notes

Thank you for this one, Will Work For Tea!

This is the kind of Earl Grey I could drink plenty of. It’s not in your face but it still definitely has the flavor of bergamot. There’s additional orange flavor to it too, and I quite like it.

I didn’t even know Kusmi existed when I was in Paris and I wish I did because I love the tins. I think if I get the job tomorrow I will buy at least one…I’ve been window shopping on their site for ages but I didn’t want to without trying one first.

This kind of take on an EG is right up my alley and some of the other ones sound very intriguing too. I only steeped it for two minutes, just because I wasn’t entirely sure how strong it would be, and I could definitely up it to three the next time. I don’t get any smoky notes and I would like to, seems intriguing with orange!

With the shorter steep it hasn’t gotten astringent as it cools, in fact, the flavor has hardly changed the entire time. Just a nice smooth black base with what tastes like mandarin oranges and bergamot.

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79
124 tasting notes

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.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 45 sec
Nik

It’s fun how tastes evolve and change over the years. When I was younger, I hated orange chocolate; now, I love those chocolate oranges. I admit that half the fun is breaking it open and eating the slices, as if it were actually an orange, but I love the flavour too, now. Omnomnom.

BlueKittyMeow

Sure – make me need to track one down now! :)

momo

I got one a month or so ago at World Market! I couldn’t believe you could get them outside of Christmas!

Nik

I’ve heard good things about this particular brand, but haven’t tried it myself, yet: http://amzn.com/B004RBEQZI :D

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84
6768 tasting notes

This is NICE! The Earl Grey is mellowed down by the orange and mandarin believe it or not. If you aren’t fond of Earl Greys give this a try…you might like it! The orange and mandarin both pair nicely and are not overly citrusy and do not have an overpowering aftertaste.

rabbysmom

Never heard of Kusmi Tea. This sounds good

TeaEqualsBliss

I have heard about it for a while but haven’t had it available to me until very recently and am LOVING all the choices!!!

rabbysmom

I went online to check them out- the tins are beautiful!

TeaEqualsBliss

Yeah…I really like their tins!!!

Jillian

So is it a bit like a Lady Grey?

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72
408 tasting notes

To me, Troïka is a mild black tea. The head note on dry leaf is clearly bergamot but orange is really present, but behind.

This is the same after steeping : a mild Earl Grey perfumed with orange.
I am very sorry but I wasn’t able to pick up mandarin.

It is a subtle tea, very smooth : the kind of tea a lot of people should appreciate and I am not an exception, I appreciate it.

But I clearly prefer Anastasia which is stronger and much original to be.

Anyway, thanks for the travel in Troïka, magnificent steppe …

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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79
615 tasting notes

I always find it so amazing how my tea tastes change over time. I never used to like Bergamot, but now (so long as it’s not soapy, perfumey, or super duper overwhelming) I find myself really kind of enjoying it. This opens up a whole new world of EGs I never thought I’d enjoy. I need to put away my twitchy purchase finger on it though.

The base blend Kusmi uses is bold, but not bitter, and just a little malty. There’s a mild but of astringency, but not in an offputting way (Unless you let the cup cool all the way down. Then it’s quite intense). This one triggers my EG radar because of the use of the Bergamot. It’s the first flavor (other than the tea) that hits the tongue. It’s not as potent as a lot of EG blends, but it’s present enough that it makes the illusion of. There’s a subtle sweet orange flavor that follows closely behind. I think the mandarin and ornage merge together to create that one flavor.

Overall, the cup is bright, but subtle and enjoyable.

Thank you very much Nicole!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec
Anna

So twitchy, that finger. So, so twitchy.

moraiwe

Very! It requires many glares to stay in line.

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82
4163 tasting notes

Thank you so much Nicole! I get to try three of Kusmi’s teas! I’ve been reading tasting notes and ifjuly said many of the things I would have said as I’m drinking this one. It’s a nice base for a nice bergamot. I didn’t really taste mandarins and oranges but if you think about it, bergamot is citrus. The black tea base doesn’t overpower the bergamot at all and the bergamot is a stronger one… and the stronger the better for me. Very nice!

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78
2816 tasting notes

This was part of a Kusmi Russian tea sampler we got. My boyfriend loves Earl Grey/bergamot blends so he likes them a little bit better than I do, I find them to be a bit perfume-y. The orange is very nice in this blend though. Might be better with a scone. ;-)

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec

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