What tea did you have this morning...or afternoon?

[Blackhorse]

Sir??? Hmmmm.

Mr T: 50 cups a week? That’s seven cups a day! I don’t drink even half that much, all types considered. Good thing for indoor plumbing, eh? Well, since the Earl Grey is kind of my dessert tea...along with Green Jasmine...and I might have 2-3 cups a week. And I have 2-3 kinds of those blends. Let’s see...um, divide by 2...carry the 6...apply the universal constant...add the square root of C...yup, I thought so. It should take me about six months to go through the box of 25. So foil wrapped is indeed beneficial.

You know what I need? I need some kind of storage container that’s like vacuum sealed. You know like they have those counter top wine cooler appliances? Pretty Star Wars.

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Looking at this morning’s activity: it’s Yorkshire Gold. One if my top three favorites, all things considered.

 

[Tennessee Dave]

Twingings Earl Grey mid morning in the office. Going to do a little Gong Fu tonight with Tie Guan Yin.

 

[Blackhorse]

With lunch, from Thompson’s in Belfast, Northern Ireland...since 1888. Their original blend...Punjana. The tea leaves are Kenya (Africa) and Assam (India).

Rapidly boiling water over a bag in a 12 oz mug. Steeped 4 minutes. Serious depth. Excellent brew.

 

[Blackhorse]

Is there such a thing as TAD...Tea Acquisition Disorder? Oh yeah!

Delivered this afternoon:

Taylors of Harrogate Green Tea with Jasmine

Taylors of Harrogate English Breakfast​

Dilmah Earl Grey Tea​

Barry's Tea Bags, Irish Breakfast​

Scottish Blend Tea​

 

[Timbo]

Maybe not a week but cerrtainly in a fortnight, and with this week being punishing at work it'll likely be seven a day this week, onto my sixth cup today at 6 o clock in the evening here. Probably should have a jasmine tea next as my caffeine levels are high enough.

Hoping the Dilmah goes down well with you.

Let me know what the other arrivals are like to, you've piqued my interest.

 

[ftrplt]

Up early this a.m. brewing a pot of Ahmad Imperial Blend. First time with this brew!! A Darjeeling base with Assam tips and a goodly bit of Earl Grey!!! Made it strong, tastes wonderful with honey!! On my second mug right now!! FTRPLT

 

[Blackhorse]

A hearty mug of Scottish Blend...supposedly the first tea blended specifically for Scotland’s “soft” water. To me, it is indeed a full and potent 4 minute brew in a 12 fl oz mug. While it is full and quite brisk (astringent) the level of maltiness (typical of Assam) is barely moderate. I have can’t tell the color as I have it in a double wall stainless steel mug.

i did finally pop for a new teapot and mug. Crazy me! Got it via The English Tea Store online. I was looking for the Adderley Ceramics version of the official Brown Betty...but in Cobalt Blue. They had it for a significantly lower price...and low cost shipping as well.


And a fun new 11 oz mug to wave the British tea flag.

 

[Blackhorse]

Just brewed up a second 12 oz mug of morning tea. Steeped 4 min. This stuff in pretty incredible. The balance between astringency and maltiness is perfect IMHO. This is a seriously excellent blend that I would purchase again in a heartbeat.

Barry’s Irish Breakfast.

 

[Tennessee Dave]

Brewed Adagio Darjeeling for the maiden brew in the Cauldron Brown Petty tea pot this morning. Excellent heat retention with this pot. Well pleased. Going to do some Gong Fu Sheng Puerh late this afternoon.

 

[Blackhorse]

OK...Barry’s Gold Blend for lunch to go with my chicken apple walnut cranberry blue cheese salad. Um, I think there might be some greens in there somewhere too.

BTW: I think I prefer the Barry’s Irish Breakfast over their Gold Blend. Both are lovely but the Gold has more of a Malty tone which isn’t as balanced...or something. The Green label uses teas from Kenya and Assam. The Gold label adds teas from Rwanda.

 

[Tennessee Dave]

Got a small tea order in today, Taylors Earl Grey and Yorkshire Gold. I also ordered a few Chinese teas as I like to do those in the evening.

 

[Timbo]

They all sound yum BH, love me some Irish breakfast so will have to hunt the Barrry's down to get a real Irish breakfast tea happening.

The Scottish sounds interesting too, our water is conditioned so that it's soft to medium here in NSW so It might be a new favourite.

 

[Blackhorse]

Timbo - My first stop is almost always Amazon. Selection is typically very good, prices are good to fair and I can often get one or two day delivery. Hard to beat that. Of course, what they are like in OZ I have no idea.

One caveat: individual vendors on Amazon are the ones that dictate how close the product is to the “best by” date. My personal experience has been 100% good. But I’ve seen product reviews that weren’t so lucky. One vendor (Teadogs) here in the USA posts the best by dates and guarantees them...plus they do a 100% satisfaction guarantee, for any reason. Don’t know if they ship all over the globe though.

If I had to recommend my current favs I would suggest 1. Yorkshire Gold, 2. Thompson’s Irish Breakfast, and Barry’s Irish Breakfast. Of course, these are all quite similar...they’re my preferred profile. If someone was looking for a variety of flavors I would go with the Yorkshire Gold (40 bags for $4.94 usd), Barry’s Gold (40 for $4.99) and Scottish Blend (80 for $12.24). I always go for the smallest amount...just to keep things as fresh as possible. But if someone picked anything with “Irish Breakfast” in the name...plus a “Gold” variety and a “Scottish” type...that would work well too. There really aren’t any BAD ones...it’s all a matter of personal preference.

My wake-up brew this morning is Yorkshire Gold.

 

[Blackhorse]

Mid-morning break...hmmm...I forget what I used. I think it was Barry’s Irish Breakfast though. I was cleaning the ceramic/glass cooktop at the time so I was kind of on “automatic “.

Does anyone here have trouble keeping their ceramic cooktop sparkling? I’ve got it down if anybody needs a brief tutorial.

 

[Tennessee Dave]

Big cup of Yorshire Gold brewed in the Brown Betty with a bit of sugar and milk

 

[Timbo]

Thanks for the tips BH, much appreciated here.

 

[Blackhorse]

Up and going this a.m. to the tune of Welsh Brew. Made a whole pot after dragging out my beloved 4 cup with the insulated cover. This is likely my favorite pot in the world as the whole metal cover piece slides up and off. It works super well...a perfect fitting cozy that keeps everything piping hot for a good long while. So while the tea water heats (starting with cold of course...maintains high oxygen level in the water which enhances tea flavors) I have the pot preheating with the hottest possible tap water. When the tea water is boiling rapidly the preheating water is dumped, two bags tossed in and immediately covered with the still actively boiling water...and the pot lid and thermal cover are replaced for the brew time (3 - 5 minutes). Finally, the bags are fished out and the whole shebang is reassembled. Ultimately the thing makes a LOT of tea for one person. OK when using weaker, green, white or herbal teas but with the potent Irish, Scotch & Welsh stuff it’s too much. But it does brew a lovely proper cup of tea.

The Welsh Brew tea is very nice...a blend of African and Indian teas. This is supposedly one of the two major teas sold in Wales. The other, I think, is Glengetti

Anyway, pics of a pot very similar to mine...and the tea.

 

[Blackhorse]

Ahhhh. Now THIS is well met. Brewed in my 12 oz thermal mug with rapidly boiling water and steeped for 4 minutes...Scottish Breakfast Tea from Taylors of Harrowgate. These are the same folks that bring us Yorkshire Gold and Red. I bought individually wrapped bags in a box of 20. Without doing a side by side test, this reminds me of the Yorkshire Gold as well as the Irish Breakfast teas from Thompson’s and Barry’s. Potent, balanced and smooth for its strength. Taylors is a big outfit offering a huge number of teas of all types. They have this one down perfectly.

 

[Tennessee Dave]

Loving the Yorkshire Gold.

 

[Blackhorse]

Depending on which website is providing the information, Yorkshire Gold is the number one selling tea in the UK with 28% of the market share. Or maybe that’s just England. Whatever, it is seriously good tea.