Reviews

Enjoy my take on many of the teas I have enjoyed over the years. Always rated on a 5 point scale, entirely my subjective opinion.

Tea of the Week – English Breakfast

Black Tea

Name: English Breakfast

Type: Black

Region: Anhui region of China

Bought At: Adagio.com

Price: $3 for a 10-cup sample

First Thoughts: Strong, Dark

Review:

While I normally enjoy lighter teas – green being my favorite, I decided to try some black teas this month and my first pick was adagio’s “English Breakfast.”  From first brew you can tell it is a strong black tea.  It had a very strong aroma – not sweet at all, but still pleasant.  It tasted a lot like what you would expect.  It isn’t sweet like the green teas I have tried, but it also didn’t have quite as much “bite” as some other black teas.  I found that I enjoyed it best as a pick me up in the morning.  I also really enjoyed it in the afternoon with just a little bit of milk and sugar.  The milk and sugar really ease out the last hint of bitterness and make for a really smooth cup.  It actually reminded me quite a bit of coffee, and might make for a good “transition tea” for anybody trying to switch.  One note: be careful when you brew it, even a little extra time can make it very bitter very fast.

My Rating: 3.5 / 5

Tea of the Week

Reviews

One of the things I wanted to use this blog for was as a way for me to share my love of tea. Along those lines I will be trying something new this year.   I will be trying and reviewing a different tea every week. The plan is to try a different tea at the beginning of every week and post an article about it every Wednesday.  Look for my first attempt later this week – English Breakfast from adagio.

Great Gifts for Tea Lovers

Reviews

You’ll have to hurry, but adagio tea has some great gift ideas for anybody that likes tea.

I am a huge fan of their IngenuiTEA tea maker and use it almost every day.  You can get it as a gift set with a sample of some of their teas (choose Black, Green, Flavored or Herbal) and a great book about tea.  They also have several other gift sets with more traditional tea pots and kettles.  If you’ve got a lot of money to spend, their TriniTEA electric tea maker looks interesting, although I’ve never used it myself.

If you don’t know anything about tea, or just don’t know your friends’ taste in tea, their gift certificates are great and let them pick their own personal favorites.  I’ve given these to several people where I work and they have always been a big hit.

Oh, did I mention that they are on sale? – 30% off the IngeniTEA maker set!