English Breakfast

I love this tea, but not for breakfast. I don’t think it’s strong enough. However this is a fabulous drinker. Right down the middle, and just delicious.

A classic English breakfast tea. It’s pleasant. Mostly really broken down tea leaves. Its a Chinese black tea and through my tea experimenting I have found I have a preference for Teas from India. This is mild, but still gives me a caffeine kick that can keep me awake on some nights. Slightly fruity not as malty. Although its a classic, I would go for the Irish breakfast tea over this one. It is a little deeper and richer which I prefer. Not bad though.

The thing about living in a neighbourhood with at least five excellent bakeries and patisseries within a few blocks is that when the occasion calls for a treat or two, it’s hard to narrow your choices down.

I don’t eat pastries and cakes all that often. There were those months that I would buy one or two Portuguese custard tarts stuffed with Nutella every time I passed that bakery and then I was over it.

And then, maybe you remember, there was that almond croissant and pain au chocolat phase.

On my birthday, I felt that some sort of treat was in order. I stopped into French bakery, the owner is from somewhere in the south of France, and picked up a small gateau Basque tart. And some Pain Perdu, a cross between French toast and bread pudding, served with creme Anglaise like a vanilla cream custard sauce, and fresh fruit. And they threw in some home-baked cookies for my celebration.

Well, that pain perdu was humongous. I have been eating the slice for three days and finally it and its accompaniments are done.

I really was in the mood for a feisty no nonsense tea today. This fits the bill.

The cookies and the gateau Basque can wait for another day.

Nice, fairly strong Keemun black tea. Straight-forward and simple. The brewed tea reveals notes of honey, toast, hay and a subtle maltiness – very aromatic and comforting. There is a slight bitterness and astringency which is to be expected from a breakfast blend. But it is still pretty light for an English Breakfast blend since it is made from Keemun teas instead of the brisker, maltier Assam/Ceylon/Kenya teas which English Breakfast blends usually consists of. This tea is medium to full-bodied and is excellent with a splash of milk. I would not drink it any other way. In the aftertaste mostly, there is a very subtle smoky flavor which is one of the trademarks of Keemuns.

So good. Sometimes, a plain black tea is just what you need – so you can be reminded how tea tastes in its pure, untainted form.

I highly recommend this tea if you like a strong, plain black tea that is excellent with a splash of milk.

Dry leaves, appearance:
Charcoal grey Keemun tea leaves. Compared to most of Harney & Sons’ flavored black China teas, the leaves are grey rather than black and the leaves are also bigger and less curly.

Dry leaves, aroma:
The characteristic smell of plain black tea with notes of honey, hay, toast and malt.

Liquor:
Dark brown

Packaging:
4 oz. loose tea tin.

I’m not going to scroll through umpteen years of history, but I don’t think I have ever tried Harney’s EB. Sample handed to me by a friend at work, so that means sloppy and distracted steeping. Very drinkable, but I didn’t get the lovely hay and burlap vibe that I like about Keemuns. Should’ve paid more attention!

This is currently my go-to office tea, after trying an array of English Breakfast style teas. It’s flavorful, but not too strong, and only requires a splash of milk. Great for dunking a McVities chocolate biscuit when I have a cup in the afternoon.

While I appreciated the convenience of tea bags for my “morning black tea, doesn’t have to be special” habit, I was starting to feel guilty about all the waste they produce, particularly if they are individually wrapped. Switching to a loose leaf and finally buying myself an office Finum filter helped ease my conscience.

Oh, and I had a resealable bag of this tea in sachets before I bought the loose leaf tin, and they were not as flavorful, so an upgrade in quality along with feeling more environmentally friendly.

I had one teabag of this as a freebie from a Harney order, so I didn’t want to sip it down without writing a note. It’s definitely not Harney’s best. An okay black tea… I was surprised to see it’s a keemun, as it mostly tasted like Ceylon with a hint of Assam. There is a bright, fruity note with a bit of a kick. But not enough kick for me if it’s a ‘breakfast’ tea. Both steeps tasted the same. I DO appreciate that I was able to try it for free though! Thanks Harney!

English breakfasts is an odd type of teas: it can come seemingly from any country and run the entire gamut of all possible black tea flavors. This one consists of Keemuns and is rather mild, which I like.

For starters, unlike many of its brethren, it has some perceptible flavor of sweetness, malt, spice, and crushed blueberries. Rather pleasant. The taste is not super complex but also agreeable: honeyed sweetness, malt, pepper, wood. You need to steep it for a while and there is no possibility to get anything decent for second steeping.

The power of branding is a funny thing: I would definitely be disappointed if I bought it as a Keemun, but as an English Breakfast it tastes OK to me.

Unlikely to reorder anyway: there are tons of teas that have more personality.

I like this tea, but it is nothing special. It is a keemum or keemum blend of medium quality. There are higher quality keemums available such as Hao Ya B (or A), or various others depending on where you buy them. Ultimately it is good for what it is: a breakfast tea to please the masses . . . those who want to step up their game from lipton or PG Tips.

Adequate. When I have a cold, I will make free with this tea, and honey and lemon.