Miles Tea & Coffee (Minehead England)

Additional notes: I’m having more of this one today, because I just wanted a plain black bready tea. (craving.) I guess I’m getting overrun by samples both from generous Steepsters and companies sending them to me. All very appreciated! (I will definitely be overrun by samples when my Zen order gets here.. I only bought samples for the sale going until April 20…many many samples!) But luckily I have a list of all the new-to-me teas I have to write tasting notes for, so that helps! But for now, I’ll just go for the simplicity of this tea…

Excellent full bodied flavourful everyday tea. I drink it in my home in West Wales, not exactly the West Country as they understand it….

KittyLovesTea kindly sent some of this my way from the UK! thank you! I saw the tiny leaves and knew from another tea I’ve had that was similar that they shouldn’t be steeped very long, but I got distracted this morning and ended up steeping for four minutes. But wow, this didn’t get astringent or bitter at all. This dark cup has that lovely strong black tea flavor.. a bit grassy and a bit like rye bread, but even as it was cold, it seemed to get sweeter rather than astringent. Very tasty! This is the type of tea I need more of around here!

A gift from my mother from a holiday.

My husband and I are off to a funeral later on today and I felt it would be a grand time to try this out. We could both use a good strong cup of tea.

The tea itself has been blended down to very small bits of leaves that look almost like dark mixed herbs which I am lead to believe will decrease the steeping time (slightly).
I used one and half tea spoons of tea per cup (as we wanted a strong cup) and have only used a little bit of milk (no sugar).

The tea is strong in flavour but freshly mellow and not bitter and a little nutty. Great for your standard black tea and perfect to serve to friends and family. Even after half the cup there is no bitterness and the strength remains the same so it is very balanced. Lovely.

I keep this because occasionally people ask me for ‘normal’ tea. It’s very surprisingly good, has a wonderful roundness of flavour, and is balanced enough to drink weak as well as dark. The leaves are cut to be absolutely tiny but very uniform, so it steeps quickly into a builder’s tea. It lacks bitterness, can be bought in and around Somerset from corner shops, and is a favourite of a friend of mine to drink dark with milk and biscuits.

Light gold colour quickly deepening to mahogany in a short time of brewing. Drank it black with no sugar. Usual sample of one tea spoon of tea to a pot; boiling fresh water added and steeped for three minutes. The Actual blend not disclosed by blenders, but tastes like it’s a a mix of Assam and Kenyan. Light flavoured tea, with a slight astringency. A general purpose tea which is supposed to be blended to accommodate the water in this part of the World. (I’m not sure what difference this does actually make to this particular tea.)