Great British Cuppa

I’ve had this tea several times prepared in many different ways and I have come to the conclusion that I prefer it prepared under leafed and at lower temperatures. The description describes it as a great accompaniment to an English Fry up and I have to agree, this tea like some wines really is a tea that goes best with some food preferably rich slightly fatty ones. It is probably a tea that would take milk well.

When I first had this tea I brewed it at boiling for around 4 minutes. The resulting brew smelled of lemon, sweet potatoes, roasted, blackened potatoes, hint of artichoke, spice, and a hint of malt. The brewed tea had a full, thick, mouth feel with a mild to moderate astringency. It tasted of malt mixed with a vegetal note and sweet potatoes, anchoring a citrus mixed with bitter cocoa top note. This is not a particularly sweet tea but more a mix of bitter tones and citrus. A little rugged, this is a tea that would probably do well with additions. With its citrus top notes and it’s coffee like bitter notes I could see how it could compliment a fry up. The tea re-steeped well with the second steep bringing out more cocoa and hints of honey notes.
When steeped at a lower temperature and with less leaf cherry and sweet potato notes are more prominent and the tea has less vegetal notes and lemon, but the other notes and rugged texture remain. The tea remained
moderately astringent. Although this is not my favourite black tea blend, it does have an interesting and varied flavour profile and I am glad that I had the chance to try it.

I liked this more than I thought I would. I’m usually not a fan of plain black tea, but this was really smooth and enjoyable with milk.

Free sample from my last order! I don’t really like it. It’s sort of murky and bleh. Possibly with different steeping parameters it would be pleasant, but it tastes almost like beer to me, weirdly. Actually, I couldn’t even finish the cup because the beer flavor was so unpleasant.

B&B Advent Tea #4

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this tea! It was very sweet (honey) and full-bodied without being bitter. I think this might be the best English breakfast I’ve ever had. The natural honey and chocolate notes were perfectly paired with a longer steep and then I added a splash of soy milk. The dry leaf is also very fragrant and faintly honeyish as well. I’m impressed by the freshness of the tea leaves.

2022 Bird & Blend Advent calendar Day #16

Solid British Breakfast tea. Malty with some astringency. Would do again but not a favorite.

This probably was a weird choice to try for a cold brew, but I had a few samples laying around so why not? the result is a slightly tea flavoured water, even though I left it overnight. Will try it hot another time.

Advent Day 6

I swear this is the same tea that was mistakenly put in the Earl Grey Creme box. This is a solid breakfast tea that I’m having with creamer, but it doesn’t have that extra special something that are in my favorite breakfast teas and make me take notice in a sea of breakfast teas.

A solid blend of good quality teas. I can sense maltiness, roasted potatoes, slight astringency, slight bitter notes, a bit of grapefruit peel essential oils.
For those who want more than just a casual blend of black teas.

This tea bag sample was provided by Bird & Blend. Thank you!

It may not be particularly fancy or high quality, but sometimes a traditional British black tea blend is just the thing. Its malty profile takes so lovingly to milk, and even sugar if that’s your fancy.

This one is quite nice in that is has the raisin notes from Assam, sweet potato from Yunnan, and bright citrus from Ceylon. Grain notes in the form of malt, malt residue syrup, and baked bread have filled out nicely in my milk cup. Not sure how this one would fly without milk though!

I’d 10/10 serve this to my father and older sister. This is their style of tea to a “T”. Sadly, for them, I usually don’t stock up on Breakfast Blends.

Rating: 76 – English tea grannies would be pleased.

Sipdown (932)!

The other free sample from my most recent Bird & Blend order – can’t recall if I’ve had this one before. I definitely over steeped it a little bit, but I thought the flavour was pretty nice. Tannic and full bodied/strong, with more of baked bread/grains and autumnal leaf kind of vibe. Lacked some sweetness, but milk and sugar would definitely fix that right up.