Bond Street English Breakfast Blend (TB10)

CRAP! I thought I already reviewed this one! SOrry! I just had two cups but will try and again soon for official tasting notes!

Upton Sample Buying Spree Tea #14:
Just the green Earl Grey left!
Before anything else, I have to say that I really liked the color of this tea – it was such a nice reddish brown. Or was it brownish red? I’m sure there’s an official name for that color. Possibly to do with wood. Mahogany? No I think that’s darker. Once again the leaves are pretty finely crumbled (or whatever they do to them) so it brews up fast.
On first trying this, the astringency kind of slapped me in the face, but that faded as I drank. Still, I can definitely see why they recommend drinking this with milk. Tough luck, Upton Tea! Milk is for cereal! and oatmeal, I guess. and for making into cheese. mmmm, cheese. Anyway, I stand by my tea without milk stance! It’s very difficult for the human body to digest you know! In fact, the majority of people are lactose intolerant to a certain extent! I read that in Newsweek! Or possibly Wikipedia!
Ahem. Now that that’s out of the way. Nice black tea, certainly pretty to look at, think I liked the Scottish and Irish blends better, though.

Tiny tiny little CTC leaves. Once steeped, they don’t look like fun GrapeNut tea bits. Instead, it just looks mushy. So unfun CTC + Upton? Yeah, I anticipated lots of not greatness. So I used a generous teaspoon of sugar and a good sized dash of half & half in my 12 oz…. and it was good. Like, really good. The tea wasn’t covered up by the milky or the sweet, instead it was a great breakfast tea with just a bit of astringency hanging out at the end of the sip (but not so much as to make it feel bitter – though that could be the glop of half & half I put in).

Now, I can’t say how this is without additives (yet) and honestly, I’m a little nervous for it, but with? This blend makes for a nice stout and uncomplicated breakfast tea.

This is the first in the Upton British Blend sampler, and I was having a feeling of deja vu when I read what’s in it. River Shannon Breakfast Blend, also an Upton tea, though not part of the British Blend sampler, is also a mix of Ceylon and Assam. I was wondering how they’d be different. Proportions? Estates? Both? Neither?

When I looked at the Bond Street, I discovered one difference. It must be CTC, as the leaves look like coffee grounds. Or very tiny pebbles. River Shannon is Orthodox, so one part of the mystery solved. I can smell the Assam in the Bond Street’s dry leaves, but it doesn’t have that bakey smell I don’t like, fortunately.

It’s has a fairly dark orange-brown liquor with some red in there as well. It smells and tastes like a brisk black breakfast blend tea. Like a pretty standard brisk black breakfast blend tea, though with more depth of flavor and a fuller body than a restaurant grade tea, and certainly better than any teabag black tea I’ve tried.

I must remember to do a side by side tasting of this with River Shannon and see how they compare.

I’m finishing up my sample of this today. This is a pretty standard breakfast tea, but I prefer a bolder and maltier breakfast tea. That being said, I am enjoying this tea with a healthy dose of milk and sugar while getting ready for our Super Bowl party.

This is exactly what a breakfast blend should taste like. It’s malty and a bit chocolatey.

I can understand how folks might put milk in this, however, not I. A bit of honey is the perfect addition.

It’s a beautiful dark amber color with just the right amount of astringency. This could turn into a morning favorite easily.

I must also say, the 2nd steeping is as good as the first.

A bit of a warning: this tea is a lot like coffee grounds. Find a good steeping basket with very fine mesh.

English Breakfast Blends are my absolute favorite type of teas.

I got a small tin of this as part of the “English Tea Blend” Sampler set Upton sells.

In the tin: This smells exactly like what an English Breakfast blend should smell like.

Brewed: This looks, smells, and tastes exactly like what an English Breakfast blend should look, smell, and taste like. Dark brown, with a “tea” smell, and slight hint of tannin.

I was distracted by my cats clamoring for attention, so I think I may have oversteeped this, but it was still really good. I’ll definitely keep track of time better on the next brew.

I added sugar and milk, since this is an EBB. An excellent rival for my beloved PG Tips as a first cuppa.

This one definitely requires milk. I was surprised at the tea leaves in that they were kind of chopped up. I know..I am a breakfast tea noob, because it looked exactly as most breakfast teas look in pictures. I guess I am a full leaf gal, who prefers tea (that is not bakery-type dessert flavor) without milk. This one reminds me of coffee.

I think I am going to go with Mincing Lane for now….at least until something better comes along.

This tea tastes like a nicer version of the english breakfasts I drank before getting into loose leaf tea (twinings and the like, bagged). It’s good, but gets pucker-your-mouth tart if you oversteep. I’ve had it plain, with sugar, and with milk and sugar, and it is most palatable with milk (sugar optional). I prefer a milder tea than this, but, I’m having a drowsy day when I need to be having a productive day, so I chose it from among my other curl-up-with-a-book choices.

This tea has replaced coffee as my breakfast drink of choice. I don’t care if it is a CTC. Bring on the milk, and lots of it: this brew is strong enough to handle it! And as with cooked puerh, BSEBB does not seem to get bitter with oversteeping. I can leave it in my tea press all morning, and the first cup is no less bracing than the third, taken an hour later.

My order of samples from Upton came this morning just in time for breakfast. I ordered mostly white teas but also two Lapsang Souchongs, the much acclaimed Baker Street Afternoon Blend and some breakfast blends for comparison, because for a dollar each why not?

Now I am not really not a breakfast tea person, I don’t drink much black tea in general due to caffeine sensitivity but if I do it is one type of whole leaf tea. So my only point of comparison before this tasting is Teavana’s English Breakfast, their now retired Assam Gold Rain and Celyon from a gift set.

So I brewed this in cast-iron with filtered water at the recommended 212 for 3 mins. The smell was not as strong as I expected and the taste certainly not as malty. This tasted like a nice clean non-China black like you would use for ice tea and I will probably end of let my husband use the rest for that purpose.

I didn’t get much Assam from this (but remember I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Assam) but the high notes I would assume are from the Ceylon, they were very “bright” though probably grounded and mellowed a bit by the Assam. I wouldn’t call this a complex tea but it wasn’t a singular note either.

I decided to try it with some cream and sugar (I’ve honestly never had tea with cream and sugar with the exception of random mate lattes our barista makes at work- Teavana that I only have a sip of) but figured this was part of the experience and would be part of the evaluation. I can see why folks take Assam and blends this way, it was pleasant though I think would have been better with rock sugar (but I was adding it to the cup not the pot). The other teas I sampled (Irish, Scottish and River Shannon) actually took better to the cream, so I think I shall give this to the husband to do what he will.

Its definitely not a bad tea, its neither bitter nor bland, its just not what I look for in hot tea, like the hint of butteryness I got from the River Shannon blend. I am really looking forward to the Baker Street blend tonight though with the husband while we watch Sherlock (new BBC).

Edit to add: made this tea for my husband this morning, his reaction as expected- “it tastes like regular tea” which is not to say he didn’t like it, Teavana does not carry a good “regular tea” for him to make iced, though he loves his now retired Nine Dragon Golden Needle, we have over 2lbs stocked up. He also really like the Baker Street Afternoon blend which I need to revisit and review but first impression is it was quite good bit it didn’t wow me.

Wow, this stuff is like coffee! Strong enough to etch metal! Quite a bit of astringency, and some hints of unsweetened dark chocolate. If this is Assam’s famous maltiness it slaps you upside the head on the way down your throat.

With 2 tsp rock sugar, no milk. Needs about 1/2 a tsp more sugar, I think.

Is there crack in this blend or what? I’ve recently (over the past 6-8 months) gone through several sampler sets from Upton (all black teas) and so tasted more than 20 different varieties. The Bond Street English Breakfast is far-and-away my favorite…like by light years. I don’t understand why, either. When I ran out, I tried to blend Ceylon and Assam several different ways with several different types of each and never came close.

Also I should mention that I only just started learning about tea this year. I couldn’t tell an Earl Grey from a FTGFOP Darjeeling when I started;).

Cheers!

Ken

Very astringent, but not bitter. Definitely a tea for milk. Nice beginning to the day but not destined to be a favorite.

A little pricey, but very tasty, with milk and sugar, and I’m a straight black tea kind of person, but I finished 4.4 oz very quickly and used milk and sugar like never before. I wish tetley taste like this!

i have been a little hesitant to review black teas, as they are (imo) harder to compare to other tastes/experiences …but ill do my best

the leaf is cut/rolled into tiny pellets(very tiny) and has an almost absent smell… i kinda like the mildness of the scent

when steeped the water turns dark very very quickly(in my experience) possibly due to the larger side surface area of the leaves(being in tiny pieces?) i tend to cut the steep dramatically short of the prescribed 3-5 for blacks

it also provides what i consider a large amount of brews/cups(compared to other blacks)

the mouthfeel tends to be really thin… i dislike this greatly… but it is my understanding that this is usual with englishbranded teas?

the taste i don’t much care for as i prefer irish/assam type blacks more.. but the taste lines up with what i’d expect from an english breakfast

overall im impressed with the tea but alas it is just not for me

Maybe I expected too much, as I love some of Upton’s other breakfast teas, but this left me a trifle disappointed. It’s smooth and easy to drink, but doesn’t stand up well to milk (I must have milk with my morning tea… I think it’s left over from being a coffee drinker!) It’s not a bad tea, not at all, it’s just not for me (for reference, I love the Scottish and River Shannon teas from Upton.)

I am not a big fan of the in-your-face attitude of most breakfast teas, so this was a happy surprise for me. With its round tiny bits, the dry leaves look like pepper and smell heavenly – I guess the Ceylon is the reason.

When infused, it does not give you a jolt, but gently nudges you into awakening. I had this with a standart cheese/olives/bread breakfast and was quite satisfied that, while brisk, its taste did not interfere with them.
The sample earned a place in my morning rotation.