Queen Anne

Morning tea! i figured that i should really get around to trying the rest of my F&M teas since my parents are headed to london in a few weeks and are already asking me what i’d like them to bring back. Not that i need more tea but it’s an “easy” solution to things.

I sort of cheated with this one today and added a splash of maple syrup..so i’ll have to rate this later when i have it straight but so far, this is a decent cup that i quite enjoyed!

I have been away from Steepster for so long! Sigh, have been too busy to taste tea properly lately…

I am happy that when I finally have the time to do so, I am rewarded with a great cup! It’s smooth, brisk, and aromatic. It reminds me of the endless cups of wonderful Ceylon teas that I had when I visited Tea Trails in Sri Lanka last year. It’s unusual for me to like plain black tea so much but it is just THAT good. :)

Big bags tea and I thought I have finished all Fortnum & Mason teas already, but apparently not.

I was working on my thesis and in one moment I just found a dead end and I just couldn’t find any solution. I asked the company, they didn’t know. I asked my thesis leader teacher — she did not reply (I wrote it in the morning). I wrote another teacher (in the afternoon), probably it was too late for him as well. I was drinking this tea with my brother and father (both drinking coffee), explained them my problem (it is one of several parameters) and brother came up with solution. I will have to explain why I have used a bit another parameter than used in the formula from book, but at least there is some solution and hopefully working one.

Anyway to this tea… it is fairly generic black tea, although they claim they use Ceylon and Assam tea. I couldn’t notice it and maybe it is due to age as it is indeed old one and moreover bagged. It was quite heavy on tannic notes, a hint of bitterness and pretty much forgettable tea. I would love to find out if looseleaf is better, or fresher tea afterall, but it seems they do not export to the EU teas right now.

Not all teas are winners. This is sad example of that.

Bright, refreshing black tea. I enjoyed a pot of it this morning as my morning fix. While it isn’t anything really special, it is a good, basic cup of tea.

Thank you Sil for sending this tea my way *cough cough many years ago oops.
Hey, better late than never, right?? I’m finally going through all my teas that I’ve been meaning to get to!
Dry, it smells like an ordinary black tea. Once I poured water over the top, I got that dank, musky black tea smell. Don’t know if this tea is supposed to be like this, but I’m assuming it’s the age :(( Dang. Should’ve had this tea years ago when I got it! But it’s v dark and amber in colour. Prob going to throw some milk and sugar into this

A nice black tea. Steeped it in fresh boiling water for 3 minutes. A little malty, and strong but didn’t get dry mouth like I do with lower quality teas. It’s nothing note-worthy, but I’ll gladly finish the bags I have left.

I also steeped this 3 times before I chucked the tea bag..

Fortnum & Mason has several breakfast blends; out of all their “Famous” tea line, I’d say this is my least favorite. It is the most harsh (I tend to like smooth or crisp teas) of their teas. It has a bit of malt, and a good amount of bitter, and other dark flavors.

I think all of their teas are of excellent quality; just not to my personal taste. I would encourage people to try their teas, especially if you like breakfast type blends. If not, try their Grey teas (Earl Grey, Countess Grey, etc)

Some tea bags from MissB! :) Thank you.

I brewed this as usual, and am (OMG) having it plain. I can’t even.

It’s pretty good. A little astringent though. I definitely wouldn’t steep this at boiling.

Sipdown (122)!

Thanks MissB! Sadly this marks the last of the tea blends from you, but probably just as well given I have samples that predate your package (from months ago) that I need to try as well.

I wish I was finishing things up on a positive note, but I really wasn’t a fan of this one. It had some nicer malt/bread notes that I can see going well with milk and sugar but it was also very, very astringent and bitter and more-so read to me as a lower quality, generic bagged black tea. Not so much my thing…

Alas, you can’t love ’em all! And this is one less thing in my cupboard.

And now bed time, since it’s nearly 4AM…

Backlog time! Sorry everyone, posting a lot fairly quickly. Taking advantage of downtime while visiting Ottawa (it’s too cold to walk around, so we’re lounging and relaxing instead).

Thanks to MissB for these teabags – they’ve been a lifesaver at work lately, since I haven’t had much time to brew tea at home, and all my infusers are still full (and a big hassle to bring to work). Bonus – I have some time to write notes and email them to myself, although I admit I’m in a rather distracting environment, so the quality of the notes may not be all that wonderful.

I drank this tea completely blind, meaning that I have no idea at all what it was, other than a black tea. As it turns out – a fairly pleasant black tea! I still have no real idea what it was (I’m writing this tasting note without regular internet access), but I had a sip plain, and it tasted like a reasonably high-quality bagged black. I drank the rest with a splash of 2% milk and some sugar, and it was really quite tasty. A very good example of a bagged black. I’m curious to see which teas it’s a blend of (if that info is available).