I got a small box of this bagged tea from the San Francisco Tea Festival. Being a CTC English Breakfast tea, and one that is, well, actually a known British brand, I went all-out tannin-wuss on my steep and only steeped it for a minute and a half. But it still looks a proper reddish-brown color to me, so…
The aroma is like malt, crisp autumn leaves, and a bit like cherries and cinnamon. The flavor of this is actually very nice, the short steep was probably a good choice for me since this isn’t too strong, though I imagine had I left it steeping very long it would’ve tended that way. I’m getting a lot of the notes that were present in the aroma — malt, autumn leaves, and cinnamon spice — but there is also a lot of lemon citrus and burnt sugar. It’s suprisingly good for bagged tea with quite a few flavor notes. The astringency after the sip is mild to medium, not as strong as I was expecting. It isn’t my favorite breakfast tea, but I certainly like this one more than many I’ve sampled, and I’m glad that it has a flavor that I can take plain just fine, at least if I prepare it with a brisk steep.
Flavors: Astringent, Autumn Leaf Pile, Bread, Burnt Sugar, Cinnamon, Citrus, Lemon, Malt