What is your favorite black tea and why??

Once upon a time I was a flavored green tea drinker. I still drink this type on occasion but I have come to love a good orthodox black tea! I love a good Assam but recently I have been sipping some yummy Darjeeling! A little sweet and a little spicy! This is what I love about a good black tea, the depth of flavor. I typically add just a small splash of milk or a little half and half to soften the taste a bit.

This seems to always be changing for me but right now its a tie between Keemun and Yunnan. The Keemun has this great earthy flavor with notes of leather, wet earth, plum, and cocoa. i’m reading Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place which the movie 127 Hours is based on and it is just perfect for that book. Makes me in the mood to go hiking even more. The Yunnan has this wonderful pepper-y malty taste that i love in the morning. I was totally stuck on greens and whites until maybe a week or two ago that I started getting back into black teas.

I am personally enamored with Scottish Breakfast which is blend that has a bit of everything in it and it just seems to get the best bits of them all.

Lapsang Souchong is my favorite too. :D

Darjeeling is my #1 black…but Lapsang Souchong is a very close 2nd.
I also love every English, Scottish, and Irish Breakfast I have tried.

Keemun is my favorite black. It was the first non-flavored loose leaf tea I ever tried. I love the subtle smokey flavor, and the low astringency. It sits right in my tasting sweet spot, not too strong and not too weak. It is pretty difficult to explain my affinity towards this tea.

Irish Breakfast is nice, especially shared with an Irish friend. Also Assam Tea Co. had an Cream of Assam that was the smoothest cup of Black tea I ever had.

Anything black from Fujian. Particularly the Tan Yang Te Ji I buy from TeaSpring. But in general Fujian tea producers can do no wrong in my opinion.

Golden Monkey. I’ve liked that tea regardless of which shop I get it from, and it really lends itself to boiling-hot water, where other blacks need to let the water cool a few degrees.

My favorite is a high grade Yunnan. I prefer the natural sweet kind of tea more than the bold and malty ones, and a better yunnan releases such a tasty combination of chocolate and honey.

If I drink my tea with sweets and pasteries, I would prefer a bit bolder one, say an Earl Grey or an Assam.