Russian Caravan is a blend of oolong,

keemun Keemun () is a famous Chinese black tea. First produced in the late 19th century, it quickly became popular in the West and is still used for a number of classic blends. It is a light tea with characteristic stone fruit and slightly smoky note ...

, and

lapsang souchong Lapsang souchong (; ) or Zhengshan xiaozhong () is a black tea consisting of leaves that are smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. This smoking is accomplished either as a cold smoke of the raw leaves as they are processed or as a hot smoke of pr ...

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

s. It is described as an aromatic and full-bodied tea with a sweet, malty, and smoky taste. Some varieties do not include lapsang souchong, and thus have a less smoky flavor, while others include

assam tea Assam tea is a black tea named after the region of its production, Assam, India. It is manufactured specifically from the plant '' Camellia sinensis'' var. ''assamica'' (Masters). The Assam tea plant is indigenous to Assam—initial efforts to pl ...

. Traditionally the smoky character was considered to have been imparted to the tea by the close proximity of the camel caravans to countless camp fires en route across the

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

n Steppes to Russia. Although a

Chinese tea Tea is a beverage made from the leaves of tea plants (''Camellia sinensis'') and boiled water. Tea leaves are processed using traditional Chinese methods. Chinese tea is consumed throughout the day, including during meals, as a substitute for p ...

, its name originates from the 18th century

camel caravan A camel train or caravan is a series of camels carrying passengers and goods on a regular or semi-regular service between points. Despite rarely travelling faster than human walking speed, for centuries camels' ability to withstand harsh condi ...

s that facilitated the transcontinental tea trade from tea-producing areas (namely India, Ceylon and China) to Europe via Russia. "It took at least half a year to make the six-thousand-mile journey from the Chinese border to the populated regions of European Russia, and the voyage was harsh."

The southern route by Odessa is far cheaper, but the tea is supposed to suffer in flavour in its transit through the tropical seas, while it improves in its passage through the cold dry climate of
Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
and
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
, by losing that unpleasant taste of firing hereby tea was dried using direct heat As Russian epicures believe that a peculiar delicacy of flavor is imparted to it by the slight moisture it absorbs when nightly unloaded and placed on the snow-covered steppes, the enhanced price it commands compensates for the greater expense and difficulty of its carriage by this route.

Anecdotal evidence had it that during the camel caravan journeys, the teas took on the smoky taste of the campfires. Only the

(if present) in the blend, however, is actually smoke-dried. Some blends use yunnan black tea, together with keemun and lapsang souchong to achieve full bodied, strong copper colored, smoky, and heavy flavored tea with a smooth and mellow aftertaste.

References

External links

* Denis Shumakov,
Black tea blends: Russian Caravan
, TeaTips.info. {{teas Blended tea China–Russian Empire relations

References

Further reading

External links