A. Blikle

How funny that I’ve been having so much tea here in Warsaw, when I hardly had any in London and Paris! But I’m here for longer, so I’m doing a bit less running around frantically, and thus have more time to sit down and have a pot of tea. This time it was at Cafe Blikle on ul. Nowy Świat, which is the cafe front of the famous Polish confectioner A. Blikle. Today on ul. Nowy Świat the street was all roped off and Obama drove past no less than three times while I was walking and having my tea!

Anyway, A. Blikle also has their own tea blends, and this one is a pretty classic Russian-style, and it was done well. The aroma of the steeping tea was of bergamot and general citrus, and a smooth creamy-vanilla, like an Earl Grey Cream. The taste was pretty true to the smell; a smooth bergamotty flavor with bright citrus notes on the end of the sip. The creaminess of the aroma isn’t as present in the sip, just providing a smooth, sweetish background for the citrus. As it cools the note at the end of the sip gets slightly more bitter, but not unpleasant, more of just a lemony-sour-bitter.

I let the second cup steep a bit longer (but not too long, yay for tea pots with a steeping basket so I can stop the steeping!), and it was very much the same, though a little stronger and the creamy notes were even further diminished. All in all a very nice cup of tea and a nice execution of this kind of blend!