Scottish Morn

Simple and strong. This will be perfect with a proper breakfast.

I’m back on Steepster again!

So the American Harney & Sons website recently started shipping to my country, Denmark, which is great news since I now get to try a lot of new teas from H&S that were previously unavailable to me (the European website has only a fraction of the teas that the American website has). However, it’s not so great news for my wallet :P

Anyway – Scottish Morn is one of the ones I have always wanted to try. It’s a blend of mainly Assam CTC with bigger leaves of Assam and Ceylon, and it’s one hefty cup o’ tea! It will definitely wake you up and slap you in the face in the morning!

This tea’s aroma is kind of muted. You get that classic malty Assam black tea flavor and not much else, but that is to be expected from a tea of this style. It’s not a tea you should get if you are looking for a complex and highly aromatic tea. The appeal of it is its body, strength and briskness and it’s a 5/5 in all those aspects. The briskness and body is right up there with some of the strongest teas you can get (like Yorkshire Tea for instance).

It’s actually similar in flavor to H&S Irish Breakfast tea, which consists of small broken Assam leaves instead of CTC pellets. But this Scottish Morn tea is, due to being CTC, even stronger in terms of body and briskness but also a little less aromatic than their Irish Breakfast tea.

It has some bitterness as well without being too bitter. I add a good splash of whole milk which is in my opinion the only type of milk that can stand up to this tea. It makes it nice and creamy and tames the bitterness and briskness a little. The color of the tea before you add milk is a dark, dark reddish brown. It almost looks black in my tall Harney & Sons mug. Once you add milk, it becomes a dark beige with a noticeable reddish hue. As dark as a cup of coffee with milk but with a reddish tint.

All in all, this is the perfect tea if you are looking for a very strong, malty and plain black tea to get you going in the morning. This is one I will definitely reorder when I run out – no doubt!

Not an extensive review as there are many other reviews.

I bought a four-ounce tin of loose leaf tea.

First impression:

Steeped 3 minutes to endeavor to discern more than the kickstart factors that come out at five minutes. Still came out kickstart strong.

First cup drunk black to discern what I can.
This is a jumpstart, get-up-and-go tea. Bit of astringent pucker, but mostly full caffeine slam.

Harney’s website states:
Briskness 4 (out of 5)
Boldness 5
Aroma 1.

I agree with that assessment.

Here is the description from Harney’s website:

“Dry Leaves: A mixture of dark brown leaves, the smaller pieces of Assam and Ceylon and Assam CTC (cut, tear, curl) method make for a stronger tea.
Liquor: This is one of our darkest teas, brewing a very dark brown color. Many Scots would lighten it with milk.
Aroma: Aroma is not the point of this tea, so there are only hints of suggestions of malt.
Flavors: Strong and simple, this tea is meant to be drunk with milk.
Caffeine Level: Caffeinated
Body: Full-bodied. A strong, full body is the purpose of this tea, and it delivers. It is perhaps the strongest tea we offer.
Brewing Time: 5 minutes
Brewing Temp: 212º”

I am rating this tea a 98, because, to me, it is exactly what Harney’s states that it is. (Somehow rating teas according to how much I like them does not seem as though it would be very useful to others, as age, diet, DNA, and many other factors determine ability to discern flavor/aroma, texture, etc, and preference. So, I am rating according to how accurate the company’s description is.)

I think this tea would also do very well with cream, or Kerrygold butter, or clarified butter and salt, or to add meat/bone broth, if one is looking for a nourishing winter tea broth recipe.

It is not unpleasant drinking it black, but one can tell the choice of leaves is intended for dairy and perhaps something else to be put into the cup.

If you want a jumpstart tea, this one will do well.
If you are looking for complex bouquet, multi-faceted wonders to enjoy, this is not, in my opinion, the tea for that kind of experience.

This is a strong black tea!! I like it. Small crushed leaves that looks visually different from all the other teas. Takes milk and sugar very well. I think I favor the Irish breakfast over this just a bit more but I do really like this one! I went to Barcelona for a few days and didnt bring any tea, I was so happy to come back home to this!!! Next time I am traveling with my tea.

Eh, the idea was to have this with eggnog for a punchy morning sweet brew, but the eggnog had gone off. Boo.

Strong breakfast tea with an distinct floral note, I was not so sure about the floral part in the beginning but it comes out good! Actually not as strong as Taylor’s Scottish breakfast (that was no.1 in my strength list) but this strength is easy to drink and still gives you wonderful flavour, I think I like this more after drinking for a couple of times. You can brew the loose leaf for 2 times and still tastes tea.

I made an actual pot of tea this norning. Put out the tea tray, milk, sugar, and a pretty tea cup. Just the right amount of caffeine before saturday cleaning. The tea leaves are very small pieces and I did notice some sediment at the bottom of the pot. No biggie though

One of my new breakfast teas. There is some malty scent. The flavour is nice, and bold. It is pretty good with almond milk. Overall, a very pleasant morning tea.

As I am still seeking employment after finishing a contracted project five months ago, it’s become even more important for me to maintain a balanced budget. One of the “frills” I’ve had to eliminate (for now) is the purchase of my favorite higher-end teas.

Years ago I purchased a tin of Harney & Sons tea at a local Williams-Sonoma store. Since the store and tea were fairly pricey, I assumed that Harney & Sons teas were, therefore, always expensive.

When I became desperate for bargains and checked the Harney & Sons website for deals and discounts, I was excited and surprised about how reasonable their tea prices were, particularly when you purchased the selections in one pound packages. Currently, Harney is offering many fine black teas (my favorites) at a little more than $20 a pound, with free shipping! The Scottish Morn product was one of the teas offered in this very reasonable price range.

When I opened the one pound bag of Scottish Morn, my nostrils were introduced to a very pronounced Assam odor. The leaves were dark brown and quite short, almost like ground coffee. In my experience, this seems to be a UK tea trademark (for example, PG Tips).

I steeped the leaves for four minutes at 212 degrees. The finished product had a muddy brown molasses color. The aroma was Assam all the way.

The flavor was extremely bold and full. Assam was the taste leader but it was accented with an almost equally pronounced malty attribute. Another present flavor characteristic, that I’ve found in all of the Assam teas that I’ve tasted, was a slight tad of astringency. However, this steadily dissipated as I approached the bottom of my cup. The aftertaste was curiously mild and brief for a tea with such brisk flavors. Overall the flavors were without garnish but quite gratifying.

Being an American of direct Scottish heritage (my mother was born and partially raised in Scotland), I, like my ancestors and cousins, enjoy and seek out bold black teas for my mornings. In my case, my brain seems to need them in order to kick into gear for the day ahead. Scottish Morn definitely fit the bill with sharp and engaging flavors.

I just purchased Harney and Sons Scottish Morn last week, and can’t rave about it enough.

First, I like a strong, bold tea in the morning. This tea delivers all that and more.

It brews a dark liquor after 5 minutes, and will help you wake up in the morning without making you twitch like a squirrel after more than a cup or 5.

It takes sugar and milk wonderfully and I intend to stock this regularly in my cupboard.

If you like strong tea, this is MUST!