English Breakfast

What I heave learned about china/beijing today:

Take advantage of uber nice hotels since what’s outside the hotel is pretty gross.
And secondly….as a white foreigner in said hotel, when you ask for tea with breakfast you won’t get a choice…they will bring you English breakfast twinnings….even if they have gaiwans and three different (at least) kinds of tea on their tea bar lol

So I had this. Wheee!

Working out of a temporary/makeshift office this week…but there’s a Keurig in it. The problem is … I don’t think I’m very impressed with it. Have had two cups of Twinings EB and I’m not getting much but “hot leaf juice” flavor out of this. Something about brewing through all that paper and plastic makes me wonder how any of the real tea personality can get through.

Yesterday was my birthday and I wanted to have a special cup of tea. I had a few kinds.. but nothing incredibly special. I couldn’t fully enjoy them because I was suffering from the beginning of a bad cold — sneezing, watery eyes, sore throat, cough, sniffly nose. Not fun. Today, it’s now much worse & at this point, I can’t taste much of anything.

I had a nice cup of this tea & milk earlier today when I could still taste. It was a little bit malty and creamy — very enjoyable. Even if I could taste a bit more, I’m sure I would enjoy this tea for those times when you just need a cup of english breakfast tea & milk. Hopefully this cold goes away quickly and I can get back to sipping my tea & enjoying the holidays!

I was craving a hearty tea with milk and sugar- comfort foods, you know- and decided on this one. Nice and full bodied, malty, smooth. The milk rounds it all out, and the sugar brings up the tea flavors, brightening the cup a bit. Just what I needed on a Monday morning.

This was the bagged version. As far as bagged tea goes, this is a good choice. It is smooth and not bitter. Good with just a tiny dash of milk. I took this to my Mom’s for convenience’s sake since I had limited time and supplies.

Another beautiful morning at Sunset Beach! Yesterday we got to see not only the woodstorks of Vereen Park (have only sighted them once before in about 6 visits) but we saw their babies, too! They still had that awful baby bird hairdo that is so cute, but were old enough to walk around and fish with Mama, and Daddy awed us by flying over. Magnificent!

As for the tea, it was just so-so. It is a basic cup of tea, not offensive but not ringing any bells for me. I did a shorter steep because I thought that it might get bitter quickly being a bagged tea. Perhaps a little more time would have made a more robust tea.

There is a tea room nearby. Hope to get there later today and see if there is something delicious to report!

Finally, I get to try one of the standards (at least in the US) for English Breakfast thanks to teawing….thank you for the generous Twinings sampling, by the way! I jumped directly from so-so bagged tea right into loose leaf in my tea journey, so I missed getting a chance to try some of the better bagged ones. I also find it interesting that there are some bagged teas that I like quite well. And this is one of them. It is always good to have something on hand that will travel easily as loose leaf can get a little messy.

This really is very good for a bagged tea. I liked this one without milk, but slightly sweetened. The tea itself is pretty basic, the flavor is rounded and smooth. It works for me, because I tend to gravitate toward good basic tea lately.

A classic tea blend from one of the oldest tea companies in existence. Perhaps I should be drinking this with my pinkie out. ;D

OK, this tea just saved me. Was on a cruise around the Greek islands, and I totally forgot from earlier experience that while the food on the ship was plentiful, varied, and delicious, the only tea was horrible generic dust in anonymous tea bags. (I understood from the coffee drinkers around me that the coffee served was just as bad…I wonder why that is??) I suffered it until thankfully, I found a little supermarket in the town of Oia on the island of Santorini that carried Twinings tea, and I bought a box of this. Ah, finally a decent cuppa in the mornings! Basic, sweet and with milk, my morning (and evening) tea became a pleasure to be savoured on deck in the sea air. Mm.

Grabbed brunch before class today… Was in the mood for tea, and this sufficed. It was pretty weak. Tolerable, but weak.

On a morning like this, I just wanted a good English Breakfast tea and Twinings is hitting the spot. A little milk, a little sugar, a little bit heavenly. Nice way to wake up :)

Sometimes I get up at 4:30 AM to feed the cats, and I’m just not in the mood to go through my stash to find a foofy tea. That’s when I reach for my tin of looseleaf Twinings English Breakfast. It’s just a nice, inoffensive black tea that I enjoy with Splenda. English Breakfast has always been a favorite of mine and I don’t have experience with any of the more expensive brands, but Twinings has always satisfied me.

Twinings English Breakfast tea with water heated up in a microwave, my only choice this morning, I guess it’s better than nothing…

I was looking for a cheaper breakfast tea that still was of good quality so I decided to try this one. I’m pleasantly surprised. My first few sips were a bit bitter but I think I might have over steeped this one just a bit. However, it doesn’t seem so bitter now. Added a vanilla cream and sugar.

Twining’s loose leaf teas are beautiful basics, particularly the black teas they are so renowned for, and definitely deliver a difference in quality and freshness from their bagged counterparts. Because my tea last night was, well, piss, I have remedied my mood with a strong swig of this. Makes my morning merry, and the smell is still happily tingling my nose.

Just-boiled water, ~ 4 min., w/ a dash of Sweet Leaf & milk

Found a can of this at Big Lots for 2.50 already a win. I’ve found this one to be quite good. Malty, not too strong black flavor. In my experience between Twinnings and Teavanna there is not much deviation in the flavor which is good. If you like English Breakfast you could go with either it will be good. I did notice that Twinnings loose leaf are a little bit tinier almost like a CTC Assam. Made it in the french press…two tasty steepings so far. This could become a favorite.

Managed to catch one of my workers boiling water and filled up my travel mug with it. Got to my car (this morning was spent visiting half my schools delivering goodies), pulled this teabag out of my purse, and made it whilst I was trapped in the parking lot by a school bus.

I’m liking it! It’s got a classic breakfast blend taste, and isn’t too bitter or astringent. Not my favorite breakfast blend (ahem…LiberTEAS…ahem), but I can see myself drinking this a lot at work.

I like my breakfast tea to be strong, this one unfortunately is quite mild. The aroma is great, however.

This is probably the true beginning of my tea education.

Before I move on to loose leaf tea, I wanted to try some of the best, traditionally bagged variety. My friends kept bringing up Twinings, and I bought myself the black tea variety pack.

This is my first English Breakfast, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I probably could have steeped this a bit longer, but the taste of this is what I think of when I think of the word “tea.” I knew I was missing something with all of those Lipton-dishwasher-hot-water tasting teas I disliked as a child. A basic black, smooth with a very slight, bitter aftertaste.

I really liked the strength of this just plain, without any added milk and sugar. I’m a purist, what can I say. I can’t wait to try even higher quality loose leaf English Breakfast blends, because I feel like this could be a favorite morning drink.

So I’ve tried preparing this every way I know how to. In a big cup, a small cup… with cream and sugar, sugar-creamer, almond milk, honey, straight… and still have not had a real decent cup. I think the tea just isn’t strong enough. Straight it’s just blah. I don’t know what to do with it and have plenty of bags left. Would love a suggestion!