TB75: Baker Street Blend

Medium body, smooth, not astringent at all; nice flavorful tea.

Hah, this is better with milk and maple syrup. I had it straight and it’s just a bit too dry and smoky for me that way.

This tea smells smoky and sweet in a way that reminds me of when we cruised the campgrounds on Sunday as a kid, looking for campfires that hadn’t been put out all the way and restarting them. There’s something a little dry and pine straw about the aroma.

I was surprised at how much the tea comes through the smoke—dark, a little sweet, and malty. It gives a nice contrast between savory and sweet, like smoky molasses? There may be a hint of cocoa in there.

The smoke is on the lighter side, but still a little too strong for me. It comes out the nose like cigarette smoke and tickles the back of my throat.

Backlog:

A nice blend with Lapsang Souchong. I like the way the other teas help soften the smoky blow of the Lapsang Souchong here. It’s smoky but not overpowering. Mildly smoky.

I like that I can taste each of the teas here. I get the notes of Darjeeling and Keemun and Lapsang Souchong. The Darjeeling and Keemun have some lovely fruit notes that are an interesting combination with the smoky tones of the Lapsang Souchong.

A nice afternoon cup.

I have not missed waking up at 6 am every morning, but my kids go back to school today which means I go back to my early-to-bed-early-to-rise schedule. sigh Summer, I miss you already.

Well, if i have to be awake then this is a great tea to have in my cup. This one came to me from Dinosara via a swap on Ravelry. I’m surprised I haven’t logged it before because my bag is almost empty. The is wonderfully sweet and smokey. The LS is lighty done, so even though there is smoke it doesn’t overwhelm the Darjeeling or the Keemun . I like the floral note here, and I think both the Darkeeling and the Keemun lend a wine-y asspect to the tea that is so good.

I’ll definitely pick up more of this once my little pouch is empty, but I still have a little of this one left. That means this isn’t a sipdown, but it is still progress. Yummy, yummy progress.

September Sipdowns: 6

I hope everyone had a nice Easter yesterday, or if Easter is not your thing, I hope you had a nice Sunday. I miss the Easter of my youth, it was never a religious holiday for me, more of a celebration of spring and family, a time of crafts and bunnies. Yesterday Ben’s family had a nice get together with food and familial love, the food was good but I was exceptionally homesick and missing my family. I look forward to this late fall and winter when I get to spend time with my peeps.

Today’s tea is a lovely blend straight from London, Upton Tea Import’s Baker Street Afternoon Blend, a blend of Lapsang Souching, Keemun, and Darjeeling. A perfect afternoon tea for sipping it one’s study, at least in my humble (mostly) English opinion. Sniffing the dry leaves transport me to a Victorian gentleman’s library, blending pipe smoke, polished wood, and a comfy leather chair. It is super evocative! There are also faint flora and muscatel notes, the aroma of the blend is quite delicious.

After giving the tea a good steeping and the wet leaves a good nose examination, I notice the aroma of the wet leaves are sweeter and more fruity, a blend of muscatel and dried cherries with smoky notes. It is rich and a bit brisk. The liquid has the aroma of smoke and fruit, it reminds me of the way fruit that has been cooked on a grill, so now instead of reminding me of a Victorian study, the aroma reminds me of a summer cookout.

Ok, time to get my British out, oh who am I kidding, it is always out! The taste is rich, smoky and muscatel with a tiny hint of cherry with an oak wood aftertaste. The mouthfeel is bright and smooth, a very nice afternoon tea. I wish it was a bit smokier, but I am a sucker for smoky teas, the smoke taste is very mild, so if you want a tea that only has a touch of smoke then this is your brew. I decided to add some cream and sugar, it is not bad, certainly more English tasting, but it takes away the some of the more subtle notes of fruit.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/04/upton-tea-imports-baker-street.html

Beautiful orangy color. Smalls like a perfectly balanced black tea blend. Tastes so too. A bit of sweetness, a bit of bitterness and a bit of smokeyness. Smooth and gentle yet very flavored. And the flavor last for a while. It’s a delicious one.

In some ways it’s funny that I prefer Upton Russian Caravan to Baker Street Blend. Since I much prefer darjeeling to oolong, and Baker Street switches out the latter for the former, it should be a blend made in heaven for me: lapsang souchong, darjeeling, and keemun.

It’s good, no doubt, but the grassiness of the darjeeling makes the unadulterated liquor of the brewed Baker Street (dark amber colored—a bit lighter than the Russian Caravan) just a bit less smooth and pleasant than the unadulterated Russian Caravan.

With cream, however, this is also very nice. I’d recommend Baker Street for those who like lapsang souchong straight, since it is more marked in this blend than in Russian Caravan. For those who find lapsang souchong too smoky, this Baker Street Blend might be as well.

There is one problem with my comparison, however. The Russian Caravan in my tea cupboard is Upton’s higher grade (T70 not T60), which they own is prepared using higher quality teas (presumably in the same proportions). So in some ways I may be comparing apple and oranges, except that Upton does not seem to have a higher-grade Baker Street Blend, which would be the fair comparison.

Anyway, this is still a fine afternoon tea—but much more of lapsang than keemun or darjeeling. I’d be interested to find out the proportions used of the three in this blend.

Re-steeping yielded a good result. I left the infuser in the mug while drinking and the resulting astringency was quite nice.