The London Cuppa

This tea smells strong, like a breakfast tea. I’m sure it would have been perfect this morning. I’ve had so much caffeine already today that I’m not sure how it will settle with me this afternoon. I’m hoping it’s enough to warm me up but not so much that it makes me feel jittery and off balance. After adding a little cream, the color is a deep reddish brown. The cream doesn’t completely mix here but it does well enough. To me, this isn’t as good as I remember it being before. It’s astringent and a little bitter in the aftertaste. I’ll probably drop my rating on this one.

This smells like a good, solid black tea. I haven’t had a cup of this yet but I did use a few bags in some chai ice cream I made a while back and the flavor turned out really great. My only complaint about this tea so far is that without the string on the teabag I had a bit of trouble fishing it out of my cup. Once I did, I dropped it again and splashed hot tea on my desk and on myself. Let’s be honest though, this could be user error. :)

The tea itself is lovely. It’s exquisitely dark with a deep mahogany tint. This is definitely bold enough that it can carry added cream so I added some as I usually do. Even before adding cream, the tea was so thick as to coat my spoon while stirring it. It just feels so luscious. A truly satisfying cup.

Just not as strong as I like it. I bought a big box of this on sale at British Delights and then gave it to my mom who doesn’t take milk with her tea. She loved it.

Good basic black tea.

I got this tea from my mom who got it from a student of hers whose mother lives in Britain… It continues to be one of my absolute favorites. Smooth and delicious with a bit of milk and honey. I have it in both loose and teabag forms, and they are equally delicious.

Well, I want to begin by saying that I am of Indian origin and have been around tea my entire life- never really a fan though. Recently I discovered some sleep issues of mine were related to the caffiene in coffee and instantly I switched to tea. On a whim I picked up this tea from the Home Goods store and brought it back to the office. I was a bit excited because I had never had Assam tea blended with Kenya tea and wanted to see what it would taste like. Let me tell you- the simplicity of the tea is what makes it amazing. It’s not overly brisk,overly dark, or even bitter. It’s great for a beginner tea aficianado. I put two table spoons of half and half because I wanted a creamy texture and added some splenda as well. This is a great tea to have as a go-to. You can never over-steep and you will always get good flavor. I highly recommend this blend.

I’ve seen this one before in TJ Maxx and have been so tempted to buy it, but told myself to wait until I got my tea cupboard under control. I was so excited when Serenity sent me a sample to try! These little teabags are so convenient, especially for the first cup of the day. This teabag smells of sweet and malty black tea. The tea itself has a strong black tea aroma with a hint of sweet honey. I steeped this tea for 3 minutes, and it was still a very dark brown color with a slight bitterness in the flavor. This tea absolutely needs milk and sugar added, and it becomes a rich and smooth cup. This is a nice, strong black tea and does very well for that first cup of the day. I think I do prefer PG Tips to this one, however, but that may just be out of sheer habit.

-Round white teabag without a string.
-Teabag smells of sweet and malty black tea. Tea liquor aroma is of strong black tea with a hint of honey.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy very dark brown color.
-Robust flavor with a slightly bitter finish. Malty aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Becomes a rich and smooth cup with milk and sweetener.

Brews far too strong even when you leave it for just 2-3 minutes. Milk helps in this case, of course, but unless that’s your goal / preferred way of taking your tea, it’s rather bland and uninteresting (I prefer Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold if I’m basically making builders’ tea).

I tried this tea when I visited my mom over the holidays. While I can’t say it was super-special or unique, I can say it was a good strong everyday tea- which was exactly what I needed at the time. I swiped several of the bags to bring back with me and I will probably buy a box when my current stash runs out.

Found this at TJ Maxx yesterday. Thought I would chance it. I love this tea. No bitterness. I usually drink without milk but I think I will try that soon. Wonderful flavor—-I don’t think the box of 80 bags will last me very long. I hope they still have this the next time I can make it to TJ’s. What a gem to find !

A very smooth cup of black tea that is easy to drink. It doesn’t have the bitter or sharp aftertaste that sometimes come with drinking a lot of Earl Grey, which was my favorite black tea. If I can get my hands on a box it may be my new breakfast tea.

best black tea I have ever had I first got the loose tea leaves loved it and then got the tea bags and they tasted different, I like the loose tea I can control the amount of tea and strength i really like it in its loose teal form and not in its bag form.

I found this for cheap while wandering around Marshalls. Having never seen it before, I thought it must be some cheap tea dressed up to appeal to tourists in London and gullible American anglophiles. Well, I am a gullible American anglophile, and since loose tea is generally hard to come by in the wild around these parts, I snatched a tin up.

I opened it and was initially horrified. I love loose tea, but I am used to ordering higher quality stuff off the internet, and the brown micro-particles of tea leaf looked more like dollar store instant coffee than what I recognize as loose tea.

It was a beautiful late spring morning and life was already unbearably irritating. I figured that it at least contained caffeine, so I dumped two and three quarter teaspoons into my 16 oz pot and kept my expectations lowered.

It brewed up quickly and very darkly. I poured from pot to mug, and added more milk than usual, probably over an ounce. I steeled my taste buds, blew over the rim of the cup and sipped.

And. . . I enjoyed it, to my surprise. I felt guilty for judging it so harshly based on its initial appearance, like some sort of tea snob. Nice and malty, with suprisingly minimal astringincy. Quite smooth. Milk really compliments it, if milk in tea is your thing, but I kind of want to try it iced.

I think I’ve been steeping it wrongly the past few times, and the flavor hasn’t quite held up to the place it once had in my heart. I’m going to try steeping it more carefully next time.