Chinese Breakfast

This tea deserves a better rating, IMO. The flavor just explodes: honey, date, chocolate.They call for a tsb instead tsp, but with that I got three full-bodied brews, the second being my favorite. More patient people could probably get several more. I use natural sugar crystals, it is improved by it and I just prefer it. This is a fantastic value and a great early morning kick start. I prefer a dark, full flavor in the a.m. – but smooth. This one has a touch of astringent edge on the first brew, but just a touch. I might try 3 minutes for the first brew instead of 4. I plan on getting a much larger bag and making this a regular.

malty, strong black tea flavor. your typical black tea. though, it is making me feel really jittery and anxious- like i do when i have coffee. how strange.

giving this a low rating for the coffee-nervous feeling =[. I’m not a fan of feeling jittery.

The folks at Rishi teas have done a great job of making affordable vareitals availible – in this case their “china breakfast” whole leaf. this is a Yunnan red – a style that gained huge popularity in the west in the early 1900’s and for a long time was the basis for English “brekkie” blends until cost/politics drove them to more heavy assam/ceylon blends with less “Red” & Keenum.

Red Yunnan is more fermented than golden yunnans, both from the same base trees that also make Pur-eh’s I think goldens are fired less and rless as well.

Brewed 4 min with boiling water in my Miracle – This is red copper in the the cup, the big malty nose of yunnan, and I associate with “brekkie”. Malt and dark chocolate taste, with a little sour after prevelent of most Yunnans. Full body mouth feel, very little astringency. I like it with a touch of milk in the morning. This is a good brekkie.

I am playing with blending a little of this with some keenum and some assam and ceylon to get a full leaf “North side” brekkie.

Dark amber is the first thing I can think about this tea. Great smell out of the bag, light with very malty flavors. This is a deep black tea. Not so much in flavor, or caffeine content but rather in body and color. This tea has no empty spaces that some teas out there have. You sip the tea and notice on the palate or on the tongue that there is a space, this tea has no empty space. This is one of the maltiest teas I have ever had, awesome for those into a real brew.

Bit of a problem was, as the tea cooled from a rather high 212 degrees, a bitterness did happen, only slight. I would recommend a lower temperature. But Rishi does seem to be a rather good company for tea.

If I were forced to pick my favorite black tea country of origin, it would have to be China. I just love the leathery smell and rich earthy taste of Chinese black teas. China obviously got it right a long time ago, which is why their ancient trees are still used today.

I was so excited when I saw Rishi had a Chinese breakfast tea that I sent away for a pound of it, sight unseen and taste untasted. I realized the risk but I had faith in Rishi and Chinese black tea in general.

When I opened the one pound plastic bag, the rich familiar and welcoming leathery smell greeted me. The leaves were long, black, and brown.

I steeped the leaves according to Rishi’s instructions at 212 degrees for five minutes. The brewed aroma was rich, luscious, sweet, and robust. The color was bright amber.

The taste of this tea was absolutely delicious. It was full-bodied, sweet, malty, and earthy, with accents of cocoa. It was also tremendously smooth with no inkling of astringency. The aftertaste was extremely light and gentle and it lingered only momentarily.

This tea is nothing short of delightful. It is the perfect morning tea for me but I would not object to drinking it in the afternoon either. My gambling paid off for a change. This tea was worth the risk.

Great morning tea, nice robust flavor, malty. Low tannins.