Traditional Black Tea from Rington’s Premium English Teas

traditionalTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Rington’s Premium English Teas

Tea Description:

Our Traditional Blend contains some of the best teas produced from around the world, selected predominantly from our long standing relationships with family businesses in East Africa and India. Our expert tea blenders taste and choose each individual tea that goes into the blend, ensuring you always receive that unique, refreshing and lasting flavour that makes Ringtons Traditional our most popular blend.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Of the different teas that I’ve tried thus far from Rington’s Premium English Teas, I think that this Traditional Black Tea blend might be my favorite.  Yes, it’s a bagged tea.  Yes, I prefer loose leaf over bagged varieties.  But occasionally, I’ll find a bagged tea that’s decent.  Sure, I’d still rather drink loose leaf, but when I do find a bagged tea that’s worthwhile, I’m going to say so.

And after having tried the one loose leaf offering from Rington’s the other day, I must admit that I’m finding this one – a bagged tea – more enjoyable than their loose leaf variety.

Why?

Because this tea is smoother.  It is richer and more rounded.  There’s less astringency.  Put simply, I’m finding this variety from Rington’s to be more satisfying than their loose leaf blend.  Now, if this Traditional blend were offered loose leaf, I’d be one very happy sipper!

The sip starts out sweet.  I taste delicate notes of honeyed caramel.  The tea has a robust character – it has a nice, satisfying round flavor.  A little earthy, a little flowery, and a little fruity.  It’s very smooth with no bitterness and very little astringency.  Very, very little astringency – as in virtually none.  I like that.

This tea tastes great hot and it also tastes really good as it cools.  I had finished about half the cup and then I needed to step away and came back to a cold cup of tea – and it still tasted really great.  It doesn’t need any additives to taste good – it just does.

It’s one of those types of tea that you want to keep on hand when you just want a no-fuss cup of tea.

Northumbrian Blend Loose Leaf Black Tea from Rington’s Premium English Teas

northumbrianblendTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Rington’s Premium English Teas

Tea Description:

Our oldest and most traditional tea for original strength and flavour.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

The cut on this Northumbrian Blend Loose Leaf Black Tea from Rington’s Premium English Teas is a very fine chop.  It’s a very finely cut CTC, so when you’re brewing it, you want to take that into consideration and measure out a little less tea.  The smaller the leaf, the more surface area that’s exposed to the water – so therefore it brews faster and stronger than a whole leaf tea would.

But that doesn’t mean that CTC teas aren’t good.  Sure, I’ll be the first to tell you that whole leaf teas are some of the best teas you can get, but a finely chopped CTC doesn’t mean that it’s not a good tea.  I’ve tried many CTC teas that I’ve quite enjoyed.  It just means that you need to be mindful of the size of the leaf when you’re preparing the tea.

So when I brewed this, I measured out a bamboo scoop of the leaf and then I shook the scoop a little to let some of the leaf fall off the scoop and back into the package.  I ended up measuring two ‘scant’ bamboo scoops of tea into the basket of my Breville One-Touch.  Each ‘scant’ scoop is about 3/4th of a scoop.  Maybe just a little more than 3/4th scoop.  Then I added 500ml of water into the jug of the tea maker and set the settings for 205°F and 2 minutes.  Again, because this is a smaller cut, I went with a slightly lower temperature and a little less time to avoid a bitter cup of tea.

Did it work?  Yes it did.  The tea is rich and what I want to call ‘stout.’   It’s a hefty, strong tasting tea.  It’s not quite as ’round’ as some other teas that I’d call hefty or strong.  It’s not quite as full-flavored and well-rounded, but it’s still a mighty bold cup of tea.

It’s got notes of earth and leather as well as some floral background notes.  Toward the end I pick up on citrus notes.  There is a fair amount of astringency to it but it’s not bitter.  I would like to say though that if I had oversteeped this tea – it would definitely be bitter so don’t let that happen!

This tea would take the additions of milk and honey well should you wish to add them.  I drank it straight up and found it enjoyable, although the second time that I drank it, I did so with a drop or two of cream and found it a much more enjoyable drink.  The touch of dairy (not a lot, a little less than a teaspoon) helped round out the tea and as a bonus, it softened the astringency a bit.

Pure Peppermint Herbal Tisane from Rington’s Premium English Teas

PurePeppermintRingtonsTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Herbal Tisane

Where to Buy:  Rington’s Premium English Teas

Tea Description:

An exciting and invigorating herbal infusion of pure peppermint leaves to revitalize and refresh. Peppermint has been shown to aid digestion.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

This Pure Peppermint Herbal Tisane from Rington’s Premium English Teas is really bright and fresh tasting!  I know that I’ve been down on bagged teas quite a bit lately but this particular bagged tea is quite enjoyable.  The flavor is really strong and has the cool, crisp flavor that I expect from a good quality peppermint tisane.

Very minty – as you might expect it to be.  It IS pure peppermint, after all!  It has a zesty, slightly peppery bite to it and my mouth feels minty fresh after I drink it.

I like to keep peppermint on hand because I find it to be a soothing tea to drink after I’ve had something spicy.  (I eat a lot of spicy stuff!)  It helps to settle the tummy and it’s ideal when my daughter has a stomach ache.

A really nice pure peppermint.

Kenyan Gold Tea from Rington’s Premium English Teas

kenyanRingtonsTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Rington’s Premium English Teas

Tea Description:

Kenyan Gold 80’s is a luxury, top quality tea from the “Extra Fresh” family of teas.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I’ve tried a couple of different teas from Rington’s Premium English Teas now, and I think that this Kenyan Gold Tea might be the best one that I’ve tried thus far.

Yes, it’s a bagged tea.  Yes, I know that I’ve been ‘bagging’ on bagged teas a lot lately.  I guess after spending the last six plus years tasting teas and writing about what I’m tasting has shaped my opinions about bagged teas because as I’ve said before (and am likely to say again) – loose leaf tea is superior.

But this bagged tea is actually quite pleasant.  The flavor of the Kenyan tea is rich and flavorful.  It’s nice and smooth.  There’s very little astringency to this and no bitterness.  Just smooth, rich flavor that is bold and invigorating.

To achieve this flavor, I brought my kettle to a boil and put one bag into my mug and poured 8 ounces of boiling water over the bag.  I let this steep for 2 1/2 minutes.

It’s a little sweet with a flavor that is somewhere between molasses and caramel.  It has some fruit notes – reminiscent of raisin and plum.  Hints of earth.  Notes of leather.  It has a pleasant, round flavor.  Nice.

Classic English Breakfast Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company

ClassicEnglishBreakfastTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy

Tea Description:

It’s classic! It’s English (actually it’s Indian and Sri Lankan)! It’s…breakfast! Nevermind. We’ll cut to the chase. It’s a nice cup of malty black tea from the Bargara and Kandoli Assam estates of India and the Kenilworth estate of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Great with milk, good with sugar, best in the morning. This blend is part of the Original 20 M&K’s Blends.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I’ve enjoyed quite a few of M&K’s Tea Company’s blends now so I was really eager to try this Classic English Breakfast Black Tea to see how well they crafted a traditional favorite.  And I’m really glad that I had this opportunity to try it, because this is quite nice.

To brew:  I put 1 bamboo scoop of tea into the basket of my Kati Tumbler and then poured in 12 ounces of boiling water.  I set the timer for 2 1/2 minutes and let time take care of the rest.

This is a robust blend.  I like that it focuses more on the Assam than the Ceylon, which gives it more of a rugged, hefty flavor.  It’s strong and edgy, but without being bitter or too astringent.  Had I steeped this for longer, though, I think that I would have had a bitter cup.  Take care not to oversteep this blend!

The flavor is bold with notes of malt and there is a fruity, wine-like quality to this as well.  There are two single estate Assam teas in this blend and I suspect one is more malty while the other is a more ‘wine-like’ Assam.  It’s a nice balance between the two qualities.  The Ceylon adds a certain ‘evenness’ to the flavor.  It’s a rich, flavorful cup that would take the additions of milk and honey well – which is what most people look for in a breakfast blend.

Personally, I don’t usually add milk or honey to my teas, so my cup has that rugged edge to it that I like in the morning.  It’s the kind of tea that I’d want if I need a good shake awake.  It’s the kind of tea that will get you going.

Really nice!