I drank this one a couple of times over the weekend. Now that I’ve finished off my flavoured Butiki blends, I’ve pulled out the straights and started working on those. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. I defied the recommendation and added a splash of milk, simply because that’s how I prefer my tea first thing. It’s plenty strong enough to stand up to a dash of milk, anyway, so no harm done.
I found this one to be a pretty unique breakfast blend. I usually expect blends containing assam to be predominantly sweet and malty – it’s a characteristic that just seems to dominate. Not so here, which is really no bad thing – it’s refreshing to taste something a little different! Shiva’s Breakfast starts out a little sweet and chocolatey, but it has a strong citrus flavour in the mid-sip which is also a little bitter in the way of grapefruit or bergamot. The end of the sip reveals the flavour of what I can only describe as green wood – a little sappy and chlorophyll like, with slight floral hints.
I think this tea really makes the most of its component blends. They work together very well, with the strongest characteristic of each contributing something to the whole. No one tea or flavour dominates, so it’s actually a pretty complex taste experience – certainly different from an “ordinary” breakfast blend! I’ll probably save this one a little simply because it’s so unique – I’m not sure where I’ll find another tea like this one I’m finished with my bag.
