Twinings of London

I finally was able to try out my new tea thermal! I ordered the Copco tea thermos (http://www.amazon.com/Copco-2510-4600-Tea-Thermal-Stainless/dp/B0028N6OLQ/ref=pd_sbs_k_1) which has a twistable infuser so you can stop steeping without having to dump the leaves. Unfortunately the inside of the mug is plastic, not steel…deceptive, because the outside is stainless steel!

Anyway, I decided to christen the thermal with one of my favorite teas, English Breakfast by Twinings. I heated the water and milk to boiling, put a little under 3 teaspoons of leaf in the infuser, added some Splenda and honey, and let it steep for a few minutes. The first thing I noticed was that the tea is HOT! And it refused to cool down until like an hour later…good if you’re planning on packing your tea for a long trip, but bad if you’re impatient like me :(

I’ve never made English Breakfast outside of the Zarafina, so it might have just been my weird steeping methods, but the tea did not taste very good. It actually tasted a lot like Irish Breakfast tea does…malty with notes of brown sugar and, um, sweet potato. I didn’t taste the delicious caramel-honey flavor English Breakfast with milk and honey usually gets. I don’t know if I added too much leaf, or oversteeped it, or if the temperature was off. I’m increasing the rating a little, just because before today, this tea has never let me down.

After all these posts on EB today, I thought I’d pull this out of the tea box. Tried it with honey this time, and it is fab.

I’m back in Boston after a red-eye flight across the country…got back to my apartment around 7 AM, ate, and then passed out until now. Seems like as good a time as ever to bust out this tea. For me, English Breakfast tea + milk + sugar reminds me of being home on a sick day in 4th grade, cuddled up in a cozy blanket and calling my mom at work every hour and being babied by my usually stern grandmother. Warm fuzzies all around.

I finally opened that loose-leaf tin I’ve had sitting around on the shelf. The leaves are much, much smaller than I expected…disappointingly so.

First cup with 1 teaspoon of leaves— the liquor is a beautiful orange-red. It’s a little sweeter and less bitter than the bagged variety. Adding Spenda—sweet, delicious, and less bitter. I could easily drink cup after cup of this. Adding milk—weaker than I remember the bags being (with milk and sweetener).

Take 2: Double strength. With Splenda – more astringent than bitter. Needs milk. Uh oh, forgot to heat milk before adding tea to cup. Oh well. Still good, but cold.

This tea is goes amazingly well with milk and sweetener. It’s cozy, warm, and comforting, and perfect for coaxing yourself out of bed when on those grey days when you just don’t want to get up. I prefer to steep two bags in my Zarafina tea maker with 8 oz (1 cup) of water, and then pour over heated milk and sugar in a large mug. The addition of milk will save the tea from bitterness in case you over-steep (not likely if you invest in an automated tea maker, though!). Much better than the Bigelow equivalent. The loose form is better than the bagged tea.

This blows Bigelow’s English Breakfast out of the water! Enjoyed my first cup of this in the afternoon after sitting outside waiting for Santa with the kids (cold!). I can taste such a distinct difference between this and Bigelow, my usual English Breakfast brand. I want to say it’s more complex? The quality is obvious here in Twinings.

I don’t know if it’s my tastebuds or something else, but this is rather too light for me. Not bland, per se, but really faint. I’ve added near boiling hot water, or just hot water one would normally get from a coffee machine, but it’s sort of weak. Perhaps I’m not preparing it right.

Decent and comfortably smooth, but slightly too mild for my taste.

I really, really, like a full-bodied tea. Sometimes, I’ll admit, I oversteep this on purpose. With milk and sugar, strong, not too-sweet, it’s an excellent wake-up tea, great throughout the day as well, but rather too strong for an evening cup.

Twinings is my favourite bagged tea, hands down, and I always keep some Earl Grey on hand. It’s a good, solid rendition of this famous tea and it is wonderfully relaxing right before bed (I stick the the decaf version).

I am finally back from vacation!!!

I have a bunch of tea to backlog so here it goes…

backlogged from Tuesday 6/29:

I was pleasantly surprised to find Prince of Wales at my vacation house! Now which is better: my fresh carrot cake and tea on Sunday or tea and a trashy magazine in bed on the first day of vacation?

A big mug of prince of wales and made from scratch carrot cake, what could be better?