TB20: River Shannon Breakfast Blend

I just love this tea. Its robust, brisk, and chewy. I just returned from the Dr. and I have strep throat. So, I’m going to drink tea and rest. I’ll be back when I feel better which I hope is soon. So everyone drink tea and prosper.

I was craving this after reading Dan’s tasting note. I arrived home cold, rain soaked and mud splashed (once again!) so this was a perfect antidote :) Strong and brisk, no nonsense, takes milk and sugar beautifully. I’m upping the rating a little – it really is the perfect tea for when you need to get warmed up but quick!! I also want to try it cold brewed for iced tea. I think that method would be great because it will cut down on any astringency.The price of this is so good, you don’t mind using it for cold brewed iced tea which needs a good deal of leaves.

Ok, caveat guys: I am not, in fact, sure that this is River Shannon. It is in an Adagio Masala Chai sample tin, but it is definitely not chai. Because I am a giant nubcake, however, I failed to make a note of what it IS. HOWEVER, it is the only one of my Upton Samples that is unaccounted for, so…odds are pretty high!

It’s very weird, because the tea smells totally oversteeped, but I was having one of my “forget to make tea until last minute” mornings instead of my “forgot I made tea and let it steep for like 20 minutes” mornings. (Those are basically the only two kinds of mornings I have. I don’t like mornings) That means that I, in fact, steeped it for about 30 seconds. But it still has a kind of weird burnt, overdone smell to it. Very strange. And not particularly appetizing given that I have a presentation today and my belly is in knots about that already.

The taste is much nicer, though. A nice assertive black tea taste with only a hint of astringency, just to let you know it’s there. No hint of oversteepedness at all. The fact that it was able to have this much personality with even a short steeping time is heartening, but that combined with the smell make me think that this would not be suitable for my other kind of morning. Sadly, I have no way of knowing what kind of morning it is going to be until it is already happening, so no way to plan ahead for that!

There is also a weird underlying piquant note in the aftertaste that makes me think of cola for some reason. I am going to go ahead and attribute that residual chai taste due to being too lazy to clean the sample tin out properly.

The Final Sipdown: Day 10
Decupboarding Total: 18

Since I slacked yesterday (though not intentionally), I plan on decupboarding three teas today to keep my goal of two per day. So let’s all just pretend that it is yesterday for the next few minutes.

I was waiting to see how this tea went with additives before I rated it, hoping some sugar and creamer would help perk it up. Well, this morning I had it with additives and yeah, not a fan. It just tastes so flat and cardboard-y. Not even good cardboard but boring, slightly dirty, uninteresting cardboard. There’s a bit of a nutty-bitter taste at the end but it’s not even a strong enough nutty flavor to be interesting. It’s just flat and boring. I’m sure there is some caffeine content to it and if I think about it, I might be able to agree with the “clean” bit of the tasting notes so the tea isn’t a total loss. But frankly, I can pick up more interesting and tastier blends at the grocery store.

As always this tea always hits the spot. I love the robust flavor and complex character profile. It is a well made tea and I highly recommend it.

My first taste of this, made in the Breville.

The dry leaves have a rich, dark smell and I’m thinking “coffee substitute.” Good. Pretty, clear, red-tinged liquor, reminds me of the color of the GM Sinharaja. I definitely get the Assam in the aroma, but it’s fairly mild under the influence of the Ceylon. Once you get past the strength and pungency of the Assam, there’s a malty sweetness.

It tastes pretty much like it smells, with one pretty significant difference. It’s smoother than I would have expected based on the aroma. There’s some briskness and bite right at the beginning and again at the end, but in between it has no sharp edges. It sweetens up on the tongue in the minute or so after sipping leaving a mildly sweet aftertaste. It’s not sugary, but it is tasty. I’d call it medium-bodied.

There’s not a lot of what I think of as depth to the flavor, but I’m not sure it’s necessary that every breakfast blend be deep. Sometimes you’re having an omlette or a Belgian waffle, and sometimes you’re having cold cereal or toast. Seems like having the ability to mix and match is a good thing.

Although I’ve been resisting additives I am tempted to try this with milk, or maybe milk and sweetener next time.

This is actually take two. I let the first cup steep oh…20 minutes over! Never sit down to mess with your websites look/feel when you have tea steeping!

Anyway this is a new one for me from Upton. As I’m really trying to find my “must haves” to keep in my cupboard year round and only add seasonal teas to the mix here and there. Based on dry leaf smell alone this could be a keeper! Very strong and almost stout-like. Which has to be the Assam talking. I was a little concerned this would be too strong. (I’m trying to ease into the morning)

The steeped tea still smells stout-like, with a hint of malt and honey. The taste is rich and robust. I’m really enjoying this one.

Wow- this is yummy! It’s nice and strong, no bitterness, smooth, and MALTY. I steeped 1.5 tsp for my large mug for 4 minutes at 212. I had it with toast, but this could easily hold up to a hearty breakfast!

Busting my tail because last night in bed before drifting to sleep I was fantasizing about relaxing later today with a tray bearing a big ol’ pot of plain unfancy black tea, milk and raw sugar in my little spice caddies, and a spoon and hunkering down to watch more Venture Brothers (Puddy! The sound design!!) and PBS David Chang (when they showed how they make the ramen stock at Momofuku I almost died, little sighs of lust). Just learned Jesu’s coming out with a new album the week of our anniversary, and I still need to pick up the Scud Mtn. Boys one. Having things to look forward to is heaven.

After yesterdays first surf session since May I awoke tired and in need of something strong. This was the right tea. When I poured the boiling water upon the teaspoon or so of leaf I noticed that it gets strong quickly. I had to keep an eye on this one. After maybe 3 minutes I was awoken with its aroma and flavor. This is a good strong tea for beginning the day. It had that strong breakfast tea get up and go while retaining a clean briskness and it was not overpowering. I enjoyed this throughly.

I know several fellow Steepsterites said that blends were not their cup of tea. This may change their minds.