Blending Black Teas for Yourself
I usually drink Oolongs but sometimes (and especially when in need of a swift kick in the morning and/or when I’m too bleary eyed or hurried to brew gong fu style) I want a good hearty but refined black tea.
Unable to find an English Breakfast that I really liked, I’d been thinking for a while about blending my own. This weekend I tried a more or less half and half blend of a very nice Keemun from RedBlossom and a passable but unremarkable Assam from Fairway.
I was surprised at how good the combination suited me. The winey quality of the Keemun was muted a bit and the Assam rounded it out nicely. Now I’d like to try refining it, maybe with a better Assam and or a bit of Ceylon. English Breakfast has so many proprietary versions and disputed origins that I know there is no one “true” or ‘authentic" recipe. I’d be interested in what others may have concocted on their own. The teas used and proportions of each.
No one else? Really?
I’d recommend it to all. I did some shopping since the first post and for now I’ve settled on a blend of 1/3 each of pretty nice quality Keemun, Assam and Ceylon Orange Pekoe for my morning cuppa. By themselves none of them did much for me (or did too much). But together they all seem to bring out the best of each other. With a bit of soymilk and light agave I’m a happy and well caffeinated camper.
We do. Keemun, Assam, and Ceylon sound like a great combination. Glad you found the right combination for your breakfast tea.
For our English Breakfast, we use an Assam, Darjeeling, and Keemun. We offer blending kits for our English and Irish breakfast teas, with our recipe for those who are interested in blending their own tea but not quite sure how to go about it.
Blending can be very simple and fun trying different variations.
I haven’t seen the blending kits on your website, where are they? I’d love to try it out.
I was going to try adding Darjeeling next
The kits are in our sampler section (we have a canister version and a gift version): http://www.butikiteas.com/Samplers.html
Also, you may want to consider adding a Kenyan tea to your English Breakfast if you are looking for something strong.
Darjeelings can also be used for an Indian blend if you are looking to try something other than English or Irish breakfast teas. Indian Breakfast typically have Assam, Darjeeling, and Nilgiri teas. We will be working on that blend after we complete our Butiki Breakfast Blend which is a gentle smooth black tea.
crap would love to try this got keemun and ceylon in house but my assam ran out a few days ago
I’ve been blending my own tea for twenty years. I buy an Assam and a Darjeeling from Tealuxe. The blend is my favorite tea ever ever. I call it my personal house blend, although I am curious if there is a name for the tea create dwhen you mix Assam and Darjeeling. I thought it was Queen Mary, but have since discovered that’s not correct. Lately I’ve been reading some English breakfasts contain both teas, but this seems too broad for the answer I’m looking for.
Hi,
Could you tell me what ratios you are using for your “personal house blend”?. I brought back some Assam ctc from India and a friend gave me some really good first blush Darjeeling. I would really like to blend if only to prolong my Assam supply
Thanks
I keep it simple- simply use equal parts. I buy 100 grams of each and combine to make a combined total of 200 grams of tea. So, 1:1. Keep us posted! (And be daring- try your own ratio! You may be delightfully surprised!)
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