Russian Evening No. 50

Sipping this again, I’ve been getting this tinge of bitterness that’s sort of synthetic and reminds me of decaffenation. I know it isn’t, and the sharpness also makes me think of Darjeeling. Also, there is definitely Keemun in this; I’m getting that very slight breath of nut and smoke I personally associate with it.

Anyways, flipping through Kusmi’s teas as I drink this, I’ve concluded that Kusmi’s unflavoured blends have many more strongly disappointed reading notes compared to their flavoured’s. From my (meagre) experience, they definitely seem to put a little more effort into their flavoured blends.

This isn’t BAD, though. It’s a little sharp, but also goes well with orange. I’m beginning to run low on it, and I doubt I’ll get it again—I’d rather try some of Kusmi’s OTHER teas—although I hate that their tins are so permanently decorated. If I want to reuse it, in my obsession I’ll have to tape over all the pre-existing labels.

I wanted to try this again to see whether I thought it was worth tossing into the take to work pile. It’s billed as a lower caffeine tea so I thought it would be good for work in the afternoon. I had it on the heels of my oft-noted English Breakfast.

After I tasted it again, I decided to bring it to work. It’s not a favorite. It’s kind of bland and doesn’t have a lot of flavor except the peppery flavor I noted before.

I’m bumping the rating down a bit because I’ve had so many better black teas lately, including from Kusmi.

I got a sample on this Russian Evening because I was looking for a good decaffeinated “plain tea” (just tea, with no fancy flavoring) to drink at night before I go to bed. I’m a big fan of the Russian Morning by Kusmi, so I was hoping for a similar experience from this. I’m sorry to say I was very disappointed by this blend. I hate to be harsh, but to my palate this came across as a mix of Darjeeling and Ceylon that had been over-steeped, re-dried and re-packaged. Again, I hate to be harsh (because I am such a big fan of Kusmi) but this tea just did not work for me at all.

I LOVE this tea!!!! It’s definitely my favorite from Kusmi, so I was sad to learn that it has been discontinued! Apparently it was not well-liked by customers (which now I can see based on the reviews from this site), but I’m devastated. The mix of black teas was so interesting and took some getting used to, but it ended up being perfect for cold, snowy evenings. I would prepare it using my samovar, which just made the whole experience wonderful. Too bad I can’t get it anywhere, now.