English Breakfast

I haven’t had a English Breakfast tea in ages, but I think I was expecting something with a pretty generic black tea, tea bags kind of flavour, and this is not that.

This smells very woody, with a bit of a tannic and acidic, roasted note to it. Fortunately, the flavour is a bit more complex, with malt, caramel, wood and char. It’s bold and a bit tangy, while also being incredibly smooth and only a tiny bit bitter.

Not my favourite flavour profile, but I’m enjoying this more than I expected initially. Finishing this cup up with milk and sugar, though it doesn’t actually need it, like I was expecting it to.

This is not a typical English Breakfast tasting tea. The dry leaf smelled a bit sweet and biscuity/malty. Wet, the leaf produced a very malty fragrance with a touch of sweetness. But now that I’m drinking it, I’m not only getting sweet maltiness, but I’m also getting a cannabis note from the tea. Anyone that’s ever gone to a concert knows what that smells like. It was a surprising note for me in an English Breakfast tea. Perhaps it has something to do with this is probably the freshest tea I’ve ever had….it’s a 2014. There is a bit more than “a little” astringency to this tea as well, as my tongue felt dry after each sip. The maltiness and cannibisness (ha!) lead to a nicely balanced medium mouthfeel breakfast tea. I would not turn this away at a breakfast table, but with the cannabis note, perhaps for me it is better relegated to an aprés concert cuppa.