Our know-how
When Pavel started out in business, all he knew about tea was that it was something that his family drank all day long around the samovar. This bitter liquid was sweetened by a lump of sugar or fresh fruit placed in the mouth before taking a sip of tea.
In Russia where tea had for centuries been a national beverage, the tea merchants had attained such perfection in the blending and flavoring that their blends became known as Russian teas. Pavel learned about the tea that was imported into Russia at the time. A rarity in Europe , Russian tea was of excellent quality because it was imported overland and so saved from the ravages of damp caused by sea transport. The young man learned to enjoy teas from Yunnan with their taste of damp earth, and low caffeine Keemun tea. He discovered strong teas and fine gardens gradually learning to make blends that satisfied every type of customer. Pavel created a number of blends for all tastes and times of day.
Most of these blends still exist today and contribute to the richness of the Kusmi tea range.
In true peasant style, he numbered his creations so that today we can easily date the various blends. In chronological order, we have the ; the ; the in its red packaging, N°27 for the English taste, now called the , and .
“Caravan”, the , was named after the caravans of camels that brought the tea from China before the Trans Siberian Railway opened in 1900. These teas were the first sold by Kousmichoff between 1867 and 1880. Then came N°108, in 1880 - this was the tea drunk by the tsar right up to the Revolution. Then the in a black box, the N°155 and the smoked China tea N°210.
In addition to these classic blends, Pavel also created a number of fruity teas using fruit, flowers and spices. Every Russian New Year he treated his customers to a special blend called , a happy blend of citrus fruit, vanilla and spices. He created this blend in 1888 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the foundation of Holy Russia by Vladimir the Great. The very same recipe is still used today to produce the most popular of Kusmi teas.
Around 1910 Viatcheslav made his own contribution to the company's blends with the Windsor and created in London .
These are still sold today. Viatcheslav's arrival in Paris marked a turning point in the history of Kusmi teas raising them to the heights of gastronomy. He created a whole new range of perfumed teas based on the available flavors to perfect his blends. Viatcheslav, and after him Constantin, created a multitude of aromatic teas. The most famous is , created in memory of the Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of tsar Nicholas who was rumored to have survived the massacre that engulfed the rest of her family.
More recently, numerous new blends have been added to the Kusmi tea range: , a blend of tea and spices, , the specially created for the Salon du Chocolat, and created for the city's 300th anniversary in 2003. has become a great classic alongside the new range of wellness teas such as the , Tea with seaweed and decaffeinated .
