East Frisian BOP (TB51)

It’s cloudy and gloomy this morning and I went through another bout of insomnia the past few days. I wanted something to wake me up so I thought this would do the trick. A nice fog lifter! I like this the best with soymilk added. Wake up, Amy OH!

Listening to “Reptile” by Church on the radio, reminds me of my younger and gothier days. ;)

This is one tea I like to take with soymilk and sugar, very brisk and strong but I kinda needed a kick in the pants this morning. :P

See previous notes for more info.

Just hoping this will wake me up today, see previous notes. Brisk and eye opening. :)

Okay, it’s a sipdown!

I finally finished off a tin of this and am trying to decide if I should get anymore right now. It is definitely something I would get from Upton again!

Tea of the mid-morning here, I have made this very strong – yikes!

I am sure I will want to keep ordering this tea forever. I’m tired today and the weather is grim but this is tea is so delicious, smooth and strong. Chocolate malt perfection – Perfect for a long, cloudy day. See my previous tasting notes. :)

This tea is great for those mornings when you just can’t wake up and need a strong boost. But I haven’t been able to drink this yet without soymilk. It’s a great thing to have around the office though.

Getting up very early to walk the dogs and then ourselves during the heat wave. Rather than feel slugged out all day, I went for this, figuring if it didn’t wake me up, nothing I had would.

And it does wake me up fairly well. However, today it didn’t reach up and smack me like it did the other day. Brewing parameters were the same. It’s still bold and robust, but went down remarkably smooth for this type of tea. Upping the rating a bit.

I really like this tea. Its robust, brisk, malty, and chewy. Its a blend of assam teas and it really hits the spot in the morning.

This is an excellent blend of assam teas. The tea steeps up a dark amber color and is brisk, robust, malty, and chewy. This is a great wake up tea and is a good substitute for coffee. Its got me awake this morning.

Yes, I am feeling better, at least well enough to drink tea and type. This is a blend of orthodox assam teas. What more could you ask for. This tea is robust and brisk and very satisfying. I just love the chewy maltiness.

Ahhh, this is what I needed this morning. This tea is brisk, robust, malty, and chewy. This tea is a strong and hearty blend of assam teas.

This tea is quickly becoming one of my favorites. This tea is a blend of assam teas and steeps up very quickly to a strong, brisk, malty, delicious tea.

This tea is becoming my go to tea in the mornings since Mountain Malt is no longer available. Its a nice blend of assam teas that steep to a strong, brisk, malty, and chewy cup of tea in 3 minutes.

I really needed an assam to drink so I picked this one. It was also nice getting back to making my tea by measuring the tea, checking the water temp, and timing the steep. My tea horde is also getting low so I’m placing a couple of large orders this week. I love this tea as it is strong, malty, chewy, and delicious. I love vacations but its so nice getting back home. I also missed my dog (Kleo). I know I’m rambling but its nice to write tea tastings too.

My most amazing tea mug has arrived! To christen it I went with my old faithful – milk and sugar, same old parameters. It’s practically my Breville’s default setting. :)

Has anyone else noticed that underneath the teacup/tasting note icon you can see the first time you’ve ever drank a particular tea? It’s written as “last logged” but I know that’s not right, because that would mean I haven’t had this since September 2011…which just isn’t possible.

Anyway – tonight I’m enjoying not being at work, relaxing and watching Top Gear. Yay for time off!

The boyfriend and I made breakfast for dinner before starting the season finale of “The Hour” and at the last moment he asked for Frissy. It is his favorite, hands down, so of course I couldn’t refuse.

Perfect as always.

You know that thread on the discussion page about what your all time favorite, last tea on earth would be?

This one’s mine.

I had some this morning when I had to wake up early for a staff meeting. This was before I got in the stupid minor fender bender that kind of screwed up my mood for the rest of the day. But at least while I had it, I was happy and relaxed.

Ugh. Other people on the road and rainy dark mornings. If ever that was a sign I should have just stayed in bed….

ACK! It’s been so long since I’ve been on Steepster!

In my defense, I’ve been drinking tea – just a lot of iced Lipton stuff (sorry) that tends to be my staple when it gets warm out. This is the first hot tea I’ve had in almost a month. Crazy.

And it’s my old standby, of course. The one that pairs so well with biscuits and that I’m starting to run low on. I’ve reached the point in my tea drinking where I’m wanting to just have a handful of my favorites as my stash, and this is in my top 5 for sure.

I must start waking up early to have tea in the mornings again!

Ahh, Frissy.

Better than coffee in the morning, you are.

One day (when I’m really up for cold weather – that won’t be soon) I will go up to Frisia and drink this the way it is supposed to be: rock sugar, heavy cream and all. If I had a bucket list, that would be on it.

It’s considerably more doable than the boyfriends goal – which is to buy and pick up a BMW from the factory in Europe, and “break it in” on the Autobahn before bringing it back home. But no harm in dreaming big, I suppose!

26 degrees this morning. Bleh. I know there are others who have it worse, and to those who are even colder, my deepest sympathies. Winter is no fun when you have things to go and do.

But at least its cold enough to really want to drink a good hot tea. And this, with some oatmeal, was that tea. Lovely as always, even though I went a little overboard on the sweetener today. Now its off to study for a big test tomorrow!

My Sunday standard – biscuits and this tea with some milk and sugar. Almond milk gives it an even nuttier caramel flavor which is, if possible, even better than when using cow’s milk. And since I’ve had this more times than I can count, I’ll go ahead and raise the rating to 100. It’s the perfect lazy morning tea for my tastebuds.

It’s lovely to start feeling better enough to drink this. I still can’t hack it without milk, but man, once that’s added it’s absolutely perfect. My lovely Frissy.

When I drink it I love imagining where it came from – I do this more than with any other tea I’ve tried. I know I’m romanticizing it but it makes me think of winter by the sea – gray clouds, wind and salted driftwood. It’s probably nostalgia more than anything else since I lived by the beach growing up. Still, something in the flavor is caramel and wood/earth. And shelter from the storm -cozy and comforting no matter what.

It makes the idea of winter almost tolerable.

Another breakfast spent with this tea – a tea made for this time of day.
Steeped and prepared the usual way – it never gets old.

My favorite standby for any morning, but especially a cold one that started earlier than I would have liked.

It always gets (and keeps!) me going….

Last night was a full moon at the hospital. Guess how it went?

Eh, I at least came home and slept for like 7 straight hours. So, in effect, it’s breakfast time and I could think of nothing that would simultaneously wake me up and relax me like this one would. Especially with milk and sugar – it’s like coming home!

One more night shift and I’m off ’til the new year!

Drank some before work this morning.

Something about this tea just works as an everyday blend. Whether it’s on a lazy weekend day or in the dark when I’m centering myself before a 12 hour shift. Love in a cup. :)

Woo hoo! Last day of day shift! Last day of waking up at 5 AM! Now when I see 5 AM it will be at the end of a shift and I’ll be heading into sleep!

To celebrate (and try to get myself switched over into nocturnal living ASAP) I went ahead and had 2 cups of this with some milk. We started watching Cloud Atlas but the language messed up halfway through. Too bad because it was engrossing and now I have to wait to see how it ends.

But at least I got to curl up under a heavy blanket with my thermal mug and enjoy feeling warm and cozy. Sometimes I wish my life were always that awesome – blankets and tea. Ah well – at least I appreciate the rare times I get it!

Backlog from this morning.

2 heaping tsp. of tea to 500 ml. water in my Breville.

Shared this with the bf – as always. He perks up every time I mention making tea in the morning, and suggests this.

Today was the first time I just added milk, with no sweetener. And I think my tastebuds are FINALLY learning that they can sense things other than saccharine, because that little bit of milk smoothed out any rough edges and left me with that lovely, sturdy and hearty black tea taste. The kind that gets you through a morning with a hint of chill in the air.

It was so very cozy. That’s why it’s among our favorites, though!

Without a doubt I think this is the tea that I drink on weekend mornings more than any other. The more I have it, the more I love it!

It is perfect for breakfast because it is so very strong and stands up so well to milk and sugar. I’ve been in the process lately of trying to figure out a list of Tea Staples for my cupboard, and this will 100% for sure be on there.

Weird – this had a scratchy throat effect tonight. That never happens, and I don’t like it. Especially because I’m just coming off a cold and got rid of my sore throat – I don’t feel like having it back already. Maybe it was the coconut milk? Whatever it was I had to add some honey and that didn’t even really calm the irritation.

Meh. Further research is needed. My old faithful let me down tonight :(.

Having this for breakfast (as usual) with some leftover homemade pecan pie. Thankfully this is a tea bold enough to withstand that massive amount of sugar.

It is such a good thing we only have this holiday once a year…

Some days, especially days that start with cold mornings, you want a stout black tea to convince you to get (and stay) out of bed.

I’ve found that this one will always do the trick. Especially if milk and sugar are involved.

Another weekend morning with East Frisian, milk and sugar for me, black for the boyfriend, homemade biscuits on the side. All weekends should be like this.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve said everything that can be said about this tea. But I love it bunches, and it continues to be one of my favorite weekend morning teas. Perfect, as always.

As always good for breakfast with milk and sugar. Excellent with popovers (or any breakfast food, really). This has earned a spot in my staple teas.

Backlog from yesterday – I drank this at night to stay up studying for a test.

I got an A on the test, so it got the job done. :) I love how strong this tea is!

After having this a few days ago, it was all I could think about. It’s late to be drinking such a strong black tea, but I’m dragging after a few days of sleep deprivation so I need this to get me through to at least 10:30-11:00 PM so I don’t end up going to sleep NOW and waking up at 2 or 3 AM.

I prepped this the same way I did originally (no sense in changing what works) and the results are consistent with last time. That nice earthy smell, and that lovely tea taste that melds so perfectly with milk and sugar. The way it is strong without being astringent. Sigh This is definitely on my re-order list.

A perfect tea for a weekend breakfast – and one of my standby morning teas.

1 tsp. per 8 oz. always produces a strong cup that stands up well to milk and sugar. Yum!

Pairs well with cinnamon toast. Also with Sunday morning.

Hot tea and freshly baked biscuits. Mm…I love Sundays!

Biscuits and (this) tea are becoming my Sunday ritual breakfast.

Made with: 1000 ml. water, 4 tsp. tea in the Breville (boyfriend told me not to be stingy and make 4 cups), milk and sugar for me, plain for him. Our little 4 oz. tin of this never strays far from the countertop next to the teamaker.

I had almost forgot that this caffeine-filled beauty was still in my cupboard. This doesn’t disappoint! Very malty with a hint of caramel – I think I prefer it with a hint of honey and a splash of milk rather than plain. I’m desperately hoping this tea gives me the kick I need to not only get my house in order but to get some homework done before my long weekend comes to an end.

Tea of the morning! I am up way earlier than usual for a Sunday morning due to sinus issues so I figured caffeine was in order. This is pretty good today, as usual, but I really think I was craving some more green tea with honey as that seems to make me feel better. Oh well, there is always time for more tea!

Yum! Perfectly strong, malty and smooth – made with a tiny bit of honey and milk. Love this in the morning!

Starting my day with this rich, malty tea! It is pretty pleasant, but I’m craving something a bit fruity right now so it isn’t really satisfying. I am liking the caffeine kick though.

I’m desperately hoping for an extreme caffeine kick from this tea. I have homework and tons of laundry to do – not to mention basic housework – and all I want to do is crawl back in bed for several hours. I think this tea is a good example of an East Frisian blend – bold and smooth with little to no astringency. Of course, this blend is made for milk and sugar so that may help with any bitterness. This is a good one though – very comforting.

This is a great morning tea today with just a bit of milk and no sugar. It is earthy, a bit malty, and delicious! I wasn’t sure that omitting the sugar would work out but it did beautifully.

This is an awesomely bold and malty tea! The perfect thing to help me get going today – but perhaps I’ll have just one more cup first…

I woke up earlier than my alarm this morning which is a rare occurrence for me! In an attempt to just go ahead and wake up, I decided a bit of caffeine via the East Frisian Blend was in order. Each time I have this tea, I am reminded why I like it in the first place. This tea has a rich, malty, and smooth base with notes of burnt caramel. It is robust, but not bitter. Slightly astringent but not overly so. Yes, this tea was a great choice for this early morning.

Somehow this tea manages to be strong and malty while not venturing into bitter. I absolutely adore this tea with milk and sugar (particularly vanilla almond milk!) I really may have to break out an Earl Grey next – it doesn’t feel quite right to NOT drink an Earl Grey while watching this Star Trek marathon!

Strong and tasty this morning…or rather afternoon… Either way, a great way to start a Monday!