• Mighty Leaf Tea are giving a 25% discount off selected black teas. This offer runs out on September 25, so you have to act quick. If you’re looking for a good place to start, try their Organic Breakfast Tea.
• Numi Organic Tea is offering a 25% discount on their flavoured pu-erh teas. Get 2 boxes of their pu-erh tea for $14.95 when you quote Coupon Code NMP99. This offer runs out after September 30.
• The Tea Spot are donating 10% of all their sales in September to prostate cancer survivors.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Special Deals for September | No comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Organic tea, Pu-erh tea, Specials
Post tags: breakfast tea, Mighty Leaf Tea, Numi Organic Tea, The Tea Spot

Organic breakfast tea by Mighty Leaf Tea

The nature of a breakfast tea is to be robust. It is there to awaken. And it needs to be able to handle a drop of milk.

As a result, many lower grade breakfast teas tend to be brutish. You feel awake after drinking them, but your lips are puckered, your mouth is dry and you had to choke down those last few sips. Inevitably, the tea used for this is the scraps ? the dust or fanning that remains after factories have pushed out the higher end teas. Because the tea is so small, it infuses quickly; but it also lacks the character you will find in teas made with larger bits of leaf.

This morning I started the day with Mighty Leaf’s Organic Breakfast tea, a blend of teas from Assam, Ceylon and Darjeeling. It’s a fine example of how using better quality tea leaves demonstrably improves a tea’s character.

I don’t tend to drink many blended teas, preferring instead single-estate teas, but I did enjoy trying to pick out the presence of the three teas used. I found the Ceylon first, given away by the smell of berries in the dry leaf aroma. Those berries were a little more subdued in the flavour, where the Assam leaf dominated the mix. I tried but failed to pick out the Darjeeling. Against the rather robust and in-your-face characteristics of Ceylon and Assam teas, the Darjeeling’s subtler notes fade into the background.

I see teas like this as being a great point of introduction for people who are accustomed to lower-grade tea and want to try something with a bit more finesse. It’s instantly familiar, but that elevation of quality translates into a smoother cup of tea with more points of interest. Granted, I found this tea to fall a little flat after the initial release of flavours; but as a breakfast tea, it does the job.

Organic Breakfast is available from Mighty Leaf Tea.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Organic Breakfast Tea by Mighty Leaf Tea (review) | One comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Organic tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: breakfast tea, English Breakfast, Mighty Leaf Tea

My tea collection is a dominant force in our pantry. Off the top of my head, I’d guess I have over 50 teas to choose from. Yet every morning, I find myself gravitating towards three teas in particular:

• Yunnan Golden Monkey (Tea Leaves, an Australian tea shop)
• Keemum (McIvers Coffee and Tea, another Australian establishment)
• Kagoshima Shincha Yutaka Midori (from O-Cha)

How do I decide which one I go for? If I’m feeling particularly tired (which is a fairly common sensation these days), I tend to prefer one of the black teas. The Keemum always strikes me as a classic breakfast tea, whereas the Yunnan is a little left-of-centre, with a greater depth of character. The Shincha, on the other hand, is one of Bec’s favourites, so I tend to make that when we’re having breakfast together. (With a baby boy in the house, we often end up having breakfast separately). Shincha is also a bit more special than the Yunnan and Keemum, so I like drinking that to set the day apart.

It struck me this morning how much my tea drinking habits are affected by my mood. The first tea of the day is just one example. I also have specific teas I turn to when I want to beat the afternoon slump; I tend to prefer a cup of Rooibos tea before bed; and I often drink a cup of dandelion root tea later in the afternoon, because it’s a hardy, bold tea without caffeine.

What about you? How does your mood affect your choice of tea?

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | How does your mood affect your choice of tea? | 5 comments |
Post categories: Black tea, Green tea
Post tags: breakfast tea