Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Pu-erh Teas
Where to Buy: The Tea Spot
Tea Description:
This new American black tea blend combines bold flavor, rich color, & full body with hints of chocolate. This robust breakfast blend is made from our favorite strong black teas from high altitude estates in China, India and Sri Lanka. We have combined these black teas with pu’erh, an aged black tea from Yunnan China, and dark chocolate essence. This tea yields a rich, dark liquor and a warm, well-rounded flavor that takes very well to milk and even better in the form of a tea latte. The high caffeine content and robust flavor makes this the perfect tea to help kick your coffee habit!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried quite a few different teas from The Tea Spot, so I was kind of surprised that this is one that I hadn’t yet tried. I mean, it has chocolate and The Tea Spot seems to understand that more chocolate = better. Check out their Chocolate “O” and Chocolate Cherry Bomb! if you don’t believe me.
Since this blend has pu-erh in it, I decided to brew it in my Kati Tumbler so that I could do my usual pu-erh rinse. I heated the water to 200°F and added a heaping bamboo scoop to the basket. Then I poured the water over the tea, allowing it to steep for about 15 seconds, and then strained off the liquid, discarding it. Then I refilled the tumbler with the heated water and steeped for 2 1/2 minutes and strained.
Wow! This is an interesting breakfast blend and I mean that in the best way possible. It’s a very GOOD interesting!
What makes it interesting? Well, first of all, The Tea Spot has got the right idea by adding CHOCOLATE to a breakfast blend. That’s my kind of breakfast blend. They should just call this the Chocoholic’s Breakfast Blend.
But when they do that, they should also consider adding more chocolate. Not saying that this doesn’t have enough chocolate, because it’s a rich and chocolate-y flavor. But really, is there ever “enough” chocolate? That’s like saying there’s enough bacon on a BLT. Uh … no. The rule when it comes to chocolate is more chocolate = better. That said, this does have a really wonderful, chocolate-y flavor and it’s a strong chocolate note.
The second thing that makes it interesting is the base. The base is a blend of black teas and pu-erh. And it’s what the pu-erh DOES to this particular blend that makes it so amazing. (Yeah, I didn’t think that I’d ever say those words in that particular order in a sentence either.) The earthiness of the pu-erh complements the earthy notes of the chocolate really nicely – it adds depth to the chocolate. It makes the chocolate taste even better. And the presence of the pu-erh also adds a deep, mellow flavor to the black tea. It makes the base taste fuller and better rounded. It’s a deeply satisfying cuppa.
The black tea in this blend adds notes of malt and caramel-y undertones. The pu-erh adds an earthy richness without tasting too much like earth. I think that the pu-erh also mellows out the black teas a bit, softening the edge enough so that you don’t need milk and sugar (or honey) in this tea to reduce the harshness like you might in a typical breakfast blend. This isn’t harsh. It isn’t bitter. It isn’t astringent.
It’s just pleasant and yummy. And as extraordinarily yummy as it is, it still has that hefty flavor that you want in a breakfast blend. This still has that vigor to get you off and running. It’s a much nicer way to deliver that kick in the butt that you need. It’s like a best friend kicking your butt instead of a stranger. And at least this best friend will share chocolate with you while it’s kicking your butt.
And that paragraph qualifies as the most times I’ve used the word “butt” in a paragraph this year. I apologize if it offended anyone.
A really, really good breakfast blend. I don’t really have a top list of breakfast blends, but if I did, this one would be somewhere in the top three. Yeah, it’s that good.
