French Breakfast

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Creamy, Earth, Malt, Smooth, Sweet, Vanilla, Wood, Rose, Caramel, Floral, Honey, Orange Zest, Smoke
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Organic
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 45 sec 2 g 13 oz / 391 ml

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From Octavia Tea

Transport yourself to a sidewalk café in Paris with this luxurious, full-bodied cup. Destined to become a classic, French Breakfast is a rich, bright black tea with notes of vanilla and caramel. This enchanting, flavorful tea is made from a traditional, antioxidant-rich black tea base enhanced with the decadent, creamy flavor of vanilla and a touch of rose petals. An Octavia Tea favorite!

Ingredients: Organic black tea, Organic rose petals, Natural vanilla flavor
This tea is USDA Certified Organic.

About Octavia Tea View company

Company description not available.

28 Tasting Notes

818 tasting notes

We had a fabulous day yesterday in Carmel and Monterey. We decided we would escape the heat and drive down to the coast for the day! It was so cool, like 64 degrees, which was a huge change from our previous day in Davis, where it was like walking through a furnace at 104 degrees. Anyway, we had a blast shopping around Carmel, and eating at some amazing places. We found our new favorite Italian restaurant in Carmel, called Little Napoli…food was amazing! I had a gnocchi dish and they were like little pillows with Gorgonzola cheese melted on top! Yum!!! I also picked up a cute new hat, kind of 1920s inspired!

I was also excited to stop by the Tea Rose shop, which was closed the last time we were in Carmel. I had read she carried Harney & Sons teas, and I knew she had some cute teaware, but she said she recently went to a tea expo, and picked up a bunch of stuff, and I found the Octavia Tea Company teas in her shop as well. Never heard of them before. Of course I had to try them out. I picked up a tin of this tea, since it sounded unique. I mean, I’ve seen English breakfast, and Irish breakfast, and even Scottish breakfast, but not French breakfast. Plus, I like the idea of a vanilla, caramel, rose black tea. The tins are a little funny though. Remind me of a deodorant stick in shape! Haha! It was a little pricey for 3oz., but I figured I was in Carmel (instant rate hike) and the tea is organic, so I went for it. I looked up the company online, and yes, she had hiked the price up by $2.50, but I suppose she needs to make some profit! It does seem like a lot though…like a 17% hike. I made a comment about checking them out online, and I don’t think she appreciated it…ha! You do save on shipping though, by getting it at her shop.

Of course I had to have a cup this morning. This tea did not disappoint! I was happy to see the tea was sealed up fresh in a foil pouch within the tin. When I opened it, the dry leaf smelled like vanilla and rose. Brewed up, it tastes like vanilla, caramel, and rose black tea! Perfect! I steeped it at 195 degrees for 3 minutes, since the instructions said something about letting boiling water cool a bit. This turned out to be a great cup, with no astringency…of course, I added soy milk and sugar too! So I’m super satisfied, and will probably be ordering sample sizes online to try more of this company!! ;)

Bonnie

Jealous! I used to live in Morgan Hill and a drive to Monterey took 45 minutes! Oh well.. My brother lives in San Jose and son in San Francisco so I can visit! I’ll have to make a note about this tea shop!

Tealizzy

Wow! 45 minutes would have been nice! It’s about 2 1/2 hours for us, but still doable. You can see pics of the shop on yelp. I almost picked up some cute teacup notecards, but I didn’t…totally should have!

momo

Check Whole Foods for them, only one in my area carries them but I bought this one for a dollar or two less than Octavia teas sells it for online.

Tealizzy

momo – thanks for the tip! I will check our local one!!

Terri HarpLady

This tea sounds quite tasty!

Tealizzy

Btw, it resteeped nicely. Win!

Chelle

I will check too! This one sounds yummy!

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88
6768 tasting notes

Had two cups of this so far today! Lovely Black tea and floral, vanilla, caramel combo! Ahhhh!

silvermage2000

Nicely review this sounds really good.

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1220 tasting notes

I find it funny how many teas there are called French Breakfast, and they are all different.
And none of them remind me of the tea I drank in France!

I had this in my shopping list on here, and found it at Whole Foods Buckhead. They had a few others but none were other ones I wanted to try. They were even $1 less than online from Octavia, score!

I followed the directions on the tin: water off boiling, 3 1/2 minutes is a good average start. Kind of annoyed they don’t put anything exact, but it seems they just use the same one tin for all black teas they carry.

I’m not getting any caramel, just some vanilla. And like last night, this just isn’t that good of vanilla. Vanille des Îles is my benchmark vanilla, though it’s more of a bourbon vanilla taste, it still has all the nuances I expect from vanilla. And this is definitely missing that. It’s like comparing a homemade vanilla bean extract to imitation vanilla extract.

The tea is very astringent too, which surprises me for such a short steep. Granted, I have no idea what exactly the black tea in here is supposed to be so it makes it hard to figure out how long to steep it.

As it cools it just kind of loses any flavor whatsoever. It’s just a smooth cup of a boring, brisk black tea…with that hint of imitation vanilla. While it was hot there was a bit of a floral note from the rose petals.

I figured French breakfast goes well with watching a race here in Atlanta named for the infamous Le Mans! Except it nearly isn’t as fun to watch without the big teams…I don’t even feel upset about not being there now.

I’ll give it a try with a shorter steep…maybe I’ll even take a minute off instead of just 30 seconds, and see if that helps keep the black tea from taking over the cup.

Teavangelical

I just mixed this with peppermint and chamomile. OMG its the tea I’ve been looking for my entire life.

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1112 tasting notes

Many thanks to Jaime for this tea!!!

Ooooooh purty. I’m a sucker for rose petals in tea :) Oooooooh vanilla! I can see the cut up pods – always a good sign for me!

The flavor does not disappoint! I taste lovely medium bodied tea with a great earthy vanilla and vanilla pod taste. The smallest tinge of caramel. I am enjoying it plain today, but I think it would also be lovely with milk and sugar for a gentle accompaniment to holiday cookies. We are having Cookie Day here at the University on Monday, and I am going to save my remaining teaspoon of leaves and bring in a little milk and sugar for that very special day!!!!

Once again, thank you thank you thank you Jaime!!!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec
ashmanra

Sounds lovely! And you know I love my tea and cookies…

JacquelineM

I wish you could be here for Cookie Day! We each make a huge batch of whatever floats our boats (this year there will be 9 different types of cookies – it depends on our staff number!), eat as many as we can during grade day, then split up the remaining cookies so we all have a variety of cookies to eat during our Winter Break (University closed from 12/21 – 1/3)!

gmathis

I wish I could be there for cookie day, too. But since mine tend to be slice-and-bake, I suspect I’d get run out on a rail :)

JacquelineM

gmathis – we accept all abilities :) We are Equal Opportunity Cookie Monsters!!!!

Jaime

I admit, I wasn’t a big fan of this one, so I was a little worried you’d not like it. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

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92
4169 tasting notes

Octavia’s French Breakfast tea has been haunting me since I tried a teabox sample of it ages ago. I asked Octavia about a few samples and they sent me a boatload. I am so appreciative, as I always wanted to try most of their teas! This tea has been lingering in my mind! The memory of this tea (and the tea itself) likely changed since I sipped it six years ago. It’s a lovely Chinese black base with vanilla beans, vanilla flavoring, and rose petals. To be honest, I can’t really see too many vanilla beans in the blend, but this is a black tea after all, maybe they’re hiding. Octavia suggests three teaspoons for one mug, but I definitely didn’t use that much. I thought it would be too much even if I cooled the water to 180 degrees as they also suggested. The scent of the dry leaf is like a baked goodie – definitely vanilla. I’m glad the base tea by appearance seems very similar to what I remember- a Chinese black tea seems perfect for vanilla. The color of the brew seems dark in appearance, but it’s smooth and full of that lingering vanilla. So so good. The rose doesn’t impact the tea too much and I’m certainly glad there isn’t any additional rose flavoring. In the first cup, I could swear there were hints of cherry blossoms. I steeped a half mug full on the third steep and the flavor was still going strong — somehow it seemed to constantly shift between cherry and cherry blossom, even more than the previous two steeps. A malty sweet brew that I’m very glad to revisit. Is it like I remember? Like I said, memory is fickle, but this tea is very close to memory.
Steep #1 // 1 1/3 teaspoons for a full mug // 26 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 2 minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep
Steep #3 // half mug – just boiled // 4 min

gmathis

This sounds wonderfully elegant.

Kittenna

Mmm, sounds like a keeper, especially with the cherry/cherry blossom notes!

tea-sipper

Yeah, it’s definitely a unique tea both six years ago and now.

Rosehips

Ooh, this is good to know! This has been on my “I want to try this” list for ages.

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812 tasting notes

let’s taste this tea from the Traveling Tea Box B with a side of animal crackers!
oh wow it does have a little carameley vanillaey notes. not strong but very noticeable.
i like this one a lot. very nice.

canadianadia

mmm…animal crackers. I haven’t had those since I was a kid, but it sounds like a fun tea partner.

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71
596 tasting notes

Remains a lovely, fragrant brew. Perfect first thing in the morning.

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89
4843 tasting notes

A not so random selection of my Octavia samples… I wanted a black tea since it’s still my “morning” – yeah, yeah, I know it’s 1:42 pm, but, it’s still MY morning. :)

This is very nice. A very pleasant change up from the typical breakfast blend. I like the creamy vanilla and caramel notes… especially the caramel which is quite lovely… and is making me wonder how a pinch of salt might be in this cup. (I have a particular weakness for salted caramels).

Lovely and sweet… the black tea is very smooth and has very little astringency… it is just a very smooth, luxurious experience with this tea… kind of like you would want for breakfast in Paris.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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40
902 tasting notes

It’s rather smokier than I was expecting it to taste. The smell is all vanilla-caramel, with just a hint of rose. There’s vanilla in the taste, but also this burnt-smoky flavor as well. It reminds me of the Stash decaf creme caramel I had a while back and couldn’t stomach. Perhaps I’m tasting the caramel flavor and not enjoying it in tea form? Which is rather sad, since I adore real caramel.

As the pot dwindles, it’s getting smoother and I taste more vanilla. But I doubt I’ll ever invest in more. Still just tastes burnt.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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144 tasting notes

I drank this last night after a day full of (unsweetened) black tea: English breakfast, Irish breakfast, then French breakfast. So drinking this was like going to a rose garden after a day of something bold and brisk like uh… chainsaw shopping. I brewed it for 3 minutes and it came out just a little bitter, so I’ll try maybe 2 minutes next time. The dry leaves smelled like a bottle of vanilla extract to me, which I love. It showed up a great dark red colour and I got black tea + vanilla but without any creaminess. I think the rose petals are mostly there for show. I didn’t get any caramel, but maybe next time with a shorter brew? I only have a sample size but I think I might order a tin of this. It did make me picture some twee Parisian ivy-covered balcony.

gmathis

This one bears further investigation—sounds wonderful!

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