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November 01, 2004
Prince Vladimir Tea
Name: Prince Vladimir Tea
Kathy's Rating: 6.5/10.0
Company: Kousmichoff Tea
Origin of tea: France
Price: ~$13/125g (4.4oz)
Tea form: Loose black tea blend with natural flavoring
What they say: From Kousmichoff & Sons, founded in 1867 in St. Petersburg and revived in 1920 in Paris. Prince Vladimir is a spciy blend of Ceylon, China and India teas with a strong citrus flavor and vanilla undertones.
Preparation method: Boil water and pour over tea. Steep for 4-6 minutes.
Review: This is a full-bodied black tea with strong aromas of sweet citrus - not the sour citrus taste of herbal citrus teas. If you're a person who likes to get some caffeine in the morning, this would be a good breakfast tea for you. Just let the tea steep for a bit longer than 4-6 minutes to get a stronger flavor and more caffeine. I like this tea because it is vastly different from the Chinese and Japanese teas I usually drink. It feels like a special occasion, "there needs to be pastries served with the tea" kind of tea, but I digress. It stands fine on its own. One thing I've noticed with this tea: the leaves are very finely chopped, so make sure you are using a strainer or infuser of some type so that you're not sipping bits of the tea. The site I linked to is Dean and Deluca, which does charge a bit more for its products. You can probably find the same tea for a couple of bucks less elsewhere. The one thing I dislike about this tea is the use of 'natural flavoring'. Whether natural or artificial, flavoring should be avoided. Instead, the tea leaves should be processed with as much real bits of fruit and florals to achieve whatever the specified taste should be. In other words, the tea leaves should be allowed over a period of time, to absorb the flavoring of the real bits of fruits and florals mixed into it. To me, flavoring the tea by other means is a cop out of the proper way to scent the tea. Natural and artificial flavoring is more acceptable when producing budget teas, but this particular tea is clearly being marketed for upscale gourmet chains (Dean and Deluca's, for one). So, sadly, I can't bring myself to rate this tea higher than 6.5/10.0.
Posted by Kathy at November 1, 2004 08:51 PM