Choice Organic Teas

A review of Celtic Breakfast by Choice Organic Teas

I filled a small pan with freshly drawn water and let water come to a full boil. I placed one tea bag into cup, and poured the hot water over tea bag in the cup, allowing to brew for 4 minutes for the flavors to unfold to their fullest. Also to be able to breathe in the aroma as it is presented in the steam rising from the cup. I like this aspect of getting a sense of the tea’s flavor through one’s nostrils. What it conjures prior to having had a sip of the tea.

Tea’s color is a dark red with first steep, I notice later when adding more water to the cup that the color does lighten to amber’s golden dew. Still dark, but not red is all.

This is not a bouquet type tea since it is too robust and smells of malt, there is a rawness to it. It is an equal combination of Assam tea leaf with Ceylon teas from mountain estates which keeps the blend strikingly smooth.

I choose to add one teaspoon of sugar to tea with the second steep as this enhances the malt and robustness that is to be found in this cup of tea.

Overall, this tea is described as “a malty tea of strength,” and it is indeed that.

A review of Celtic Breakfast by Choice Organic Teas

Ingredients: Organic Black Teas from Assam and Ceylon

After having brought freshly drawn cold water to a rolling boil. I put one tea bag in my mug and poured the water into the cup. Allowing to steep for a full five minutes for the flavors to unfold to their fullest.

Tea’s color is dark reddish amber, and smells very robust and malty at the same time. I have decided to add 1 teaspoon of honey so that I may appreciate the maltiness more and less of the robust.

This tea is already richly flavored so adding the honey just enhances its full-bodied richness.
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To be honest, I usually don’t like straight black tea. It’s too bold and kind of bitter to me. But a good English Breakfast and good black tea, once adjusted to the perfect taste, is great. And this happens to be that tea!

Smell: You know, since it was bagged, I didn’t take the time to really smell it, but what I did get was just a smooth, bold black tea smell. But good, you know?

Taste: It’s rich, a bit sweet with a nice strong flavor. I added a little bit of honey, no sugar this time (see, I can enjoy tea with no sugar! Though I have to think back on that because I may have? I’m almost 100% positive I didn’t though) and it came out amazingly well. The honey gave it a pleasant flavor and smoothed out some of the bitter that I find in straight black teas. And it had the slight caffiene kick I needed, and it was just really yummy for a black tea! Unfortunately, I only have one more bag………:-(

This came from Tommy the Toad. Thanks! I have had a couple Choice teas before and found them to be pretty good bag teas. I used my typical black tea method of boiling water and a three minute steep. The bag plumped up nicely. The brew is dark and shiny. Not at all murky. The smell is light and not overwhelming. The spices are very balanced with a bit more cinnamon flavor just ever so slightly more prominent in the aftertaste. More importantly, I can taste the tea base. I never really crave chai tea but this one is very nice. I thought I would try one final test and added French vanilla creamer. This didn’t really add anything to the experience for me. It did introduce a mild pepper note that is not present otherwise.

Was shopping at Giant Eagle this morning with the toddler, went down the tea aisle for some crackers (hazelnut nut thins) when I decided to glace at the tea. Twinings did have some tins of loose leaf but nothing excited me, I thought about getting some Irish Breakfast for the husband but passed. Their Prince of Wales and another brand’s Lapsang Souchong tempted me as well but they were both bagged.

Then there was another curved section with organic teas. Stash caught my eye and got me excited (as I’ve seen people log about it on here) but I didn’t like any of the choices. However this and Choice’s bancha made their way into my cart along with another brand’s coconut chai green tea (mainly because it had a nice tin).

So yes this is bagged, but its twigs and organic, so how important can whole leaf be in this case? The fannings are still smaller than I would have thought, but I’d have to order some loose leaf kukicha to compare. I disregarded their brewing instructions, boiling for 4-5 mins no thank you. If it hadn’t said it was twigs and leaves I might have gone for it. I brought the water to 180ish and steeps for about 2 mins (I watched and smelled and when it was brown and sweet I pulled the bag).

But this is actually quite delightful. Its roasty and nutty and sweet and I think the husband is actually going to love it, which is a miracle because although he loves Japanese culture (studied it in college) he doesn’t care for their food or green tea. There is something in both the smell and the taste that does remind me of coffee, but a really light coffee with some hazelnut soy creamer. Will also have to take this into work to share, but really I can see myself buying this again (convenience certainly plays a role in that).

A bit too much licorice for my tastes, but quite good with plenty of ginger slices. Also good cold. (Which is very handy, considering I always end up with cold tea.)

Some people aren’t fans of Rooibos – that’s fine – they can give it all to me! I love Rooibos (and honeybush) and happily could drink it every day. This one is plain and wonderful!

Brand New offering from Choice!
If you are skeptical on bagged Chai – try this one! It’s got kick and punch and made me rethink bagged chai! It’s powerful and robust! Pretty tasty!

Another great cup of Genmaicha. I’m almost out so I’ll have to try another brand soon and compare. I steeped much longer this time (by accident), and got more toasty flavour and after-taste, and still no bitterness! Definitely one of my favorites

The toasted rice flavor makes for a tea that feels warm and filling. It does not overpower the green tea flavors, but is instead a great complement to it. I particularly like genmaicha during winter-time. I cannot compare with other brands of genmaicha, but there is no detectable bitterness, and a great flavor. Cooling the water down before steeping and keep steeping time down may be important to avoid bitterness. It leaves a nice aftertaste from the toasted rice that can last quite a while.

One of the better bagged teas with at least a slight earthiness. Still, it sucks.

Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed. That’s code for envelope from TeaEqualsBliss arrived loaded with much joy! I bought Choice teas before I joined Steepster but not since, so I have never logged any of them. This one, I have never even seen before now. It is a bagged version in a paper envelope. Ingredients listed as Organic Black Tea.

First off, the provided brewing instructions (For best results brew 4-5 minutes) will result in a really harsh cup of tea. I went 3 minutes and even at the shorter steep this is very astringent. Cotton mouth astringent. If I had another bag of this I would try 1-2 minutes.

Now on to the positives. This is pleasantly malty. It also has an interesting taste that to me tastes like leather similar to the Teavivre mini toucha – a first with a black tea for me. I think with a little patience and brewing artistry (getting the most out of a bag is as much an art as it is with loose leaf) this would be a really nice cup.

I thought I had posted at least one other tasting note on this tea, as I know I have had it several times in the past … I even cold-brewed it for iced tea during the summer.

This is a decent tasting bagged tea, pleasantly grassy and sweet. As the tea cools, it becomes slightly sharp but not what I would consider bitter. The grassy notes intensify as it cools too.

Very enjoyable.

For a bagged green tea, I have to say, it is some darn fine genmaicha! I used to take this to work with me, due to it being easier to use there than loose leaf, and I never had a bitter cup, even if I forgot about it and over-steeped it, and that’s saying something! Green tea, if not brewed properly, can get quite bitter. I haven’t found this locally, and I admit that I do prefer loose leaf, but I’d buy this again.

This is more balanced than some other gen mai cha that I have tasted, and not as balanced as others. I like the quite nutty toasted rice flavor. The green tea comes out a bit more than in the Motoyamamoto gen mai cha I tasted recently. This comes in a green tea bitterness that peeps out a little bit from behind the toasted rice and a very nice sweet aftertaste. I needed a calm-down cup of something warm with dinner after work today. This worked well.

It is good tea; plain and simple.

1) add generous amounts of this tea to boiling water 2)wait for the colour to settle 3)pour milk until they blend 4)place palm sugar in cup 5)pour milk tea over sugar….. stir。Some people like to boil this tea directly in hot milk, that makes royal milk tea and doesn’t seem to suit this particular blend… I’ve also tried honey but the honey smell gets in the way of other spices…palm sugar is my best choice… personal opinion.
Too bad they don’t sell in sachets, have to go get tea bags… still one of my favorites especially in the cold season… my daughter craves it when she’s got a sore throat or a weak tummy

Wanted to add more here: the flavor certainly is more like a bitter black tea than an oolong. I couldn’t guess it was an oolong if it were a blind taste test. The steep color is an amber red. On my new scale of oolong flavor strength, 1 being the lightest and most floral, 5 being the strongest flavor, this one is a 5!

I’m confused. I haven’t drank much oolong but I thought they were supposed to be fruity and floral. I love the Butikiteas.com Peach Oolong. It couldn’t be any fruitier and flowery. But this one is very smoky and tastes mostly like a black tea. The scent reminded me slightly of unspiced raw pumpkin. The flavor reminds me oddly enough of the other Choice tea I’ve tried – Russian Caravan, a pine smoked black tea, which I don’t think should taste the same. I’m pretty disappointed in this one since I expected fruity and floral, but maybe I’ve already tried the best oolong (The Butiki)?

Let me tell you… this tea tastes WAY better than it smells. I can’t even keep it around my other teas, the smell is so strong. Before I drank it the first time, I was a bit hesitant to drink it because of the smell. I do like the FLAVOR though. I’ve drank this tea before (not sure why I didn’t leave a tasting note) but the local newspaper said to try maple syrup in tea. I didn’t know why I didn’t think of this myself. I thought I’d try a spoonful of the maple in this tea, as sort of a tree theme (you know, maple syrup, pine-smoked tea…) It is GOOD. I have never sweetened any tea with anything before. I usually like to drink tea by itself (and I get enough sugar elsewhere in my diet – I don’t need sugar in the one thing I eat that doesn’t have sugar in it!) The rating for this tea, is for how I might rate it without the maple in it. By itself, the tea is a nice smoky black. But occasionally, why not add a bit of maple to a cuppa tea?

Just got home from running errands and I need something to help pick me up – this is doing the trick. Lovely mint note without being too minty… I like how well the yerba mate and mint work together in this blend.