70

I got a small box of this bagged tea from the San Francisco Tea Festival. Being a CTC English Breakfast tea, and one that is, well, actually a known British brand, I went all-out tannin-wuss on my steep and only steeped it for a minute and a half. But it still looks a proper reddish-brown color to me, so…

The aroma is like malt, crisp autumn leaves, and a bit like cherries and cinnamon. The flavor of this is actually very nice, the short steep was probably a good choice for me since this isn’t too strong, though I imagine had I left it steeping very long it would’ve tended that way. I’m getting a lot of the notes that were present in the aroma — malt, autumn leaves, and cinnamon spice — but there is also a lot of lemon citrus and burnt sugar. It’s suprisingly good for bagged tea with quite a few flavor notes. The astringency after the sip is mild to medium, not as strong as I was expecting. It isn’t my favorite breakfast tea, but I certainly like this one more than many I’ve sampled, and I’m glad that it has a flavor that I can take plain just fine, at least if I prepare it with a brisk steep.

Flavors: Astringent, Autumn Leaf Pile, Bread, Burnt Sugar, Cinnamon, Citrus, Lemon, Malt

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML
Nattie

Woohooo! This is my favourite bagged English Breakfast, at least my favourite that’s available nationally, so I got excited when I saw your note haha.

Mastress Alita

I don’t think I’ve seen it at any of my local grocers or anything, but it was in my freebies bag at a tea festival I went to. I figured like most black tea breakfast blends I try it’d be too strong for me and I’d end up putting it in my hair rinse pile, but ya, after trying it, it’s way too good for that. :-P

Nattie

It’s basically everywhere over here, haha. Glad you’re going to be actually drinking it! (:

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Comments

Nattie

Woohooo! This is my favourite bagged English Breakfast, at least my favourite that’s available nationally, so I got excited when I saw your note haha.

Mastress Alita

I don’t think I’ve seen it at any of my local grocers or anything, but it was in my freebies bag at a tea festival I went to. I figured like most black tea breakfast blends I try it’d be too strong for me and I’d end up putting it in my hair rinse pile, but ya, after trying it, it’s way too good for that. :-P

Nattie

It’s basically everywhere over here, haha. Glad you’re going to be actually drinking it! (:

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Profile

Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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