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I’m not quite sure what tea I should post this under, or if I should post it in all the contenders profiles, so for now it will go in the winner’s corner!

Malty cocoa toffee tea taste off! I have a few teas in my cupboard that remind me of eachother, so I thought I’d do a taste off and compare them side by side. All teas were steeped at 205 for 3 minutes.

NY Breakfast
First sip, very smooth, lots of cocoa, only the tiniest bit of bitter in the back of the sip.
Adding cream… Oh god! Delicious! The cocoa is rounded out with creaminess and the flavor sits on the breakfast base. No bitterness at all and the flavor is the same throughout the sip. I sink into a cup of this every time! It is so well rounded. Coming back to my cup after 20 minutes I swear I taste a slight coconut creaminess to it.

American Breakfast – Marriage Freres
Very tangy and bright. Almost has a citrusy green feel to it. Not really getting much cocoa, it has a slight breakfasty base in the background. No almond like
Adding cream… Much smoother! The bitterness is gone. It still has that brightness to it that is familiar, but I can’t quite place my finger on. I must have had a tea that has similar qualities to it before.

Wedding Imperial – Marriage Freres
First sip was a little bitter and shocking, but also full of caramel on a deep black base. A few more sips in and the bitter fades letting the caramel shine through a little more.
Adding cream… Smooth. Caramel. Light. The base isn’t heavy on this and I think I would prefer that to carry the caramel better. It seems like a lighter version of NY Breakfast. There is a depth to NYB that WI lacks.

Toffee – Palais De Thes
First sip was smooth! It is light. The scent is sweet and toffee like. I could enjoy this one without additions, even tho it isn’t as deep of a flavor as I would like. There is a slight alkaline tang to it, which could very well be my water source.
Adding cream… Still so smooth! The toffee is still present, but maybe not as prominent as I would like.

Summary
These teas are all so similar, but so different at the same time. They all have that malty/cocoa/toffee way about them and at the same time they have different depths, intensities and nuances. When I drink one I am reminded of the others similarities. I definitely don’t need all four in my cupboard and think I could be happy with just NY Breakfast, although I will be out of NYB way before I finish off the others. If I had to list my preference starting with the favorite, it would be NY Breakfast, Toffee, Wedding Imperial and American Breakfast.

*side note: I keep running into other teas I should have included in this comparison. Lupicia’s Cookies would have been a good one to add.