Russian Country

Sometimes I take little trips around the web to see what I can see about
tea. I was on the PG Tips site and found a very funny video ad. Their
site is http://www.pgtips.co.uk/ . On the left, click on Playtime to get to the video. I hope you will find it amusing, if not hilarious, as I did.

I also happened upon a site for women called Bella Online. The tea portion is http://tea.bellaonline.com/ There are a number of discussion topics for tea, as well as a host of other information ranging from sewing to auto repair. I believe it is a fairly new site

On to the drinking of tea - Today's adventure is Harney and Sons Russian Country. As I opened the packet, there was a very strong smoky smell, that wonderful characteristic Lapsang Souchong blast. The leaves were quite small and, of course, black. I brewed it for a standard 3.5 minutes in boiling water. The scent of the brew had morphed into something like that of the tang of horse harness. The liquor was a fairly dark amber and at first tasted like licorice, of all things. As it cooled, more of the smokiness came out and even more so with the addition of a bit of milk. However, I didn't feel this really was a particularly good tea. There was a lack of clarity in taste and smell and otherwise, it was on the blah side.