I hit a wall with my other english breakfast tea (Mr. St. James repackaged as the London Transport Museum), jumping through dangerous internet hoops of fire to find the origin of this recent morning bagged favorite. In a slight panic mode to find a worthy kick-start replacement, I purchased PG Tips. I figured if this is one of the top breakfast teas in England, then the blend might be very similar as I have all but given up hope of finding this tea. It’s the pyramid PG tips bag. At first when I poured the boiled water over the bag the water was very light. I thought, “Uh oh” I might have to double up. Then a minute later the water transformed into a beautiful deep dark coppery color signaling the robust flavor I had been searching for. The mix is indeed similar, with a little bit more weight on the assam (at least to me, does anyone know of the traditional blend has equal parts Ceylon, Kenyan, and Assam leaves for the formula?). I decided to stop at 3 minutes of steeping fearing the bitter would set in, and might double dare myself to try 4 minutes next time. Caffeine kick on one bag at 3min. is impressive – even with milk and sugar. The flavor shines right through. Although bagged tea is a rough 2nd choice to loose leaf, I am beginning to see that with a “Great” quality bagged tea, I can still get a pretty decent flavor, I just need to make sure I don’t drown the tea bag in too much water.
Preparation
People who liked this
Comments
Can u tell me your top few companies that u would choose as next best thing to loose tea? I think I wanna try eggnog in a bag but can’t find it loose anywhere..
Hey Kat! If you like milk in your tea, you can always brew black tea, pour it in your cup, and then pour a little eggnog in to sweeten and flavor. English brands do a great job with straight-up hard black teas in a bag. They know their Brit’s like the caffeine kick (hope I’m not offending anyone). Auggy turned me onto www.thebritishteashoppe.com A great place to find top British tea bagged brands. Although I find the more delicate flavors deserve extra room for the larger dried leaves to unfurl – so tend to prefer loose leaf there. Right now my top companies are Metropolitan Tea Company (a wholesaler) and Taylors of Harrogate.
Thanks Ames! I’ll check it out. Good idea bout sticking with blacks..makes perfect sense to me! I’ll check out those 2 spots too…right on. :)
Can u tell me your top few companies that u would choose as next best thing to loose tea? I think I wanna try eggnog in a bag but can’t find it loose anywhere..
Hey Kat! If you like milk in your tea, you can always brew black tea, pour it in your cup, and then pour a little eggnog in to sweeten and flavor. English brands do a great job with straight-up hard black teas in a bag. They know their Brit’s like the caffeine kick (hope I’m not offending anyone). Auggy turned me onto www.thebritishteashoppe.com A great place to find top British tea bagged brands. Although I find the more delicate flavors deserve extra room for the larger dried leaves to unfurl – so tend to prefer loose leaf there. Right now my top companies are Metropolitan Tea Company (a wholesaler) and Taylors of Harrogate.
Thanks Ames! I’ll check it out. Good idea bout sticking with blacks..makes perfect sense to me! I’ll check out those 2 spots too…right on. :)