Queen Catherine

A big thank-you to JacquelineM for allowing me to have breakfast with the queen!

I easily recognized the Keemun lending a tiny whiff of smoke and reminding me of Harney’s excellent all-Keemun English Breakfast. I picked up on the Yunnan too, adding a touch of peaty warmth and roundness. But I confess I had to resort to a tasting note from the Harney folks to find out what else was in here: Panyang Congou! When I took a sip without milk, that made sense to me — this blend has that slightly honeyed taste I associate with Panyang Congou.

All in all, an excellent choice for breakfast. I’ll bet it would make me just as happy at any other time of day, too!

Backlog from this morning. I’m really loving getting my black teas back in the morning. It just starts the day off right! Today’s pick was Queen Catherine. It was nice and bold as I remembered but this time I also detected some smokiness. I’m pretty sensitive to smoky teas, but the smokiness of this one was just enough and not overwhelming. There was also something a little tart about this tea today which confused me a bit, but I think there may have been some contamination among all my teas when I stuffed them into a box to move across the country. Anyway, I am really liking this one, and will definitely consider repurchasing when I run out.

Edit: Apparently, I detected smokiness last time as well. I just didn’t remember that I did. Points for consistency?

A blend of three Chinese black teas: Keemun, Yunnan, and Panyang Congou. A great afternoon blend.

Thank you very much to ASHMANRA who sent me this tea. It’s a fantastic blend of three Chinese teas and they work together as if they were in a classically choreographed ballet. The “players” seem to include some Keemun and some Yunnan, I think, although I don’t know. There are tell-tale traces of flower and spice and chocolate plus a little bit of smoke (not enough smoke to scare you away, I promise).

All in all, a very solid and strong morning blend that I’d be happy to wake up to every day. It’s got a great dance of melismatic flavors subtly bowing to each other. You might want to give this a try if you are in The Simple Life’s DAWN detox.

Morning tea time and I’m eager to solve the mystery of this tea. Harness’s reviewed their tea and wrote, “A blend of three Chinese black teas: Keemun, Yunnan, and Panyang Congou. A great afternoon blend.”. It’s interesting because I don’t normally associate what I’m tasting with any of these teas. Well, mostly, anyway. So, what am I tasting?

First and foremost, and I think mostly because I’m so sensitive to it is the smokiness that stands out to me. Next is the deep maltiness that dries my mouth a tad. There’s also a thicker taste to it, which I’m thinking is probably a honey like flavor. I am picking up on slightly astringic notes. It’s not too prevalent, though. The finish is smooth and flavored more of raisin. I don’t taste any floral notes. All in all, an excellent morning tea.

The leaves are dark and crumbly. The fragrance was unexpected. My initial thought was raisin bread. As I tried to dissect that further, I realized it was malty, yeasty and had notes of fig.

After steeping, the fragrance simplifies. The flavor is malty, slightly sweet and had a high level of salinity. I’m not getting much of the smokiness that has been mentioned quite a bit with this tea. I can see how this tea would take very well to lemon or light cream and sugar. It has a bit of a weak finish. However, as the cup cools, it develops more body and character.

Overall, it’s not a bad tea but it’s also not at the top of my list.

Morning cuppa with cream & sugar. Mmm.
Missed the Queen. She is so solid and dependable. Always a pleasure.

This was a tea I just had to try based on name alone. A tea named after a Portuguese woman, a Lisbon neighbour so to speak, the woman responsible for some very cute unicorns (with lions) on occasional bits of the city (I got a weakness for those unicorns). And she liked her tea, so I do have a big fondness for her.

The fondness extends to the tea. This is such a chinese black tea, and that by my book is a very good thing and just my kind of tea. It reminds me a bit of Twinings´s Prince of Wales, the same sort of chestnutty taste, hint of smoke. But for proper taste note, must brew it a few more times and skip the milk. A very nice lady, this queen of England.

This is part of my birthday shared teas from my daughter.
Upon sniffing the dry leaf, smoky notes waft…brewed it anyway. This is good. I have been in a tea slump here lately…I don’t like what is in my cupboard.
This is very tasty plain, which is how I am drinking tonight. I think I will try it in the morning with milk and raw sugar. It is not smokey when you drink it. I think I like the Queen:)

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped four minutes, drunk bare.

Keemun, and cocoa notes, and a very clean, mineral finish. Distant smoke, more a toastiness. Fruit notes, too. Quite good.