Twinings of London

Grabbed brunch before class today… Was in the mood for tea, and this sufficed. It was pretty weak. Tolerable, but weak.

This is my standard go-to bagged tea. Mostly because it’s the only Earl Grey I can buy at the grocery store in boxes of more than 24, but it’s a simple unoffensive tea. Nearly impossible to oversteep, so it’s great for those times when you’re a bit distracted and can’t baby your tea during the brewing process. The tea doesn’t stand on its own very well, but I prefer milk and sugar anyway.

<3

I may have used water that was a tad too hot, but I like the outcome either way. It’s exactly like one might expect. Heavy on the lemon, light on the ginger, and even lighter on the herbal tea flavor. It brews up to a pleasant shade of yellow. The scent of the tea itself is almost purely ginger, but then again, I have a cold, so I’m sure a lot of subtlety is being lost on me. If I get a chance, I would like to try this again with honey or agave nectar.

I’ve noticed that a lot of us have been trying this tea when we’re sick. Hmm.

Yummy tea! Almost sweet by itself. I love this with some sweetener and a splash of milk. This is a delicious tea to have in the morning or afternoon.

I just needed something easy and mild this morning to go with a chocolate chip cookie. This did the trick. There is really nothing of merit to say about this tea, but if all you’re looking for is something that will not overpower or distract whatever it is that you are having with it yet is still relatively pleasant, this is not a bad option. It served its purpose today.

This was part of a variety of samples sent to me by a friend, who does happen to be here. Thank you again!

I wasn’t sure how strong it was going to be, so I tried it with food – something I don’t normally do. Since it affected how I tasted the tea, here’s what I had with it: a little dish of Boston cream pie-flavored yogurt (basically like vanilla) with a bunch of David Rio instant chai mixed in and a bowl of those Tasty Bite Madras Lentils (if you haven’t had them, they’re savory and spicy, but not hot-spicy) with a whole wheat hot dog bun (sweet) underneath and pepper jack on top. On its own, the tea tasted…well…basically like black tea (I’m not the one to ask about plain black teas). After the sweet yogurt, the EB tasted a tad towards the green side, which was very nice; however, it tasted more towards the other (fermented?) end after the lentils, which I was surprised by and still liked. After it got cold, it was still the same to me, except it was cold. This would be worth trying to drink with meals or snacks just to see how different foods affect the taste. That was interesting.

This tea MUST be steeped well. I would like to find a company besides Twinings that sells it, but so far no luck. Like Pride of the Port, it is a good black tea that becomes nicely rounded with milk (and as always for me, a little sugar).

Today is cold and rainy here at the coast in Maine. Its a great day for hot tea. This is a nice tea (bag) from Twinings. I always seem to like their teas. This one is brisk, robust, no bitterness, and just a little astringency. A nice tea to wake up to.

Woke up in a terrible mood, hiding at my desk at work and keeping calm with this lovely lady. She’s the only thing keeping me from irritably snapping at boring co-workers, so she gets an extra-high rating this morning.

A year ago I would have rated this a lot higher than I will today, partly because I hadn’t tasted many black teas back then, and more to the point because I hadn’t tasted the lovely Lady Grey back then .. To be fair though, I do find this to be a nice cup of tea, with or without milk & sugar – but I’ve decided not to replace it when the current box runs out ..

One other note is that I’ve found some non-flavoured tea drinkers (my parents in particular) complain about the strong floral aroma of the Earl .. They’ve even asked me to not make ‘that perfumed tea’ while on vacation together, which of course I did, but went outside to drink it ..

OK, this tea just saved me. Was on a cruise around the Greek islands, and I totally forgot from earlier experience that while the food on the ship was plentiful, varied, and delicious, the only tea was horrible generic dust in anonymous tea bags. (I understood from the coffee drinkers around me that the coffee served was just as bad…I wonder why that is??) I suffered it until thankfully, I found a little supermarket in the town of Oia on the island of Santorini that carried Twinings tea, and I bought a box of this. Ah, finally a decent cuppa in the mornings! Basic, sweet and with milk, my morning (and evening) tea became a pleasure to be savoured on deck in the sea air. Mm.

Mmm. One of my favorite bagged teas — you have to treat it quite harshly before it gets bitter. When I ran out of tea filters with no backup teapot I turned to this tea to get me through until I can get more. :)

Continuing the celebration with Irish Tea! 6oz brewed Irish Breakfast + a shot of Bailey’s :-)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Rocky Road to Dublin as performed by the Young Dubliners:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v4eXaVkHc4

Had an 8pm urge for Irish Breakfast + Bailey’s, so I went for the decaf. Will have to remember this next week for St. Patrick’s Day (and drink it earlier, full-caf!) The decaf definitely tastes “thinner” than the normal tea, but the richness (and booze) of the Bailey’s helps give it more heft.