I picked this up on my vacation last week. First I want to say I love Twinings tea, always have and no doubt always will. Twinings got me started as a tea person and while I have branched out to many different types of tea, this company holds a special place for me.
I am an undisputed fan of black teas. Especially Assam. Pairing the Assam with Yunnan takes the malty edge off, and makes for a more refined and regal cup of tea. Remaining true to English tea heritage, the Assam is present, just tempered a bit in honor of the Queen. It steeps up the color of coffee and lingers long on the tongue post sip. A hint of maltiness at first descends to a mellow, easy Yunnan finish. My only regret is that I bought but one tin in blue. Should have purchased the pink and green as well.
Long live the Queen!
6 Tasting Notes
So I was wandering around London and I came across the original Twinings merchant store, from 1706! Inside they have a little bit of a museum and of course a fairly awesome store, and the tea lover in me was in heaven! Even though I don’t usually drink Twinings, I can recognize their importance in tea’s history!
Anyway, in all honesty, I bought this one because it comes in such a pretty tin, and I really like pretty tins…I wasn’t expecting to be a huge fan as I rarely am of blacks that are not super fruity or super chocolatey, but in my loose-leave deprived state I got a lot of enjoyment out of this cup! It is a mild and smooth black with a yummy malty finish. No astringency (which I can’t stand in a black), just good old yummy tea!
I know Twinings is a popular tea, mainly because it’s accessible. Being on every supermarket shelf, it’s obviously difficult to compete in popularity with less available and more expensive teas. They also market themselves in a nice way so consumers believe the tea is somehow better than average.
I bought this commemorative blend purely on the packaging. I liked the tin. I don’t usually drink tea bags, but these were paper wrapped and being a blend of assam and yunnan, I thought it couldn’t fail to be palatable. I was wrong. It was bitter, almost poisonous. My husband and I tried to drink it, we persevered before throwing the two cups down the sink and starting again with an assam and darjeeling Irish blend from Kusmi instead.
This tea (and Twinings tea in general) is instantly very dark in colour when hot water is added – I assume due to fannings/tea dust.
It was comparable in price to tea from Fortnum & Mason, making me question why I even tried it. I was a fool for being tempted by the nice commemorative tin!
I was expecting something special from this blend, but it is a mediocre tea packed in a beautiful caddy. Good for a gift for someone who drinks mostly supermarket Earl Grey.
Enjoyable as either a morning or afternoon tea, I’ll enjoy this while my stock lasts.
Brewed in gaiwan, straight, damn tasty. Someone was kind to share her souvenir from London. I can’t believe its Twinings. Now where can I get it in the Colonies!
