This is a tea that most people  know very little about.  It is a blend of China Black, Lapsang Souchong and Indian Assams.  This tea is assoicated with the old Russian markets. A full deep flavor and heady aroma makes this tea an excellent cup with rich desserts.  The only drawback that I have seen over the past 20 years is that most people do not realize it has a little smoky taste with addition of Lapsang Souchong.  This is the original blend that was very popular with Vietnam Veterans.  Since they were not allowed to brew coffee outside, they started using teas and this particular blend became their replacment for coffee.  There are still a lot of veterans drinking just Lapsang Souchong all by itself.   

It is amazing that most of us never new they could not drink coffee outside because the enemy (at that time) mostly did not drink coffee and could find the solders because of the aroma of coffee! 

 Vietnam has an excellent gourmet coffee but it hardly ever makes it to this country.

There are a few tea companies starting to leave out the Lapsang Souchong; but still use the name

RUSSIAN CARAVAN