Russian Caravan

Night and stars above that shine so bright
The myst’ry of their fading light
That shines upon our caravan

I don’t care if that’s supposed to be a desert caravan and not a russian one, it still pops into my head whenever I see the name of this blend. Rather like JacquelineM’s River Shannon blend inevitably makes my brain go Oh Shenandoe, I love your daughter… Even though it’s not even the same river. Or the same country. Or the same continent. Can’t help it.

This one was put in the to-be-finished-off pile due to it being sample-sized and, I’m sorry to admit, quite forgotten.

The aroma right now just after pouring is pure bonfire and a hint of what I think Auggy and Takgoti mean when they say ‘burnt sugar’. Just a little bit. Not so much that you really recognise it as sweetness, but it’s enough to make me stop an wonder what that was. The more I sniff at it, the more clearly it comes out along with a note of dark chocolate.

I steeped it only four minutes (using the phenomenal steep.it site), and the flavour here strikes me as rather smokey. There’s something else too. I can’t quite identify it but it’s sort of like a middle thing between nuts and flour, or perhaps borderline cocoa-ish. Which weirdly is an entirely different flavour from both nuts and flour. Yeah, I don’t know either.

It certainly has a good kick, but I do think it’s a shame I did that shorter than usual steep just to see what would happen. I’m wondering what would have happened with that sweet note in the aroma if I hadn’t done that.

ETA: As I make my way down through the cup and it cools off a little bit, the unidentifiable flavour is turning out more and more cocoa-y, I think.

The first real snowfall of the year fell last night, covering everything with a cold, white blanket. I’m not a fan of winter and there’s something I find satisfying about being snuggled up in a warm house with a mug of tea when it’s chilly outside.

I don’t have a wood-burning fireplace but this tea calls one to mind, so I suppose it’s the next best thing. :D

I stirred in a bit of honey in the tea along with the usual skim milk I add. It gives it an…interesting taste. It’s an ashy, sort of slightly carmelized flavour, but to me it seemed pretty inconguous so I don’t think I’ll drink it this way again.

Merry Christmas to everyone on Steepster!

I made a pot of this for me and the boyfriend as we opened gifts. We aren’t allowed a nice, crackling fireplace in our condo, but I think this tea is the next best thing. :)

This tea seems very appropriate on such a cold day of the year. I might not be able to have a roaring fire, but at least I can imagine one while tasting the smokey essences of this tea.

A passable resteep of the leaves from earlier. However, for some reason it doesn’t seem to go well with banana. Blech!

The weather outside can’t decide whether it wants to snow or rain so it seems to have comprised by doing both of those. The result is that it’s very wet, cold, and foggy outside and I have absolutely no desire to move from the couch where I’m snuggled up under a blanket with a mug of this tea. It seems to have become my go-to Miserable Weather tea. :D

Well this is the last of this, so long Russian Caravan! It was a decent tea, but I don’t think I’d buy it again, it’s a bit too smokey and it lacks something in terms of body.

I drank this tea this morning and forgot to log it. Go see my older tasing notes it you’re curious about what I think of this tea.

It might not be my absolute favorite, but this is a great tea to drink on a cold, blustery day when I can practically feel winter stretching out it’s hands.

This is the first time I’ve tried brewing tea with those little T-Sac pouches. It’s less cleaning-up and fewer stray leaves left in my cup but I think it maybe ‘blocks’ some of the flavour a little bit.

Steeped for 2.5 minutes and added skim milk.

The smell might be BBQ-y but the taste is ever so faintly that of a campfire; there’s a trace of ash and smoke and hot embers in each sip. It’s not really unpleasent, just sort of intriguing, even if I’m not sure if I like it or not.

Steeped 4 minutes. Smokey.