Northern Tea Merchants: Russian Caravan

(Russian Caravan housed in the Royal Wedding Caddy - a caddy reserved for extra special tea's).

Today I was walking around my local branch of Tesco's and it was somewhat indicative of how much tea has become part of my life when I realised that I had two tea's from Northern Tea Merchants that I had yet to try and I felt truly overjoyed.

Tea flow's through my veins as much as blood does. Not only has it become a stable and comforting element in my life but is almost a part of myself as much as my sense of humour or my strongly rooted ethics and morals.

With the mere thought of tea bringing me much happiness you can imagine what I'm like when new tea's drop through the letterbox!

This week the lovely postman brought me my Northern Tea Merchant orders. Included in the order is this really wonderful Russian Caravan blend.

Russian Caravan, despite it's interesting and rather wonderful name, isn't a Russian tea! It's name comes from the caravan's that were used to transport the tea from China to Europe. The tea travelled through Russia on it's journey.

The tea comprises of a Chinese black tea and oolong tea. As always I took this tea black and seeped the tea for around four minutes. Due to my tea maker having options for both black tea's and oolong tea I decided to play it safe and use my yellow submarine infuser instead!

The tea is stunning to look at. It brews to a reddish, coppery colour.

Russian Caravan is one of those tea's that make's me so happy that I take tea black. Without milk masking the depth of tea you can gain a wonderful insight into the tea and how the blends work. I have been drinking a fair amount of flavoured black tea's recently, so it's nice to get back to tea in it's purest state.

This blend is a tea of substance but without the malty, sometimes overpowering taste that you can get with an Assam or English Breakfast blend. Recently, I've tried Northern Tea's gorgeous Yunnan which is a powerful and extremely robust tea. Russian Caravan is just as enjoyable, but is milder.

There is a delicateness to this tea, but no way does this mean it's weak. It's very reminiscent of Northern Tea's Keemun.

The previous Russian Caravan that I have tried also contained Lapsang Souchong therefore making the blend very smoky. Northern Tea does not add Laspsang to their blend giving it a more delicate flavour. Personally, I feel, when Lapsang is added it can overpower other flavours so it's nice to take it without.

Russian Caravan is smooth and mellow and has a very subtle sweetness to it which I found to be extremely enjoyable. As always with Northern Tea there is  no doubt that the tea is the best quality possible which makes it a tasty evenly balanced drink.
 
I have infused the leaves three times. (I add two teaspoons into the infuser). The second infusion was just as good as the first, albeit slightly sweeter in my opinion, though that could just be my sense of taste. The third infusion is much weaker but still enjoyable, but to get the best out of the blend I would recommend no more then two infusions with this blend.

As I mentioned earlier, recently I've been incredibly lucky to try lots of Northern Merchants tea's. From the impression making Yunnan, to the scrummy delight of Chocolate Tea. And the fruity delights of their apple and strawberry tea's and the wonderfully ladylike Rose Congou tea. And honestly, they are my go to company for black tea in particular. The quality of the tea is second to none for high quality yet affordable black tea.

I'm so glad that I opted to purchase their Russian Caravan blend. I enjoyed it immensely and it made a huge difference from the flavoured tea's that I've been enjoying recently. It is certainly a blend that I will be purchasing on a regular basis.

So, if you're popping into Northern Tea Merchants in Chesterfield, or, if you are purchasing online do add some Russian Caravan to your basket. You won't regret it.

It is a little bit of magic in a mug.