Russian Caravan

We’re back from breakfast. I won’t bore you all with the details of the bagged breakfast blend I drank, which was acceptable, but not extraordinary.

Now it’s bubble bath time, & I brought some of this to Tony’s. Lapsang, Assam, oolong, & shu puehr, blended so there’s just enough smoke, just enough Bass, just enough earth, just enough sweetness. I keep planning to add a little maple, but it really is tasty just like this.

sipdown on this one! Terri sent this my way and while i was drinking it, all i could think of was that THIS would work with the ginger much better. This is really nice – i think it would work well as a base in a number of blends :)

Terri warned me some of the teas she sent me, in our totally lopsided in my favor swap, were double bagged. I separated them from the box to protect the innocent. Every time I walk into the room at least one of those double bagged boogers whispers my name. I think it is this one. I love terri’s labels. She tells you how many cups worth are in the bag and how many steeps each will go.

Anyway, so this one – not that long ago it would have made me scream like a little girl and head for cover. Smoky LS and puerh in the same tea! Now I am inhaling this and thinking, Wow that’s awesome! In this first cup I am not able to separate the four different teas. The smoke is highly complex. The mixed base underneath is rich, thick, and almost creamy feeling. As it cools I am detecting the assam in the aftertaste.

If you are a LS fan this is really an excellent blend. Can’t wait to see how later cups develop.

I haven’t been rating teas lately but I am going to rate this since the only numbered review was negative

This tea is not super smokey, but it is calming. Probably will not be a re-order. It is not that strong, as many Russian mild smokey teas don’t seem to be, but it’s relatively pleasant. I do wish my cup did not cool so quickly, though – as this doesn’t work on the tastebuds lukewarm!

one of my favorites, smoky, dark, rich

First tasting of the day, Russian caravan by the tea spot. This one has been a bit of an adventure. First of all the tea is incredibly strong tasting even with very quick steeps, and is very smokey.

I started this by giving it an incredibly quick rinse, since it has pu and oolong and I want to open the leaves up a little. I usually dont wash blacks. The first infusion was about a 5 second flash steep, then using the pour time of the yixing to steep the leaves. I got a dark brown liquor that smelled of smoke, caramel, burnt sugar and wood. A very earthy strong tea.

This is where it gets interesting, the first infusion is heavily influenced by the lapsang souchong, because the pu and oolong havent fully opened up yet, but the black tea is in full party mode already.

The second infusion was probably the best as I got a good mix of all the flavors here, sweetness, earthiness, smoke, wood and a bit of cacao. Slightly darker brown as the oolong and puerh are starting to open up.

On the third infusion the blacks are starting to lose a little ground here and the oolong and puerh are just coming into their own here. The tea gets very dark at this point, as the ripe puerh basically explodes with color, anyone who has ever brewed a ripe knows what I mean. Earth, wood, cacao are really predominant at this point.

The fourth and later infusions started to slightly tone down, the black teas kinda half calling it quits, but the puerh and oolong still chugging along as is the way with both of those tea’s.

Im not 100% sure of this tea, its a powerful morning caffeine kick thats for sure, and the strong flavor will wake you up in a hurry. And the flavor changes more than most over steepings as the different tea’s infuse differently. But sometimes it feels like its slightly working against itself.

I do recommend it, but realize you are in for an unusual ride.

One of the worst teas I’ve ever had…taste like I brewed it with meat!