Russian Wine Tea – the name itself conjures up images of tea glasses on the Trans-Siberian Railway, or tea enthusiast politicos in generous coats of wool or fur huddled by a roaring fire in the deep winter a la Dr. Zhivago (unabashedly one of my favorite movies! rjh )
But you don’t need such an exotic setting to enjoy our very first tea blend from 1974 … all you need is a teapot, a cup, and hot water.
Russian Wine Tea has been offered in our store every day since we first created and introduced it for sale – that’s 41 years now that we’ve been blending this tea and selling it to its many fans – wow! The original blend formula was given to us by a Chinese colleague who wanted us to see what interest there would be in modern vision of an ‘historic’ Chinese tea.
We start with a full-bodied black tea from Western China and add to it several classic Chinese greens – all in the proper proportion of course – and then we let the blend rest for a brief period of time to allow the flavors to meld. It is quirky blending different classes of tea, but Bob does this quite a bit (as he mixes disparate leaf shapes, too). There is an art to blending tea well, so that the end result is greater tasting than the teas that comprise the sum of it’s parts, Many think that it is just taking some of this and some of that and expecting a good result. That is just not so.
The result proves that the enjoyment of tea does not limit itself to traditional combinations, but also to thoughtful and unusual combinations of teas as well. The principles are similar to those in cooking – a little addition of the right spice or herb can add depth and interest to the flavor; too much of it and the taste become overwrought and one-directional.
Russian Wine Tea is so delicious that it will take you wherever your mind wants to go, and that could be dreaming of an ice-cold glass of tea on a sunny summer day – because our blend is equally good hot or cold.