80
drank Bolder Breakfast by The Tea Spot
257 tasting notes

For the last few years, I’ve been in a kind of tea rut. I’ve quietly settled into my favorite five or six black teas, rarely venturing out into unchartered waters (not sure if this is a pun). However, I’ve been wanting to try out teas by The Tea Spot after a pleasant experience with their Earl Grey at Myrtle Beach in February.

So…for my first venture into the The Tea Spot universe, I decided to purchase some Bolder Breakfast from their website. I chose that blend because I need all of the caffeinated help I can get to fuel up my brain in the morning, and that blend seemed to be advertised as caffeine-fortified. I also learned that Bolder Breakfast is their #1 top-selling tea.

The purchased pound arrived in a sturdy decorative pouch. When I ripped open the seal and plunged my honker into the bag, I was deluged with a strong, but pleasant, flowery and chocolaty aroma. The full brown tea leaves were peppered with calendula flowers and sunflower petals.

I followed the directions on the pouch and steeped the leaves, flowers, and petals, for five minutes at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The brewed blend smelled sweet and chocolaty with flowery accents close behind.

My first sip produced a flavor of chocolate mixed with flowers. There also was a twang of another flavor which I almost chalked up to astringency. However, I then remembered that this blend also contained aged Pu-erh tea as one of its ingredients, in addition to black teas from China, India, and Sri Lanka- twang solved.

This is a surprisingly gentle tea, considering all of its different components. The pronounced dark chocolate essence is more than satisfying to my relentless sweet tooth. In my case, the rich sweetness of this blend more than cancels out any twangs that might materialize.

All-in-all, this is a delicious tea with many fine attributes. As for the effects of the bolder caffeine, I don’t know yet, but I do seem to be typing faster than usual!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 5 tsp 40 OZ / 1182 ML
ashmanra

I had a sample of this years ago and enjoyed it. If I remember correctly, a puerh hater was drinking it with me and had no idea there was puerh in it. Good stuff!

Stoo

My wife hates Pu-erh too. As a chef, she has very sharp taste buds. She took a sip of this tea and immediately identified the Pu-erh in it. No more Bolder Breakfast for her. :-D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

ashmanra

I had a sample of this years ago and enjoyed it. If I remember correctly, a puerh hater was drinking it with me and had no idea there was puerh in it. Good stuff!

Stoo

My wife hates Pu-erh too. As a chef, she has very sharp taste buds. She took a sip of this tea and immediately identified the Pu-erh in it. No more Bolder Breakfast for her. :-D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I ventured into the world of serious tea drinking in the Summer of 2011. I started out slowly and gently with bagged tea but climbed to the incredible flavorful heights of loose leaf teas in October of that year. Once you go leaf, you never go bag (except when you get free samples)!

Location

South Carolina, USA

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer