Back in my heavy tea bag use days, I drank mostly flavored Ceylon or Assam blends. I never really cared much for straight black tea. I still find most breakfast teas to be beige. They have bite. They leave you with bad breath. I usually don’t remember what they taste like. I did really like the Paisley breakfast tea – it was a good different.
I find I really like Chinese black teas. I generally use the same descriptors – cocoa or chocolate, malt, grain, maybe a little smoke. Yet the combinations are different so they all taste different.
This is a lapsang souchong tea. Before I tried it the first time I thought LS always meant BBQ like highly smoked leaf. Nope. This one is not smoky. The wet leaf smells like cocoa toast. The sip is one of the richest malt, grain combination I have tried. It feels thick. No bitterness. No astringency. Kind of like golden monkey but darker. This is what breakfast teas should taste like. The aftertaste is nice too :)
