Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea

I have this tea almost every day. Adding orange blossom honey really helps bring out the citrus notes.

This is the first time I have had this one. It is the bagged version. I don’t know, it seems kind of thin. I was expecting big bold and malty. The aftertaste is kind of fruity. It is a bit drying. It does remind me of Charleston Plantation black tea.

Siiiiiiiiiiick.

This weekend has freaking sucked.

Made a cup of this before my giant meeting, and added a spoonful of lemon juice and honey. Here’s to hoping like hell that it helps me kick this cold.

This tea isn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t buy it again. I liked it well enough hot, with or without honey, but it didn’t stand out to me. I’ll probably leave it at my parents house just to have a bit of variety in tea. On a side note, the only orange I noticed was maybe a hint of orange blossom in the smell once brewed.

I had this one years ago and have not been able to find it locally again. One of the best orange pekoes I’ve tried.

Again I must repeat, Twinings US tea bags are made for 6 oz cups…not the huge mugs most people use to brew tea, so if it tastes weak to you that may be the issue.

Teabox Tuesday! I was in quite a rush this morning, so I grabbed this single-serve teabag I took from the Discovery Teabox and did a quick minute and a half steep in 350ml of water in my work thermos before rushing out the door, which has so far been working for my particular tastes well with crushed-to-a-pulp CTC bagged black teas so they don’t get really astringent and bitter. And since I didn’t have any time this morning, I really didn’t have time to steep a full leaf tea, anyway. Thanks so much to Skysamurai for organizing the box and all participants!

Many of the reviews for this are leaning on the tannic/bitter/astringent side… but I can only guess they brew it the suggested 3 or more minutes rather than “3 minutes or to taste”, and my taste happens to be a minute and a half, so I’m not getting any of that. Maybe the tea is much weaker than it is supposed to be, but I appreciate dodging that bullet, as I’m getting a surprising marzipan sort of flavor I haven’t had in a black tea before. There is a malty/toast base, but I’m getting notes of honeyed almonds and cherries, particularly toward the end of the sip. It’s quite complimentary, especially since it’s natural rather than that sickly syrupy sweet flavoring you get in blended teas.

I have to say, I think every bagged Twinings of London tea I’ve tried, I’ve liked, especially compared on average to other grocery store brands. If I were going to stock some bagged teas to take on vacations or to grab to quickly steep “out the door” for mornings like today, this would probably be the one I’d go with.

It was okay. The nutty flavors were very strong, and although I’m usually a sucker for all things nuts, this one wasn’t a favorite. I liked the orange taste very much, but they really ought to have had less of a nutty taste.

Not my favorite. Can’t tell if that’s because I don’t like Ceylon or if it’s because I don’t like this tea: it’s sharp, muddy, bitter, and easy to oversteep.

I have a friend who really loves strong black teas. I’ve seen her steep black teas known to be tannic for more than 5 minutes. I’m going to recommend this tea to her because it steeps fast and strong.

I accidentally left the teabag in for about 5 minutes in warm (but not hot) water, however I found the brew much to strong and had to dilute it to half water/half tea. I recommend steeping for 2 minutes and then accessing the strength before continuing to steep. This is a flavourful and tannic blend that I found astringent but fairly pleasant. I think this would make a very nice latte because it would be strong enough to taste good through the milk.

This is the third Twinings product I bought in the last week. I nabbed it along with a box of Prince of Wales and a box of Darjeeling while all were on sale. It is my least favorite of the three so far, but that being said, it really is not all that bad.

In the glass, this tea is lovely. It shows a warm, dark orange-tinged amber. The nose is fairly nondescript. I can just pick up faint aromas of dried grass, straw, toast, malt, honey, and perhaps a bit of almond. In the mouth, the tea is on the lighter side of medium in terms of body. A crisp, clean entry reveals fleeting impressions of toast, almond, dried grass, malt, and straw with a hint of honey. Even though there is not a ton going on flavorwise, this tea is clean and smooth in the mouth with little bitterness or astringency. The finish is clean and clipped, imparting a touch of almond, honey, toast, and grass flavors.

With an addition of cream, the tea completely transforms. As expected, it becomes smoother in the mouth. The light maltiness and nuttiness of the tea becomes more pronounced while the honey sweetness and dry, crisp grassy notes take a backseat. I imagine that this would be even better with both cream/milk and honey. I will have to give that a try sometime.

In the end, this tea is okay. Truthfully, I am not the hugest fan of most Ceylon teas, and in general, I find orange pekoe to be kind of a basic tea. What I mean by that is I’ve just never found a pekoe that really sticks out to me. In my opinion, pekoe is good to give a blend body and a little bit of crispness, but in terms of flavor, I find it to be too soft, clean, and sterile to really stand up on its own. This product does virtually nothing to change my opinion of pekoe, but then again, it could serve a purpose as an easy drinking breakfast tea to pair with food. Even though it doesn’t do much for me, I guess I’m just not willing to write it off completely.