I have KeenTeaThyme to thank for sending me a bag of this. Thank you!
Twinings is a company (or shall I say “are companies”?) that confuse me. It seems like there are two different companies: Twinings and Twinings of London. There are two different websites and they appear to have different teas. This has confused me for several years now.
Anyway… this is from Twinings of London. Since the package in the picture and the packaging of the teabag that KeenTeaThyme sent me appear similar, I’m going to forge ahead with the belief that I’m putting this tasting note in the right place.
This is really not so bad for a bagged tea. I’d certainly prefer loose leaf as I’ve said many times, but, given its limitations as a bagged tea, this one stands up to those challenges pretty well. It is a good, strongly flavored tea. Rich and hints of malt. Sweet caramel-y undertones. And I’m not getting a strong bitterness from it, and I even steeped it for a full 3 minutes which I don’t normally do except that it is a bagged tea and because I have to pour the boiling water into a teacup to steep it (I guess I don’t have to brew it this way, but, it seems the most convenient method of brewing a bagged tea), and the temperature drops when being poured into a teacup even if it’s been warmed (which it hadn’t been), I decided to go for the 3 minutes.
Gah… I feel like I’m babbling. So, I’m going to stop now. This is really quite a decent tasting tea. Not the best I’ve had when it comes to Irish Breakfast blends, but, I didn’t expect it to be since it is a bagged tea. But it is drinkable.
Now that I’m halfway through the cup, I can also taste the paper of the teabag. And it makes this much less enjoyable.