This smells smoky – I can definitely pick up the Keemun. Surprisingly, it smells rougher than their Irish Breakfast, which seems a bit counterintuitive to me. And actually, it does seem to be a heavier cup. The Keemun is very obvious but then I taste bright sparkles of Darjeeling – not enough to make it bitter or tart, just enough to give it a citrus-like top note of additional depth of taste. There is a stoutness to it that I don’t normally find with Keemun so I’m gonna say that’s the Assam, though I don’t taste cardboard/malty so much as feel it. I can’t really say I pick up the Ceylon, but honestly, that’s the hardest tea taste for me to pin down.
All in all, a good breakfast blend but nothing overly special. I think it would hold up really well to milk and sugar (the Assam mellows out the Keemun, making it thick enough to deal, I think but also decreasing the smoky – I’m not a fan of milk in my Keemuns). Because of that it is perhaps a better take-to-work-in-my-travel-tumbler tea than the Irish Breakfast from yesterday but in general a less exciting cup.
