Tag: Black Tea

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Adagio Teas’s Brigadoon Breakfast

Brigadoon Breakfast by Adagio Teas
Black Tea & White Tea / Flavoured
$15.00USD for 4oz

Adagio Teas has provided me with Brigadoon Breakfast for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Brigadoon Breakfast from Adagio Teas is a tea that is sold once every 4 years – only on February 29th. I’m grateful to Adagio Teas for offering me the opportunity to try out their tea ahead of time so I was able to try and write a review ahead of the 29th. So Brigadoon Breakfast comes in a beautiful metal tin. I love the concept of a limited edition tea, but it’s mostly time limited since it’s only sold on one day out out of four years.

The tin itself is beautiful, the tea is loose inside. If you do get this, be sure to check out the artwork and the story of Brigadoon is printed on the inside of the lid as well. The tea has a lovely aroma – I mostly smell the black the tea base and hints of floral notes and toasted notes. Adagio describes the ingredient choices as being both for the blend flavours itself and also so that the colours mimick of the Scottish flag. Brigadoon Breakfast consists of: Assam Melody (black tea from Meleng Tea Estate in Assam, India), Keemun Concerto (Chinese black tea from Anhui Province), silver needle, and blue cornflowers.

Preparation

Adagio Teas recommends steeping Brigadoon Breakfast in 100°C/212°F water for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted to do my initial steep of Brigadoon Breakfast for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Brigadoon Breakfast steeps to a beautiful golden orange colour. There’s a very pleasant malty flavour in the steeped tea, just a hint of floral notes from the cornflower petals. I found there’s a mild astringency in this black tea blend, which lends itself to a bit of a mouth pucker effect. Brigadoon Breakfast has a mild sweetness, but it’s not over the top. I find it to be a nice cup of tea, very much a breakfast tea without being familiar to other breakfast blends that I’ve tried (think English or Irish).

Brigadoon Breakfast is definitely a tea that I can see being doctored up in the morning though. Add a bit of sweetener or evaporated milk (or cream, if that’s your thing). It would also be refreshing iced with a slice of a lemon floating on top, mostly because I think the slight astringency would play off the sour notes of lemon quite well.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Brigadoon Breakfast twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour remained fairly close to the initial steep, it was just a little bit weaker compared to the initial steep – as one might expect. I would recommend doing at least one resteep of the leaves, and then go for a second if you’re feeling a bit keen.

My Overall Impression

I loved Adagio Teas’s Brigadoon Breakfast. I love the special packaging for the limited edition tea, I love the concept and the exclusiveness of the blend of Brigadoon Breakfast being available only on February 29th. The black tea blend itself is pleasant – it has a great flavour with a twist on the idea of a breakfast tea blend, which I do appreciate. The addition of the silver needle really lends itself well to having a bit of a fresh, floral flavour profile that mixes with the malty black tea base. Lastly, I have to give Adagio Teas some props for not charging an arm and a leg for their Leap Day tea because Brigadoon Breakfast is set at an affordable price for most tea lovers.

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The First Sip of Tea’s Crème de la Earl

Crème de la Earl by The First Sip of Tea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.99USD for 1.3oz (37g, 16 tea sachets)

The First Sip of Tea has provided me with Crème de la Earl for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Crème de la Earl came to me from The First Sip of Tea in a gorgeous matte cardstock box – it feels lovely and some of the prettiest artwork I’ve seen on tea packaging in a long, long time. The box itself is recyclable, according to the print on the bottom, and contains a silver foil pouch inside. The pouch itself is sealed, not resealable – so keep that in mind if you’re not the type to binge drink a tea repeatedly over a short period of time. I don’t know many people who don’t have resealable zip bags on hand or  mason jars (just keep in a dark location!), so it’s not too much of a bother.

The Crème de la Earl tea comes in individual pyramid tea sachets with a string. The packaging states that the sachets are made with biodegradable material. Fun fact, the packaging also states that The First Sip of Tea is a women owned company as well. The Crème de la Earl has a lovely Earl Grey aroma to it – I can smell the bright citrus notes of the bergamot and the vanilla. It’s quite pleasant and inviting. Crème de la Earl consists of organic: black tea, bergamot, vanilla, cornflower petals, and natural flavours.

Preparation

The First Sip of Tea recommends steeping Crème de la Earl in boiled water (100°C/212°F) water for 3 to 4 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of 4 minutes.

First Taste

Crème de la Earl steeps to a lovely dark orange colour. The aroma is primarily bergamot with those vibrant citrus notes, and the vanilla is in the background but still noticeable. I find that it’s quite inviting, especially with the strong bergamot notes. There’s a nice level of creaminess with the vanilla notes that balances really well against the strong malty and full-bodied flavour from the black tea base that really make it a comforting cup of tea. I did find that it wasn’t as sweet as I would have liked. For Earl Grey blends, I tend to add a bit of sweetener and evaporated milk (which I did do with Crème de la Earl and found that it worked very well!).

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Crème de la Earl and found that the bergamot and vanilla flavours just weren’t as strong as I would have liked. If you’re a fan of a nice strong bergamot in your Earl Grey-inspired blends, I would stick to the initial steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved The First Sip of Tea’s Crème de la Earl. I love Earl Grey as much as the next girl, so having a blend that really brings forward a good amount of bergamot and vanilla flavour is important. I found it tasted lovely on its own, but even better with the addition of a sweetener and evaporated milk (so I think it’ll take quite nicely to being made into a London Fog). Having the tea portioned into tea sachets already makes it a great candidate for a tea to take when you’re out and about, which is always a nice feature for work and travel.

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Tastea Treats’s Chocolate Mint Black Tea

Chocolate Mint Black Tea by Tastea Treats
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.00 for 100g

I took part in a Secret Santa tea exchange on Instagram in December 2019. I received this tea as part of the gift from my Secret Santa, a review was not requested.

First Impressions

Chocolate Mint Black Tea comes in a sealed, resealable shiny black pouch. There’s a lovely colourful label on the front that tells me information about the tea (name, description, ingredients, and preparation tips). The tea itself has a really lovely smell – mint and chocolate and it reminds me a lot of candy (which is always a plus!). It’s a surprise to me that there isn’t any actual chocolate pieces in this blend since it smells so much like chocolate

The ingredients in Chocolate Mint Black Tea include: black tea, blackberry leaves, peppermint leave, and natural flavours. I don’t really smell blackberry, but I think that’s because the peppermint is such a strong ingredient in terms of aroma. Either way, the idea of a chocolate mint aroma without actual chocolate is interesting and entices me to try it out.

Preparation

Tastea Treats recommends steeping Chocolate Mint Black Tea in “freshly boiled water” (100°C/212°F) for 3 to 7 minutes. I opted for an initial steep of 5 minutes.

First Taste

Chocolate Mint Black Tea steeps to a golden orange colour. There’s a very lovely mint aroma to the steeped tea. The flavour of the tea is nice – there’s sweetness, minty flavour, and also chocolate notes without being overwhelmingly chocolate. I think it’s pleasant that chocolate isn’t an actual ingredient because chocolate pieces often leads to oils floating on top and more clean up is involved. That said, the mint is definitely stronger in flavour than the chocolate, which I think is fine. I would say that you probably wouldn’t need any sweetener since there’s a good amount of natural sweetness in the tea (but I would recommend an unflavoured sweetener if you opt to add some, so you don’t distract from the chocolate minty goodness).

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Chocolate Mint Black Tea. Unsurprisingly, the flavours weren’t quite there with the second steep –  I found that the mint was considerably less compared to the initial steep and the chocolate flavour was quite weak. The black tea base does come out in the second steep though, it reminds me a bit like a breakfast blend with some malty notes. So if you’re drinking this for the chocolate mint flavours, stick to the initial steep but if you’re also a fan of black teas then a second steep would do you some good.

My Overall Impression

I loved Tastea Treats’s Chocolate Mint Black Tea. I really enjoyed the aromas and the flavours from the initial steep. What really impressed me was the fact that chocolate isn’t an actual ingredient in the blend, which meant not having to wait for chocolate to melt and finding the oil slick floating on top of my tea. It makes for a very pleasant and smooth dessert tea. If you wanted to really push it over the top, I’d pair with some creamer or evaporated milk to add an extra layer of decadence and make it more dessert like.

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