English Breakfast

…because life is complicated enough on its own.

This is my all-around “black tea” default for when I’m in the mood for just a straight cuppa, when making a base for an iced tea, or just when I want to add more straight black Keemun to some other blend.

First let’s be honest and admit you get what you pay for and there is no such thing as “cheap top-shelf tea”, but this tea does fulfill the category of “inexpensive but still good”. For the price point (around $7-8 USD on Amazon per 100g tin or $20 USD for half a kilo), this is surprisingly decent. I prefer it with lemon, because without the acidity there is a hint of that wet-hay flavor you can expect from slightly older teas. 75% of the time when I am making this tea it is a few liters at a time with half a lemon thinly sliced in the pitcher and then keep it in the fridge for a fresh supply of iced tea — this is where it really shines the most for me. Unlike other more expensive kinds, it doesn’t feel too expensive to just load up 6-8 tsp per liter to make a good base for iced tea and drink that in lieu of water or soda. Goes well with fruits like peaches & assorted berries, but I still prefer the sliced lemons for this stuff.

There is nearly always a supply of this in my tea pantry, I consider it a consistent staple.

The short version: A solid English Breakfast that is readily available on Amazon in bulk quantities at a low price, best used for iced teas IMHO. Better than your off-the-shelf supermarket English Breakfast teabags. What most non-tea-drinkers think of when they hear “tea”.

If I ever can’t find Yorkshire, this will be my everyday brew. Strong, and delicious with. Milk & sugar.

Another nice sample sachet. To me this tea isn’t that distinctive, but it still tastes pleasant and smooth, and I guess we don’t want our teas to have heaps of personality ALL the time.

Wonderful with a splash of cream and 2 tsp of sugar.

Sipdown (146)

This is today’s tea of the day mostly because I just had the one teabag so I figured I’d capture it before I had my sipdown. Tbh I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it because I’m usually hesitant of English Breakfast teas as I have had a couple that were just very brisk. This surprised me as it’s incredibly mellow and smooth. It paired perfectly with my waffles as it had bready notes that tied in while also having a nice dose of malt and a smidgen of stone fruit flavor. It’s quite lovely and making for a great “morning” tea at 1:00pm.

This tea is so smooth; a little on the mild side, sweet, and not smoky. I finally bought a tin of the loose leaf tea, after flying through the 20 bags I purchased, and receiving a generous loose leaf sample from ashmanra (thank you, again!). This will definitely be regularly stocked in my cupboard. Keemuns FTW! :)

Bought this recently from Amazon to bump my order up to the free shipping threshold. Its got a nice flavor to it. It is malty but not overly so. There is as others have noted a slight note of chocolate, very slight. There is little in the way of bitterness or astringency to this tea. I am hoping this one is high in caffeine as I could use a boost this morning.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min.

Had this for second tea this morning. I happened to forget all my loose leaf at home today, but did remember my infuser. Such is life for a sleepy, grey, Monday. I guess it will be an all bagged tea day until work is done.
This tea was nice. Not at all smoky. I found it sweet for a Keemun, with a smooth body and light honey flavour. I detected no bitterness or astringency. Not as diverse and lovely as the Yunnan Golden teas I’ve been enjoying as of late, but that is to be expected. It does make me long for one though. Ah well, this will do for now.

I had the bagged version, snurched from a hotel stay. I didn’t get much smoky nuance as I did last time I brewed a mug of this, but I didn’t get it quite as strong as I like it, either. It was still dang good quality for a black bagged tea.