Scottish Morn

THIS IS IT!

this is the tea i chose.

tea taste number 600!

and it was a good choice. i drank it at midnight on new years eve. along side a 15% stout. go big or go home!
this tea is delicious. simple and bold. i will definitely consider ordering a tin of this in the future. and for me, the sample queen, that’s pretty high praise :)

hello 2014! hello hello hello!

Thanks to The Purrfect Cup I was able to try this one!!!

This is a strong and sturdy Scottish Breakfast! YEAH!!!! Another busy day writing and LOTS of tea needed! This is the type that kicks ya in the ass in the morning! I LOVE IT. It has attitude!

I wanted to give this a try as soon as it arrived yesterday. But I was worried I’d be up all night as this is billed as their strongest tea! So I waited to try it on this cool (for now) July 4th morning. At first sniff of the dry leaf I worried that it was too similar to their Irish Breakfast, so much so that I took out my tin of that for comparison. Well, let me tell you they are two very different teas. This one is made from two very VERY dark black tea leaves. It says a Ceylon black tea and a strong black from India. I’m guessing Ceylon and Assam. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.

Wow is it strong! But it is good. There is a tiny hint of astringency (or I over steeped – which might be true) with my first few sips. Even that isn’t bad, usually I find to be a huge turn off. I have to say it is bold, rich, and slightly oaky to taste and I like it a lot. I didn’t add anything to this tea and I usually don’t. I’m sure this would take milk and sweetener if you were so inclined to add it. I’m glad I bought the tin…would have been very sad had I only ordered the sample size!

I got a new puppy yesterday and I am crate training. So after a night of howling and a morning of cleaning messes, I needed a strong tea. The dry leaves look like mostly CTC with a few longer leaves, as well. Dried it smelled kind of typical malty breakfast teas. I tried it without milk and sugar first and it was strong with some astringency. Since it says it was made for milk and sugar I tried it with even though i don’t usually take my tea that way. There was no further astringency and had a berry flavor that I couldn’t detect without it. Very sneaky and very yummy.

Backlog:

A good, strong, HEFTY cup o’ tea! The leaf is a fine chop CTC that produces a really rich, hearty cup of tea that is gonna give you the kick in the pants that you need to get you going in the morning. Maybe not the best cuppa for a Sunday when you want to just kick back and relax, but a great Monday Morning cuppa!

What I liked best about this is that while it was good and strong, it wasn’t too harsh or edgy. A lot of flavor. Smooth yet invigorating. I like it!

I can’t believe I drank all of this (today is a sipdown) without ever actually reviewing it. I am the worst Steepster person ever considering how much I like this tea.

Now that we’ve established that, on to an actual review. :)

Dry: Tiny leaf pieces and CTC balls in a blend of Ceylon, Assam, and Scottish magic. That’s not an ingredient? I am pretty sure it is. The dry tea smells like a pleasantly strong breakfast blend.

Steeped: Dark brown clear liquor. Some of the dry bits are so small that they fit through the teeny holes in the infuser, so there is a dark swirl at the bottom of the teacup. Smells robust.

Taste: My favorite strong straight black morning tea. It is just perfect. I’ve tried a number of breakfast teas, but I always come back to this one. Smooth, rich, full-bodied. I normally drink it with milk and it does great with honey and other additives as well, but today I am drinking it straight and it is wonderful, with just the tiniest hint of astringency at the end of each sip. I could (and sometimes do) drink it every morning.

Must. Order. More!

What a ridiculously delicious tea this is. I think it might be my very favorite CTC now. Dry and steeping it has a chocolate-y aroma, and while strong it isn’t bitter or astringent at all to me. I liked my first cup so much I gave in against better judgment and made a 3 cup pot to go with lunch (so glad Harney samples are large enough you can do that! I still have about a cup’s worth left too). Great way to use up the last of the milk before we go out of town. Definitely want to restock this, though my stable of Harney breakfast blends is getting unruly…

3 tsp for 500mL water @ 100C, steeped six minutes, drunk bare.

I’m surprised to read this is a blend of Assam and Ceylon; I thought it was Kenyan. It’s strong yet quite smooth. Fragrant. Not harsh. Took a long steep well. Lots of body, and a good caffeine lift. An excellent blend for cold mornings, too.

I received my first order from Harney & Sons today and this is the tea that I brewed first. It is a good strong breakfast tea. Nothing else particular to say.

It’s definitely strong, but sorta missing something. Just kind of generically malty and dark and … and strong. I wish there was more depth to it. Not bad, just not for me.