Uhm so, something very odd just happened. I had picked up a package of Queen Mary tea from The Secret Tea Room a while ago and decided to have a cup today. After reading the description of this particular tea, and the descriptions of several other Queen Mary teas, I was expecting a nice, malty tea with some floral notes. Ohhh, this tea was so not that. It had those little tiny granules of tea leaves with a whole bunch of large pieces of dried spices (cinnamon bark, maybe, and some other thing that I’ve seen before but can’t remember what it is, it looks like marshmallow root maybe?) I thought, well maybe this is just their adapted version of a Queen Mary blend. So I steeped it, and it was terrible. Alright, maybe not terrible, but just so not what I was expecting. I had anticipated sweet, warming maltiness and instead had some borderline bitter tea with a strange, icky spiciness to it. I am sad because, 1. I couldn’t even finish the tea; and 2. I feel like I can’t even really rate it because I don’t even know what tea it was. I think TSTR obviously mislabeled this one, and I will ask them the next time that I go in. It will drive me crazy until then, though! Has this ever happened to anyone else???
So, after that mess, I am really in need of a tea that is exactly what it says it is. I’m trying this Prince of Wales blend that TeaRunner sent out for our “The American Heiress” book club. She even sent along a little printout about the tea from the Culinary Tea’s website, which is so helpful! This tea is a pretty blend of medium black tea leaves and those cute little rolled gunpowder balls. There’s also some little blue and orange flower petals. The dry leaves smell like fruity black currant, while there is a lovely black tea and sweet fruit aroma from the tea itself. This is a really nice tea with a thick, malty flavor. The finish is very robust, and almost bitter, but good. The black currant comes out very lightly in the aftertaste, but it’s there. This one sort of reminds me of Harney and Son’s Black Currant, but I think theirs is just a little more smooth and rounded. I do appreciate that this one is so flavorful, though. It would be a great tea to get you going in the morning! Thank you TeaRunner for this one!
-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs and dark green rolled gunpowder tea with small blue and orange petals.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of fruity black currant. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and sweet fruit.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark orange brown color.
-Thick malty flavor with a very robust and almost bitter finish. Light currant aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Really flavorful with a light black currant note.
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So relieved you liked it! I seem to like bolder teas than most people in this community and was really nervous about picking teas for our book club swap. Luckily the book we chose excused (I hope) the choice of those Indian/British breakfasty flavors that seem to be out-of-fashion now…
Yey! Thank you for liking it :)
Oh, I loved it and will be cherishing the cups that I have left! I like really strong black teas, too. I don’t even mind usually if they are a little bitter, since I like my teas with milk and sweetener anyways. The bolder the better in my book! Thanks for sharing this one!
Who says breakfast teas are out of fashion?? Now in my house!
I was at the Coffee and Tea Festival in NYC over the weekend and that’s what Mike Harney basically said during his seminar :( He did not actually use the phrase “out-of-fashion”, but something to that effect.
Glad to hear people who I consider my gurus still like breakfast teas!
I was at the Coffee and Tea Festival in NYC over the weekend and that’s what Mike Harney basically said during his seminar .He did not actually use the phrase “out-of-fashion”, but something to that effect.
Glad to hear people whom I consider my gurus still like breakfast teas!
Sorry about the repeated post! The computer froze, but still, amazingly, posted the first time…
I think alot of people associate breakfast blends with a mix of whatever was swept up off the floor at the tea warehouse, & maybe sometimes it is (especially in bagged teas), but there are some wonderful full leaf teas out there, both single leaf & blended, & I want to try them all! I love starting my morning with a cup of something bold! Something worthy to wake up to! Something that stands up to breakfast! I’m still searching for the perfect breakfast tea, although there are many, oh so many, that I love!
That makes me sad to hear that they are considered out of fashion. I’m jealous that you got to go to the Coffee & Tea Festival, TeaRunner! It looks like so much fun! I have so many that I love too, Terri!
We live in the woods, even if it’s only an hour long train ride from Manhattan, and avoid the city whenever we can, but got tempted by the Tea Festival. We are so unaccustomed to going to events that we actually forgot to bring the tickets with us and had to get into our email and print them again at the New York Library… Oh, well. But we got to taste some tea samples we wanted to taste and (drumroll…) I won the Tasting Kit from Mike Harney!
TeaRunner, that’s a great story! Especially cool that you won the tasting kit!
Yay for winning the tasting kit!!
Thanks guys! You can never have too much tea and too many tea paraphenalia, right?
So relieved you liked it! I seem to like bolder teas than most people in this community and was really nervous about picking teas for our book club swap. Luckily the book we chose excused (I hope) the choice of those Indian/British breakfasty flavors that seem to be out-of-fashion now…
Yey! Thank you for liking it :)
Oh, I loved it and will be cherishing the cups that I have left! I like really strong black teas, too. I don’t even mind usually if they are a little bitter, since I like my teas with milk and sweetener anyways. The bolder the better in my book! Thanks for sharing this one!
Who says breakfast teas are out of fashion?? Now in my house!
I was at the Coffee and Tea Festival in NYC over the weekend and that’s what Mike Harney basically said during his seminar :( He did not actually use the phrase “out-of-fashion”, but something to that effect.
Glad to hear people who I consider my gurus still like breakfast teas!
I was at the Coffee and Tea Festival in NYC over the weekend and that’s what Mike Harney basically said during his seminar .He did not actually use the phrase “out-of-fashion”, but something to that effect.
Glad to hear people whom I consider my gurus still like breakfast teas!
Sorry about the repeated post! The computer froze, but still, amazingly, posted the first time…
I think alot of people associate breakfast blends with a mix of whatever was swept up off the floor at the tea warehouse, & maybe sometimes it is (especially in bagged teas), but there are some wonderful full leaf teas out there, both single leaf & blended, & I want to try them all! I love starting my morning with a cup of something bold! Something worthy to wake up to! Something that stands up to breakfast! I’m still searching for the perfect breakfast tea, although there are many, oh so many, that I love!
That makes me sad to hear that they are considered out of fashion. I’m jealous that you got to go to the Coffee & Tea Festival, TeaRunner! It looks like so much fun! I have so many that I love too, Terri!
We live in the woods, even if it’s only an hour long train ride from Manhattan, and avoid the city whenever we can, but got tempted by the Tea Festival. We are so unaccustomed to going to events that we actually forgot to bring the tickets with us and had to get into our email and print them again at the New York Library… Oh, well. But we got to taste some tea samples we wanted to taste and (drumroll…) I won the Tasting Kit from Mike Harney!
TeaRunner, that’s a great story! Especially cool that you won the tasting kit!
Yay for winning the tasting kit!!
Thanks guys! You can never have too much tea and too many tea paraphenalia, right?