French Breakfast

We had a fabulous day yesterday in Carmel and Monterey. We decided we would escape the heat and drive down to the coast for the day! It was so cool, like 64 degrees, which was a huge change from our previous day in Davis, where it was like walking through a furnace at 104 degrees. Anyway, we had a blast shopping around Carmel, and eating at some amazing places. We found our new favorite Italian restaurant in Carmel, called Little Napoli…food was amazing! I had a gnocchi dish and they were like little pillows with Gorgonzola cheese melted on top! Yum!!! I also picked up a cute new hat, kind of 1920s inspired!

I was also excited to stop by the Tea Rose shop, which was closed the last time we were in Carmel. I had read she carried Harney & Sons teas, and I knew she had some cute teaware, but she said she recently went to a tea expo, and picked up a bunch of stuff, and I found the Octavia Tea Company teas in her shop as well. Never heard of them before. Of course I had to try them out. I picked up a tin of this tea, since it sounded unique. I mean, I’ve seen English breakfast, and Irish breakfast, and even Scottish breakfast, but not French breakfast. Plus, I like the idea of a vanilla, caramel, rose black tea. The tins are a little funny though. Remind me of a deodorant stick in shape! Haha! It was a little pricey for 3oz., but I figured I was in Carmel (instant rate hike) and the tea is organic, so I went for it. I looked up the company online, and yes, she had hiked the price up by $2.50, but I suppose she needs to make some profit! It does seem like a lot though…like a 17% hike. I made a comment about checking them out online, and I don’t think she appreciated it…ha! You do save on shipping though, by getting it at her shop.

Of course I had to have a cup this morning. This tea did not disappoint! I was happy to see the tea was sealed up fresh in a foil pouch within the tin. When I opened it, the dry leaf smelled like vanilla and rose. Brewed up, it tastes like vanilla, caramel, and rose black tea! Perfect! I steeped it at 195 degrees for 3 minutes, since the instructions said something about letting boiling water cool a bit. This turned out to be a great cup, with no astringency…of course, I added soy milk and sugar too! So I’m super satisfied, and will probably be ordering sample sizes online to try more of this company!! ;)

Had two cups of this so far today! Lovely Black tea and floral, vanilla, caramel combo! Ahhhh!

I find it funny how many teas there are called French Breakfast, and they are all different.
And none of them remind me of the tea I drank in France!

I had this in my shopping list on here, and found it at Whole Foods Buckhead. They had a few others but none were other ones I wanted to try. They were even $1 less than online from Octavia, score!

I followed the directions on the tin: water off boiling, 3 1/2 minutes is a good average start. Kind of annoyed they don’t put anything exact, but it seems they just use the same one tin for all black teas they carry.

I’m not getting any caramel, just some vanilla. And like last night, this just isn’t that good of vanilla. Vanille des Îles is my benchmark vanilla, though it’s more of a bourbon vanilla taste, it still has all the nuances I expect from vanilla. And this is definitely missing that. It’s like comparing a homemade vanilla bean extract to imitation vanilla extract.

The tea is very astringent too, which surprises me for such a short steep. Granted, I have no idea what exactly the black tea in here is supposed to be so it makes it hard to figure out how long to steep it.

As it cools it just kind of loses any flavor whatsoever. It’s just a smooth cup of a boring, brisk black tea…with that hint of imitation vanilla. While it was hot there was a bit of a floral note from the rose petals.

I figured French breakfast goes well with watching a race here in Atlanta named for the infamous Le Mans! Except it nearly isn’t as fun to watch without the big teams…I don’t even feel upset about not being there now.

I’ll give it a try with a shorter steep…maybe I’ll even take a minute off instead of just 30 seconds, and see if that helps keep the black tea from taking over the cup.

Many thanks to Jaime for this tea!!!

Ooooooh purty. I’m a sucker for rose petals in tea :) Oooooooh vanilla! I can see the cut up pods – always a good sign for me!

The flavor does not disappoint! I taste lovely medium bodied tea with a great earthy vanilla and vanilla pod taste. The smallest tinge of caramel. I am enjoying it plain today, but I think it would also be lovely with milk and sugar for a gentle accompaniment to holiday cookies. We are having Cookie Day here at the University on Monday, and I am going to save my remaining teaspoon of leaves and bring in a little milk and sugar for that very special day!!!!

Once again, thank you thank you thank you Jaime!!!

Octavia’s French Breakfast tea has been haunting me since I tried a teabox sample of it ages ago. I asked Octavia about a few samples and they sent me a boatload. I am so appreciative, as I always wanted to try most of their teas! This tea has been lingering in my mind! The memory of this tea (and the tea itself) likely changed since I sipped it six years ago. It’s a lovely Chinese black base with vanilla beans, vanilla flavoring, and rose petals. To be honest, I can’t really see too many vanilla beans in the blend, but this is a black tea after all, maybe they’re hiding. Octavia suggests three teaspoons for one mug, but I definitely didn’t use that much. I thought it would be too much even if I cooled the water to 180 degrees as they also suggested. The scent of the dry leaf is like a baked goodie – definitely vanilla. I’m glad the base tea by appearance seems very similar to what I remember- a Chinese black tea seems perfect for vanilla. The color of the brew seems dark in appearance, but it’s smooth and full of that lingering vanilla. So so good. The rose doesn’t impact the tea too much and I’m certainly glad there isn’t any additional rose flavoring. In the first cup, I could swear there were hints of cherry blossoms. I steeped a half mug full on the third steep and the flavor was still going strong — somehow it seemed to constantly shift between cherry and cherry blossom, even more than the previous two steeps. A malty sweet brew that I’m very glad to revisit. Is it like I remember? Like I said, memory is fickle, but this tea is very close to memory.
Steep #1 // 1 1/3 teaspoons for a full mug // 26 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 2 minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep
Steep #3 // half mug – just boiled // 4 min

let’s taste this tea from the Traveling Tea Box B with a side of animal crackers!
oh wow it does have a little carameley vanillaey notes. not strong but very noticeable.
i like this one a lot. very nice.

Remains a lovely, fragrant brew. Perfect first thing in the morning.

A not so random selection of my Octavia samples… I wanted a black tea since it’s still my “morning” – yeah, yeah, I know it’s 1:42 pm, but, it’s still MY morning. :)

This is very nice. A very pleasant change up from the typical breakfast blend. I like the creamy vanilla and caramel notes… especially the caramel which is quite lovely… and is making me wonder how a pinch of salt might be in this cup. (I have a particular weakness for salted caramels).

Lovely and sweet… the black tea is very smooth and has very little astringency… it is just a very smooth, luxurious experience with this tea… kind of like you would want for breakfast in Paris.

It’s rather smokier than I was expecting it to taste. The smell is all vanilla-caramel, with just a hint of rose. There’s vanilla in the taste, but also this burnt-smoky flavor as well. It reminds me of the Stash decaf creme caramel I had a while back and couldn’t stomach. Perhaps I’m tasting the caramel flavor and not enjoying it in tea form? Which is rather sad, since I adore real caramel.

As the pot dwindles, it’s getting smoother and I taste more vanilla. But I doubt I’ll ever invest in more. Still just tastes burnt.

I drank this last night after a day full of (unsweetened) black tea: English breakfast, Irish breakfast, then French breakfast. So drinking this was like going to a rose garden after a day of something bold and brisk like uh… chainsaw shopping. I brewed it for 3 minutes and it came out just a little bitter, so I’ll try maybe 2 minutes next time. The dry leaves smelled like a bottle of vanilla extract to me, which I love. It showed up a great dark red colour and I got black tea + vanilla but without any creaminess. I think the rose petals are mostly there for show. I didn’t get any caramel, but maybe next time with a shorter brew? I only have a sample size but I think I might order a tin of this. It did make me picture some twee Parisian ivy-covered balcony.