English Breakfast (High Grown)

There is reason breakfast teas are called such. Bright. Strong. Smooth. Still has to be one of my favorite English Breakfast teas.

This goes surprisingly well with chicken noodle soup for breakfast!

I’m really starting to develop a liking for teas that were too strong for me just weeks ago. Go figure. Drinking this one “black” this morning, and it’s pretty good.

I had an ounce of this left, and decided it would be best put to use in making a gallon of iced tea. (I like to make tea by the gallon – it seems like so much but it goes fast enough when you’re drinking only that in the summer – and when other people see you and can’t resist, at least you have enough to share. :) ) So I followed my typical iced tea prep – 30 g leaves to 8 cups water, added 1/2 cup sugar, steeped for 4 minutes and poured over 8 cups of ice.
As a rule, when I think iced tea I think of Lipton. I’m a creature of habit; I grew up on the stuff for 26+ years and so now it’s kind of my standard. Nostalgia is hard to overcome. This tea does come quite close to getting me to break with tradition, though..
This tea is fabulous iced. FABULOUS. There’s a dark honeyish note that the sugar brings out that adds a whole other dimension to that classic black tea taste. My boyfriend tasted the difference immediately without me saying anything, and voiced his approval of the change. Shame it’s the last of my stash for now…

Afternoon tea. For fun I dropped a piece of candied ginger in the bottom of my cup. The tea takes the flavor of the ginger so well that I might have to do this more often.

I’ve been using this for iced tea, sometimes plain, sometimes as a base to blend in other berry or citrus tisanes. It was really good with the Lemon Youkou. Anyways, today, for the first time, I decided to try this hot. I was considering tossing the tea, because I was downright sick of it iced, but thought it needed a chance hot first.

My oh my is this a good breakfast tea. I added 1/2 teaspoon of german rock sugar and would have added milk, had I had any. This is mighty fine. Many more steps up from traditional lipton (thank goodness). I could see myself drinking this as a daily cup. It’s a nice pick me up. This tea may be just what I need to get into unflavored black teas. I feel another Harney order coming on! (black blends here I come)!

This is a tea of the month for August on the Classic Plan. I am so behind in my tea drinking that I still haven’t tried all the July ones. Ugh. Things continue to be crazy around here. Getting the house painted on top of the usual work trauma and the start of the school year. What I wouldn’t give for some quiet time to catch up on my tea drinking.

In any case, these dry leaves smell very earthy (a bit like soil, actually) and a tiny bit leathery. They look like their picture, so I won’t dwell on that. Steeped, it’s a deep reddish brown. Very pretty. Not the russet of many Ceylons, but more of a cherry wood color. There’s a fruity aroma. Berry-like, really.

The flavor is strong and malty. What I think of as stout. It’s pretty close to some of the Scottish Breakfasts I’ve tried, more that than English to me. It’s not overly sweet, as some malty teas are. And I’ve had smoother teas than this. It has a little grab at the back of the throat on some sips.

It’s better than average, but it doesn’t send me over the top. I have a whole slew of black blends that I quite like, and I don’t think this one is different or special enough to require a place in the finals, or even the semi-finals. I would not pass it up if offered, but I don’t feel compelled to put it on my must order list.

I really thought I already logged this one but it’s been a very long time since my last batch of this so that’s ok. I was out of town over the weekend and visited the Teavana at the Galleria (Walden Galleria Mall in Niagara Falls/Buffalo) and had the best Teavana experience to date…I know many of you have had not-so-good experiences at Teavana shops but this one was a nice visit!!!! I ended up getting 4 teas while I was there and try a few others. I hope to be logging them today and tomorrow.

As for this tea I will be adding additional notes in future cups but I had about 5 cups of this this past weekend. It’s a goodie! Nice and bold!

Made some more of this, but rather than cold steeping it I hot-brewed it for about a minute. You can really taste the difference in the cold and hot water. In the hot water, you get a creamier but dryer sort of feeling, while cold brewing brings out a more wet, grassy, hydrating taste. I think I prefer the cold brew style better though.

I’m hoping this tea will makeup for that last cup of terribleness! This is a pretty basic tea, so I figured it would be an easy one to prepare. This one surprised me, in that the tea aroma is very earthy. I suppose I’m used to a sweet maltiness from breakfast blends, but this one has more of an earthy quality about it. The flavor is very full, and has earthy and oaky notes. There is a light maltiness that comes in with the aftertaste. This is a complex flavored tea that keeps me sipping to try to taste all of the flavors. In one sip it seems very sweet, and in the next sip I get a heavy woodsy taste. I think I still prefer my strong, malty-sweet black teas, but this one is a nice change! Thank you, Serenity, for this sample!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell softly malty. Tea liquor aroma is earthy.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange brown color.
-Full earthy and oaky flavor and finish. Light malty aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Heavy earthy and oaky flavor with a hint of sweet maltiness.