A little history lesson comes with this cuppa. Back in the day, prior to completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the 1860s, the transcontinental tea trade between China and Russia consisted of loose-leaf and brick teas \transported via camel and horse trains from the mid-1700s. This journey from China took about six months and during transport the teas became lightly scented with smoke from the nightly campfires. Such a taste was devleoped for the tea that reached Russia, that it is now deliberately created to taste and smell like those full-bodied, brisk black teas with their notes of smoke!
