Twinings

Much more interesting than the basic black, enjoying this again this morning but this time straight up. Nice smooth taste and good flavor. I’ve been very impressed with this variety pack from Twinings.

Tasted better before I added sugar, next time I will have plain which is nice and easy! Good for when I feel like something stronger in flavor than Lady Grey.

So far Ive only had one other earl grey loose, and believe it or not I like this twinings better,but im new to good tea so perhaps I dont know how bad it is yet.

My favorite breakfast tea to date. Very dark, like a cup of coffee without the nasty side effects for me.

Good for the price, but still pretty bad for a Darjeeling. If you concentrate, you might be able to pick up a few of the calling card flavors of Darjeeling, but even then, they are still incredibly weak.

Whichever estate supplies Twinings with this stuff is a real sellout.

I’ve been away from Steepster for a while because of school (and I shouldn’t be on here now, because I’ve got an essay due tomorrow arghhh) but I just had to pop in and see what everyone’s been up to/procrastinate.

Anyway, the tea. I don’t know why, but the last two times I’ve tried making this on my own (outside of the Zarafina, which I gave to my mom) it tastes too…malty? Caramelized? Perhaps I’m steeping it too long…but it’s gone “meh” on me. Knocking this down a few points until I figure out what’s wrong.

Edit: Okay, maybe it’s the honey I’m adding that’s making it taste strange? Damn you CVS clover honey, damn you.

I finally was able to try out my new tea thermal! I ordered the Copco tea thermos (http://www.amazon.com/Copco-2510-4600-Tea-Thermal-Stainless/dp/B0028N6OLQ/ref=pd_sbs_k_1) which has a twistable infuser so you can stop steeping without having to dump the leaves. Unfortunately the inside of the mug is plastic, not steel…deceptive, because the outside is stainless steel!

Anyway, I decided to christen the thermal with one of my favorite teas, English Breakfast by Twinings. I heated the water and milk to boiling, put a little under 3 teaspoons of leaf in the infuser, added some Splenda and honey, and let it steep for a few minutes. The first thing I noticed was that the tea is HOT! And it refused to cool down until like an hour later…good if you’re planning on packing your tea for a long trip, but bad if you’re impatient like me :(

I’ve never made English Breakfast outside of the Zarafina, so it might have just been my weird steeping methods, but the tea did not taste very good. It actually tasted a lot like Irish Breakfast tea does…malty with notes of brown sugar and, um, sweet potato. I didn’t taste the delicious caramel-honey flavor English Breakfast with milk and honey usually gets. I don’t know if I added too much leaf, or oversteeped it, or if the temperature was off. I’m increasing the rating a little, just because before today, this tea has never let me down.

After all these posts on EB today, I thought I’d pull this out of the tea box. Tried it with honey this time, and it is fab.

I’m back in Boston after a red-eye flight across the country…got back to my apartment around 7 AM, ate, and then passed out until now. Seems like as good a time as ever to bust out this tea. For me, English Breakfast tea + milk + sugar reminds me of being home on a sick day in 4th grade, cuddled up in a cozy blanket and calling my mom at work every hour and being babied by my usually stern grandmother. Warm fuzzies all around.

I finally opened that loose-leaf tin I’ve had sitting around on the shelf. The leaves are much, much smaller than I expected…disappointingly so.

First cup with 1 teaspoon of leaves— the liquor is a beautiful orange-red. It’s a little sweeter and less bitter than the bagged variety. Adding Spenda—sweet, delicious, and less bitter. I could easily drink cup after cup of this. Adding milk—weaker than I remember the bags being (with milk and sweetener).

Take 2: Double strength. With Splenda – more astringent than bitter. Needs milk. Uh oh, forgot to heat milk before adding tea to cup. Oh well. Still good, but cold.

This tea is goes amazingly well with milk and sweetener. It’s cozy, warm, and comforting, and perfect for coaxing yourself out of bed when on those grey days when you just don’t want to get up. I prefer to steep two bags in my Zarafina tea maker with 8 oz (1 cup) of water, and then pour over heated milk and sugar in a large mug. The addition of milk will save the tea from bitterness in case you over-steep (not likely if you invest in an automated tea maker, though!). Much better than the Bigelow equivalent. The loose form is better than the bagged tea.

This blows Bigelow’s English Breakfast out of the water! Enjoyed my first cup of this in the afternoon after sitting outside waiting for Santa with the kids (cold!). I can taste such a distinct difference between this and Bigelow, my usual English Breakfast brand. I want to say it’s more complex? The quality is obvious here in Twinings.

Depeche Mode’s song “I Just Can’t Get Enough” sufficiently sums up how I feel about this tea. I just can’t get enough and always say I’m just going to have “one more cup”.

Seriously dying to compare this to Barry’s, though, since I hear that is the tea of choice in Ireland. Just can’t decide which one I should get- the Barry’s “Gold” or the “Original” that comes in the green box. Then I’ll let Twining’s and Barry’s duke it out for my morning start :)

Two cups this morning with milk and sugar. Perfect way to start the day and so much more pleasant and better tasting than coffee!

If this is what “malty” tastes like, I like it a lot!! This is the morning tea I’ve been searching for all these months. Perfect by itself but I did add sugar and whole milk and it was just delicious. This tea makes me want to get the loose leaf so I can make a whole pot. There’s hope for me yet!

I think this one is stronger than this brand’s English Breakfast tea, which isn’t a bad thing.

I find this to be a great tea right after dinner. Earl Grey is too heavy and too difficult to get right. Lady Grey is very forgiving with steep times. I do think it is a bit more than just a light version of Earl Grey. The citrus flavors are more pleasant when trying to relax.

Having another cup already! I really like this tea!

I think this is nice! Very easy to drink and a nice light taste. Just what I needed to wind down after a hectic day.

I love a good Earl Grey, This is not the best Earl Grey, but what I love about a GOOD tea is being able to make it into an ice tea also. This tea is awesome hot and over ice. I steep my teas a little longer then most, but I enjoy a strong taste.

I don’t use sweetener in any of my teas…so a good strong tea taste is all I get.

YUM!