Description
As you sip this full bodied, smoky black tea, imagine the flavors of a russian caravan, with a tea chest unloaded on the snow-covered steppes, illuminated by campfire. Our organic Russian Caravan is a full bodied infusion, with organic loose leaf black tea from India, Sri Lanka, and China—a truly satisfying cup.
Although a Chinese tea, its name originates from the 18th century camel caravans that facilitated the transcontinental tea trade from tea-producing areas (namely India, Ceylon and China) to Europe via Russia. “It took at least half a year to make the six-thousand-mile journey from the Chinese border to Russia, and the voyage was harsh.”
The southern route by Odessa is far cheaper, but the tea is supposed to suffer in flavour in its transit through the tropical seas, while it improves in its passage through the cold dry climate of Mongolia and Siberia, by losing that unpleasant taste of firing [whereby tea was dried using direct heat]. As Russian epicures believe that a peculiar delicacy of flavor is imparted to it by the slight moisture it absorbs when nightly unloaded and placed on the snow-covered steppes, the enhanced price it commands compensates for the greater expense and difficulty of its carriage by this route.
Health benefits of black tea
Find out how black tea can improve your health here.
TeaLover625 –
This is a rich, strong tea, but you have to like Lapsang Souchong to really like this tea. I was expecting the smokiness to be milder because of its mix with black tea, but to me it really tastes primarily of the Lapsang Souchong. I gave it 3 stars only because I don’t care for strong smoky flavors, but if you are a fan of smokiness in your tea you should appreciate the Russian Caravan.
DuckyJ –
This is very similar to the Lapsang Souchong offering, but with more tea flavor underneath it. However, I find it to have a slight “hollowness” to the taste, but that it was nicely filled with the addition of a dab of honey. It is also different in that, because of the additional black teas in the mix, it will stand up to a second steeping. On the whole, though, for me I would choose straight Lapsang Souchong for my occasional smokey treat.