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I’m so disappointed that I passed over this tea for so long. I generally prefer Irish Breakfasts as I find English Breakfasts too weak so I didn’t even give this one a chance. Last week they were out of Irish so I picked this one up to tide me over until I could re-stock. And I’m happy to say it is absolutely lovely. I have to admit I think it’s mislabeled (in my store it is only labeled English Breakfast) as it really should be called Chinese Breakfast in my opinion. It’s chock full of sweet caramely slightly malty Yunnan goodness, but without any of the briskness I usually associate with English Breakfast blends. I heartily recommend this one if you are looking for a delicious Yunnan, not so much if you’re in the market for an English breakfast blend.

I believe this is Rishi’s China/Yunnan Breakfast.

I don’t know if the tea was old, or maybe someone didn’t place the tin lid on properly (happens sometimes with help-yourelf bulk tins), but this tea is pretty awful. Ginger is my favorite flavoring so even though I’m not much of a pu-erh aficionado I had to pick up a bit of this. Sadly there is no discernible ginger in this mix, and no orange either. It just tastes like stale tea somebody tossed fish food into. Would definitely not recommend to anyone.

This tea is delicious. It’s smooth and buttery, with a beautiful balance of sweet and vegetal flavors. I usually go for darker oolongs, but I’m really glad I picked this one up. Brewed gongfu I’ve got two steeps out of it so far. The second one is a little more complex, with noticeable vegetal notes that were muted in the first steep and more floral notes coming through. I honestly think it’s creamier than some of the milk oolongs I’ve tried.

I’ll update when I do some further steepings
So far: 15s rinse, 25s, 25s, 35s, 50s(floral notes fading a little here, very creamy)…

Hmm… Teavivre suggests brewing this at 212º, but after making a pot I’m thinking that was much too high. I can’t detect any creaminess and there is a bitterness that isn’t usually apparent in milk oolongs. It’s nice and floral with a light sweetness, but no milkiness to be found. The bitter hits the back of your tongue and really lingers. It’s not very pleasant.
I’ll hold off rating it until I can try it at a lower temperature.

Mmm, the dry leaf smells like straight up chocolate. I’ve never smelled a tea that resembles chocolate so incredibly closely. Brewed the liquor is unfortunately not as chocolatey, but lovely nonetheless. A little yam, a bit of sweetness and some wheat or baked bread. The bread notes really stay on your tongue. It’s really delicious, and making me crave my favorite Canadian Black Bread. I think I’m going to have to go make some so I can enjoy it with the rest of this delicious tea.
Teavivre recommends brewing at only 194/90º, but I used boiling water it it turned out perfectly.

This tea is pure malt. No subtlety, no delicacy, just deep strong malty liquor. And that’s not a bad thing at all. It’s not a tea I choose to drink on its own, but it’s one of my go-to teas for accompanying meals when the subtleties of other teas would be lost. This tea gets bitter quickly, I assume this has something to do with the teeny CTC leaves, so any more than a 3 minute steep is undrinkable for me. There are certainly far better Irish Breakfasts out there, but this is one that I can find (even loose) in just about every grocery store around these parts. And for the price it’s darn good.

Loose version.

I was really craving a flavored tea after dinner tonight. Unfortunately my cupboard is pretty bare in the flavored department these days. I rooted through my ever-growing stash of samples and found this one hanging out in the bottom of the pile. Brewed at about 200/195ºF for 4 minutes with a nice sized teaspoon.
Verdict… it’s okay. Just okay. I got this as a free sample with my last order and am pretty glad I didn’t pay for it. It’s not awful, but just too bland for a ginger tea. There’s a bit of sweetness and apricot in there, I’m assuming that’s the Formosa base, but the ginger is terribly muted. Where’s the spice? Where’s the bite? How can ginger be bland? I’m pretty disappointed this wasn’t better since I absolutely love ginger. And sadly it didn’t satisfy my craving.