Prince of Wales (loose leaf)

This tea does have an earthy scent to it. I swear I can taste yunnan in there somewhere. Its a blend of many teas and makes a nice mild tasty cup.

Hi everyone! I’m enjoying my last few days of vacation in Mallorca! I went through Rome and Vienna and now in Mallorca my travels are about to come to an end. I have manages to find a tea shop in Rome and Vienna, not yet in Mallorca… But all in all, tea regardless, I have had wonderful food and experiences!

Here in Mallorca they have a neat buffet breakfast with loose-leaf tea included!! This is one of the options, so I have had it for the past two days.

It is a mix of leaves, both dark and lighter brown that results from the different types of teas in the blend. They are nicely sized. The scent is both spicey and smokey. It initially reminded me of a really light lapsang s., which worried me since I don’t like smokey teas.

The brew is a greenish brown and smells like a forrest with a hint of campfire smoke. Surprisingly appropriate for the surroundings. It tasted crisp, a tad bit peppery and a swift slightly smokey aftertaste. It barely has any astringency and once sweetened I really started enjoying it. It is like a walk through a forrest with campfires on a crisp winters day.

On a quick side note, I am reading Game of Thrones and it works really well with this tea! Great literature-tea combination!

Also, missed you all! Will be home soon and back to regular steepstering! : )

Loose
Appearance: dark med curl leaf
Aroma when Dry: nutty, fruity hints of malt
After water is first poured: hints of nutty and malty notes
At end of steep: slight floral, citrus notes, malt
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: med meadowy brown
Staple? Yes
Preferred time of day: any
Taste:
At first?: very light, balanced floral, grass, malt, no astringency
As it cools?: gets a bit more bodied, slight buttery notes, hints of chestnut, no astringency
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? yes, floral and malt notes, lightly, very mild hints of astringency on finish
want to try chilled

Second steep 3 min:
At first: Warm, fruity, light
As it cools: fruity, mineral notes

Third Steep 3min:
At first: warm buttery,bodied mineral notes
As it cools: notes flatten into fruitiness

Fourth Steep 2min:
slightly salty broth water

Decided to try this one because of the repeated mention of “light smokiness” because that’s one of my favorite elements in tea.

So I was surprised that the aroma was sweet and flowery! I still can’t identify the specific flower it reminds me of — just a sweet, old-fashioned nosegay, I guess.

I added a little fat-free milk and sipped. Oh, I do like this. Still flowery, but with the expected faint smokiness and a totally unexpected chocolate something at the back of my tongue. I was truly surprised and disappointed when I relized I had finished the first cup.

Backlogging…

Had about 6 cups of this while out of town…bought some at a Tops Supermarket because my BIL didn’t have any tea and they didn’t have Loose Leaf at the store that I saw. This was on sale and I remember I enjoyed it. I ended up leaving it for my BIL, too, maybe I can get him into tea more – even if it IS bagged! LOL

Perhaps I was flying a bit high from my antique store discovery of Queen Catherine, but when I saw this at the liquor store, I picked it up. That’s right, I got this (the loose leaf version even!) at the liquor store. I also got a tin of Lady Grey (loose), some hard-to-find pasta sauce (which my speciality grocery store stopped carrying) and some sparkling water. The husband got beer.

Unsurprisingly, this pales in comparison to the loveliness that is Queen Catherine. There is one noticeable similarity, though: Keemun. I don’t know how much of this tea is Keemun, but it’s there. Not the best Keemun in the world, but I don’t know if I’ve really met a bad Keemun. It adds some kind of flat but still present earthy notes. Nothing as rich as leather, though. This also has some Yunnan-ish straw notes, but nothing all that inspiring. The Yunnan seems to be a lower grade, just like the Keemun. The normal sweet hay taste is turned into dry straw leaving the tea without much sweetness but also no astringency.

So yeah, this one really isn’t a “sip an contemplate the wonders of life” tea, but it’s great to pair with food because I don’t have to worry about drowning out any nuances. I won’t reach for this when I want a to relax with a tasty cup of tea, but I will say it was a perfect match for my jam and toast this morning so I imagine I’d be drawn to it when I wanted a more high tea experience.

I love this stuff. I am on my second round of steepings today. I am reading All the Tea in China, so am now very curious about which teas are in this blend.

One of my favorite teas, although I’ve only had it in teabags. When I first tried this tea I couldnt believe their wasnt any “bite” or astringency at all with this tea.Smooth is the only word that comes to mind.Ive yet to overbrew it to a bitter end, and am not sure you can.Im trying my darnest to get my grocer to order this in loose leaf for me.Ive heard twinings isnt making this available in the UK anymore just the US market..the world will be a poorer place if this tea ever dissapears.

I was pleasantly impressed with this blend. I expected a mash up between Twinings Earl Grey and their English breakfast blend, but it lent more toward a smooth less fragrant earl grey with the stronger note of a heavier black tea. I didn’t notice any overpowering essences which can sometimes come from a more mainstream loose leaf small cut tea. I tried a second steep, and though you lose some of the more pronounced flavors inherent in the cup you gain a new, and different subtle floral taste. Different and interesting for twinings. Good for the price and the tea drinker on a budget:)

This one is extremely gentle ,with its malty taste very soothing. I think the tea also makes a good base——sometime ago I bought some rooibos with fruity flavor,then I found the rooibos as base too bland ,I can barely sense tea scents there.So I mixed my fruity rooibos with Wales,and it turned out much better ,the mixed tea had become more solid and rounded .