Royal Blend

…very strong flavors. I guess the explanation of it’s profound taste lays within the fact that King Edward VII was a heavy smoker. Anyways, I do like it on my palate and love the awakening effect. I do recomment to try this tea with a slice of lemon. That transforms this blend into a refreshing summer tea. The Assam will still be able to push through nicely.

Reserving judgement on this tea until I give it another go. Had it with breakfast with milk and sugar. Maybe with honey it’ll be better.

An old standby, it is always a good, solid choice, but never an exciting one.

An enjoyable blend for the morning cup. I drank it without milk. It was pungent and strong. No distinctive flavor that jumps out or lingers. A good choice if you want a standard English style black tea that is of sufficient quality to drink without milk.

This is my current favorite tea-with-milk staple. It’s bright and robust with no bitterness. We bought a decorative tin of it with the Jubliee Tea decorative tin online from F&M and I’m re-ordering this one in bulk and trying some of their other teas.

A good cup of tea. Nothing splashy or fancy.

Traditional tea without any wow factor at all

Very smooth but good with milk and sugar

Adventageddon Day 1 – Tea 3/4

I’ve wanted to do Fortnum & Mason’s sachet advent for a few years now, but in past years it’s actually only had twenty two unique teas in it – two have repeated. The concept of that just drove me a little crazy, but thankfully this year they seem to have wised up and the calendar has twenty four unique teas instead.

I’m not sure what makes this Sri Lankan black tea “Royal” but I was happy to see a strong black tea this morning because it was perfect for sipping on during my early morning meetings while working from home today. I found it very full bodied and brisk with a pleasant tannic quality and a flavour that was a nice mix of malted grains, red fruits, raisin, a touch of citrus, and a bit of a coppery mineral note. I was surprised, actually, that it wasn’t quite as fruity as expected because the aroma of the dry leaf itself was VERY strongly red fruit smelling – like red currant jelly!

Overall maybe a little forgettable longterm, but very nice in the moment.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0U5HFmO091/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nSvl1YkXPs

You know how you get to talking when you make a cuppa and pay absolutely no attention to what you’re drinking, but it’s gone in about three good glugs? Yeah. What I can tell you about my first run with Royal Blend is that if it had any sharp edges to it, milk toned them down nicely to make a strong, smooth, wake-up cup. I’ll be more mindful next cup!