Kusmi Russian Breakfast

Another windy, rainy day. Another excuse for some good black tea
- as if I needed one. I recently got a tin of Kusmi's Russian Breakfast no. 24 and hadn't tried it yet, so I thought this would be perfect. It is billed as a blend of China black, Ceylon and Indian teas. It certainly is black, with a few bits of gold thrown in to highlight it. The dry leaves really had very little scent to them, which surprised me, as Russian teas often have a heavy scent. I brewed it up in our "all-day "pot - the big ugly green one, as I was in the mood for a lot of tea. There still wasn't a lot of scent but I could distinguish what I think of as China and Ceylon teas. I can't tell you how they are different, but they smell different to me. The tea had a very pleasant taste, not at all heavy, but very fresh and bold, definitely one deserving a touch of milk and if you are so inclined, some sugar or jelly. It was good with and without the milk and drinkable for a good bit of the day. Definitely good for breakfast, when I like a plainish black.
I really love Kusmi Tea tins. They are nicely decorated and they stack up well. Many other companies tins do not stack well and are forever falling all over each other. Of course, I may have too much tea, but we won't go into that. I can't say that I love all their teas. Some of them are too heavily scented or flavored with what I think are rather odd flavors. These are some of their older teas, probably made more specifically for a Russian clientele, as Kusmi was originally a Russian company, which fled to Paris during their revolution. I don't know this about the earlier teas, so please don't quote me.

The photo today is of one of the many jitneys one can take to tour Vienna. It struck me as "olde worlde" enough to go with Kusmi tea, since I have no Russian photos. I did see one a long while ago that I have always remembered, generally as the world begins to lose color. It was almost black and white, and shades of gray, taken on a winter's day. There was one bright spot - the woman in the picture was carrying a glass jar of borscht. It was stunning.