Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: MK’s Tea Co.
Tea Description:
The basis of Earl Grey tea! Ceylon tea is a sweet, brightly orange colored (once-brewed) black tea harvested in the lush hills of the island of Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon). This is a fantastic introductory tea, a great tea for the black tea lover, and an extraordinary tea for blending purposes. Ceylon tea is just brisk enough to be uplifting, but light enough to not be bitter or off-putting. It truly is a remarkable black tea that belongs in every tea-lover’s collection.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I started the day with this tea, hoping that it would be clean and refreshing. Thankfully I was right, and it made a great choice in lieu of breakfast. The dry leaf is straight and pretty long (I’d say an average of 2cm), and a fairly uniform black-brown with just a few lighter brown leaves. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is a vibrant red-brown, and the leaf itself has also taken on an impressive red-brown hue. It’s very autumnal looking! The scent is sweet and a little chocolatey, which wasn’t something I was expecting from a Ceylon.
To taste, this is pretty much a classic Ceylon in many respects. It’s very fresh and clean tasting, with a bright edge of citrus running throughout. It comes across as a “light” tasting tea, to me. There are no thick or heavy flavours that are cloying on the palate, just the delicate, refreshing sweet/citrus play off. There is a touch of maltiness towards the end of the sip, but it doesn’t dominate the flavour or drown out the fresher notes. I can also detect just the tiniest bit of chocolate, which shifts the balance of the aftertaste away from citrus and more towards the generically sweet. It’s almost like it’s a tea of two halves, but they’re two very good halves so I’m not going to complain.
This tea is delightfully smooth and creamy, with no bitterness or astringency at all. It’s a real joy to drink, and I’m finding it an especially good choice this morning with its bright, citrusy “wake up” profile and edge of comforting sweetness. Delicious!
Bluebird’s Great British Cuppa by Bluebird Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Bluebird Tea Co.
Tea Description:
We’ve been around the world in 80 teas with this one! On a mission to get our nation of tea lovers, THE BEST cuppa. Good news… Mission accomplished! Fantastic with your fry up, perfect with a Paddington (marmalade on toast, obviously!) The Great British Cuppa is right here!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m feeling a little under the weather at the moment, so a straightforward breakfast-style tea is just the thing to cure what ails me. This is such a go-to kind of blend – an easy to drink, easy to brew, no fuss, crowd pleaser. I gave one teaspoon of leaf 4 minutes in boiling water, and added a splash of milk.
The resulting brew is a pretty solid example of an English breakfast tea. It combines an Assam, a Ceylon, and a Chinese Yunnan black, and the result is sweet and malty, with a hint of citrus brightness. The citrus, to me, is lemon, and it emerges primarily at the end of the sip. For the most part, this has a characteristic potato flavour, with an almost starchy element reminiscent of crispy, roasted white potato which emerges in the mid-sip. It’s hugely malty, with that wonderfully deep, molasses-like flavour that a really good malty black can take on. No sugar required here!
I’m not too surprised that I like this one – it contains my three favourite varieties of black tea, after all! It’s well balanced, with none of the three varieties dominating. Instead, it’s like each of the individual teas has contributed one of the elements which characterises it best – maltiness from the Assam, a light citrus note from the Ceylon, and a glorious potato flavour from the Chinese Yunnan. It’s such a good, solid cup of plain black tea. A no-nonsense, full-bodied blend with plenty of flavour – there’s nothing not to love here! Well done, Bluebird!