Glen Arbor Breakfast

Ummm! A new black tea for breakfast!
I ordered several small 1oz. tea’s and some samples from Whispering Pines because their tea blends sounded so interesting especially with Fall and Winter just around the corner.

No fancy brewing this morning for me. I used my Finum basket and a mug, steeped the leaves for 5 minutes and had a very dark brew looking back at me.

The scent was rich and sweet but not malty or smoky.

I took my morning GULP!
For such a dark brew, I expected more punch, more malt or acid but instead the tea tasted smooth and had a different flavor. I had to take some time to ‘think and drink’ about this one.
It wasn’t malty or cocoa, not yammy or peachy, what was that illusive flavor?
I kept coming back to potato. Over and over again, potato. Not just for the flavor, but the thickness of it. There was another taste that came to me later on. A fig newton cookie scent/flavor thing (or maybe it’s what I wanted to eat?!).

I poured in a little cream which added more smoothness to the rich tea. Then I added sweetening which was more delicious!
Now I could taste a bit of malt with the potato and the whole cup was thick, creamy and rich (just short of tea soup in my mouth).

My instinct was to gulp down the tea and make another cup and gulp that down and so on. But, I waited for the first cup to cool just to do the ‘I forgot about my tea’ test. You know. How does the tea hold up when you let it sit for awhile and it cools down? Can you go back to it without gagging?
Yes you can!
(I did notice that it was a little smoky?! How’d that happen?!)

Nice morning tea, not acidic. Smooth. Makes the bed and does the dishes. (Ha, were you paying attention?)

This is my very first tea from Whispering Pines! I’m excited :)

This is mighty-fine medium-strength black tea! It seems to grow even more bold as it cools at room temp for a moment or two. It’s slightly sweet but rich and sturdy! I can taste a bit of orange on the end of the sip. The lingering flavor is very satisfying!

There are notes that point to the likeness of an Irish Breakfast type tea but THIS isn’t astringent or bitter in any way! A real winner!

I had this last night and had to have it again today because it is awesome. This is the redesigned version of the tea, which was redone last month (other notes are months old).

Both times I have steeped it at 3 minutes. For me this is like the nice sweet spot for breakfast teas. With this tea, it means not even needing a splash of milk at all.

It’s slightly malty and sweet, with some nuttiness to it too. It’s bold, but not too in your face. No astringency at all.

Now to just actually have it in the morning. I’m struggling to get through this day so a little boost of caffeine now is just right.

I decided that if any tea would give me enough motivation to get some deep cleaning done, it would be a breakfast blend. I pulled this one out of my recent order and brewed it up. It is really smooth but stands up nicely to milk and sugar. I tend to prefer breakfast teas that are a bit more robust and super malty. Not to say this isn’t good, because the flavor is great, I just think I would prefer it as an afternoon tea.