Has anyone tried the Kusmi/Kuzmi/Kousmichoff teas? I saw them at a Williams-Sonoma store the other day but didn't buy any before I could investigate. I went home and did a web search and found that the company originated in St. Petersberg in 1867, then fled to Paris during the Bolshevik Revolution, and remains the only "authentic" Russian tea firm.
Thanks, Bert
Bert Fullerbejgr6$5of61$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-184524.news.dfncis.de7/10/03
06: snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com
Bert,
I enjoyed browsing through Kusmi's web site, and feel a certain kinship with him based on his description of his "Anastasia" tea (among others), to wit: "Kusmi Anastasia Tea is a Russian blend of Ceylon and China Teas scented with orange, bergamot, lemon and lime. Delicate, aromatic and lime-flavorful. Traditionally served neat. 4.4 oz." **Neat?** That's a term I've never heard applied to tea drinking, but often heard applied to another beverage for which Russia is justly famous.
Other curiosities: A scent of "buffalo grass" in the "Zoubrovska," and the use of muslin for the teabags. Buffalo grass????
The whole thing's intriguing.
Best, Michael
I don't know about their claim but the Israel label Wissotzky was founded in Moscow by Klonimus Wolf Wissotzky in 1849. They moved to London in 1907 then Palestine in 1936. I don't buy tea from high class department stores because it's more advertizing and packaging than substance and my bottom line too expensive. These types of stores have exclusive labels you can't find anywhere else. You know you're in a fru-fru store when you sample their tea from a coffee urn.
Jim
I got a gift certificate to be used at a coffee/tea place last Christmas. The shop's bulk teas were stored in loosely sealed glass containers and the atmosphere was dominated by the smell of coffee being ground, so I had to choose prepackaged tea. What I ended up with was 2 Kusmi teas:
- Bouquet de Fleurs: *aggressively* scented, citrusy-floral, but nothing like an Earl Grey. I kind of liked it but would have liked it better with less scenting/flavoring, I think.
- Samovar: more or less like a Russian Caravan tea, I think (I don't have much experience with this type): smoky but less so than the Lapsangs I've tasted. I was happy to drink this for breakfast.
/Lew
"Michael Plant" asked
It's used extensively to flavor vodka.
Julie C.eofPa.1581$ snipped-for-privacy@tor-nn1.netcom.ca7/10/03
11:13no-spanner@127.0.0.0
which, BTW, I drink neat.
Thanks, Julie.
Michael
Hmm, when I get through that bottle of Zubrowka I might just dry the blade of 'bison grass', chop it up and mix with some keemun and ceylon op and try it for myself ... what an incentive!
Yes, I noticed that. Pretty strange for a company that puts so much effort into the way its product *smells*.
/Lew
The French are the masters of scent and I don't mean daily hygiene. Personally I like to see what is adding to the scent\flavor of tea in the form of peel, petals, etc versus a chemical solvent passed as perfume. I like visiting the herbal stores and picking my own tisanes for tea. The popular French taste for tea is Vanilla. It's a scent and not a tea varietal otherwise tea would taste like grapes.
Jim
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