First to review this tea! Always nice :)
This is a wonderfully unique English Breakfast kind of tea from one of my favourite London tea shops – Postcard Teas. If you happen to be in London, drop in, say hello to the lovely, lovely people there, and buy some delicious tea in beautiful tins or “Postcard” refill bags. I love their tins so much that I can’t help myself, and always end up buying them. They are practical, and “easy on the eyes”.
This tea is part of their new lineup of black teas and blends. The good news is that I’ve tried both this and the new Breakfast blend, and so far I love their new teas. The bad news is that their wonderful old teas are no longer available. But lets focus on the good:
This is a breakfast blend, which means Assam, of course, coupled with Kerala, which I admit, I’ve never heard of before. It takes time to open up in the cup, so be patient with the brewing time, and when looking at the reddish brown liquor one would think that this tea was mislabelled “bold breakfast”. Assams tend to brew much darker than that, especially those that are in breakfast blends.
But then this tea will do a “crouching tiger, hidden dragon” move on your mouth. It is much bolder and more flavoursome than any breakfast blend that I’ve tasted – without resorting to bitterness. Yes, you heard that right. A right powerful tea, that doesn’t taste like wormwood when brewed over a minute or two.
It takes milk beautifully, but be careful. This tea is very astringent, even with milk added, so if that turns you off, try some of the much less astringent but still very very good Breakfast blend. You will feel Bold Breakfast tea pinch you on the tongue long after your session with him has ended, like a disapproving master admonishing his unruly apprentice.