Great British Cuppa

A bit of a different-tasting (to me) English breakfast tea, but I enjoyed it. Might be a little heavier on indian blacks than is my taste preference? But I’ve waited too long to write this review and no longer actually remember my thoughts on it.

I’ve been drinking pretty much exclusively cold brew tea (summer heat, UGH) but when I woke up this morning, I found myself craving a more traditional warm breakfast cuppa before the oven outside has preheated too much. So I pulled out this classic breakfast tea and a box of Walker’s shortbread for breakfast. Using for the July prompt, “A tea paired with a biscuit/cookie.”

Classic breakfast tea flavor that is smooth enough to drink plain. Beautiful red color with an aroma of honeyed dates, cinnamon, and a hint of citrus. Malt for days with baked cinnamon raisin bread, lemon, and a sweet honey-leaning-on-molasses sweetness.

One of my favorite breakfast blends.

Bird & Blend Tea Advent Calendar – Day 5

This will probably be the only unflavored tea in the calendar. I’ve tried this one previously and enjoyed it, so I was happy to see it inside the little door for today. This particular breakfast blend is a mix of Assam, Ceylon, and Yunnan black teas (in that order). I steeped it for my usual 3 minutes at 200°F.

It’s quite well-balanced and yummy. It’s not super strong (as some breakfast blends can be), but it does have plenty of flavor. I can taste the briskness, malt, and raisin notes that I associate with Assam. There’s also some dark baked bread, earth, and sweet potato representing the Yunnan element. To be honest, I’m not sure I recall exactly what Ceylon black tea tastes like. I did at one point explore Ceylon teas a bit, and try several of them, but that was multiple years ago… There are also some dark brown and burnt sugar notes here rounding out the bottom.

Very tasty and balanced. I definitely get the Assam and Yunnan presence, and am rather ignorant regarding Ceylon so it’s likely there too!

This just makes me more excited for my Andrews & Dunham 3-Pack that is set to arrive on Friday… ❤

I received a free teabag of this one with my last Bluebird order. I forgot it was here. I had it in with the little Bluebird box a few smaller teas came in. So any black tea blend that Bluebird sells better stack up to their awesome flavored blends they come up with. It can’t be just a boring black tea! And it isn’t… this is mighty tasty. It’s a mix of Ceylon, Yunnan and Assam. I could probably leave the Ceylon out altogether, but the blend tastes delicious as is. I wish this was the base that Bluebird used in their flavored blends, but then it might distract from the flavors they are going for. This cup resulted in the perfect amount of briskness and strength. (I tend to find their black tea blends have a much weaker tasting base that I could swear is Bluebird’s only flaw!)

Once steeped the tea took on a deep brown colour (before milk was added) and it bares a rich, sweet malt scent.

First few sips reveal a dark, dry, malt and wood base with a soft hint of smoke. Slightly bitter and stronger than I initially expected.

The strength continues to impress on a British standard though I would like a little more flavour and depth in it. Though It’s easy to drink and warming on this cold eve.

https://kittylovestea.com/2016/12/02/bluebird-tea-co-advent-calendar-of-tea-day-2/

As my morning cup was so bitter, and as it looks to be a long day ahead of me, I thought I’d brew this sample sachet up, and see how it does.
Decent, is what I think. Not, perhaps, “great” as it claims, but a solid, dependable sort of brew.
I suspect that this would indeed pair well with a hearty British style breakfast. Alas, I have no English fry up with me, so I’ll just have to enjoy on its own.

I think this is my new “Monday morning” cuppa. It’s a very dependable blend when I need a pick me up after restless nights.

I’m sure I’ve written more than one note for this one, but never mind. This one was the second tea that accompanied me to work this morning, and it’s always a solid choice. I really like the combination of sweet maltiness and roasted white potato that I get from this one, even though it sounds odd. There aren’t many “breakfast” style blends that really stand out to me, but this is a shining example. Good thing I have a huge tin!

This is a pretty tasty traditional cup of english breakfast right here. I had to drink it the way my mum and dad always taught me to drink tea when I was itty bitty, at breakfast time with milk and sugar and accompanied with crumpets and strawberry jam… ohmigod… talk about a blast from the past!!! Definitely a solid example of a good english breakfast!