Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Capital Teas
Tea Description:
Capital Breakfast Organic is a blend of luxury teas from Sri Lanka, India, Kenya and China; a blend designed to compliment and enrich your day as you make your own history. The Assam component (2nd flush, June Production) gives a thick malt and full-bodied character. The Kenyan component gives a floral-like cup and coppery infusion whereas the South Indian component gives superb fruity and sprightly flavor with a lovely finish. From Sri Lanka we used a January Dimbula pick that gives an airy piquant flavor that opens the blend. Lastly, to draw everything together we added some Keemun, which gives a burgundy depth with light oaky notes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried quite a few breakfast blends … and this one ranks right up there with some of the very best that I’ve tried. This is really good!
The first thing I notice is how well-rounded it is. It is full-bodied, and possesses such a delightfully rich flavor. After a couple of sips, the smokiness of the Keemun becomes apparent. It hits the palate at about mid-sip and then seems to linger through to the tail, offering wisps of smoke in the aftertaste.
The malty tones are rich and offer a pleasant, caramel-like sweetness. The Assam gives this tea a very cozy, comforting kind of taste that melds beautifully with the smoke tones that are tantalizing my taste buds. The Ceylon adds a pleasing fruity background, while the Kenyan adds to the heft of this cup … it’s got a lot of gusto, this Capital Breakfast!
The rich, satisfying flavor is delicious served straight up, but, it also takes the additions of milk and sugar (or honey) quite nicely. I think this one is best served hot, but, I think it would be good iced too.
If you have room for only one breakfast blend in your tea cupboard, I’d recommend giving this one a try – but, be warned, it is so good, you may find yourself replacing your trusty old breakfast blend for this one. It’s amazing!
Red Elephant from Joy’s Teaspoon
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Joy’s Teaspoon
Tea Description:
Our Kenyan orthodox black breakfast blend is a high quality CTC tea that packs a punch and will jump start your morning. Clean leaves, honey-like aroma, floral flavor with no harshness and excellent with a splash of milk.
A beautiful scene unfolds as you envision the tea bushes, grown on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya at a relatively high altitude of 2036M above sea level, situated between two main rivers (Rundu and Mukengeria) that have their source in the Mt. Kenya forest. The area is farmed by approximately 3,700 small scale tea farmers with a combined acreage of about 847 hectares (2,092 acres.) Most of the farmers are related and farm ancestral pieces of land that have been passed down from generation to generation. Most of the pluckers are women who farm tea farms that belong to their husbands or fathers. Land is usually inherited patrilineally, though recently women have begun to inherit and purchase their own tea farms.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Now that’s what I’m talking about! This tea has got some heft! This is the kind of tea that you want to drink on those mornings when you’re having a hard time keeping your eyelids open, This tea is sure to help with that!
This tea is good and strong, and a little goes a long way. That is to say, when measuring, you don’t need to add a little extra to the teapot for added strength! This is plenty strong on its own. Use the amount you’d usually use, or even just a little less. If you usually use a heaped teaspoon, use a level teaspoon for best results.
This is a very rich and flavorful tea – there is a freshly baked bread and burnt sugar kind of taste to it. Sweet, caramelized burnt sugar. YUM! There is a pleasant earthiness to this as well as some hints of malt … but don’t go thinking this is similar to an Assam, because the malty tone is where those similarities end.
This is a very enjoyable, full-bodied black tea that is strong enough to give a good kick start to anyone’s day, and it’s just what I needed to help shake that groggy, sleepy feeling I had this morning. This tea has managed to chase those feelings away without a trace! I’m awake and raring to go!
Breakfast Earl Grey from Whittard of Chelsea 1886
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Whittard of Chelsea 1886
Tea Description:
Earl Grey has become a defining flavor of Britain, distinguished by its fragrant taste. Traditionally an afternoon tea, our customers wanted a version strong enough for breakfast. So we created a fine blend of black tea with malty Assam, crisp Ceylon and mellow Kenyan. It is a vigorous blend with a beautiful, delicate bergamot taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
There is just something about Earl Grey that … when I encounter a new-to-me Earl Grey (one that I’ve not yet tried), I get all giddy, quite unlike any other flavor of tea. There’s just something about that bergamot that makes me happy.
Occasionally, I’ve been disappointed. Occasionally, I’ll come across one that just doesn’t do the name “Earl Grey” justice. But it is a rare occasion, indeed, and fortunately, today is not such a rare occasion. This Breakfast Earl Grey from Whittard of Chelsea 1886 is lovely!
The aroma is beautiful – although, I must admit that it did scare me just a bit. It is a strong bergamot fragrance, but there is just a hint of … something … there that made it smell a bit more like perfume than like tea. It scared me momentarily, but once the tea was brewed, that worry was over. The aroma of the dry leaf is a tad perfume-y, but the brewed tea smells much more like a proper Earl Grey. Sweet, bergamot-y (which is much now much lighter here in the brewed tea), and possessing a pleasing earthiness from the black tea base.
The black tea base of this Earl Grey is a blend of Assam, Ceylon and Kenyan tea. I know I’ve tasted a lot of Earl Grey teas, and I can’t possibly be expected to remember all the Earl Grey bases I’ve tried up until now (can I? … hope not, because I can’t!) but I don’t remember a blend of these three particular teas used as a base for an Earl Grey. The result is a robust background with malty intonations and a really rich, solid, well-rounded flavor.
The bergamot is rather soft in the presence of this powerful black tea base, but I still find it rather pleasant. Usually, I like my bergamot bold and in-your-face, but, I have also quite enjoyed the softer side of bergamot on occasion. I find that with these particular teas, the citrus-y tones are much more bright and sweet … it’s almost juicy!
There is much more of a fruit note than an “exotic” note, if that makes sense. Yes, I’m aware that bergamot IS a fruit, so indeed it should not be unusual that it actually tastes like fruit, but, bergamot is quite unlike any other fruit that flavors teas that I’ve encountered. Here, it is mellowed somewhat, allowing the distinct fruit tones to express themselves in a different way. As I continue to sip, I notice some floral notes begin to reveal themselves … a taste that becomes more dominate as I reach mid-cup.
What a lovely bergamot experience I’m having with this Breakfast Earl Grey. This is one that all Earl Grey lovers out there should try!
Blueberry Purple Tea from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Purple
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Made with a base of Purple Tea of Kenya, this mellow tea has an earthy blueberry flavor that lingers. Add a little brown crystal sugar for an intense sweet blueberry flavor. More extensive information on our Kenyan teas can be found HERE.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried a couple of purple teas now, I’ve had at least one purple Oolong and a purple Pu-erh, but this the first flavored purple tea (at least that I’m aware of). And it’s quite unusual … different from any blueberry flavored tea I’ve tried in the past, but at the same time, there are some remarkable similarities to some teas I’ve had, as well.
This purple tea bears some striking resemblances to a white or a green tea. It has the light, delicateness of a white tea with some of the herbaceous/vegetative tones of a green tea. There is also an earthiness to this tea that offers a unique contrast to the sweet-tart blueberry notes.
The blueberry is prominent, and the somewhat nutty, earthy, herbaceous flavor of the tea together with the blueberry creates a taste that is similar to a blueberry muffin – heavy on the blueberry! It is sweet and tart, earthy and refreshing … and it’s very good!
I really like this tea – it’s a great way to explore the purple tea variety. Oh… and I highly recommend resteeping this one – the second infusion is even better than the first. The earthiness softens a bit, making the flavor very smooth and even more pleasant than the first infusion.
Real Earl Grey from Tiger Spring Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tiger Spring Tea
Tea Description:
Bergamot oil from the citrus fruit grown in the Calabria district in Italy had become popular in the 18th and 19th centuries as a flavouring for gin and snuff. It was brought to Joseph Banks attention who is known to have experimented with flavourings. He is credited with adding it to tea, and it was most likely given the name Earl Grey, since he was the popular Prime Minister of the time. Our Real Earl Grey is scented using natural bergamot oil, rather than the synthetic scents commonly used. As a result it has a more citrusy nose and palate.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As most of our regular readers are probably well aware of by now, I am a HUGE fan of Earl Grey. So whenever I get a new Earl Grey to try, I’m excited. And whenever I find an Earl Grey that I absolutely love … I find myself not only elated, but also somewhat confused. Why? Because I have a few “favorite” Earl Grey teas, and it seems that this list of favorites is expanding at a continual rate!
This Real Earl Grey from Tiger Spring Tea has earned a spot in my ever-growing list of favorite Earl Grey teas. From what I can glean from the Tiger Spring Tea website, the tea seems to be one that was grown in Kenya, which explains the robust black tea flavor that I taste. It is rich and well-rounded, providing a taste that is strong and smooth, with hints of smokiness in the background that offer an interesting dimension to the overall cup.
But as with any Earl Grey, the important factor is not the tea (although a high quality black tea base IS essential, and Tiger Spring certainly has not overlooked this) but the BERGAMOT. Here, the bergamot tastes very natural. There is a freshness to it, like freshly squeezed citrus juice. It is sweet … it seems to be sweeter than I usually notice with bergamot, and this sweetness offers a pleasing contrast with the tangy notes of the Italian fruit. I also notice that the natural floral notes of the bergamot are different here too.
I usually also notice floral notes with bergamot as well, and I do taste them here too, but, again, it’s different with this Earl Grey. The floral tones are not as noteworthy during the sip, which seems to focus on the sweet yet sour notes of the fruit, but in the aftertaste, which has a lingering floral note that is quite lovely. No soapy/perfume-y tastes here, just vibrant bergamot flavor.
Another favorite for the list!