Kusmi Tea
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Cold Brew!
After brewing this I topped it up with a couple splashes of heavy cream, and then I sipped away at it during my commute in to the office. It was not as intensely roasty as I remember it being, but I’m sure that’s in part because dairy just softens flavours. With the cream it tasted like a chocolate and orange marshmallow, which just gave me warm and gooey nostalgic Butiki memories. I was happy with how this one came out.
I should have brought this with me to SK for the holidays; instead I had a cup on New Year’s day and it was delicious but the entire time I was sipping on it I just felt like it was soooo Christmas-y in terms of flavour profile…
I suppose that’s maybe ’cause I was coming off #adventageddon which did have a few of these orange and chocolate type profiles as holiday blends, so that was the mindset I was escaping. I love how this is chocolate, orange, and earthy roasted mate though! Great flavour combo, and probably still my favourite Kusmi blend.
In fact, I’m bumping the rating up from the 79 that it was at!
This tea kind of marks the start of the fastest feeling week ever for me…
So, a few days ago I wrote in a tasting note that I was trying to purposefully throw off my sleep schedule so that I could get up late in the afternoon on Wednesday so that I wouldn’t feel tired for my overnight merch flip that night, which was supposed to be followed by a shift at 8AM on Thursday morning. So, I did manage to sleep in until 2PM which helped a lot in terms of not being tired during the flip. When I got up, I started drinking higher caffeine/energy teas to help with staying awake and energized – namely this blend. It tasted great; very dark, bitter chocolate accented with a punch of sweet orange and a bit of a char taste mixed with very earthy mate. I LOVED it.
The merch flip went well, and we ended up finishing up at about 2AM. My original plan was to go home and nap in between finishing the overnight shift and having to come back in at 8AM for my normal shift. I was feeling pretty awake though, so I decided to stay at the mall between shifts and use some of my paid admin time, and then just work on a few things I’ve wanted to reorganize at the store for a while off the clock. It was going well; I was having a fun time jamming out to music and there’s lots of overnight construction happening in the mall right now so there were lots of other people around I could talk to if I wanted to. However, at around 7AM I hit a HUGE wall where I was just so insanely tired. At that point, well, it was too late. I’d committed to staying overnight and would have to power through my eight hour shift starting in an hour…
So more to come on that nightmare/adventure in my next tasting note, I guess.
Iced with some milk.
Like a creamy, sweet Terry’s Chocolate orange. This did, however, have an ‘airyness’ to it that made me think a little bit more of chocolate mousse, with orange undertones. Regardless, it was very good. It’s also been a long time since I last had this one so the revisit was really nice; like reconnecting with an old friend.
I should try this one without milk; it’s been a long time since I just drank it as a straight tea – and while it’s great with milk/I’m definitely drawn towards preparing it that way I also want to appreciate the tea for everything it brings to the game all on its own.
Scrambling right now to do all my last minute packing because I’m a serial procrastinator. We leave for vacation, officially, in forty minutes. Which is like… no time at all.
I have all my clothing and tea packed, at least, I just have yet to pack hygiene stuff, electronics, things to do on the car ride, all that good stuff. I’m taking a moment to pause and have a cup of tea though – or at least that’s how I’m choosing to look at it. One could also say that I’m just continuing to procrastinate though. Mental health is important though, and I know I’m just not gonna feel right if I don’t sneak a cuppa in before we take off.
I chose this one, both for the rich dessert like and comforting flavours and for the fact it packs a big caffeine punch – right now those are equally important things. It’s very, very chocolate heavy with sweet, zesty orange undertones sweeping in and fully coating the surface of my mouth. Delicious! The mate is more subtle; just a hint of light roast alongside the chocolate notes; primarily in the top of the sip, and quickly fading into obscurity. It’s full bodied and rich, but relaxing.
Ok – moment of calm done; back to packing now!
So, I’m experimenting with some of my flavoured honeys today and I thought that this was a tea that would work well with pretty much all the flavours I have – it was mostly just a matter of choosing which one.
My options are:
Chocolate
Orange Spice
Matcha
Coffee
Cinnamon
Garlic
And of course plain.
I didn’t go with garlic or matcha because they just didn’t seem like they’re compliment the flavour, and chocolate and orange spice seemed like they’d compliment it TOO well and wouldn’t really add much. So, then it just came down to cinnamon and coffee. In the end I went with coffee, purely because I’m almost done that jar of honey and I think I should probably finish off some honeys before getting more…
So, I’m currently drinking this mug and honestly? It’s ok. Not really any more or less than that. I like the tea on its own in the first place, and it’s not like it isn’t already a sweet tea so the addition of honey does put it dangerously close to tasting cloying. I actually thought it was make the chocolate the sweetest aspect and that would be the element that would be hard for me, but no it’s the orange that’s a bit too intense and in my face flavour wise.
I can taste the coffee flavour in the honey though, and you know what? It works for me! Instead of a nice duo of flavour this is a really nice trio that feels balanced apart from the general sweetness of the cup. The coffee has a bit of a bitter edge to it, the chocolate is rich, sweet and creamy and the orange is vibrant and juicy with an edge of acidity. It all comes together and works well. Plus, the mate itself has a lovely soft roasty quality too, which also works alongside the coffee.
While not without some cons, this is just a pretty nice midday cuppa. An invigorating one caffeine wise, as well! I definitely look forward to reaping those benefits as well.
As an iced latte, again.
I’m more so tasting the chocolate this time around – it’s very sweet, and obviously creamy from the addition of the milk. Kind of like a really good, liquid version of a plain milk chocolate bar? Though, there are hints of orange in the background and the soft roasty quality of the mate base comes through a little bit. Still really enjoying this one, though!
Well, I was correct – this tea does make a pretty stellar latte.
I drank it earlier today on shift as an iced latte; I can’t even remember what the last hot tea I drank was. At this point, with the current weather, drinking hot tea on shift is just too much on top of working. I need something cool, and refreshing to not feel burnt out.
The chocolate marries really well to the milk though, creating a very silky lighter milk chocolate taste. The orange does blend super seamlessly as it still stands out as very bright and juicy. Despite not mixing together perfectly, it does still compliment the overall flavour a lot though. It’s a nice sweet blend with that great juxtaposition between sweet, creamy indulgent chocolate which is more of a candy/confection sort of thing and naturally sweet fruit notes.
Yes!
I love the combination of chocolate and orange so I was pretty sure I was going to like this one; happy to see I was right. The chocolate comes through more strongly than the orange, and makes for a sweet, rich top note where as the orange offers a fresh, bright finish as it slowly transitions into the sip. The base comes through quite strongly as well; both roasty and earthy, which compliments the chocolate notes.
I think this one would make a pretty killer latte.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1vQMIisJuc&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=6
Made this to drink on my way in to the office today; it was pretty delightful though just a tiny bit astringent. I pushed the water temp a little higher than I would usually be comfortable with; but I was hoping to draw out some of the oceanic seaweed kind of notes. I think I did, but I also the spearmint forward in a very sweet way too.
My morning cuppa today.
Soothing and sweet spearmint notes are always a really pleasant way to begin the day, but honestly I didn’t finish my morning cup of this because the drying and strong vegetal quality of the seaweed in the blend partnered with this incredibly poignant “spice” note that lingered preciously in the aftertaste was unpleasant. A little bit like the spiciness of radishes!
Pot of tea, with some almond milk.
Almond milk may have been a weird choice; the nuttiness really came through quite strongly and I thought it provided a sort of cacophonous juxtaposition with the spearmint in the blend, which is also quite strong. Still finished the whole pot though, ‘cause I was really digging the spearmint even if I didn’t like the almond pairing as much. Mouthfeel was REALLY rich/thick too, which I found satisfying.
Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/L4GrDOOIIbk
One of those song that I’d literally heard a dozen times and knew ALL the lyrics for, but has no idea what it was called or who sang it. It was a very satisfying moment when I accidentally stumbled upon it on Youtube and it all clicked into place.
I like it paired with this tea for a few reasons. For starters, there’s colour imagery associate with the song (emerald) and I can’t help but associate strongly minty teas with that same sort of green imagery. So, in a way this is kind of a pairing of “auras”. However, there’s also a lot of aquatic imagery in this song, and considering this is a blend with literal seaweed in it that also just sort of clicked into place for me and just felt… right.
Iced with milk.
It’s really seaweed heavy this time around. I’ve finally kind of pinpointed that it’s the seaweed that’s the cause of that weird sort of powdery mouthfeel thing this has going on. I had sort of guess it might be, but this time around I payed a lot more attention to the amount of seaweed in the leaf I measured out in correlation with that mouthfeel thing. Definitely seems to be a tie in.
Also lots of sweet spearmint too though. My coworkers were pretty into this one.
Powdery spearmint…
Really tasty though, despite that weird textural thing that this tea tends to do. I like drinking it late at night because of how relaxing it is; pair it with some good music and you have yourself a really pleasant way to wind down for the evening.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzMaDCAaVyw&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=6
Hot with a splash of milk.
You know, it tasted really good – very much like a Moroccan Mint with that hint of creaminess in taste and mouthfeel from the added milk. There was something sort of weird to it though, perhaps from the seaweed? It just had a bit of a powdery sort of feeling mouthfeel as well that was a little strange. Didn’t seem to affect the flavour though…
Currently drinking a mug of this;
I woke up with a super stuffy nose and a fairly sore throat which pretty well derailed the plans I had for the tea I was going to drink today. So I chose this instead because I thought the mint in it would be good both for my throat and sinuses.
I can’t taste this as well as I’d like to; but the spearmint definitely does come through albeit in a muted way. If nothing else, it does feel good on my throat although it’s not doing much for my sinuses.
This is a queued tasting note.
So, when I placed my Kusmi order I really wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I just knew I wanted new tea from a company I’d yet to order from, and I vaguely was looking for a combination of white, green or mate tea since I don’t have much new on hand for any of those categories. Something in the moment spoke to me about this tea and I impulse bought it. In hind sight, I think it was the fascination of the seaweed?
My first tasting was a cold brew – and honestly? This is a pretty safe, simple flavour profile. It reminds me strongly of Moroccan Mint tea in a lot of ways – same intense spearmint notes and strong vegetal component. Though, while still being VERY vegetal there certainly are more oceanic undertones to this than a typical Moroccan Mint would have. Only negative thing I can really say for this one is that the finish/aftertaste was perhaps a little musty? And even that’s not quite the right word though it’s pretty close to what I’m thinking of.
So yeah, for an impulse purchase I think this was a pretty decent tea. I mean, it’s certainly not mind blowing or overly unique, but I imagine it’ll be safe and consistent and as someone who doesn’t like green tea much anyway those are both good qualities for a blend to have.
Sipdown (205)!
The last of the three free sachets that Kusmi added to my order! I actually thought that I’d tried this one before – but I don’t appear to have logged it on steepster so I’m wondering which tea I’m mixing it up with?
Anyway – I found this one pretty solid but ultimately somewhat average. Part of that is of course that I’m not the world’s biggest Earl Grey fan although I do appreciate the occasional cup of it. I kind of thought the bergamot in this particular blend was sort of “middle of the road” in regard to how strong it was. It was also complimented by lavender, caramel, and red currant notes. I appreciated that this was obviously a non-traditional EG but that it didn’t get too crazy as far as the extra flavours/ingredients in it go. I doubt I’d ever want to stock this one, especially given that Kusmi tins come in 125g quantities typically – but as a one off cup? I definitely enjoyed and appreciated it.
Sipdown (206)!
Another free sachet that Kusmi added to my last order. I was pretty excited about this one because I do really adore pineapple stuff in general. It tasted very pineapple-y too, so that was a big win for me. Kind of cross between candied pineapple and bubblegum? I couldn’t taste the base tea(s) that clearly – with how many there are it was pretty muddled. Smooth overall though, with just enough fruity sweetness!
Sipdown (207)!
One of three free sachets that Kusmi sent with my recent order.
Despite not loving green tea in general, this one wasn’t too bad. I definitely think that, based on my previous experiences and this one, green Darjeelings are more weighted towards the flavour notes that are distinct in typical Chinese greens rather than Japanese. This one read as very grassy to me, as well as having lemony undertones and timothy hay notes. It was pretty smooth, without any real astringency.
It made for a nice thoughtless cup to sip on while watching The 100 with roommates and nomming on some vegetarian Sushi. Green tea in general tends to work well with sushi, and in this case it was the lemon notes pairing the best with the food. A Japanese green would have been more appropriate, but this was still quite good.
