Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where To Buy: Cuppa Crew Tea Company
Tea Description:
Top’o’the’mornin’ our pasty Irish butts. If you need a kick with a kick to start your day (or wake you up after lunch), here’s your tea, good ma’am or sir.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Tim Finnegan’s Wake-Up Black Tea Blend from Cuppa Crew Tea Company is JUST what I needed today to get myself motivated! It’s just one of those days, you know, when I’d rather stay curled up in bed … but I have stuff I need to get done. I knew I needed something that would energize me and that’s just what this tea has done for me.
The black tea base is a BOLD black tea base – I suspect that there is some Assam in this because I can taste malty tones and that rich flavor that I normally associate with Assam. It has a good, strong, invigorating flavor and provides a solid taste for the background to support the flavors of Irish cream.
The creaminess melds nicely with the malt notes, and I can taste notes that taste very whiskey-like. I like that while these flavors are strong and distinguished, they do not mask the flavor of the tea – this tea is about the tea first, and the flavors second!
The tea has a fair amount of astringency to it, it is a drying astringency that I notice right at the tail. The palate feels clean after the sip, and there are hints of sweetness in the aftertaste.
This is definitely a great tea to help start the day off right. I tried it straight first, and it was good – but there was a certain EDGE to it that I wanted to soften just a bit so I added about half a teaspoon of turbinado sugar and this brought out the sweet, creamy notes as well as softened that aforementioned edge. A splash of milk or cream accentuates the creaminess, but, I found this to have a pleasant creaminess without the addition of dairy.
This is the first tea I’ve tried from this company, and it’s a good one! I’m glad I had the opportunity to try it.
