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Another tea from Kusmi´s “The Russians” range, and so far, the one I least like. One way or another, I´m not too fond about orange or dominant spices in combination with black tea (apart from at Xmas time, perhaps), and this is confirmed smelling the tea from the tin AND the resulting cuppa. I had it at breakfast, which wasn´t a good move either (definitely need to try it again as an afternoon tea…in winter).

The tea from the tin has a wonderful fragrance (very Earl Grey like), which one way or the other changed my expectations of the tea while brewing it. Indeed, the first sip was quite disappointing as the taste is more floral than bergamot. In the end I even appreciated it a lot, but as a floral black tea (cf. Betty´s Rose Petals, for people from Yorkshire). If you are looking for an Earl Grey like taste, this is NOT the tea to pick, I´m afraid.

The best Earl Grey (in a tin) I´ve ever bought. If you ever want to have a complete Earl Grey experience, with the bergamot fragrance all over, this is the one to prepare. Quite pricey, but considering the enjoyment, worth every bit of it.

In the nose this promises to be a wonderful Earl Grey like tea, but once brewed it´s not that brilliant, at least not for me. It seems that all the citrics just flew away, resulting in quite a flat taste. Maybe I need to change the steeping parameters a bit, as this isn´t supposed to be “just” a black tea. BTW, couldn´t discover the orange blossom in the tea either.

A perfect alternative for English breakfast teas. Bitterness is limited (only in the last bit – I forgot all about my “cuppa” – it dominated), which is probably a good thing for a lot of tea drinkers. As I wasn´t quite sure what is typical about the Russian tea tradition, I looked around on internet, and I found that traditionally tea is brewed for a longer time, resulting in a more concentrated brew, and then diluted for use, so I guess the tea blends in general are less bitter, which corresponds to my observation. Not adding any milk or sugar to my tea, I think this might become a morning favourite of mine.

I´m a big fan of Earl Grey type of teas, but on the other end are the red berry infusions I normally cannot appreciate at all (if you can enjoy them so much fresh, it´s always a huge disappointment to have them in infusion, according to me). St-Petersburg basically being a mix of both, plus an extra caramel (cf. Marco Polo tea, as it´s being named in France), it´s of course too little bergamot and too much berry for me, but I seem to find the caramel here more annoying, to be honest. OK for an afternoon tea (with a sweet snack) though.