English Breakfast

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!

I figured I’d go back and try a bagged tea after all of the loose leaf I’ve had, and see how differently it tastes. That project flew out the window, though, because I think I overstepped this puppy. I was in the midst of a highly entertaining e-mail conversation and let the teabag float there for too long. As a result, this one isn’t tasting as good this morning.

The tea juice is a lot darker than I remember. It’s probably because loose leaf is much less murky and dark. Loose leaf is also a lot less bitter. That might be from the oversteep, because I really don’t remember my cup of English Breakfast looking this dark, but it was still surprisingly bitter compared to what I’ve been drinking the past few days. The nice flavor profiles are still there, but I find myself not wanting to pick up the cup as often. I think that bags might be even more finicky than loose leaf (or at least some bags, for that matter), since you’re releasing so much dust/tannins into the water at such an accelerated rate. If you don’t watch, it’s bitter.

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

… you know :D

Love to watch milk mix with hot tea:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l188/malomorgen/Teas/18052010013.jpg

I finally was able to try out my new tea thermal! I ordered the Copco tea thermos (http://www.amazon.com/Copco-2510-4600-Tea-Thermal-Stainless/dp/B0028N6OLQ/ref=pd_sbs_k_1) which has a twistable infuser so you can stop steeping without having to dump the leaves. Unfortunately the inside of the mug is plastic, not steel…deceptive, because the outside is stainless steel!

Anyway, I decided to christen the thermal with one of my favorite teas, English Breakfast by Twinings. I heated the water and milk to boiling, put a little under 3 teaspoons of leaf in the infuser, added some Splenda and honey, and let it steep for a few minutes. The first thing I noticed was that the tea is HOT! And it refused to cool down until like an hour later…good if you’re planning on packing your tea for a long trip, but bad if you’re impatient like me :(

I’ve never made English Breakfast outside of the Zarafina, so it might have just been my weird steeping methods, but the tea did not taste very good. It actually tasted a lot like Irish Breakfast tea does…malty with notes of brown sugar and, um, sweet potato. I didn’t taste the delicious caramel-honey flavor English Breakfast with milk and honey usually gets. I don’t know if I added too much leaf, or oversteeped it, or if the temperature was off. I’m increasing the rating a little, just because before today, this tea has never let me down.

This was my caffeinated cup of the day. And it was a good cup of tea. I’m looking forward to days where I can have whatever I want. One of my first little projects will be to compare breakfast blends in one sitting. Then I’m going to compare different types of blacks in another sitting. And life will be grand. :) (and it will all be documented on Steepster.)

First Cup of the day with Wildtree Banana Bread (hate bananas but like most banana bread…weirdo, I know!)

At the bottom of the tin. I’m thinking this one might be getting stale. Instead of smooth and malty it’s more bitter and peppery. Still a decent cup. Especially when shared with a friend.

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

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.

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.

FINALS. FRAK.

…I swear I will update my Steepster like you would not believe once I have a life again.

I’m not operating at maximum capacity right now…attempting to get back on track and finish everything on my desk before our 2pm meeting.

And…decupboarding!!