What tea did you have this morning...or afternoon?

Brothers of Briar

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Today’s wake up tea was Taylors English Breakfast. Good...but not in the same league as their Scottish Breakfast blend. The English is a weak sister to the Scottish in all regards. If I only had the English, it would be OK. But I have both & the Scottish wins the caber toss.
 
Afternoon tea is Thompson’s Scottish Blend. It’s quite good. It’s actually rather smooth...soft...but with good backbone. Slightly lacking in flavor. Would I buy it again? Maybe. There’s a lot of solid competition for my tea dollar out there.

The Taylors Scottish Breakfast is still the leader...along with the Taylors Yorkshire Gold...tied for the lead.
 
Some Twinnings Darjeeling tonight. Ordered some tea from teadog, to step up my game a bit.
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Oh heck yeah! Bewley’s Irish Breakfast tea. A unique blend containing Assam and Darjeeling. Where I usually brew my morning tea in my trusty 12 oz stainless steel thermal mug...this blend deserves to be brewed by the pot. It’s strong but not the strongest. It has an excellent brisk character but some malty notes are in there too...plus some other flavor I can’t define. Maybe umami? This is one of the few blends where I end up draining my mug of every last drop. Equally impressive for breakfast, break, lunch, afternoon, etc., etc., etc. Don’t know the caffeine level so I’m holding back on a recommendation as an evening blend. Note: quality costs.

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Well, here we go...

Barry’s Classic Blend (Black Label). I think I actually prefer their Irish Breakfast (Green Label) which seems a bit brighter to me. Aside from that great controversy I was able to give my brand new “Cobalt Betty” a trial run. Nothing wrong with the brown, but I really like the blue. It matches our Dansk Bistro dinnerware perfectly. Nice. This one is made by Adderely, one of the two companies licensed to produce this little bit of British history.

Hmmm. So what’s a good Super Bowl blend?

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Second pot o’ the morning...

Taylors of Harrowgate Scottish Breakfast Tea. OK, this stuff is PLATINUM. It is replacing Yorkshire Gold and Thompson’s Irish Breakfast as my tied-for favorites. For me, it has the ideal balance, flavor and strength. And since the company produces the Yorkshire stuff it’s my current favorite company too.

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Yorkshire Gold this morning, brewed in my mini Cobalt Betty. It’s interesting that it tastes quite different brewed in the pot vs in my 12 oz mug. Not worse...but different.
 
Another morning of Ahmad Imperial Blend (Darjeeling with Assam & Earl Grey). New tea order on the way!!! FTRPLT
 
Yesterday afternoon I saved a bag of Taylors Yorkshire Gold that had torn along one side and was open by pouring it into a mesh tea ball infuser. The result was a stunningly impressive cuppa. Of interest to me was the consistency of the tea when dry. It was finer than the finest sand...like dust on Mars. But it didn’t leak out into the brewed tea. Cool!

Then this morning I opened a box of Taylors Scottish Breakfast. As I hoped, the tea was MUCH more of a CTC (cut, torn, curled) format than the teabag used the prior afternoon. The pieces were small pieces of leaf, in other words. The same mesh infuser (the kind with a squeeze handle that acts like pac man) filled 1/3 full to allow for expansion worked well as always. The resulting tea was stellar. Now I have to do a side by side somehow. Anyway: No matter the method the Taylors Scottish Breakfast at least ties for first place in my pantheon of morning brews.

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Thompson’s for me this morning. Signature Blend this time. Not as brisk as their Irish Breakfast...a bit more round. Reminds me a bit of Yorkshire Red. PS: I didn’t really have champagne with it. I got this one free with an order from Teadogs. Nice.

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Oooo. Yummy. Thompson’s Scottish Blend with a splash of milk. Along side of some La Brea Sourdough toast spread with organic salted butter and Raw Unfiltered Sage Honey. Simple fare but tasty.
 
Blackhorse said:
Howz that Gold working out for you then?
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I think it is delicious. I like it with a bit of honey sans milk, I just don't like tea with milk. This one and Taylor's Earl Grey do me just fine for the regular black teas. I do enjoy my Chinese red and oolong teas when I have the time to gongfu.
 
Taylors of Harrowgate Scottish Breakfast Blend...trying to drive the Winter ice away. We’ve got a 1” coating of freezing rain on EVERYTHING that’s outside...trees, sidewalks, deck stairs, parked cars...a huge mess. The tea is phenomenal. The ice is as well, but nit in a good way.
 
Yorkshire Gold brewed in my 12 oz stainless steel mug...and a small plate of Maries Gold tea biscuits. In the UK a biscuit = a cookie) are advertised as what “her majesty the queen prefers). Be that as it may they’re slightly sweet and a nice foil to the brisk Yorkshire Gold.

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Many might consider this a light breakfast, but I have a nice fat green chili sitting on the counter and half an avocado standing by...along with some really excellent Peach Mango Salsa. Gonna do up some chili rellanos...green chile pepper stuffed with minced meat and coated with eggs". The most common pepper used is Puebla’s poblano pepper which is what I have. Instead of stuffing it I’ll cut it in two lengthwise and do it open faced with ground turkey, mexi spices, sitting in a firm bed of scrambled egg, topped with avocado, onion, sharp cheddar and the mango salsa...yummy!!!
 
You guys have gotten me to buy a teapot and start drinking loose leaf tea again after years of being a tea bag man. Quite useful during long meetings.

Blackhorse, how'd you get along with the Dilmah Earl Grey?

Oh and your stuffed peppers sound delightful.

Cheers,

Tim
 
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