Okay, so tidy-ness plans for New Year’s? Not gonna happen. But Lexitus should be used to the level of chaos that constitutes as ‘tidy’ around here, so he’ll just have to deal with it. I’ve only had that foul dentisty christmas tea so far today and I want something proper.
So I’m jumping into the last of my Jillian-teas. I can’t remember where or what the situation was, but Jillian said something somewhere at one point about what actually went into a russian caravan blend and it made me think that if you took a russian caravan and stuffed a measure of green tea in it, you would get something similar to my dearly beloved Gunpowder blend (which, again, has nothing to do with the green tea known as Gunpowder), so now I’m probably going to have a few difficulties with not imagining this containing an unknown green tea and comparing. Did any of this make sense?
It’s a golden colour, much lighter than I had expected. I was expecting something reddish. The aroma is dominated by Lapsang Souchong and the smokiness. It’s not as prickly as a plain Lapsang, but I still can’t really find anything else in the aroma. Maybe the best way to describe it is that it smells a bit like a Lapsang Souchong with milk in it as opposed to a Lapsang straight up.
Nope, it’s definitely nothing like my gunpowder blend (which has nothing to do with Gunpowder as in the green tea). This seems thinner and weaker for one thing. It doesn’t have the same kick in the backside. I’m picking up some strong Darjeeling notes in the flavour and the Lapsang seems only barely there. I’m only getting the smokey prickly sensation in the very beginning of the sip and after that it’s just Darjeeling.
It’s been a good while since I’ve last had a russian caravan, but this tastes nothing like I remember it. It’s good, yes. But it’s not really what I was looking for.
ETA: The second cup, somewhat harder steeped, now THAT’S what I’m looking for. It’s much more pronounced on the smoke and the Keemun is coming into play too instead of just being dominated by the grassy Darjeeling.
Note to self. Oversteep on purpose in future.
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wow….so many abstract observations here! Very intriguing.
Heehee, when it comes to rambling, one does one’s best. ;)
The combination of all these teas sounds ehh intriguing… lapsang and darjeeling.. doesn’t sound like it would mix well together.
I wouldn’t call it entirely successful, but it’s not a disaster either. I think, if I hadn’t been expecting something different, I’d have liked it a lot better.
i know….makes me super curious..so much going on! but im guessing Lapsang was just a faint hint? (as you mentioned)..so maybe its alright?
It was for me on the first cup. I came out much better on the second cup which had had a longer steep. I got it from Jillian, though, and if you check out her notes on it, she got something entirely different out of it, which I think was pretty interesting.
If you like or tolerate Lapsang, you might like this. If you absolutely don’t like Lapsang at all, I’m not sure you would appreciate this one much either. Depending, of course, on how long you steep it. I didn’t think I gave it a particularly short steeping time on the first round, I’m pretty sure it got at least five minutes, but there you are. (I don’t time it, so I wouldn’t know for certain)
wow….so many abstract observations here! Very intriguing.
Heehee, when it comes to rambling, one does one’s best. ;)
The combination of all these teas sounds ehh intriguing… lapsang and darjeeling.. doesn’t sound like it would mix well together.
I wouldn’t call it entirely successful, but it’s not a disaster either. I think, if I hadn’t been expecting something different, I’d have liked it a lot better.
i know….makes me super curious..so much going on! but im guessing Lapsang was just a faint hint? (as you mentioned)..so maybe its alright?
It was for me on the first cup. I came out much better on the second cup which had had a longer steep. I got it from Jillian, though, and if you check out her notes on it, she got something entirely different out of it, which I think was pretty interesting.
If you like or tolerate Lapsang, you might like this. If you absolutely don’t like Lapsang at all, I’m not sure you would appreciate this one much either. Depending, of course, on how long you steep it. I didn’t think I gave it a particularly short steeping time on the first round, I’m pretty sure it got at least five minutes, but there you are. (I don’t time it, so I wouldn’t know for certain)