English Breakfast (High Grown)

This is my everyday tea. I love the Assam Gold Rain more, but I chose this for my everyday tea since it is cheaper. (I drink about a quart a day instead of coffee.) I like it strong, so I do 1.5 tsp per cup. I add sugar too, about a tsp per cup.

I’ve tried several “English Breakfast” teas, and I’ve like all of them. This one, however, was surprisingly underwhelming. It took a lot of very hot water, and several minutes more than recommended to get a somewhat flavorful cup of tea out of these leaves. Perhaps my lot came from an old and stale batch? The experience was disappointing.

its black tea.

I really like a good English Breakfast tea and was looking forward to having this one from Teavana. Unfortunately, it is bitter and has some kind of weird metallic aftertaste. I’ve tried adding sugar and cream and it still doesn’t help. Today I mixed it with the White Avurvedic Chai from Teavana and added some sugar and that redeemed it somewhat. Will look elsewhere for a good quality English Breakfast.

Oh yes. This is good stuff. Shamefully, I drank this with non-dairy creamer. Well, I take that back. We don’t have milk in my office, so I had to make due with what I had. It’s still good with creamer instead of milk.

I made a point of trying out Teavanna’s English Breakfast, and it’s not too bad. Certainly not as robust as I like my standard black teas, but it’s still got a good flavor to it.

Used an extra teaspoon of this today; made for a bracing, full cup of tea. Robust but not too bitter. I brew mine for just over three minutes. Also good with a splash of milk.

This has assam nilgiri,and ceylon black teas. You can see the black tea and I’t smells strong. I steeped this a short steeping time. And the taste I’s a good tasting black tea. I was afraid of the assam knocking my socks off. So It’s your choice to steep longer or not.

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 1

I was so excited to dig into the lovely advent calendar Shae put together for me! This was yesterday’s tea. Although Teavana was the company that introduced me to loose leaf tea, I had actually never tried their English Breakfast blend, since I was all about the flavored blends back in the day. This is surprisingly mild and smooth for a breakfast blend and I enjoyed it even without milk. And Shae was so generous with the samples…after brewing up 2 mugs of this tea, I’ve only gone through half of what she sent! Looks like I’ll be enjoying the contents of this advent calendar way past Christmas. :)

With the impending demise of Teavana, I have been watching the stores for sales. Yesterday, I found this product at 50% off and figured it was worth a try.

The short black unbrewed leaves had a spicy smell to them. I’ve never encountered this aroma with an English Breakfast tea before.

I steeped the leaves at 205 degrees as instructed but added an extra minute to the recommended time for a total of four minutes. Three minutes didn’t seem long enough to inject the caffeine level that I need this morning.

The finished result was a bright orange-gold in color. The brewed aroma was on the sweet side, like honey.

The first few sips contained a strong sour attribute. Could this have been due to the extra minute of brewing? It reminded me of sourdough bread. Behind that taste was a little honey, malt, and a slight reminder that I was drinking black tea. As I got further down into my cup, the sourness was not as prevalent and the malt and honey accompaniments took over. The aftertaste had a slightly astringent quality but not upsetting.

At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the tea but my palate did seem to quickly adjust to the unusual qualities of this English Breakfast. By the time I finished my first cup, I knew I could easily drink the whole pot. Next time I will follow the instructions and try steeping for just the recommended three minutes.