My love of tea is obvious which means that my friends and family all know an easy gift for me: tea or teaware and I am happy. This works in my favor especially when my friends and family go traveling and bring me new things to try from all over the world. People have brought me tea from London, Paris, Sri Lanka, Kenya, South Africa, Israel and most recently Australia.
One of my friends from work traveled across the globe and returned with three specialty blends from T2 in Australia, including this tea, Brisbane Breakfast, a mango flavored black tea.
As a breakfast blend, this is brisker than the teas I usually drink but at least it is brisk with only a little astringency. The astringency that is present blends into the mango flavor, coming off a touch floral. The mango is sweet and true to the ripe fruit, which pairs nicely with the slightly malty black base.
This tea has the body of a breakfast tea that can help wake you up in the morning. Yet it also has a sweet fruity flavor that gets more pronounced as the tea cools, which is nice as a treat during the day. Flavorful enough to be captivating while remaining simple enough that one won’t easily bore. With teas like this, it is no wonder why the beverage is such a large part of the culture.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: T2
Description
This tea is not on the website but click below to see teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Tea and Toast from Bird and Blend Tea. . . .
Bluebird Tea went through a name change and now they are Bird and Blend Tea. Regardless of the name, they are still making delicious tea flavors.
Recently I tried a new summer blend called Tea and Toast. This is a black tea with raspberry jam notes. I’ve been enjoying this tea as my summertime breakfast brew, hot or iced depending in the morning temperature.
The black tea is robust and balanced, very much the backbone of this blend. The raspberry is very fragrant in the dry leaf but mellows out slightly in the brew. The blend also includes raspberry pieces and the ever-polarizing hibiscus petals. The hibiscus is used sparingly, and adds just enough juiciness to help the raspberry pop with sweet and tart red berry flavor.
This is a delightful way to spice up you daily breakfast brew. The raspberries taste like summer, but don’t overpower the familiar traditional black tea base. Tea and Toast blend feels as delectable as trying a new flavor of jam on your breakfast toast or in your favorite PB&J. Get a sweet, fresh take in your morning brew this summer before this blend retires at the end of the season.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Bird and Blend Tea
Description: Traditional English breakfast tea with sweet raspberry jam!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Perfect, Cold-Weather Cup: Boisahabi Estate Assam from Capital Tea Ltd
Assam teas are known for their fuller, malty feel and flavor, distinctly different than the tart zing of Ceylon black teas. This Assam from the Boisahabi Estate from Capital Tea Ltd., is a high grade tea (STGFOP (SPL) ) with a mix of black tea leaves and the highly-prized golden tips that bring the complex and delicious flavor.
In the dry leaf, this tea smells comforting and slightly spicy, like cinnamon sticks and fresh wood. Brewed, the tea becomes surprisingly fruity, with lush muscatel flavors like pear and plum. Beneath this fruitiness, the black tea is smooth and full, with toffee tones. Overall, the tea feels very pleasant to drink, with a texture that fills my mouth with a warm, fuzzy feeling, without being too cloying or too sharp.
In the winter season, I seem to be drawn to all the crazy dessert-flavored teas like pumpkin pie or gingerbread cake, but while those teas are fun, their flavors are certainly enhanced by artificial flavors or added sugars and sprinkles. There’s a time and place for those tasty flavored teas, but this Assam from Boisahabi Estate really took me by surprise and felt more flavorful and festive than those other blends.
This tea has a beautiful balance of both bold and delicate flavors, with the lighter, garden-like flavors of stone fruit, and the rich caramel and black tea undertones. Even without sugar or milk, there is a smooth and comforting natural sweetness to this brew, which speaks to the quantity and quality of the golden tips and the tea leaves as a whole.
When you want a mature cup of tea with comforting yet complex flavors, brew a cup of Assam black tea from Boisahabi Estate from Capital Tea Ltd. and stay cozy in the chilly weather.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Capital Tea Ltd
Description:
Sweetly aromatic attractive deep brown Assam leaves with plenty of golden tips. These leaves infuse to a rich, full bodied, and intensely flavourful tea liquor with prominent notes of candy-malt and toffee. Highly recommended as a breakfast tea to drink with milk
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Oregon Breakfast from Plum Deluxe. . . .
There’s something about a hazelnut tea that just feels like the ultimate decadence– rich, creamy, nutty and dark, blends beautifully with a whole host of flavors. How can you go wrong? And for certain– Plum Deluxe has not got it wrong in this beautiful blend.
If this is what breakfast in Oregon is like– nutty, bright and citrus-y, a beautiful balance between caffeinated black tea and mellow honeybush– then let me hop a plane, because I am SO here for it. This tea makes for a spectacular latte, but is just as comforting and indulgent served black, as well. It reminds me just the tiniest bit of dessert, but this unique combination of flavors simultaneously tastes like nothing I’ve ever had before. Oregon, if the rest of you is as lovely as this breakfast tea, I think it’s time I make a trip!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Description
This breakfast tea is how Plum Deluxe folk like to start their day. The earthy base of black tea and honeybush teahelps center you; the ping of orange helps wake you and get you excited about today’s possibilities. It’s a simple tea and yet it is rich with subtle flavors.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Have a Sweeter Breakfast Blend with Aso Black from Mellow Monk
Aso Black from Mellow Monk is technically a black tea but it is processed a little differently that most black teas. If I understood their description correctly, Aso Black tea is made from the tea leaves that would normally go into making sencha green tea. Picked in the mountains of Japan, these leaves are less processed and less fermented than traditional black tea. Aso Black is also called “kocha” or “crimson tea”, perhaps due to its medium level of oxidation. But I digress.
The leaves in my sample were small and flat, though very dark in color. As it brewed, the tea smelled distinctly starchy like oats or bread. It had none of the citrus brightness I associate with other black teas.
Mellow Monk recommends letting this tea cool slightly before drinking to let the flavors come forward, so I stepped away from my cup to let it cool down.
When I took my first sip of the tea, I was once again hit with the starchiness of the flavors, though this time it also had quite a bit of sweetness. In an abstract way, the tea reminded me of oatmeal raisin cookies if they could be turned into a breakfast tea.
In the aftertaste there is a vegetal note that I expect more often from green teas. It reminds me of the sweet and sour fermented green tea note that I often taste in kukicha green. With all the sweetness and smooth mouthfeel of the rest of the blend, the green tea aftertaste is less grassy and more fruity, complimenting the sweet oat flavors in the overall smell and taste.
This is a unique tea, worth a taste by black tea and green tea lovers alike. If you are tired of ceylon’s sharpness, or assam’s full fuzziness, try Aso Black for your next breakfast blend and maybe you’ll find it makes for a sweeter morning.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black and Green
Where to Buy: Mellow Monk
Description:
How about a nice change of pace? Aso Black™ is black tea (kocha, or “crimson tea” in Japanese) made from the leaves of green tea varietals grown in the pristine foothills of Mt. Aso. Gently harvested leaves are only lightly fermented compared to conventional black tea, for a sweetness not found in ordinary black teas.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!