Russian Breakfast

Had this tea at Mariage Frères tea room last Sunday.
I really enjoyed it even if I remember a kind of bitterness(subtile but present)
I suspected an assam…I think I was right !

The citrus are lovely

my mum was given this tea as a gift and then brought it along with us on a trip so that i could enjoy a nice cup of tea while we were away.

i don’t know if i would recommend this tea! it is mariage freres, so of course it is drinkable, but i’m not really sure what it’s trying to be. my first thought upon hearing the phrase russian breakfast was that it would be smokey, but instead it was a lot more citrusy and malty than i thought. almost lemony! this tea feels like it has a lot of top notes but then it all sort of disappears, which surprised me. apparently you can enjoy this with a little milk and i imagine you could but i don’t know if i’d like it with milk in?

it is totally re-steepable so you definitely get your money’s worth but i’m not sure if would purchase it. it’s a mild breakfast tea, but not to my taste which is unusual for me because i usually really like breakfast tea!

It was pretty flat. I didn’t pick up any of the citrus—even at a lower temperature. I largely tasted…black tea.

Advent Day 18

Another meh for me. Smells kind of weird.

Mariage Frères Advent 2021 – Day 18

After so much fancy blue oolong froufrou, a simple black tea with a squeeze of lemon-like citrus is a lovely addition. Although, MF manages to touch upon the art of perfume even with this blend. I’ve no clue why this is “Russian” though. Not an iota.

Enjoyed this with milk, like a breakfast tea, this morning – but it’s light enough to be had without.

Advent Day 18

A black tea!!!! If only this was strong enough to knock me out of being so cranky and irritable with my household! It felt like everyone needed something from me before I had gotten breakfast or tea in me.
My cup has cooled now that I’ve tended to all the things. I noticed it was brisk when gulping some of it down with breakfast. It doesn’t quite have that smokiness that I have come to associate with teas with “Russian” in the name. There is a citrus flavor in the depths that comes out more when it cools. Took a few sips to get over or past how strong this is. I bet it would be great with cream and sugar, but I can’t be bothered at this point in my cup or take the risk that I’d ruin what is left. I get wood and tannins in this as well. I’m liking how heavy this tea is, but I don’t love it enough to open my cupboard doors to it and invite it in, especially when French Breakfast lives there.

Strong tea with strong citrus fragrance. Very enjoyable.

I’ve had this tea a number of times now but only just realised it now that I’d never posted about it. Lucky this is what we had today, then, because an actual tasting note wasn’t really what I thought I’d be writing here today… I wish I’d paid more attention to the tea, then.

Anyway, as mentioned I’ve had it a number of times, so I think I can muddle through. Basically we’ve got a citrus-flavoured breakfast blend. The base blend itself is strong and.. breakfast-blend-y. I can’t tell what all has gone into it, but I suspect it’s largely of Indian/Sri Lankan origin. The citrus-flavouring is not super tart, it’s more of a bitter-y flavour and a bit perfumed. I think we’re dealing with bergamot here and possibly some grapefruit. It’s not very strongly flavoured, so rather than tasting like a flavoured tea, it’s more like a standard breakfast blend with a twist.

I rather like it. I like that the emphasis is on the base blend, which makes it a familiar sort of thing to drink if one enjoys breakfast blends, but with a bit of freshness on the side.

Anyway, what I actually came to say was, merry Christmas, Steepsterites, as in this country we celebrate on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day.

One of these days I shall get around to summing up the AC Perch’s christmas calendar which continued to disappoint straight through to the 24th… Not buying that one again next year!