English Breakfast from Walters Bay. . .

Hello dear reader, among all the interesting tea that is available in today’s market, it is nice to find a tea blend that doesn’t stray too far from the classic blends. Of course, I am talking about English Breakfast, the blend that never fails to fit my every mood. So I was more than happy to brew a cup of this English Breakfast especially when it is from a company from which I am surprised that I have never heard of for this company is 151 years old!

As I am sure is the case for most of you, this tea tastes like your typical English Breakfast blend. But that is not saying it is not good, this tea is definitely one of the best cups of English Breakfast that I have had. This tea is perfectly bold and bright with a soft dry finish combined with a perfectly sweet malty flavor. I was sad that I only had one cup to sample for my cup emptied way to fast so I will be most definitely be stocking up in the future.

Now on to the prices, a box of 15 (silk pyramid bags) is priced at $6.99 USD which will be about .47¢ a cup. For loose leaf, it would be $9.99 for a tin (18 cups per tin) that will be about .56¢ a cup and $10.99 for a bag (33 cups per bag) that is .33¢ per cup. I also don’t see any options for samples but I think spending about $7 isn’t too bad for testing a tea.

All in all, this tea is a good staple to have in my tea collection. I enjoyed my cup immensely and I see why this specific blend won first place in the 2018 Global Tea Championship in the English Breakfast category. I believe that this blend is approachable by all tea drinkers and will be a welcome addition to any tea collection.

See you for the next cuppa!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Black
Where to Buy:  Walters Bay
Description

English Breakfast Ceylon Black Tea Full Leaf Tea Enveloped Tea Bags begins with freshly hand-plucked tea leaves processed in our own Noori Tea Processing Center, in the highlands of Sri Lanka. Our Award-Winning Pekoe 1 black tea grade is meticulously processed during the Western High Grown season. This grade of tea offers a classic Ceylon signature flavor profile that is ideal as an English Breakfast Tea. It is a full bodied tea with a slight malty character and exceptional aroma. Great as a stand alone cup or with a dash of milk. Contains 15 individual enveloped full leaf tea bags. Each tea bag contains approx. 3 grams of tea.

 

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Lapsang Souchong from Twinings. . .

Chapters & Cups – The City of Brass’s Perfect Tea

Welcome my dear readers to a new segment exclusive to Sororitea Sisters! Here I will discuss my latest reads and what tea goes perfectly with the said read. I welcome your comments about new reads I should look into, what tea you would also think goes well with the read, or anything else you would like to add!

.Within the past few months, I have become the proud owner of S. A. Chakraborty’s debut novel, The City of Brass. To give you a little bit about this book before I get started, this book focuses on a young Egyptian woman who lives in poverty and to make ends meet she uses her impressively deft hands and the mysterious ability that allows her to heal the sick. Now since this is set in the 18th century her abilities mark her as unholy but regardless she is still called on by the population of Cairo to heal their ailments. While doing this she foolishly summons a several centuries old Daeva warrior that quickly pulls her into the world of Daevabad that is unseen to the human eye full of ancient magic and dangerously confusing court politics.

To say the least, I devoured this book and now I have to wait until 2019 for the next installment. And while this book is commonly referred to as a young adult because the protagonist goes on a journey of self-realization I think it will be more apt to call this an adult novel because of some of the themes in this book. There are violent and sexual themes but it is not to the level that the Game of Thrones series is. I would say that this would be good for someone who is 18 and up.

Now the tea that I believe that is the perfect companion is Lapsang Souchong. More specifically Twinings Lapsang Souchong but I am sure that any other tea brands will do. I think this tea is a perfect companion for this read for it is as rich and smoky as the mood is that Chakraborty crafts. From the smoky djinn and daeva to the richness of the history and the populace of Daevabad. Also not to mention there is a part where a certain magical tea is described and it reminded me instantly of Lapsang Souchong.

As you can probably guess reader, I give this book 10/10 cups of tea. This book is perfect for any fantasy lover that enjoys traveling to a new world inside of our familiar world. The protagonist is strong and clever and the cast of characters that are presented in the book are fully fleshed out and are memorable.

See you for the next read!

Kara


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Black
Where to Buy:  Twinings
Description

Lapsang Souchong, also referred to as smoked tea, is one of the worlds’ oldest and most distinctive black teas. The tea is grown in the Wuyi Mountains in the Fujian Province of China and is made by only a select number of estates. Once a very secretive process, Lapsang Souchong is prepared using the same manual techniques today that have been passed down from generation to generation.

After the tea is plucked, the leaves are withered over cypress or pine wood fires. They are later placed into barrels so that the smoky aroma intensifies. As a final step, the leaves are placed into flat wicker baskets and positioned on bamboo trays over smoky pine fires, where they dry and absorb even more aroma. The finished tea leaves are thick and black and when steeped in hot water, produce a rich tea with a unique, smoky taste.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Bad Wolf Tea from Geeky Teas. . . .

Hello dear readers, I return with a review of a tea that is one of my favorite combinations, black tea, and rose. Now I apologize profusely for the long absence. There has been a lot of real life stuff including a funeral and trying to wrap my brain around several literary theories. So I thought what better way to apologize than to review a tea that was based on two of my favorite things: Doctor Who (the tenth doctor will always have my heart) and of course roses (and of course I love Rose as a companion). A little personal tidbit about myself: I have rose in everything! I have rose serums, micellar water, rose infused witch hazel, perfumes, multiple teas, body butter, lotions, rose candy, shower gel, and face masks. So you can say I am a little obsessed.

So to get started, the thing that I always understand with a tea that is just black tea and rose petals is that it has the tendency to get a bit dry when you have it black. So to alleviate that I usually add a touch of milk and for those you of who are lactose-intolerant or otherwise the same effect can be achieved with a dairy-free creamer. Now this tea, when paired with a creamer, has the odd watery sweet flavor that I have come to love from roses. Paired with the black tea it has a bold finish that seems to give even more flavor to the rose petals. I like to think of it as a tea that soft and florally sweet with a boldness that will wake you up while also relaxing you.

Now on to the price of this tea. I do have a couple of qualms about this tea when it comes to how it is presented on the Geeky Teas website. While there is a close up picture of the tea I would like to know how much I get for the price of $9.95 and if it comes in a bag or a tin. I also wish that there was a sample option for I myself am very picky when it comes to my rose tea and if I didn’t get a sample for being a reviewer I wouldn’t want to drop about $10 on a gamble. Those reasons in mind I, unfortunately, can’t really say if this is a good price for this tea.

In conclusion, I would say that this was a good tea but for the reasons listed in the paragraph about prices I believe I won’t be reaching for it anytime soon. If you do want to try out this rose tea I would say to be cautious with your purchase for I hope that you will at least get an ounce for almost $10.

See you for the next cuppa!

Kara

P.S. I did send an email to the support team on Geeky Teas for the specifics on their Bad Wolf Tea but by the time I wrote this review no one got back to me.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Black
Where to Buy:  Geeky Teas
Description

Black tea with rose petals

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

The Energy for Word Craft – James Joyce Tea Blend by Simpson and Vail. . . .

From day to day we find ourselves taxed with work, school, and the other things that make our life worthwhile. And when we try to sit down to pursue our hobbies, may it be writing, reading, or any other creative venture we find ourselves creatively drained. We either stare at a blank page or a room that holds our craft that refuses to give us the needed inspiration to fuel our venture.

This, my friends, is where I have found myself a lot this month. Balancing school and my desire to put the story, that I have been holding on to for ages, onto paper seems to be a momentous task. But that is where tea comes in.

To be specific James Joyce’s Tea Blend by Simpson & Vail gave me the needed boost to finally put something down on paper. Now, this is tea not alike the others I have tried for this tea is very simple in nature. This cuppa is like Irish/English Breakfast and as a matter of fact, it tastes like a blend of those two. It has that perfect maltiness that I have come to love in Irish Breakfast with a little bit of the robustness that English Breakfast has to offer.

The price of this tea won’t hurt your wallet either for you can get either a 4 oz package for $6.90 whereas if you want the decorative 4 oz tin that will be about $3 extra at $9.75.

Even though this tea didn’t have anything new or different added to the blend I still appreciate it. Drinking this blend brought me back to the days when I first tried hot tea. Calling this tea simple is not negative in this case for a simple cup of tea could be the only thing you need to get you back on track.

See you for the next cuppa!

Kara


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Black
Where to Buy:  Simpson & Vail
Description

James Joyce was born February 2, 1882 in a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. He attended a private boarding school until his father’s debts caught up with the family and he and his siblings were forced to leave. He would later attend college and, while he achieved high marks, his views never aligned with the Jesuit professors. A collection of his short stories, The Dubliners, was published in 1914 and introduced Joyce’s dense and atmospheric prose to the world. He would go on to travel Europe, spending most of his productive years in France, where Ulysses was published in 1922. Joyce’s influence continues into the 21st century where his method of conveying the complexity and chaos of random thought as a stream of consciousness is still in use.

For Joyce, tea was an expected part of life and it appears in his works as a routine part of the day. As a man of taste, he enjoyed the finer things in life and, as an article describing a meeting at his house says, “Mrs. Joyce gives us the best tea and the nicest cakes that are to be had in any house in Paris.” Our James Joyce tea blend uses a distinctly Irish mix of black teas to mimic the type of drink he and his friends would have enjoyed.

This delightfully bold blend of teas brews to a golden cup with a malty flavor and a slightly fruity aftertaste.

Ingredients: Black teas from India, Sri Lanka and Kenya.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Top Leaf from Mellow Monk . . . . . .

Within this past week, I have come down with the slight flu. Resulting in which I couldn’t for the life of me taste anything for my nose was not cooperating in the slightest. So when I became able to taste something that wasn’t my mentholated cough drops I looked to tea for a safe hot beverage to soothe my illness. I turned to Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf tea blend.

This tea is a sort of Sencha (fukamushi, which means deeply steamed in Japanese) and compared to the sencha I have had in the past this tea is a softer variant. It was a nice cup to soothe my stomach and a pleasant change to my taste buds, other than crackers and soup. I would have to agree with the description that is on the Mellow Monk’s site for this blend has a slight earthiness to it but just enough to have a modest sweetness.  Now I don’t seem to catch the grapefruit overtones that is described but that could be because of my previously deadened taste buds.

Now on to the price of this tea. It seems to only come in one size and that is a 100 gram (3.5 oz) bag retailing for $15.95 which is a little over four dollars per ounce. Which I believe that is pretty fair compared that I usually pay $4-7 for an ounce for other loose leaf blends.

In closing, I believe that this is a good blend for any green tea/Sencha lover. It is moderately priced for the amount you get, it is direct from the source, and if this has any leverage with you dear reader Top Leaf won first place in its category in the 2011 North American Tea Competition. As for me, I don’t think I will be picking this up anytime soon but I will definitely keep this blend in mind for the future. I may even explore their other blends from Mellow Monk.

See you for the next cuppa!

Kara


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Green
Where to Buy:  Mellow Monk
Description

This is our top-of-the-linehoncha, or traditional green tea. Top Leaf™ Green Tea, a fukamushi (deeply steamed) sencha, is specially pampered in its own separate corner of the tea orchard. Not only does this tea receive extra fertilizer (organic, of course) during the growing season, but at harvest time, the growers pick only the top layer of young tea leaves. The result is a distinctive, more subtle, gentler flavor. This tea is alwaysfirst flush.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!