A nice Ceylon – I tried it unsweetened, sweetened, and with milk and sugar. I loved it unsweetened but it lost something with sugar. I added milk and drank it Brit style and all was well again!
ashmanra
5 tasting notes
Today for lunch I made turkey panini with sautéed onions, lettuce, Raspberry Enlightenment from Penzey’s, and mozzarella cheese. As a side dish I had rotini noodles with Double Devon Cream, Parmesan, and mozzarella cheese. To me, that meal screams for a good, stout Chinese black tea, like Keemun Hao Ya or Fengqing Dragon Pearls. But hubby doesn’t go for many black teas…yet. His favorite black tea is Ceylon, and even then only certain Ceylons will do.
He liked this one very well, and drank three cups to my one. I really wanted some tea after lunch so I tried resteeping the leaves, something I don’t do with just any black tea because so many come out weak. This was definitely weaker, but still very enjoyable.
Side note: the puppy we are fostering because she was hit by a car is doing well and should be ready to go up for adoption in a month or less. The puppy I keep on Tuesdays is staying with us indefinitely now since his owner is in the hospital having tests run. So every bite I eat, every sip I drink, is watched by three pairs of eager eyes…
At one time, all I could get hubby to drink with me was black tea, and only a few of those. He added lots of sugar and milk. Less than a year ago he started drinking – and enjoying – lots of greens and oolongs and even some white and puerh. These teas he takes plain and has no desire to add anything. But even now, if I make a black tea he looks at it with distrust and wants to know what it is. Once he knows it is a kind he likes, in goes the sugar and milk.
Tonight I made a recipe from Pinterest because we are having Christmas soup night Friday and I wanted something “manly” to fill up those guy appetites. The test run for the sandwiches was today, and they were really good. Hubby devoured a number of them, and he was so pleased that I made this tea to go with them.
He loves a good Ceylon and said he seems to prefer the ones from A Southern Season. Fortunately, I have a healthy stock of three different Ceylons that they sell.
The best way I know to describe this tea and is that you take one sniff and say, “Ah! TEA!” This is not one of the super lemony or lightly astringent Ceylons. It is rich and full bodied and SMOOTH. I love it plain – it didn’t need a thing for me – but hubby drank cup after cup with milk and sugar, so if that is your bent, it can certainly handle it!
The girls and I had tea lunch today, not to be confused with rat lunch which is grilled cheese sandwich and tea! Tea lunch is when we have a fancy lunch together at the tea table!
Since we always did Ceylons with such a meal because that was the one tea that everyone in the family liked, I revisited this one. Unfortunately, I lost track of the steep time amidst all the cooking, but it still came out fairly well. The dry leaves are much smaller than the leaves of Ceylon Extra Fancy from the same company.
The aroma is lemony, very lemony. The cup has all the roundness of a Ceylon but this is also very malty. With food when it was piping hot, it was perfect, but as it cooled and I was sipping it by itself the maltiness took on a bitter edge. I added milk to combat that effect.
This pot of tea was less than stellar, but next time I will not only set a timer but perhaps cut back on the steep time a little, due to the small size of the broken leaves. It can be a very good tea when made properly!
This one has a little more heft to me than some Ceylons. I think Ceylons are delicious and smooth, most have strong honey notes and this one is not an exception. But there is more body to this one, I believe, and perhaps some additional toasty tones? Good with milk and sugar, enjoyed it with some sharp cheddar which always seems to sweeten the taste of tea!
