Taylors of Harrogate

I have been off my tea game for most of this year. Moving got the best of me and then all of the sudden I started drinking more and more coffee. I’m trying to snap out of it though. I drank tea before work today so thats good. The last of this actually. Its fine. Stands up to milk and sugar. I tried the gold version first but maybe I should have started with the regular? Its ok. Easy every day tea. There are probably other black teas I like more tbh.

I tried a bag from the TTB and then bought a box online. This tea isn’t bad, it has a bit of an astringent bite so you know it is tea, and a nice jammy note at the end. I might prefer Taylor’s Assam for a caffeine kick, but this is a close second for a nice cuppa from a bag.

TTB tea! I’ve seen this tea get a lot of hype on here, so I was excited to see it in the box. I like it! If I drank caffeinated teas daily, I would consider keeping some of this around. It’s mostly malty black tea, and there’s something biscuity and interesting about it. Sweetened with milk, I was really pleased with it.

A sipdown! (M: 7, Y: 7)
Sipdown prompt: A grocery store blend — correct me if wrong?!

And steeped for 2 minutes in 80°C water, so definitely not oversteeped with wrong tea temperature. Thank you anyway for new tea bag wrappers for my collection. That counts and that is a positive thing.

The TTB has arrived! So big, so many teas… no chance to try them all!
Tea #9

Okay. I have no idea how they translated a toast into my mug. But they did, and well. It’s indeed a bit burnt side toast, but it is bready.
I have been expecting a bit more from jam. It’s there, but this strawberry jam was just slightly smeared on that, a little burnt toast.

Happy that I have tried it (no milk), but based on that hype all around, maybe I was expecting a bit more. Or I just need to re-try it with milk. But nevertheless, interesting tea and execution was well done. Better than expected.

Sampled from the Strange VariaTea Traveling Tea Box

ExcuUUUuse me, but who give this bagged tea permission to be so delightful?! Goodness.

I recently started my first social work internship and had my final day of orientation/training on Thursday. I brought one of these teabags in my KeepCup, but alas — I could not find a SINGLE WORKING HOT WATER HEATER/KETTLE at the office! There were a few of those dual hot/cold water dispensers, but none seemed to actually heat the water. Cue me holding a cup of lukewarm water with a teabag floating sadly in it.

Reader, I drank it. What else was I to do?! And you know what… it was fine. Surprisingly not bad. I could tell this tea was going to be yummy once I was able to, y’know, brew it properly.

And it was! So yummy and cozy and malty and sweet-but-not-sweet. I’ve gotta get me a box of this.

Got 2 boxes of this for $5 at a Home Goods. This is the best tea I’ve ever had. I don’t know shit about teas to know if this is of quality. If there’s anything similar to this, I’d love to know. I’ve had a cup almost every day since I bought it with a little brown sugar oat milk creamer and it creates this deep almost nutty flavor. I will compare all black teas to this now.

I ordered a gift box of this to try this one and their other two, with some cookies, as it was the cheapest and more fun way — also, I have been spending too much money lately in general last week.

I am not rating this first time as I messed up the brew. I did my 2 2/2 Sherlock Holmes tea pot and put in two bags for some reason at 5 minutes, instead of the usual 1 I do when filling own bag from loose. This made too strong with bitterness so I can’t fairly tell.

I did like well enough besides overdoing it, so will try again. But I do have a whole box to go through, so….

I will say it’s annoying I couldn’t open the box and have these individually sealed to store easier. Also it hurts freshness to me. If any of these become favorites, may find a tin and move the box as a label over it, but who knows. Lack of room and such.

I was not a fan of the cookies in the gift box unless dipped in tea – too hard for my tea. My mixer has been delayed, cannot wait to start baking with it coming. Supposed to be here today – again.

I received this one a couple weeks ago and have had a few hot cups thus far, but thought I’d cold brew it to see if I preferred that. So, the taste is essentially the same hot or cold brewed. I would say this is very true of toast and jam, but, the toast is burnt? There is an edge of bitterness here that really reminds me of burnt toast haha! I am one of those people who toasts so lightly, I basically ‘steam’ my bread, so perhaps that’s an issue here XD. I shall do another note when I have a chance to sit down with a hot cup and write out some thoughts.

For my own reference, I’ve tried hot steeping this at 2 minutes, 2.5 minutes, 3 minutes, and 4 minutes.

Strong, tannic, breakfast tea. Probably best with milk / sugar; since I don’t use those, even my 15 second steep produced a very hearty cup. Good for one of those seldom times I want a stiff cup of tea. A Traditional black, pekoe cut tea.

#SVTTB Round Two – Tea 18/???

I’m trying to understand this blend because I know it has a massive cult following and it’s the wildly more popular option between in and the Malty Biscuit tea released at the same time. I had my cup hot with a hearty splash of oat milk because I’ve been told this is best with milk. However, I gotta admit that I don’t think I get it…

It does taste fine. The black tea is pretty brisk and malty and it’s rich body does make it perfect for the addition of milk. However, the “jam” note is kind of out of place feeling for me. It sort of just tastes like red fruit that’s been wedged into the blend? Not that I have anything against red fruit teas, but it’s not the wow factor I was expecting given how people discuss this tea. Especially when I can find so many other black teas with red fruit flavouring.

And, reflecting on it, it’s a very specific red fruit that it reminds. Not, like, in the sense that “Oh, this is strawberry” but more that it makes me think of a particular flavouring of the several different popularly used red fruit flavourings in tea blending. The one it’s reminding me of specifically is commonly called ‘Red Fruit Jelly’ flavouring and, to me at least, it kind of tastes like jello?? Maybe I would like this more without the milk.

I’ll revisit this one, for sure! I think I want to get it, and so I’m willing to put in the effort to try it a few ways to see if anything sparks more excitement for me.

I can’t stop drinking this one lol… I feel like this and Toast and Jam are my two comfort teas. Not necessarily favorites (although T&J is) but what I need when I can use a pick-me-up.

I’ve never tried this blend iced or as an iced latte so I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it and it tasted like a golden oreo shake! I sweetened the foam a bit with sugar-free vanilla syrup and it was amazing!!

Something about this tea with a bit of milk and a teeny bit of sweetener is just so warm and inviting. It’s perfect for a gloomy, rainy day like today. However, I still very much prefer Toast and Jam… I always will. This blend is just perfect for a rainy day at work when you really need something to cut the brain fog.

#SVTTB Round Two – Tea 15/???

Y’know, people like to shit on bagged tea but this was honestly just one of the best teas I drank all week. I had it hot with a splash of oat milk and the full bodied notes of malt, honeyed graham cracker, and grains were exactly the richly robust yet sweet and comforting answer to a quest I didn’t know I was asking. Does that make sense? Definitely tastes like the Biscoff cookies you get on flights sometimes or that, occasionally, were handed out with school lunches. They’re such good dunking cookies with a cup of black tea, so suffice to say that the idea that Taylor’s of Harrigate was going for totally comes off exactly as intended.

Yum. Yum. Yum.

This full-bodied tea is a foundation for so many builder’s brews all around the world. It’s strong, but still has plenty of flavour and isn’t over-powering, like some black tea bag-type teas. Brewed too long it can be bitter and astringent, brewed just right it can be lovely and really wakes me up in the morning.

What I like about it is that the strong body of the tea means you can pretty much flavour it however you like and it will still taste like Yorkshire tea.

A trustworthy tea and a totally dependable brand.

I really enjoyed this one, so much so that I waited until the last bag in my box before writing this review (ok, the delay was mostly due to being extremely busy). Anyway, some mornings I like a little cuppa something strong, and since I can’t do coffee (too much caffeine that ends up giving me trouble sleeping), I opted to try this. It’s so nice! Rich, malty, and with a viscous mouthfeel, this tea is an excellent substitute for coffee and brings forth a decent amount of caffeine.

I received a bag of this from gmathis. I’ve just gotten over whatever tummy bug has been going around (an entire family at church had succumbed, plus a couple of other people. I suspect I picked it up there) so I’d been drinking some ginger teas and peppermint teas in the evening. This was my first regular black tea in quite a while. It had a robust body and strong flavor. Sometimes a tea like that will turn astringent or even bitter at the end of the sip. This one didn’t. Because she warned me it was strong I stepped it for only a minute and a half. That may have been a mistake. My second steep had a fuller flavor. I think that very short steeping time didn’t give it a chance to fully develop. The second cup was just about perfect!

The final teabag from gmathis! Many thanks!

We were finishing the last little bit of my birthday cake tonight and I needed some decaf to go with it. I am so glad this wasn’t just another chamomile or rooibos blend. It is actual decaf black tea!

I did get a sipdown in today, too! Apricot Black Tea by Harney is off shelf, and I expect another sipdown tomorrow, so maybe I will finally make some progress on that cupboard.