French Breakfast

I find it funny how many teas there are called French Breakfast, and they are all different.
And none of them remind me of the tea I drank in France!

I had this in my shopping list on here, and found it at Whole Foods Buckhead. They had a few others but none were other ones I wanted to try. They were even $1 less than online from Octavia, score!

I followed the directions on the tin: water off boiling, 3 1/2 minutes is a good average start. Kind of annoyed they don’t put anything exact, but it seems they just use the same one tin for all black teas they carry.

I’m not getting any caramel, just some vanilla. And like last night, this just isn’t that good of vanilla. Vanille des Îles is my benchmark vanilla, though it’s more of a bourbon vanilla taste, it still has all the nuances I expect from vanilla. And this is definitely missing that. It’s like comparing a homemade vanilla bean extract to imitation vanilla extract.

The tea is very astringent too, which surprises me for such a short steep. Granted, I have no idea what exactly the black tea in here is supposed to be so it makes it hard to figure out how long to steep it.

As it cools it just kind of loses any flavor whatsoever. It’s just a smooth cup of a boring, brisk black tea…with that hint of imitation vanilla. While it was hot there was a bit of a floral note from the rose petals.

I figured French breakfast goes well with watching a race here in Atlanta named for the infamous Le Mans! Except it nearly isn’t as fun to watch without the big teams…I don’t even feel upset about not being there now.

I’ll give it a try with a shorter steep…maybe I’ll even take a minute off instead of just 30 seconds, and see if that helps keep the black tea from taking over the cup.

Many thanks to Jaime for this tea!!!

Ooooooh purty. I’m a sucker for rose petals in tea :) Oooooooh vanilla! I can see the cut up pods – always a good sign for me!

The flavor does not disappoint! I taste lovely medium bodied tea with a great earthy vanilla and vanilla pod taste. The smallest tinge of caramel. I am enjoying it plain today, but I think it would also be lovely with milk and sugar for a gentle accompaniment to holiday cookies. We are having Cookie Day here at the University on Monday, and I am going to save my remaining teaspoon of leaves and bring in a little milk and sugar for that very special day!!!!

Once again, thank you thank you thank you Jaime!!!

A not so random selection of my Octavia samples… I wanted a black tea since it’s still my “morning” – yeah, yeah, I know it’s 1:42 pm, but, it’s still MY morning. :)

This is very nice. A very pleasant change up from the typical breakfast blend. I like the creamy vanilla and caramel notes… especially the caramel which is quite lovely… and is making me wonder how a pinch of salt might be in this cup. (I have a particular weakness for salted caramels).

Lovely and sweet… the black tea is very smooth and has very little astringency… it is just a very smooth, luxurious experience with this tea… kind of like you would want for breakfast in Paris.

It’s rather smokier than I was expecting it to taste. The smell is all vanilla-caramel, with just a hint of rose. There’s vanilla in the taste, but also this burnt-smoky flavor as well. It reminds me of the Stash decaf creme caramel I had a while back and couldn’t stomach. Perhaps I’m tasting the caramel flavor and not enjoying it in tea form? Which is rather sad, since I adore real caramel.

As the pot dwindles, it’s getting smoother and I taste more vanilla. But I doubt I’ll ever invest in more. Still just tastes burnt.

This smells lovely! Vanilla/Rose with a hint of Caramel on top on a nicely scented black tea. When infused the caramel aroma comes thru more. While sipping I notice the Vanilla and Caramel pairing makes for a wonderful velvety smoothness! The rose with the black tea seem to make the black tea taste more sturdy! This is a great breakfast surprise!

Smooth and refined. Lovely stuff.

I drank this last night after a day full of (unsweetened) black tea: English breakfast, Irish breakfast, then French breakfast. So drinking this was like going to a rose garden after a day of something bold and brisk like uh… chainsaw shopping. I brewed it for 3 minutes and it came out just a little bitter, so I’ll try maybe 2 minutes next time. The dry leaves smelled like a bottle of vanilla extract to me, which I love. It showed up a great dark red colour and I got black tea + vanilla but without any creaminess. I think the rose petals are mostly there for show. I didn’t get any caramel, but maybe next time with a shorter brew? I only have a sample size but I think I might order a tin of this. It did make me picture some twee Parisian ivy-covered balcony.

I made this according to the suggestions of all who liked it. Boiling water and steeped for 3-4 minutes, but mine came out SO bitter! I finished the cup, but I had to force myself to do it because I don’t like tossing out tea if I can help it. I have another cups worth of a sample to try again. Maybe I should let it steep more/less thoughts?

Thankfully this was just a sample size!