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