Russia Matsesta Tea Estate Stem Black Tea

The idea of Russian tea has intrigued me ever since I discovered some of the popular Russian blends on the market. I suppose it could even be said that I have become a budding Russophile at some point within the past couple of years. While I was well aware that there were quite a few Russian inspired blends out there, imagine my surprise when I discovered that a few tea estates exist in contemporary Russia! This particular tea comes from the Matsesta Tea Estate in Krasnodar Krai near Sochi. It is composed of stems and a few stray leaf pieces.

I prepared this tea using a one step Western infusion process. In the past, I have tried a two step infusion process, but I found the results to only be passable. For this session, I steeped 3 grams of loose material in 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes.

The dry stems and leaf material did not give off much of an aroma. After infusion, I picked up scents of straw and autumn leaf piles. In the mouth, there were leaf and straw notes up front. These flavors were chased by notes of wood, malt, cream, toast, date, and raisin before a brief, yet smooth finish.

This was a simple, refreshing tea, and quite frankly, I am struggling to say much about it. Overall, I found it to be decent for what it was, but it was not exactly the kind of thing to which I would be in a rush to return. I would say check this one out if you are looking for a simple tea that does not require much analysis.