Twinings of London

My son had a 2 hr delay for school due to the cold temperatures this morning. He asked for this tea :) Sugar, no milk. Drank it down easy and later asked for something else… I would’ve re-steeped and given him a weaker second cup (but I had already done that w/it for myself). It was the last bag, so we had to find him something else.. he chose his first loose leaf… granted, he chose Butterbeer since it smells like root beer which is one of his favorites. Even so… Proud Momma! Not too long ago he would have just asked for some chocolate milk as a treat.

Growing up my mom sometimes made us black tea with milk and sugar so I almost always take my straight black teas the same way. I haven’t had too many straight loose leaf black teas yet as most of my purchases have been experiments of flavors. This one is in tea bag form and was a gift for Christmas.

This is my first English Brkfast tea to my knowledge, mom always used to get the basic Lipton which to my untrained tastebuds was a treat. I have to say this one is very familiar, especially after adding a bit of milk and sugar. It is a better, stronger brew than my long time friend that didn’t lose it’s color with a touch of milk.

I recieved a box of various bagged teas for afternoons at work, and this is the first I’m trying. I’ve always been a fan of Twinnings, but I’ve never had anything besides their black and green bagged teas.

The smell reminds me of my favorite nutty oolong, and the color is a nice light brown after steeping. It’s a lot more bitter than I expected, and it’s really not comparable to how loose oolong tastes. Without the weird aftertaste I think it’s a pretty enjoyable tea, though I don’t know if I would go out of my way for it.

I keep a handful of these tea bags at work. I added the perfect amount of honey today. It was nutty and I got spice notes, like cinnamon.

Very tasty, very smooth, very good for work.

Today was weird. I had a strange second interview with the job that I thought I wanted, but after today, I’m not so sure.

I drank this to wake up this morning. It was okay. It was about what I expected- simple black tea. Typically smooth and creamy mouth feel, characteristic of Twinings blends. I’m not about to rush out and buy a box of it though, because I like their Darjeeling and other blends better.

A yummy breakfast tea. Very smooth and reliable. Earthy, nutty, not obnoxiously bitter or astringent. I have yet to try a Twinings blend that has failed to meet my expectations.

I think I am a bit biased because I am writing this tasting note after I have already went through two small boxes of this. Everyone keeps saying that they thought it did well for a “bagged” tea. Honestly I don’t see what is causing such a bad rap for bagged teas. If someone cares to enlighten me, I would appreciate it.

My review: I love this tea. It’s my go to tea. Especially when I have had an awful day at work or in class. I bought a big box of English Breakfast and all though I tolerate it, I prefer this much more. Coincidentally, my boyfriend likes English Breakfast so he has been using it up for me.

Doesn’t do anything fancy, but it doesn’t claim to. Just a good solid cup of black breakfast tea. The only thing that rivals this for the morning is Twinings’ Irish Breakfast.

I feel like calling winter into my office at 3:45 on a Friday and telling it to find another job. Church was cancelled today because of black ice. I had a suspicion last night when it started misting on the windshield. So I declared it a house pants day for all of an hour before they started bugging me and I had to find actual clothes. I can’t believe it either. So now I have decided its Cheapster Steepster Sunday. At least till it starts bugging me. Starting with this tea bag sip down. I used to really be apathetic toward EB. I used to call it beige. Not bad just never remember what I just sipped. This one has actually grown on me. It is smooth, malty, and comfortable. Sometimes that is enough.

We had yet another winter storm warning for last night and this morning. Yawn. I am so over winter. Ended up only getting a couple inches of snow/sleet/ice mix. Makes me very happy I no longer have to force myself out the door in the morning. It is officially a house pants day. Saw Gmathis started her day with Ahmad English Breakfast. This is as close as I have to that one. It is bagged and still very satisfying. I did have to fix a multi-grain bagel with it as it gave me just a little stomach burn. Very nice combo. Now I am off to rescue Kerbals. This time I trapped then on planet Duna without enough fuel to return. I am on my fifth attempt to design an unkerbaled craft capable of a return flight. The landing site is starting to look like a used spacecraft lot. Low mileage. Only flown once. :)

Tea of the morning. From a bag. I’m OK with that. I had more pressing matters.

This morning at 6:15 AM the unmanned Mun Rescue II vehicle was launched in an effort to rescue the crew of the Alice K (to the moon Alice) who have been stranded on the moon since losing fuel. Thanks to warp technology, within minutes the unmmanned lander sat down within 3 meters of the crippled ship. The stranded crew EVA’d into the lander and proceeded its return to the Kerbal Space Center. Everything was going textbook perfect when the chutes deployed 500 meters above the landing sight. Then tragedy struck as the chute and remote unit were ripped from the top of the crew cab. The crew were blown to bits and bytes (thanks TeaExplorer for the pun). Our engineers are looking into strengthening the connection for future missions.

On the bright side the tea was brisk and went exceptionally well with the honey multi-grained bagel with cream cheese schmear.

I’m not English and it is not breakfast. I’m a mad man! Even so, I was pleasantly surprised by this. I always (and apparently wrongly) associate EB with extremely strong, brisk, bitter, and often harsh. Generally I consider EB near the bottom of my tea preferences. This is the bagged version so it is a little less flavorful than it might otherwise be but I enjoyed it. Smooth, malty, and fruity. The only negative, if it offends you, is it is a tad drying. I used sweetener. I seldom use milk – that might cover the dryness. Anyway, way better than I remember.

It’s freezing, so I decided to make myself a cup of tea. I just got this the other day and I’m already quite fond of it. It’s not too strong, but not too light. I drink it with milk and sugar, only because I’m not a huge fan of the taste of straight tea. I’m not too particular about water temperature or steep time, and it’s a pretty forgiving tea. I probably wouldn’t drink this as my first cup of the day, because it’s not strong enough, but as a late morning to afternoon tea, it’s perfect.

A good tea, I just enjoy something more robust.

Very nice true blackcurrant flavor. This is one of my favorite teas.

My grocery store is no longer going to carry loose leaf tea, so I picked this up because it was $1 for 100 grams. I used 2 teaspoons in 16 ounces sweetened with Splenda and a little bit of milk. I really enjoyed this tea. Medium-strong malty flavor without any bite. I think this will become one of my go to teas for everyday.

There’s a reason this is a classic tea and a staple in British households. Because its damn good.

As far as chai goes, this is okay, it’s reasonable and comforting to drink on a cold day, but nothing to write home about. I’d recommend it to someone who doesn’t like excess cinnamon in their chai, but I probably won’t buy another box of it. It tastes as good with a dash of soy and without.

This is amazing. Its so rich and flavorful. It’s also excellent as a latte. :)

Definitely my favorite tea.