Organic English Breakfast

This is a pleasant tasting tea, but it did not seem to have the body and brightness of Harney’s regular English Breakfast. Its adequate, just not special.

Harney & Sons – Organic English Breakfast (black). Sachet. Appearance: medium and short black tea leaves without additives. Liquor: reddish-brown (standard tea color). Smell: bright. Taste: traditional breakfast blend, with assertive, bright flavors. Moderate astringency. Decent without sugar, which is somewhat unexpected for a breakfast blend. As with a lot of blacks, sugar improves the tea by softening the edges. 5/10.

So disappointing. I love Harney and Sons teas and I love English Breakfast, but this is 1 I simply cannot like. Bland, bitter, without complexity, and too “dark”. I’d rather drink coffee.

Generally I tend to avoid tea bags but I just wanted a super simple cup this morning. And being that we are in a hotel they had a tea bag. I was glad to see Harney instead of the usual ugly choices they give. I quite enjoy Chinese Keemuns. Creaminess mixed with woodiness to top off thus first not raining, not super windy morning on the Big Island. But you just gotta go with the flow. Enjoy every moment. It’s even more enjoyable with a nice cup of tea

I’m out of my routine this morning, and this tea is part of it. I love being up in the morning, but I hate getting up, and the window in between the alarm clock going off and sitting on the sofa with my coffee is the worst part of my day. It helps if I know my coffee is almost ready, so I normally set it up after I wash the dinner dishes, but last night I had evening plans and skipped the coffee routine. Big mistake. Turns out I’m almost out of coffee and can’t eke out a pot, or even a cup.

So tea it is! I got one bag of this English Breakfast as a sample in a recent order, and it’s fine for what it is. English Breakfast isn’t a style that sets me up for success because I’m prone to oversteeping, and I find the astringency of oversteeped English Breakfast stomach-turning. I was careful this time, though, and I’m … not not enjoying this cup. It has a pleasant earthy and toasty flavor, noticeably tart, with a sweet, almost agave-like aftertaste. I can’t imagine I’ll buy it again, but it did the job for me today.

I can not believe there is no tasting note on this tea from me. It has been included as a sample in my orders for about ten years now. The first time I tried it, I found it bland and a little weak, so all subsequent samples were given away. Some of the recipients said they really liked it.

I am trying to at least neaten my cupboard so I am drinking lots of sampke and swap teas right now. I was going to give this one away and decided at the last minute to have it for breakfast.

In the past, I feel sure I would have made it with near boiling to boiling water and steeped long just because it is a sachet. Today I decided to treat it how I like Keemuns best – 190F for three minutes for most of them.

This is a different creature. I won’t say I am going to buy a tin of it, as I still prefer other Keemuns, but I am actually enjoying this today.

It is definitely weaker than the other Keemuns I have on the shelf right now, but it is very smooth and comes across as mild more than weak today. There are coppery and fruity notes. I think there are some grain notes as well.

Just for fun and to really give it a fair shake, i poured some into my silver lined cup and some into a Jianzhan cup. My usual china cup and the silver cup had higher notes, bright and tinny, while the Jianzhan increased the low notes, making it feel more like a breakfast tea in heft and raspiness.

In future, I will glad to see a sample of this instead of groaning, “again?”

A sachet from Kawaii, thankee!

Bright and assertive flavor with a depth that’s carried by a smooth, medium-full body and some lifting astringency. Not too malty, not too metallic. Got a case of that ‘just right’, at least with hot water from the work dispenser.

First hot sips reminded me of pond water but as it cools, the Qimen definitely comes through with its malty-rosewood-grainy-floral rose aspect, but then there’s a mild raisin-cherry layer that reminds me of Assam and also the brightness reminds me of a coppery Ceylon. Restrained honey sweetness. I wouldn’t have guessed this to be 100% Qimen but pretty close.

Good straight up after a heated disagreement at work that drained my energy — Bah!

Drank a mug of this using a sachet I got from an order a while ago. I’ve had this sample before and always really enjoy it. This time was no exception as it’s just a lovely smooth English breakfast. Enjoyable without milk which is nice since I’m out right now and only have a bit of cream. I always want to order a tin of this one but I only ever see sachets available.
On a side note, I went to World Market to do some holiday shopping and picked up some Tim Tams to try that I’ve heard so much about on here. I couldn’t find the orange ones but the plain chocolate ones I picked up are really good! I also may have found some new teaware…

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
September 2022 → A breakfast tea

My cat got this one, but not before I had a chance to taste a few sips. It’s a solid breakfast tea, maybe just a little weaker than I would like, but I’m not devastated that it’s been stolen. I have one more bag of this one, but I don’t see myself purchasing more. Actually, I didn’t even purchased these. They were samples from a few H & S orders.

I thought I’d tried this one before, but I guess not. Grabbed a sample from the tea box, and I’m glad I did! This is a pretty great breakfast tea! It’s less bold than some, but it makes up for it with a nice biscuit/graham cracker taste. As it cooled, I noticed something more fruity/grapey which I didn’t love as much, but I think I’m still a fan.