Scottish Breakfast Tea

Though this one hasn’t my preferred level of clout, it gets props for “impossible to ruin.” Insomnia, weird dreams (chased by the Chinese mafia because I had two of their miniature dogs, deceased, in matchboxes), and some unsettled fretting about elder care had me up at 4:15 a.m.

Made this just to have a warm mug to clutch, left the bag in; too tired to get up and dispose. Fell asleep in the recliner and 2 hours later, bag in, it was still drinkable.

This tea really surprised me. I was expecting a very strong tea as the leaf was very broken and small. The tea does have a kick but is much milder than expected. My tea sense is getting better as I can detect assam, ceylon, and kenyan tea in this blend. (Much more Kenyan than the others). The tea is lighter in color than an assam would be and is not bitter at all. There is a little astringency but not enough to bother anyone. I really enjoyed drinking this tea. The tea was very inexpensive as I found it at T.J.Maxx for $5 for 125 grams.

I was starting to get a little bummed out. I hadn’t had a new tea to taste in a good while. But, thanks to Santa Claus and my always wonderful and thoughtful wife, I now have two new Scottish teas to try out!

When I snipped open the bag of loose leaf tea inside the well-designed hinged tin, my sniffer was immediately slapped with an aroma similar to Rooibos tea. Perhaps that is because the leaves were grown and produced in Kenya. The leaves were very short and had a consistency almost like ground coffee.

Other reviews that I read about this tea seemed to be unanimous in their assessment that this was a milder breakfast blend. Since I prefer potent black teas, I opted to steep this selection for the maximum recommended brewing time of five minutes at 212 degrees.

The brewed liquid had a reddish gold color. The smell was like a light but standard black breakfast tea.

The first sip produced a slightly sweet malty taste. It was quite pleasant but still mild, even after five minutes of steeping.

With subsequent swallows, I started to experience a flavor kick with this tea. It was not bitter but it lingered to form the basis of a malty, African black tea blend aftertaste.

This is a very nice tea. I enjoyed it straight up without milk or sweeteners, which is how I drink all of my teas. It was also a fantastic complement to the terrific Scottish Empire Biscuits that my lovely wife baked for me for Christmas.

I don’t think you could go wrong with this tea at breakfast or in the afternoon. I look forward to sampling another tea by Edinburgh Tea and Coffee Company…TOMORROW!

The Mr.Coffee Mug Warmer I ordered from J&R arrived today in the mail despite the Canada Post rotating strike going on nowadays. I saw in the news yesterday that the government passed a back-to-work legislation that will force the union postal workers to return to their jobs by next week or so. Not sure how I feel about this though because there are people saying that these workers are overpaid with much too generous benefits, pensions, vacations, etc. (Canada Post is a crown corporation BTW for those unaware), but I’m sure that this would be untrue for most of the hardworking people there that would surely deserve what they are getting. Anyways… the mug warmer seems to be working great, except that it’s barely doing anything for this mug I have that has a bottom with its edges protruding out. I tried one with a flat bottom and the tea remained quite warm and even hot near the end of the cup.

I bought this tea quite a while ago, and I was surprised to find that I didn’t log this one. Compared to the recently logged Irish Breakfast, I think it has a much cleaner taste although still maintaining a bold, robust profile. It has a light body with not much astringency, and has subtle notes of malt and wood(I read oak somewhere in a review of an anonymous Scottish Breakfast).

Tea of the afternoon, for me. It wasn’t entirely on purpose, just what appealed to me. I picked these up on holiday last year – they’re part of a box set which contains whisky, heather and thistle flavoured teas, plus this one. A novelty if nothing else! These are bagged, so it’s hard to say much about the leaf other than that it’s very finely shredded – think CTC. I gave it 3 minutes in boiling water, and added a decent splash of milk. It brews up pretty strong – literally just my cup of tea!

To taste, it’s actually sweeter than I expected (with no additions, I hasten to add). I was expecting quite a brisk cup with maybe an edge of bitterness, but it’s not like that at all. I can definitely tell that there’s a high proportion of assam in this blend – it’s malty and almost thick-tasting in the best possible way. I can also detect some ceylon – it has an edge of citrussy brightness that emerges towards the end of the sip and helps to cut through some of the sweetness. I’m guessing there’s maybe something Rwandan in there, too, because it reminds me a lot of Teapigs breakfast blend, and that’s what distinguished that one for me. I could be wrong about that, though. If not Rwanda, then maybe Kenya…I’m pretty sure I’m in the ballpark with those guesses, anyway.

I’m more impressed with this one than I expected to be. It’s a fairly plain, straightforward, easy-drinking tea, but it’s also bold, deliciously malty, and really just a good, solid cup of tea. This could easily be a daily drinker.

This tea tastes like a punch in the face first thing in the morning and I love it. I usually have it with a splash of milk to take some of the edge off. My tastes aren’t sophisticated enough to tell what kinds of tea are in this blend, but it is quite strong. It reminds me of the standard black tea I had in some of the cafes in Edinburgh. This tea is also great on a cold and rainy afternoon.

This is my favorite tea at the moment. It is dark and rich, but not bitter at all, very mellow. Calming. I enjoy it very much with some whole coconut milk — I find that only the Thai Kitchen brand of coconut milk works well with tea.

gifted to me by a friend. i steeped it for four minutes, added a brown sugar cube & a wee dollop of milk. it isn’t as strong as Irish Breakfast, but its flavour has more complexity than English Breakfast. there are some light finishing notes. do i detect the taste of whisky? could be my imagination. a delicious tea to savour & enjoy.

Really like the boldness of this black tea, good pick me up.

Lovely way to get the morning started! This blend has a bit more kick than the English and Irish versions I have tried. Very full, Kenyan comes through. I prefer to use both sugar and milk with this one, versus no sugar for Irish breakfast teas.