English Breakfast

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Chinese Keemun Black Tea
Flavors
Blueberry, Smoke, Walnut, Hay, Honey, Malt, Tea, Toast, Pepper, Wood, Caramel, Hot Hay, Chocolate, Sweet
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf, Sachet, Tea Bag
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by twiggles
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 15 sec 2 g 12 oz / 368 ml

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144 Tasting Notes View all

  • “My tin is getting dangerously low, and I bought the one pound bag! It is almost gone… It is finally a really cold morning here. I needed some warmth to look forward to after breakfast. Tea is...” Read full tasting note
  • “Second tea of the morning…… We will just call this “the parade of Keemuns”. I am trying to get an idea of which basic Keemun is the best flavor profile for me. I have three in a similar price...” Read full tasting note
    87
  • “Apparently I’m on a bit of a Harney & Sons sampling kick. I’d like to say I’m going to be methodical about it and stick mostly to these for a while but that would probably be misleading. I...” Read full tasting note
    85
  • “This is a nice Keemun with a peppery taste. This is a very smooth tea with a slight sweetness to it. It has a very slight smoky aftertaste. A nice cup of tea in the morning.” Read full tasting note
    79

From Harney & Sons

Our English Breakfast has an ancient pedigree. Researchers have traced its heritage back to the black tea the English drank regularly in the 1800’s. 100% Keemun.

www.harney.com

About Harney & Sons View company

Since 1983 Harney & Sons has been the source for fine teas. We travel the globe to find the best teas and accept only the exceptional. We put our years of experience to work to bring you the best Single-Estate teas, and blends beyond compare.

144 Tasting Notes

80
16 tasting notes

I love this tea, but not for breakfast. I don’t think it’s strong enough. However this is a fabulous drinker. Right down the middle, and just delicious.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 18 OZ / 532 ML

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81
270 tasting notes

A classic English breakfast tea. It’s pleasant. Mostly really broken down tea leaves. Its a Chinese black tea and through my tea experimenting I have found I have a preference for Teas from India. This is mild, but still gives me a caffeine kick that can keep me awake on some nights. Slightly fruity not as malty. Although its a classic, I would go for the Irish breakfast tea over this one. It is a little deeper and richer which I prefer. Not bad though.

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1403 tasting notes

The thing about living in a neighbourhood with at least five excellent bakeries and patisseries within a few blocks is that when the occasion calls for a treat or two, it’s hard to narrow your choices down.

I don’t eat pastries and cakes all that often. There were those months that I would buy one or two Portuguese custard tarts stuffed with Nutella every time I passed that bakery and then I was over it.

And then, maybe you remember, there was that almond croissant and pain au chocolat phase.

On my birthday, I felt that some sort of treat was in order. I stopped into French bakery, the owner is from somewhere in the south of France, and picked up a small gateau Basque tart. And some Pain Perdu, a cross between French toast and bread pudding, served with creme Anglaise like a vanilla cream custard sauce, and fresh fruit. And they threw in some home-baked cookies for my celebration.

Well, that pain perdu was humongous. I have been eating the slice for three days and finally it and its accompaniments are done.

I really was in the mood for a feisty no nonsense tea today. This fits the bill.

The cookies and the gateau Basque can wait for another day.

mrmopar

Pain Perdu soaked in sherry I take. Classic and delicious.

Evol Ving Ness

Hmm, I like the vanilla custard on top of the vanilla custard effect. I’ll take the sherry on the side though. Or maybe in a trifle. Oooohhh, trifle :)

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25 tasting notes

Nice, fairly strong Keemun black tea. Straight-forward and simple. The brewed tea reveals notes of honey, toast, hay and a subtle maltiness – very aromatic and comforting. There is a slight bitterness and astringency which is to be expected from a breakfast blend. But it is still pretty light for an English Breakfast blend since it is made from Keemun teas instead of the brisker, maltier Assam/Ceylon/Kenya teas which English Breakfast blends usually consists of. This tea is medium to full-bodied and is excellent with a splash of milk. I would not drink it any other way. In the aftertaste mostly, there is a very subtle smoky flavor which is one of the trademarks of Keemuns.

So good. Sometimes, a plain black tea is just what you need – so you can be reminded how tea tastes in its pure, untainted form.

I highly recommend this tea if you like a strong, plain black tea that is excellent with a splash of milk.

Dry leaves, appearance:
Charcoal grey Keemun tea leaves. Compared to most of Harney & Sons’ flavored black China teas, the leaves are grey rather than black and the leaves are also bigger and less curly.

Dry leaves, aroma:
The characteristic smell of plain black tea with notes of honey, hay, toast and malt.

Liquor:
Dark brown

Packaging:
4 oz. loose tea tin.

Flavors: Hay, Honey, Malt, Smoke, Tea, Toast

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 2 g 9 OZ / 275 ML

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2891 tasting notes

I’m not going to scroll through umpteen years of history, but I don’t think I have ever tried Harney’s EB. Sample handed to me by a friend at work, so that means sloppy and distracted steeping. Very drinkable, but I didn’t get the lovely hay and burlap vibe that I like about Keemuns. Should’ve paid more attention!

ashmanra

This is a disappointing tea for me even though it claims to be 100% Keemun which is my favorite black tea. This is just…not great. I bought it more than once thinking maybe my tastes would change and it would be special to me, but nah.

derk

Burlap in keemun, huh. You’re right.

gmathis

I finally took a sip once it had gone stone cold and maybe got a hint of a glimmer of the “right” flavor, but not much. S’OK. There’s a nice big packet of good Keemun in my kitchen :)

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75 tasting notes

This is currently my go-to office tea, after trying an array of English Breakfast style teas. It’s flavorful, but not too strong, and only requires a splash of milk. Great for dunking a McVities chocolate biscuit when I have a cup in the afternoon.

While I appreciated the convenience of tea bags for my “morning black tea, doesn’t have to be special” habit, I was starting to feel guilty about all the waste they produce, particularly if they are individually wrapped. Switching to a loose leaf and finally buying myself an office Finum filter helped ease my conscience.

Oh, and I had a resealable bag of this tea in sachets before I bought the loose leaf tin, and they were not as flavorful, so an upgrade in quality along with feeling more environmentally friendly.

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76
4170 tasting notes

I had one teabag of this as a freebie from a Harney order, so I didn’t want to sip it down without writing a note. It’s definitely not Harney’s best. An okay black tea… I was surprised to see it’s a keemun, as it mostly tasted like Ceylon with a hint of Assam. There is a bright, fruity note with a bit of a kick. But not enough kick for me if it’s a ‘breakfast’ tea. Both steeps tasted the same. I DO appreciate that I was able to try it for free though! Thanks Harney!

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79
226 tasting notes

English breakfasts is an odd type of teas: it can come seemingly from any country and run the entire gamut of all possible black tea flavors. This one consists of Keemuns and is rather mild, which I like.

For starters, unlike many of its brethren, it has some perceptible flavor of sweetness, malt, spice, and crushed blueberries. Rather pleasant. The taste is not super complex but also agreeable: honeyed sweetness, malt, pepper, wood. You need to steep it for a while and there is no possibility to get anything decent for second steeping.

The power of branding is a funny thing: I would definitely be disappointed if I bought it as a Keemun, but as an English Breakfast it tastes OK to me.

Unlikely to reorder anyway: there are tons of teas that have more personality.

Flavors: Blueberry, Honey, Malt, Pepper, Wood

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82
5 tasting notes

I like this tea, but it is nothing special. It is a keemum or keemum blend of medium quality. There are higher quality keemums available such as Hao Ya B (or A), or various others depending on where you buy them. Ultimately it is good for what it is: a breakfast tea to please the masses . . . those who want to step up their game from lipton or PG Tips.

Flavors: Caramel, Malt

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 45 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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70
16 tasting notes

Adequate. When I have a cold, I will make free with this tea, and honey and lemon.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec 3 tsp 25 OZ / 750 ML

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