Review: Kusmi Tea’s Russian Morning No. 24 Tea

© 2011 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.

The Subject:	Russian Morning No. 24
Company:	Kusmi Tea. [More info]

Straight Tea Rating:
About the new rating designation.

Water temperature:	212°F
Steeping time:	3-4 mins.
Tea type:	Black
Dry leaves:	Dark, large pieces; faint, slightly floral aroma

1st Infusion:
Steeping time —	4 mins.
Aroma, plain —	Malty, roasty, caramelly
Taste, plain —	Well-blended, not bitter, not as strong as expected
Color, plain —	Reddish-brown
Taste, enhanced —	Milk alone was good, with sweetener was better
2nd Infusion:
Steeping time —	4½ mins.
Aroma, plain —	Lighter
Taste, plain —	Lighter
Color, plain —	Lighter reddish-brown

Comments:
In English, this is called Russian Morning Tea. In French, it is simply Morning Tea. Either way, your tastebuds will wake up with the first sip, even thought the tea is not nearly as strong-tasting as other breakfast blends we’ve tried. Kusmi states that this tea combines China black, Ceylon black, and Indian black. They are super secretive about which specific teas these are, so you have to guess. Based on the flavor, color, and aroma, hubby and I guess Keemun for the China black and Assam for the Indian black. Also, we are guessing that they don’t have enough Assam. But that’s us. We love Assam tea.

The tea comes bagged in muslin (a loosely-woven cotton fabric popular in France, where Kusmi is headquartered), and has steeping instructions on the back side of the tag:

To steep, we cut open the bag and put them loose into the pot. We also wanted to see what they looked like. Too often tea bags hide inferior tea leaves. Such was definitely not the case here, as you can clearly see, both before and after steeping, and which the taste proved:

The beauty of this black tea is that it is totally flexible, delicious both plain and with your favorite “enhancer” (lemon, honey, milk, sweetener, etc.). We always sip a new tea straight first to give it a chance to speak for itself without interference from other flavorings, and did so here. With each sip we were initially greeted with a flavor that led us to expect a bitter aftertaste, but thankfully, there was none. Just pure tea enjoyment. Then, we tried it with just a bit of milk. Still great. Then, a touch of sweetener was added. Even better, with the almost floral character coming out stronger.

Again, the only thing we can fault is that we were expecting a stronger tasting tea from something called a morning tea.

For this tasting, Little Yellow Teapot was joined by his two Matruska buddies (the stacking dolls) and a new creamer along with his faithful tea cozy companion.

Remember those commercials for breakfast cereals showing a bowlful next to real food like toast? The slogan was always, “Part of this nutritious breakfast.” Well, we thought we’d do a bit of a take-off on that with this tea, part of this somewhat more nutritious breakfast (no boxed cereal):

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.