English Breakfast

1 sachet for 300mL water @100C, steeped 4 minutes 30 seconds, drunk bare.

I’ve ordered this tea loose from Harney and Sons but have yet to receive a shipping notice… been almost a week since I ordered … a bit concerned.

Meantime, I found it in sachet form at a big-box bookstore. A Canadian-law-mandated bilingual instruction label covered up the side if the tin that would tell me WHERE the tea is from … I was pleading with the rainy sky this would be the same Keemun blend as is sold online. Peel … peel … peeeeeel … got the label off. “Ingredients: China black tea.”

Yessss!

The leaves in the sachet are tiny and wiry, with maybe one gold tip in the whole bunch. That’s fine. I am desperate for some Keemun, for some toasty Keemun, and so far, everything’s looking good.

The dry sachets give off a faint grapenuts scent, and a classic China black tea scent.

FINALLY steeped.

It’s got Keemun. Toasty gorgeous Keemun!

And as I was typing this note, I got the shipping notification for my Harney and Sons order. UPS says I’ll have my order Nov 12th. Hmm. We’ll see.

I’ve read this is a 100% Keemun blend. It certainly seems to be. Toasty and woody notes, a tiny bit of smoke — like a charred casket, not like a roaring fire — plus bread and flower notes. Lovely. Very comforting.

I finally finished the 4oz tin I had of this today. I honestly won’t miss it much. Since I’ve tried more flavorful Keemun teas from other vendors (I really like Keemun from Teavivre in particular), I don’t feel the need to keep this around. This tastes kind of like toast on steroids, but isn’t particularly full-bodied or complex to my palette. It was a good and inexpensive starter breakfast tea, but I’d prefer Scottish Morn any day of the week.

Almost forgot about this one. We went out for a nice brunch last Sunday at Lydia’s (really, really good Italian). I asked for hot tea, expecting Lipton, hoping for Twinings, and they brought a box of Harney & Sons! Bagged, sure, but at a restaurant that isn’t tea oriented, I’ll take it!

I actually don’t drink English Breakfast much at all. This was good. A nice well rounded black. Smooth and hearty. My palate is not so advanced as to be able to pick out Keemun vs Assam vs Ceylon so I can’t speak much to that. All I know is that it was a bagged tea at a restaurant that exceeded expectations.

If I could have kept the server from wanting to refill my cup with coffee it would have been a perfect brunch. :) She actually did it once. I thought maybe she was bringing more hot water so I didn’t stop her. She remembered about the time the coffee hit the cup that I had tea, even though it looked like their coffee! She almost did it once more, but caught herself in time. It was actually kind of funny.

Aaaah. This is my kind of Monday! I’ve finally got a new tea to taste and review. I’ve been so busy getting married and keeping up with work tasks that I’ve had to push new teas down on my priority (and financial) list. It’s been a while since my last tasting note so my typing fingers and brain are a little rusty. But, here we go anyhow…

I’ve wanted to try Harney & Sons teas for quite some time. I’ve heard and read great things about their products. But, until this weekend, we didn’t have a local outlet from which to purchase them. I thought their on-line shipping charges were a little steep (no pun intended) so I didn’t buy any from their website either. Now, thanks to our local Fresh Market, we can purchase Harney & Sons English Breakfast and Earl Grey teas at discount prices.

When I opened the big black tin, the aroma that burst forth was like that of pipe tobacco in a tobacco shop. It was sweet and rich.

I steeped the short black leaves for five minutes at 212 degrees as recommended on the tin. I didn’t notice any particular smells wafting from the teapot during this process. The color of the liquor was a bright golden amber.

At first sip, the flavor was sweet and a tad earthy. The taste intensity was medium. The flavor remained mostly consistent after subsequent sips, but I did notice slight twinges of malt and the tell-tale woody and leathery flavors of keemun later on. There was no bitterness present in this brew.

Although this tea does not have bold flavors, it is, nevertheless, a smooth and pleasant beverage for those mornings when you don’t need something shouting at you to wake you up. There is still plenty of good flavor to get your morning off on the right foot.

My new place of work has maybe 20 selections of Harney & Sons in bag form. I will take advantage of this. First up is their English Breakfast. I brewed this for just over 2 minutes. The result is a good strong eye-opener. It’s smooth with mellow cocoa notes. I really should steep it longer next time to fully extract the flavor and strength that a good breakfast tea should posess. I know I have written some bad words about their customer service and total lack of communication but they do have some very nice tea.

I received a sample of this tea from a swap with an acquaintance on Ravelry.

My dogs often wake me way too early in the morning, and they are not patient about waiting when they want/need to go out. So, many, many mornings I stumble blindly out of bed, let the hounds loose, and grope my way blearily towards the tea kettle. When I am in that state, I want a good, stout breakfast tea that will stand up to a bit of sugar and milk. Something that will metaphorically kick my arse into motion, and not something that is necessarily refined or subtle.

This tea fulfills that requirement for basic stimulation, but adds to it a smoothness, and a sweet caramel smokiness that makes those 5:00 am wakeups into something almost pleasant.

Almost. I’d still rather sleep late, to, say, 5:45 am.

A solid tea that brings to mind 400+ year old hard wood furniture and tapestries, an old stone home, a comforting fire in the fireplace. Aged? Classic? Vintage? Historic? Maybe all these things, maybe not. A tea that tastes from another time, and takes you there.

I’ve been drinking this tea almost every morning for a while now. I was really excited to try this tea when I first got it, for I was lacking a good Keemun for quite some time. Initially I thought it was very thin and light. Somehow, over time, I’ve grown to like it quite it a bit.

There isn’t a whole lot that stand out about it per se. It’s slightly sweet, peppery, and delicately smokey. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to analyze flavors (the dreadful morning hours)- I just want that reliable, familiar friend to wake me up.

TEA. ENGLISH BREAKFAST. HOT.

This was a free sample from Harney and Sons.

It was a bagged tea.

I am not a big fan of breakfast teas, but I found Harneys version to be quite pleasant. I find a lot of breakfast teas can be very strong and quite bitter. I brewed this tea for a shorter period of time, just because I was scared it could get bitter. I prefer not to add any milk or sweetener to my black teas. Harney’s version of English Breakfast is a smooth tea, no bitterness noted. It is creamy with a very slight sweetness to it. I love that it is 100% keemun and not a blend. There is a very slight, kind of sweet aftertaste.
I would most likely not purchase this tea for drinking, but I am happy I had the chance to try it.