Baker Street Afternoon Blend (TB75)

This came as a swap from ashmanra – thank you so much! I have to say I have been curious about this one for a while. I haven’t been a fan of smoky teas in the past but they seem to be growing on me. Lapsang is pretty strong on its’ own but I am finding I like it blended in things.

This afternoon we were out paddle boating on Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. It’s been foggy today and we were tired. I suggested to my sweetie that we try this, it smells good!

I never would have thought to put darjeeling in a blend like this but it somehow works. There is a very flowery note which is balanced out well by the keemun and the lapsang, which provide a dark smoky note. However, the smoke does not seem overwhelming to me, it doesn’t really overpower the tea. It even has a little bit of sweetness. This is a great one to just sip on straight, we really are enjoying it. I think I’ll have to pick some up when I order from Upton next!

Oh! The Purrfect Cup sent this my way! I’m VERY grateful! Thanks so much!

This is really something! The LS is a bit more gentle and I like it. Sure…it’s a bit smoky but you can TASTE the 3 bases. The LS, the Keemun, and the Darjeeling…Individually as well as combined. I am thinking I enjoying the Keemun flavors the best out of the 3 – but I am partial to a flavorful Keemun! This is even great for a 2nd infusion! lovely! YUM!

I’m going to share a bit with LiberTEAs but I could see myself drinking this many days of the week if I had a huge amount in my stash!

YUMMO!

I received this one from the lovely The Purrfect Cup…and of course it had to be a Sherlock inspired blend. Wouldn’t except anything less from her. (If you haven’t, you should seriously check out her tea talk with the venerable Mr. Holmes on her blog. Awesome.)

Anywho…

This was already on the plus side for containing bits of Lapsang in the blend. Whiffing the dry batch was like smelling a good tobacco. Keemun contributed a necessary woodiness, too. On taste, oddly enough, the Lapsang hung back, allowing the Keemun to take point with a sweet and malty punch. The pinesmoked mouthfeel was kept pretty reserved. As blends go, sometime aspects of it were uneven, but still pleasant to sip. A very good afternoon tea.

Even though I had it in the late morning.

Tea shared with a friend is all the more sweet….. Thank you to ashmanra for sending me this sample. Once again, it goes to show there are Lapsang Souchong blends out there that I like.

The tea is more smokey than I am used to. I know some comes from the Lapsang, but I think some comes from the Keemun, too. I do think this one is a little more tobacco-ey and a little less sweet than the Lapsang Souchong Black Dragon that I really enjoy. Since I am not usually one to add milk to tea, this is probably about my limit on smoke. I may have to do some experimenting with milk again. I am finding that things that did not appeal to me at one point in my tea journey work quite nicely for me at a later date. If anything, this has taught me to keep an open mind…

It’s not yet afternoon, but I decided to try this. I love my man, Jackee Muntz, and know that I have a limited number of dates with him. Will the famous lodgings of Baker Street bring me any joy?

And the answer is a resounding yes. This is a good smoky tea. I can see it joining the permanent cast of characters in my life. And it does conjure up a feel of the Holmsian sitting room. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson have been down in the country for a while tracking down the hound of the Baskervilles and the sitting room retains that masculine flavor of smoke; the Persian slipper containing the pipe-tobacco still hangs, but nobody has lit up for several days so the air is redolent but not noxious.

Upton Teas has an excellent blend here and it makes me eager to pursue my love of smoky teas.

A gift from ashmanra. She said it would make sing. (Clears throat – me, me, me, me) Mama Mia, Mama Mia, Mama Mia Figaro… Well you get to decide whether that counts as singing ;) This is good! My longer review is here: http://theeverdayteablog.blogspot.com/2012/08/upton-tea-imports-baker-street.html

The unintended consequence of opening sample no. 3 from the Upton British Blend sampler today is that I now have Gerry Rafferty doing the backstroke through my brain repeatedly. At least the saxophone is awesome.

Tippy leaves ranging from dark, almost black to light, almost tan, though mostly in the chocolate brown range. Dry, it smells smoky. I’m getting salted, charbroiled meat. Nice.

The aroma of the steeped tea is not very smoky at all. It’s fruity. Kind of a stonefruit mixed with grape smell. Very nice. The liquor is dark, close to a brandy color, but redder.

If you like smoky, this is really delicious. And if you only sort of like smoky, you should give this a try because it’s a pretty mild, smooth intro to smoky tasting teas. To be clear, I like smoky, I like piney. I like drinking campfires. The part I can live without is feeling like there’s smoke coating my nose hairs so that I continue to breathe it in long after the tea is gone, but I’m willing to do that to enjoy smoky tea.

Baker Street isn’t harsh or tarry, and it doesn’t make me feel like I’m going to be smelling smoke for three days after drinking it. The darjeeling contributes a brightness that keeps the blend from tasting like tree resin, and there’s a fair amount of the signature darjeeling flavor in the finish. There’s a hint of pine, but it’s mild. The smoke itself isn’t even the most obvious taste. The most obvious taste to me is a fruity woodiness.

I’m liking this one a lot. It’s got ooomph, but it doesn’t hit like a ton of bricks. Despite its name, I think it would make a really good start to the morning.

I have been curious about this tea for awhile.
It sounds tasty, especially since I have a discovered a new found love of Lapsang Souchong.
So, when Ashmanra offered that we do a swap, this tea jumped out at me.
I will not pretend that the tea’s name has not been a part of my motivation to try this tea.
Today is overcast and rather damp and chilly.
Perfect afternoon to open up my package of McVities Digestive Biscuits and brew up a cup of this.
The scent is lovely, slightly smoky and a tinge of leather and maybe just a whiff of chocolate.
Taste surprised me with almost a tobacco bite, Hmmmm, I think since Sherlock was trying to quit the smoking, I bet he would be swigging this tea down often.
The tea smells delish, and tastes delish.
Its a hit in my book and after the holidays are over and paid off, I plan on making some tea orders and I am quite sure this will be on the list.
Thank you, Ashmanra for giving me a chance to try this lovely tea!

This is yummy. A very smooth blend with high fruity notes. I really like the only keemun I’ve tried and I feel I can taste it in here. The smoke is a mild addition that compliments the other teas.

I was going to write this in my Dragonwell note, but I figured that’s not fair. I’ve been having some bum sessions with pu’erh and oolongs, ones I should like, that I know are good quality, but they haven’t shined for me lately, nothing has stood out. Perhaps it’s my water?

On a more uplifting note either Friday or Saturday, Rowan suggested we have a tea party. He brought me his little cup and creamer and even grabbed my little silver filigree over the cup strainer. He wanted tea with milk as opposed to raspberry tea which is his usually request. So I gave him options, he chose Baker Street Blend from Upton Tea. He chose this not for his love of Sherlock Holmes, but because we live on Baker Street.

He thoroughly enjoyed it and kept asking for more, I probably reinfused it four times, though his tiny cup was usually half full with milk. I don’t think I had tried this one with milk before, but it was quite nice. So after tea and waffles Rowan announces he wants to play a game, Jenga and Clue together. Now this is something we’ve played before though more often than not we play them separately.

Yes, my three and a half year old loves playing Clue though it has taken a lot to get him to not say what he has out loud and mark his sheet correctly (it is a 8 yr+ game). And he mostly just loves building wonky towers with the Jenga blocks. However the first time Rowan saw these two games we were playing them together at my sisters house. Now due to the irony of the tea and the game I had to explain the Sherlock- Baker Street thing to him. He’s seen Great Mouse Detective but I don’t think he’s ready for BBC or Robert Downey Jr.

i should be drinking this out of porcelain shouldn’t i.
yes definitely porcelain.

i love lapsang. and even more i LOVE lapsang blends.
i will treasure my sample of this until the last cup.

Had this earlier this afternoon when I arrived home.

I recall ashmanra sending me a sample of this ages ago and I liked it then. So when it was time to try Upton again I was sure to add this one to the order….the rest were samples and are in line for review too. :) A nice blend of Keemun, Lapsang, and Darjeeling. Of the three I am more familiar with the Lapsang (I have a few varieties), and I can smell the Lapsang and taste it a bit in this tea. But I am really picking up the Keemun…and a hint of the Darjeeling and I must say I really like this combination. It brings a nice malt flavor and makes for a surprisingly mellow cup of tea perfect to relax with after a pretty busy day at work.

Oh my! Oh my! Doulton’s tea arrived today and I have never seen such a box of tea! It felt like Christmas in July! And since my daughter just left London, and sent me photos of Baker Street and of Speedy’s from the new Sherlock Holmes, I decided this had to be the first tea I try!

Since there was darjeeling in the mix, I decided to go with a slightly shorter steep time. The steeped tea smells sweetly smokey. The smoke is not too strong – definitely smokier than Queen Catherine but not as smokey as Wuyi Shan Lapsang. The tea is sweet and smooth. I took part of it plain, and since youngest and I were having it with grilled cheese I also tried it with milk and sugar. I think I like it best with additions and it was a wonderful complement to the meal. The brightness of the darjeeling is there, with the slightest, and I do mean SLIGHTEST, tingle to the tongue when the tea is plain. This was not noticeable with milk added. I can see how someone could easily crave this tea. It has body and presence. Thank you, thank you, Doulton, for all the excitement that is buzzing in my house today!

Even youngest tried it and liked it fairly well, and she really doesn’t do smokey tea.

So I was directed to the Upton Tea site, recently, where, noticing that they have $1 samples and possessing no self-control, I promptly bought something like 15 different samples of tea. This is the first of them that I’ve tried and I really like the blend. Just the right amount of smoky. I’m not that into smoky teas so not exactly something I’ll be drinking on a daily basis, but certainly a nice break from the norm.

Initially, this smelled very smoky – ironically smokier than Upton’s Finest Russian Caravan – and very Keemun-y. I was a bit worried because I’ve been having some pretty kick-ass Keemuns lately and this one didn’t smell like it would match up at all. As it cooled, the smell became less smoky and began to get fruity and sweet, somewhat like plums. So maybe this tea will luck out and not end up competing against super-awesome Keemuns.

The taste turns into a good news/bad news type situation. The good news is that this tea isn’t Keemun-y enough to compete against my favorite Keemuns. There’s a little Keemun edge to the end of the taste, a little raw leafiness, but it doesn’t strike me as a Keemun. The taste is mostly Darjeeling, smoothed out by the Keemun and tiny, tiny bit of Lapsang Souchong. It ends up tasting just a little bit like a thin, light, sweet Yunnan.

But, here comes the bad news: it’s just not all that special. Yes, it’s smooth and sweet and has a nice flavor that doesn’t require any additives but all that just ends up being okay. Nothing really sings or sparkles or jumps out and, while it isn’t a flat, one-note tea, it doesn’t have a very complex or deep flavor profile. So, yeah, it’s just okay. I’d buy it at a grocery store if I needed tea but otherwise, not so much.

**backlogging from a couple days ago

I like Lapsang on it’s own, but it is a very strong flavor and can be overpowering when blended with other teas if there’s too much of it. The Lapsang in this tea was perfectly balanced & gives just the right touch of smoke to the Keemun and Darjeeling. The Keemun flavors come through nicely & the Darjeeling brings a lightness to this blend.

I found it reminded me of smelling my grandfather’s pipe tobacco as a child. It was like drifting back in time as I sipped. Any tea that gives me such a sense of nostalgia along with great flavors automatically gets high marks in my book!

Brewing temperature was 208, to be exact.

Ugh, trying to get caught up on reviews with new Harney’s at home and two more shipments of tea on the way.

Another sample from Upton’s.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this unusual blend. It got some good reviews here and the samples are ridiculously cheap, so I took a flyer on this.

Dry leaves a mixture of dark brown, medium brown and olive green and are tightly rolled. I mostly smell the Keemun in the dry leaves. Liquor is copper.

This is my second cupping of this tea. I wished I had some notes saved from the first time, because I don’t remember it tasting like this. The only difference in brewing would be 208 water instead of boiling. Could it make that much difference? I can’t taste the Keemun or the Lapsang at all. The only thing I am tasting here is some 2nd Flush Darjeeling and I don’t like second flush at all-it’s dominant. I thought good old Sherlock liked Lapsang? I taste not a note of smoke. What happened to the Keemun from the dry leaf? This is just not to my liking at all. Oh, well it’s only a sample.

This is the last of the breakfast blend type teas from Upton that needed testing (of 5). I started with the simplest of blends, and ending with this one. To be honest, it’s the smoky part that worries me.

I’m not sure how much the added tbsp. of honey is altering my impressions, but first taste does not make me think “smoky” (phew). This tastes very similar to the Scottish blend, except there’s a little sharpness to it… a scratchy feeling (is that the smoke?). I’m liking the overall taste of this… probably 2nd fave out of 5… but, but, not the aftertaste at all (harsh). It’s making my throat a little scratchy too (ok, it’s raining out there and it could be a coincidence, as my major allergy is mold/mildew and it flares with rain… doesn’t help living across street from lake either).

Will retest on a clear day.

ETA: Yikes, can’t finish because allergies really flaring (doubt it’s the rain).

Goodness. This is a wonderfully masculine tea. I’m getting more Keemun, then the Darjeeling, and then just the teensy-tiniest hint of Lapsang Souchong. I must try lowering the temp next time I make some and see how that changes the flavors. Mmmm…yeah…this is a nice blend. I think that “Afternoon” fits the feeling of this tea: it’s bold, but not in the “helping your soul re-enter your body” sort of way. And lordy is it smooth. The second steep is remarkably similar to the first, but the Keemun has started to get its slightly sweeter aspect. NE with benefits ;)

I seem to have bought a lot of smokey teas lately. I find that I’m developing a taste for them ! This tea, however, was just ok. It’s neither smokey nor bold, but rather a polite afternoon tea that gives the impression that someone is smoking a pipe… it another building. That’s ok – in fact, it’s a perfectly nice tea, it just doesn’t excite me the way I was hoping. I have more smokey teas to try – maybe it’s time to break out the lapsang?