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“Smoky and fairly strong, like a Caravan blend. I felt obligated to do it at least once the prescribed way (here: https://www.samovarlife.com/5-steps-to-the-ultimate-russian-tea ) with American...” Read full tasting note
“This is one of three teas I take something with: I put in about a teaspoon of strawberry jam. On its own, the smoky flavor is really overpowering. I’m the only one in my family who drinks it...” Read full tasting note
“Tolstoy’s Sip has a smoky flavor that dances a little on the edge of too much without ever crossing over. The result is a flavor that I have to be in the mood for, but when I am, I am absolutely...” Read full tasting note
“We just posted a recipe for Russian tea featuring with Tolstoy’s Sip along with a coupon for 20% off orders place by 11/4: http://www.samovarlife.com/5-steps-to-the-ultimate-russian-tea/” Read full tasting note
Simply intense, caffeine-loaded and best with a scoop of strawberry jam. Sit, sip and ponder Tolstoy’s wisdom, “Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.”
Ingredients: Organic Chinese black tea, bergamot oil
Tasting and Aroma Specs: Smoky, sweet, and lightly fruity. Smooth and full bodied with an apricot sweetness, and a light tarry smokiness.
Food Pairing: Potato Pancakes or Samovar’s Russian Platter.
Company description not available.
Smoky and fairly strong, like a Caravan blend. I felt obligated to do it at least once the prescribed way (here: https://www.samovarlife.com/5-steps-to-the-ultimate-russian-tea ) with American Spoon strawberry preserves, but I must say, Samovar’s steeping instructions are awfully vague, giving amounts of leaf and jam to use but not amounts of water nor how long to steep nor how to go about straining (the “steaming” step implies you add the tea directly to the teapot, not within an infuser basket) given you’ve added jam to the tea. So it was all a mess, and unfortunately a waste of good jam too ‘cause I didn’t like it (I shouldn’t be too surprised; I have yet to find any strawberry with black tea base blend I like). Oh well. I guess it’s good (kinda) you can only order this in big amounts so wasting some the first time isn’t the end. :/
I appreciate Samovar’s steeping directions in general for trying to stay open to people’s varying tastes and also for being gongfu-ish, but sometimes you want a decent cup of western-style tea and no more than that (brisk blacks especially are something where I’m only going to want 1 cup, usually in a hurry first thing in the morning so no resteeps, and especially don’t want to be using 1 whole Tbsp a go). That’s what I want some specific guidelines for. Oh well. Next time I’ll try 1 teaspoon for 8 oz, boiling, 3 minutes and hopefully it’ll go ok.
EDIT: Hm, looking more closely I think I can put the pieces together, but it’s easy to overlook if you skim and requires additional link-hopping to figure it all out—it appears to be around 13oz boiling water, 3 Tb tea, 2 Tb strawberry jam, 10 second dry steam condition of the leaves then 15 minute steep jam and all. Filter afterward (somehow…), and then do equal parts the steeped super strong tea and additional boiling water, add sweetener and/or dairy to taste. I might just try it one more time…maybe. It’s vaguely like southern sweet tea, ha.
This is one of three teas I take something with: I put in about a teaspoon of strawberry jam. On its own, the smoky flavor is really overpowering. I’m the only one in my family who drinks it because they all complain that it smells awful. It doesn’t smell particularly fabulous, but it tastes good. I also let it steep for more than ten minutes, and it doesn’t turn bitter. I just sort of get it when I think about it.
Flavors: Smoke
We just posted a recipe for Russian tea featuring with Tolstoy’s Sip along with a coupon for 20% off orders place by 11/4: http://www.samovarlife.com/5-steps-to-the-ultimate-russian-tea/
I love Caravan style teas :)
Im from Russia. We never make tea this way. You make a zavarka, then dilute with hot water to your liking. Jam, pastries are on a side;)
yeah, the jam added right into the tea while steeping seemed very unorthodox to me—i’m vaguely familiar with “make a crazy concentrated tea, then dilute with hot water from a samovar and lots of sugar” but not the jam thing, ha.
that said i don’t really care about hewing to tradition or anything. it just seemed fun. but without clearer instructions the first go-round, and first thing in the morning when my head’s still fuzzy, it was a mess waiting to happen.
Let us know the results if you decide to try again
sure!