Scottish Breakfast

When I was at Peet’s yesterday I finally broke down and just got a tin of this for home. Very strong with a touch of lapsang. Nice for those mornings when you need a little bit of ooompf. :)

Welcome to little terri’s sipdown extravaganza!!!
We’ve decided to make the month of February our official full steam sipdown month! (Of course, we might change our mind at any time, but just for today, we’re going for it!) I haven’t done my official monthly tea count for the new month yet, & I may not even bother, because I’m pretty sure with all the various trades, orders, hoarding, etc, that I’m somewhere up around 400 teas, in varying quantities, & that’s insane.

SO, first up, teas sent to my from the lovely TeaBrat (you can change your name, but I still know who you are…whahahahaha!)

I went with Tony to the grocery store the other day, which I don’t really enjoy much because THAT store is full of foods I can’t eat. BUT I do like spending time with Tony, & as we were strolling down the coffee aisle (although neither of us drinks coffee) I did notice out of the corner of my eye that they carry Peet’s coffee. I haven’t been back to check, but I am wondering if they also carry Peet’s teas?

So this is a bold one! It is bassy, a little brassy & bright, & has a nice smokey character as well. This would be especially good with a pancake breakfast, I think, or something a little sweet like scones.

Thank for the sample Teabrat! Sipdown #1!

Neato! I likey this one. Thanks Amy O for sharing!!!
The blend is very comforting, soothing even. Strong, but I like it that way. The Assam and lapsang work well together, and like Amy mentions, I suspect there is some Ceylon as well.
Knowing that there would be a fair bit of astringency, I let the water cool in my cup for about ten seconds. I’m not sure what temp that would have brought it down to (97 maybe?) but it seems to have worked because the astringency is not so bad. I definitely get that sourness in the aftertaste though.
One thing I like is that I can actually taste something besides lapsang. Too often in lapsang blends, it takes over the whole cup so that there might as well not be anything else in there for all the smokiness. Here, the smoke definitely dominates but not to the point of overshadowing the other notes.
Anyhow, thanks Amy!! :)

This is a black tea which makes me wish I could handle drinking black tea all the time. As is, a small cuppa with breakfast and the rest of the pot for my plants is the way it goes.

I tried this tea on a whim several years ago and was completely floored by it. I had never had such a smokey tea before, and I was living in a very snowy area. It was the perfect winter breakfast tea. It was also delicious with a little Bolthouse Farms Vanilla Chai Latte, but Bh has since changed the recipe so it might not be quite the same anymore.

Compared to Lapsang Souchong, Scottish Breakfast is milder. The smokiness will still make your tongue tingle, but it won’t overwhelm your senses like L S can (and won’t make your tea cupboard smell like woodsmoke). That said, if you don’t know how you feel about a brisk cup of black tea, be wary of this one; you might be able to cut with milk or something, but it doesn’t sweeten well. This is a cup for those who don’t care for sweet things to begin with.

This is one of my favorite blends. It’s basically a tempered Lapsong Souchong. It combines the best of that with the best of a nice rich black tea. It’s hard to mess this one up and it can stand alone or hold up to milk.

I love Peet’s Irish Breakfast tea, and stop at the store almost every morning for a cuppa. Unfortunately, here in Southern California, it seems that it is easy for people to confuse Irish and Scottish, because I periodically get served this tea, which I DO not like at all.

I have read many reviews of the tea, and can appreciate the flavor descriptors that everyone uses, but honestly, to me, this tea somehow tastes just like fish!

I switch back and forth between this and Barry’s Tea depending on my mood. This is a nice Scottish blend, but I’m not sure it’s so much better than Barry’s that it’s worth paying the extra money for it. Strong, but less of a crisp bite than some others.