Kusmi Tea

It’s a good basic jasmine green tea, but the jasmine is very faint.

Don’t have too much experience with Darjeeling but I was delighted by its flavor. Light in color and flavor for a black tea.

Sipdown (3131)!

I usually travel with a lot of tea on me, but since I was literally travelling to a tea festival I packed light. This is one of few teabags I brought with me (for the hotel) and I ended up steeping it on my first night in before the festival had started. It’s a pretty rich mango flavour with both some sweetness and a little bit of a piney element that brought out the woodier notes of the rooibos. I liked it, but I could see it not being for everyone because of that sappy sort of resinous note.

Another prescription from Michelle’s First Aid Kit for the Winter Blues, and welcome today: it’s sunny and deceptively cold. I tried this first straight up, then with milk; both versions are warming and a little anise-heavy, but not so much that it sticks to your tongue. Made a nice afternooner!

Cold Brew!

I can’t think of a more appropriate flavour profile for a tea named Glogg. It’s deep, dark and intense with STRONG notes of hibiscus, stewed red fruits, and a bold punch of spices. Cinnamon and clove especially. Really strong mulled wine notes. I am drinking this cold, but wow do you ever get the sense that if you drank this hot it would warm you from the inside out on a bitter cold evening right quick. Like, this is the kind of tea you feel like would be served to you in a metal camping mug using a ladle…

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Finished this one off last night, and it was quite smooth with a more aromatic vanilla note that better reflects the taste of true vanilla rather than the creamier custard-like interpretation often in different tea blends. Almost had red fruit undertones to it, but in a way that made the profile deeper and more round feeling.

I do have other vanilla rooibos blends in my stash that are similar though, so it was nice to get the sipdown in. This blend won’t be heavily missed because of that.

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Decided to steep up this sachet because lemon and ginger is always a good sick tea combination. It was just fine tasting. Very fresh and bright with strong notes of lemon essential oil and lemongrass. Not too much ginger in taste, but it did leave a pleasant tingle in my throat while sipping. Not nearly as effective for the sore throat/congestion as all the mint teas I’ve been having lately though…

Wow, I was definitely shocked by this one. For context, I have not tried a lot from Kusmi, mainly just samples and from tea swaps. It’s not usually a company I would seek out when going to make a new order but I think it will be now.

I ended up picking up a tin of this from IGA when I was in Montreal as well as a teabag sampler of Anastasia. I wasn’t expecting much because one of my friends that tried it said and I quote: “It’s just a bougie Earl Grey”…. UM NO! I don’t think it is. Yes, there is bergamot. Yes, it maybe could be considered an Earl Grey. However, the berry and caramel notes make it almost taste like the old travel sweets my Nonna used to carry around in a tin. It feels very nostalgic and comforting to me. I did get a 100g tin of this… but I might have to get more soon.

Sipdown! (21)

This one was definitely past its prime, though I never wrote a previous note so I’m not sure how I would’ve rated it to begin with. The flavoring is just too light now, and I think partially Kusmi’s terrible tin redesign is to blame. Really annoying how the lids basically don’t seal now and just sit on top, letting air get into your tea. Harrumph.

All that to say, there’s barely any peach and apricot left here after 3 years, so I ended up tossing the last bit of tea that was left. It was mostly just a not-so-flavorful green and white base that was a bit too earthy and dull for my tastes, even to begin with, and a hint of stonefruit. I remember really enjoying some of their white teas back in the day, maybe I’ll have to order some sachets to try at some point.

It’s a mild but drinkable earl grey. Not a ton of bergamot

Gentle mintiness

Had at a café, and was delicious! Made me want to buy it and make for myself, but properly (I think this steeped, at most, 2 minutes)

Green tea bags. You can see the rolled up green tea inside the muslin. Gum like spearmint and green tea that’s almost unnoticeable until the very end of cup, this actually tastes fine. This is the best one of the teas I bought from Kusmi, didn’t notice astringency or smokiness.

sold for $12.90 / 20 bags

https://www.kusmitea.com/us/spearmint-green-tea-organic-VMENBIOMASTER.html?v=21651A1120

Mate & green tea blend, I have the tea bag version of this. I don’t believe in detoxing, I purely buy tea for the taste, and what am I tasting…? The tea smells like caesar salad dressing and taste vaguely lemony with a bit smoke on the tongue, not repulsive, but not exactly flavorful. Yet this is still not the worst Kusmi tea I’ve had, that title goes to their rose green tea. I really want to like this brand but they are making it hard.

sold for $11.99/ 20 bags

https://www.kusmitea.com/us/detox-organic-DETOBIOMASTER.html?v=21640A1120

Grabbed my travel tea pouch to take with me on a weekend away and pulled this from it. It smells faintly of gingerbread cookies. The kind made with molasses, giving it a deep rich taste. This tea tastes like gingerbread too. The citrus really isn’t standing out for me over the ginger and it doesn’t look like ginger is a prominent ingredient. The cup was a little astringent and sharp when I first started sipping, but it mellowed out as I sipped further. I’m enjoying this cup while trying to ignore the two day migraine that won’t leave me alone and back off.

Earl grey black tea. I have the tea bag version. This tea is a little too light for my liking. The bergamot is there, the black tea is there, and that’s about it. There are no major flaws with this earl grey though I wish the black tea base has more interesting notes. The tea is not astringent or bitter. The tea bag did not offer much flavor for the second cup.

sold for $9.90/20 bags

https://www.kusmitea.com/us/earl-grey-organic-EARLBIOMASTER.html?v=21641A1120

Heavy floral perfume. Like a perfumerie. Sitting on top of a nice earl grey. Not sure it integrates well enough to make me want to come back for more. Maybe a little over the top.

Seductive caramel and red berry notes on nose— very pretty— layered on earl grey base. Sumptious palate, though it might be a bit thin in places. Very good, overall.

I think this is a decent cup of earl grey, not sure I agree with the negative reviews. Tasted v. Harney’s Earl Grey Supreme, which is a favorite, the nose is slightly toastier, rounder; not as much bergamot but this holds up admirably.

Really pretty vanilla, clove and allspice notes in addition to caramel. A truly interesting earl grey variation.

Pronounced lemon oil aroma on open of dry leaves. Nose on steep is rich with some of the classic earl grey roundness and gentle floral quality (coneflower? Vanilla?). On palate it is a little stiff and not as nuanced. My least favorite of the Kusmi earl grey variations.

A floral green tea. It does taste like flower but the green tea base is astringent to the point of being soapy. I would like to see if a black tea version of this would work better.

sold for $15.80/3.5oz

https://www.kusmitea.com/us/green-rose-organic-VROSBIOMASTER.html?v=21646A1050

Sipdown!

This was a tea Ashman got for Christmas. The first time I made it, it was so astringent I could hardly drink it. I decided to try it at 160F for 3 minutes and Ashman loved it. Although he has had it hot a few times, it mostly was used for his sweet iced tea that he takes to work each day.