French Breakfast

Another breakfast tea from this morning. While this one is malty and has a slight chocolate note to it, it’s not as sweet as american breakfast and comes across as a little bolder and stronger. Still a delicious tea that I can get behind having in my cupboard! This is my kick in the pants in the morning tea, while american breakfast is an easier, gentle push out of bed :)

Time for French Breakfast!
I’m not really good at actual breakfast – I had a danish, and a medium double-double from Tim Hortons. Sugar, yes?

So I don’t need any additives to this. Just pure black tea.

I’ve been drinking this at breakfast the last few mornings, as I’m off work and able to relax and enjoy myself a bit. The scent of the dry leaves is just amazing — if I didn’t know better, I’d have mistaken it for cocoa powder. It’s intensely chocolatey, with drier notes of cacao and the sweetly malty typical “black tea” scent running underneath. Brewed, this is just as amazing. The chocolate carries through into the flavour really well, adding a bittersweet touch to what is otherwise a sweet, deeply rich cup. Very satisfying, and very indulgent. If this is what mornings can taste like, I’ll be looking forward to them from now on! Amazing.

Oh my goodness, this tea is delicious. I regularly drink Irish Breakfast tea, and this is a match for that tea in terms of strength, but has a sort of chocolately taste to it underneath that is just delicious.

One of my favourite breakfast teas of all time. It just doesn’t compare! So malty, warm, full of tannins but never bitter, even if I over steep it. So, so beloved. The leaves even have this beautiful brown/green moment when steeped. I enjoy it so much.

A rather gloomy, chilly day today, whose grey countenance was not uplifted when I looked out and noticed my summer basil dying (not unexpectedly), and then found I was at the bottom of my tin of MF French Breakfast Tea. Not a crisis, since I have some beautiful teas in my “pantry” (I WISH I had a real pantry), but I won’t be able to order from Mariage Frères for some while, so I will be missing my lovely, soothing, uplifting companion for all those times when I want something of substance, but not too loud, something suave, but not too subtle, something tastefully deluxe yet cozy, warm and comfortable … My old friend for all seasons, French Breakfast.

Some teas you want for their ability to perform, entertain, or teach … they take you on a journey, unlock secrets, shake you out of your rut, surprise you, challenge you, carry you to a time and place, or create new worlds. This isn’t that tea. This is slipping into your softest, best-loved t-shirt or jammies and cracking open a long-awaited new book by a favorite author, or being on the receiving end of a warm, bracing hug before going out to face the world. Whatever you’re doing? It’s there for you. And will be waiting for you when you return.

I recall liking this more in the past. Right now I’m feeling okay about it, but it doesn’t currently seem worth the hefty price. Not sure if it is that my tastes have changed or the tea has changed. The first steep is a nice mellow breakfast tea, slightly heart and good with cream. The second steep is a bit lacking. I feel like too much of the flavors have faded. Bummer when you recall a tea being better than what you are experiencing. Oh well!

Sipdown.

Very fragrant malt, a tiny hint of cocoa and a wisp of smoke. This is by far the smoothest and most delicious European-style tea I have ever tasted.

I did not allow myself to buy more when I was in Paris because my stash is honestly ridiculous, but I regret that decision when staring down at the empty tin.

The strength of this black tea jolted me out of a depressive episode yesterday (though of course it came back later) and it is again helping to soothe my system on this beautiful Spring day (lol f*cking hate the spring – does anyone else get Spring depression here?)

Most definitely recommend this for any French tea lovers

hate to say this, but I found a Mariage Freres tea I don’t like. This one was okay while it was hot, but as it cooled it turned bitter. I glanced through other notes, and most people seemed to enjoy it, so it’s probably me, not the tea. Perhaps the leaf is old, or maybe it brewed too long. At any rate, in the interests of being fair, I’m not going to rate this one. I’m glad I got to try this. Someday, probably in the very distant future, I plan to place an order with MF.

So I had to pack my bags, get on a plane and travel out of state very unexpectedly for work yesterday which just tires me out entirely these days… I was very happy this morning when rifling through my belongings I realized I’d placed a small bag of this in my suitcase in the chaos that was me leaving yesterday… and so this morning, I’m sitting in a strange hotel, in a foreign city, sipping on soul warming tea!!!

This has the perfect balance of maltiness and smokiness with a (very) slight hint of chocolate… with a touch of milk, that I managed to sneak out of the breakfast room, its simply perfection this morning and makes me feel a touch better about being where I am.