I have adored tea since I was a little girl and my mother would fix me a cup of sweet milky tea every morning with my breakfast. It was a peaceful, comforting start to the day and a special time that I was able to share with my Mom before the busyness of the day set in.
As an adult, I’ve continued the love affair, branching out beyond the regular grocery store brands and experimenting with imports like Barry’s Irish Tea and even venturing into specialty tea shops to try various loose tea blends. Lately, my favorite has been Dragon Pearl Jasmine Tea I can only find at one of our local Thai restaurants.
Over the years I’ve bought a lot of tea, but the one thing I have never done was order tea I haven’t been able to see, smell or taste test first, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when the box of Sweet Love blend arrived from Kusmi Tea. The first thing that struck me was the wonderful whisper of spicy fragrance that snuck out of the cardboard as I carried the box into the house. It wasn’t overpowering or obnoxious, just enough to let you know that something very special was waiting inside.
Opening the box, I was further impressed by the colorful Sweet Love packaging of the box of 20 tea bags and the elegance of the 4.4 oz metal tin of loose tea. Pop a bow and gift tag on either of these containers and they would make perfect gifts for the tea lovers on your Valentine’s Day, birthday or any special occasion list. Exterior beauty, as we all know, is nice, but it’s what’s inside that really counts, so I eagerly fired up my tea kettle and began the tasting with the Sweet Love tea bags. I was happily surprised to find that Kusmi Tea’s version of the tea bag is made of muslin cloth with a woven string that ends in strongly sewn on heavy-duty tag. I have always felt beyond annoyed with inferior quality tea bags that split, leak, lose their tags or don’t have tags at all. And nothing ruins my tea Zen like having to fish the tag or string out of either the cup, or worse, my mouth. Kusmi Tea’s bags are not only well made, but their tags are more informative and helpful than any others that I’ve come across. They not only give the website address www.kusmitea.com, but also the optimal temperature of the hot water and the amount of minutes the tea should be ideally steeped. In the case of Sweet Love, it’s 85/90 degrees Celsius (185-194 degrees Fahrenheit) and 3-4 minutes. It’s a small detail, but tells me that Kusmi pays attention to the little things and cares that their customers have the best possible experience with their products.
Not being able to find my candy thermometer to get an accurate temperature reading, I decided to wing it, so after bringing the water to a boil, I poured the hot water into my very large ceramic cup and waited a minute or two before plopping the tea bag in. As soon the cloth hit the hot water, Sweet Love’s ingredients, Black China tea, liquorice (also spelled licorice) roots, spices, guarana seeds and pink pepper blended together beautifully to form a deliciously exotic, tangy scent that I found irresistible. I was a little concerned at first, since I’m not a fan of strong tasting foods and beverages, but from the first sip to the last, the taste was lightly licorice, slightly sweet with interesting, but again, never overwhelming, snaps and pops of spicy flavorings.
Over the course of several days I tried both the Sweet Love bags and loose tea several different ways: hot with organic sugar, hot with honey, hot plain and cold plain. All were enjoyable and I’m happy to report that even after 12 hours in a travel mug, the tea didn’t lose its flavor or change its taste. The only caveat I can offer about this terrific blend is that while some teas promote relaxation and quiet moments, Sweet Love is more about energy, vitality and stimulating your senses, so savor accordingly and don’t forget to share it with those you love.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I completely share your love affair with tea….and now I’m crazy to try some of this Sweet Love myself!
always i love to drink a good tea … i think after this post i shall use your recommendation .. thnks again
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