Glen Arbor Breakfast

Ummm! A new black tea for breakfast!
I ordered several small 1oz. tea’s and some samples from Whispering Pines because their tea blends sounded so interesting especially with Fall and Winter just around the corner.

No fancy brewing this morning for me. I used my Finum basket and a mug, steeped the leaves for 5 minutes and had a very dark brew looking back at me.

The scent was rich and sweet but not malty or smoky.

I took my morning GULP!
For such a dark brew, I expected more punch, more malt or acid but instead the tea tasted smooth and had a different flavor. I had to take some time to ‘think and drink’ about this one.
It wasn’t malty or cocoa, not yammy or peachy, what was that illusive flavor?
I kept coming back to potato. Over and over again, potato. Not just for the flavor, but the thickness of it. There was another taste that came to me later on. A fig newton cookie scent/flavor thing (or maybe it’s what I wanted to eat?!).

I poured in a little cream which added more smoothness to the rich tea. Then I added sweetening which was more delicious!
Now I could taste a bit of malt with the potato and the whole cup was thick, creamy and rich (just short of tea soup in my mouth).

My instinct was to gulp down the tea and make another cup and gulp that down and so on. But, I waited for the first cup to cool just to do the ‘I forgot about my tea’ test. You know. How does the tea hold up when you let it sit for awhile and it cools down? Can you go back to it without gagging?
Yes you can!
(I did notice that it was a little smoky?! How’d that happen?!)

Nice morning tea, not acidic. Smooth. Makes the bed and does the dishes. (Ha, were you paying attention?)

This is my very first tea from Whispering Pines! I’m excited :)

This is mighty-fine medium-strength black tea! It seems to grow even more bold as it cools at room temp for a moment or two. It’s slightly sweet but rich and sturdy! I can taste a bit of orange on the end of the sip. The lingering flavor is very satisfying!

There are notes that point to the likeness of an Irish Breakfast type tea but THIS isn’t astringent or bitter in any way! A real winner!

I had this last night and had to have it again today because it is awesome. This is the redesigned version of the tea, which was redone last month (other notes are months old).

Both times I have steeped it at 3 minutes. For me this is like the nice sweet spot for breakfast teas. With this tea, it means not even needing a splash of milk at all.

It’s slightly malty and sweet, with some nuttiness to it too. It’s bold, but not too in your face. No astringency at all.

Now to just actually have it in the morning. I’m struggling to get through this day so a little boost of caffeine now is just right.

Another retry.
Pleasantly vague smokyness that’s thankfully not in your face, just background. Mildly fruity, but has a strange, almost sour, note to it. No idea where that’s coming from, but it just came to mind as I was drinking. It’s not malty, or there’s so little malty-ness that it’s unmentionable. (maybe that’s just me?) Strange to drink a black tea and have no malty note to it whatsoever. Not bad strange, just strange strange.
I’ll keep this one in my ‘Finish off’ bin, but I can’t see myself reordering it unless there’s a crazy good deal on it.

I decided that if any tea would give me enough motivation to get some deep cleaning done, it would be a breakfast blend. I pulled this one out of my recent order and brewed it up. It is really smooth but stands up nicely to milk and sugar. I tend to prefer breakfast teas that are a bit more robust and super malty. Not to say this isn’t good, because the flavor is great, I just think I would prefer it as an afternoon tea.

I started off trying this cup without anything added, but there was an edge to it that I didn’t like. I could still get the malty hay flavors, but the bitterness was distracting. I added a little cream and it made it much more palatable for me. I’m enjoying this tea, but I don’t think it is a must order and keep stocked kind of tea for me.

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #23
The tea box is on the way but I still have a few tasting notes to post. AND I loaded up all three of my infusers with tea before running to the post office to steep the teas later! I will never tire of these fun tea boxes!

A solid black tea! I want to say it is mostly tomato soup… my annoying taste buds have turned a ton of black teas into tomato soup. Luckily I like tomato soup (at least the canned) a lot better than I like actual tomatoes (but not necessarily for a breakfast tea!). The strength is mid-level. The second steep magically transformed into mostly cherries with a hint of the tomato soup in the background. Both cups are a little bit cedary. Not many teas have switched flavors like that for me in the past. I think what was once ‘malt’ for me is now ‘tomato soup’. Worst case scenario, as malt is one of my favorite tea flavors, tomato is certainly not. I might be getting burned out on tasting notes. I’ll have to resort to some old favorite teas I don’t have to write tasting notes for for a while, but I still have a ton of teas to review and a ton of new ones to try!
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // just boiled // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

Backlog:

A really enjoyable cup for breakfast. The first cup was robust and richly flavored. A medium astringency to it, with notes of cedar and malt and hints of smoke.

The second infusion was amazing. I got the Eucalyptus that was promised in the description! I don’t always take black teas out for a second infusion, because I find the second cup to rarely be worth the effort, but this tea – this second infusion is remarkable. Definitely take this one through at least 2 infusions!

A very unique but enjoyable breakfast blend. I like it.

Tea of the morning.

This is a nice blend. I taste malt and a hint of orange with some generic nuttiness at the end of the sip. There is a hint of astringency, but it is only a hint. Out of curiosity I added a bit of sugar and milk to my cup. The orange note is highlighted a bit more, and the nutty flavor taste more like pecan. Nice. Really nice.

This isn’t a super bold blend. It’s more of an English Breakfast rather than an Irish Breakfast. It’s kind of a soft nudge to get you to wake up instead of a loud alarm clock and bright lights. Since I’m one of those people who needs a loud alarm clock I think this tea will become an afternoon pick me up. The flavors are so nice I’m thinking this tea might give my beloved Darjeelings a run for their money as my go to late afternoon cuppa.