The London Tea Room Blend

Hey Steepsterites! I hope everyone is having an awesome Sunday!

I woke up around 9, drank my last cup of Yunnan Jig (adadio, I like their Yunnan Noir better) while Tony had a cup of his beloved Jubilee (London Tea Room, aka LTR). We went out to breakfast, where we both had a cup of Numi’s Breakfast blend (basically, it’s ok for a restaurant bagged tea…). Then we headed downtown to the LTR, where we each ordered a pot of tea. He had Lavender Earl Grey (which he bought 2 oz of, along with another 4 oz of Jubilee), and I had Keemun Mao Feng (sweet, malty, a little smokey). I got 2 oz of this LTR Blend, as I haven’t tried it yet, and I’m having a cup now.

Some breakfast blends have what I would call a ‘bright’ flavor, and an acidic quality. This one does not. It is a dark and bold cup, with a buttery mouth feel. I like dark and bold much more than I like acidity and brightness. I’ll add it to my breakfast rotation.

Using this weekend to (once again) focus on finishing up drips and drabs of teas that I have tucked everywhere. This is the third one I have managed to finish off since yesterday. Gotta clean out the pantry some so I can buy more tea!

I wish I could taste a bit more Keemun in this one. I think I’d like it more then. Not a bad afternoon type tea but I think Lupicia’s Afternoon Tea definitely wins.

Backlogs incoming since it’s been a busy day. I’m exausted and want to go to bed but i just got off the phone with china and i really want to track my teas before i forget. :)

I have devised a plan for getting through all the teas that terri sent me by putting any random tea from her straight blacks into my morning rotation. The other tea can be whatever. This morning it was this one. Let me tell you, i’m pretty sure i really enjoyed this one as a basic breakfast tea that is a really nice even keel sort of morning tea. There is none of that morning tea acidic taste that makes me go ick.

I have one more small cup of this left that i’ll have when i have more time to sit and focus. This was soooo many hours ago. but it was good.

On Monday, I made a cup of this but I came down with a headache and a fever and I felt like I wanted to vomit, so instead of activating plan A [studying and drinking tea], I activated plan B [sleep until my next class]. Consequently, this cup went cold.

Today, I decided it deserved a take two, so I made a cup of it.

It says “blend,” so I can only assume that there are multiple types of tea in this. I tasted what I thought might be some Ceylon, and than I got some nearing intense bitterness that made me think Darjeeling. The bitterness wasn’t as strong as a previous encounter with the Autumnal Darjeeling Auggy sent me, but it was familiar enough that it made me “hurm.”

I became even more suspicious when that bitterness began to sweeten in the aftertaste, and then as it cooled a bit more became even more indicative of that muscat taste.

Upon reading the description of this tea, I’m somewhat confused because I didn’t get any Keemun out of it. I didn’t really spend a lot of time smelling the leaves or the tea. I don’t know why, as I seem to be very much all about that lately. Anyway, I’ve got enough left of this to play around a bit, so I’ll be doing that.

Sorry this log is lacking in complete thoughts and cohesiveness. All I wrote down from my drink earlier today was:

DARJEELING.
ceylon?

And combined with the fact that Craig Ferguson is talking at the screen with an alligator puppet in a Cajun-Scottish accent, it’s making this difficult.

Okay, I’m done.

What a smooth body this brew has! Its malty and very bold but just the right amount. I tastes like an Assam but more calm. The flavor is of a dark wood and slightly roasted. The aftertaste is sweet and robust. I like this brew, basic yet still enjoyable. This would make a great everyday black.

Hidden Gems TTB #4

Thank you to Kayla for including a sample of this one for me! I have The Naughty Vicar from The London Tea Room and love it, so I was eager to try more of their tea. This one is a nice, basic English Breakfast blend. There’s nothing unique or outstanding about it, but it is strong and smooth and malty and tasty with or without milk. It’s also very reasonably priced! I would consider purchasing this one when I run out of my current breakfast tea.