French Breakfast

Golden Moon sample No. 20 of 31, random. The home stretch!

I’m tired. Need to get more sleep than I’ve been getting. I don’t know whether lack of sleep can affect how things taste?

I ask because I had a sort of unusual experience tasting this one. To start with, the dark, chocolate brown dry leaves seemed to me barely to have any smell at all. I got a little sweetness, maybe a teeny tiny chocolate note, but mostly… not much. Neutral, planty earthy smell and not at all strong.

Then I steeped it, and did a little bit of a double take on the aroma. I wondered whether it was just me, or did it smell an awful lot like the aroma of GM’s Nepalese Afternoon? The aroma was definitely sweet. Black tea sweet. As I concentrated on it a bit, I determined that I definitely got a predominantly honey note to the sweetness rather than brown sugar. But at first blush they seemed very similar. In color as well.

In taste, though, they differ. This one hits me with sweetness right away. The first sip was extremely sweet and honeyed, though that may have been primarily in contrast to the taste I had in my mouth from a cup of something else (Tazo Om) half an hour earlier. The second sip, less so, but still can taste the honey. It has a briskness to it, and is more astringent than I remember the Nepalese Afternoon being. Medium to light bodied, I’d say.

Does seem like it would go well with food. Does seem more an afternoon tea than a breakfast one, at least in terms of my personal preferences.

Hmm. Not sure where to place this one. I think on balance I like it not quite as much as the Nepalese Afternoon, and it would be down the pike a bit on my breakfast blend list.

It’s probably one of those that will get at least to the semi-finals as I narrow down the universe of all possible tea to a manageable stash to keep on hand. I will probably order some to try it against a narrower field and see whether it makes it to the quarter finals.

Yay, my samples from Golden Moon are here! Woo!

I thought I’d start off with this one because I need some caffeine and the honeyed description sounded delicious. I used about half the leaves in the packet in 8 ounces of water. There is a sweet, honey like flavor, but it’s the kind that I’ve found in a lot of black teas. I think that good black teas tend to have a delicious honey/black tea/sweet aftertaste, if you know what I mean, and this tea has lots of that delicious aftertaste.

The flavor of the tea just seems like “default black tea” flavor, with very nicely executed “good black tea honeyed aftertaste” flavor. It’s just a little tannic, but I didn’t have any trouble sipping my cup without sugar or milk. That kind of smoothness without milk or sweetener is pretty rare for breakfast bends.

Personally, since I drown my tea in milk and honey and sugar, I would rather have cheaper, lower quality, ground up Twinings English Breakfast. It’s not nearly as smooth or honeyed as this tea is, but I don’t mind, since I’m going to smother it in milk and honey anyway. However, I think this tea would be perfect for those times you just want a nice, clean cup of delicious black tea. I might just keep this one in stock for those times, since I’ve tasted very few plain black teas as good as this one without additives. Yum.

Well as a blizzard slams NJ, I took off of work, I did not want to drive in these conditions, end of story. Anyway, since it is breakfast time and I can have a full breakfast on my day off, I will have some Breakfast Tea. I chose this one because it was on top.

The leaves are small and black and give a distinctly black tea smell. Ceylon. They do not smell unique or intriguing, just like black tea. I’m fine with this. Brewed 4 minutes hot, with no additives. As I have said, I traditionally take breakfast tea with milk and sweetener, but I chose to try this on it’s own first.

The initial aroma of the brewed tea is what I expected, it is black tea: with the subtle earthy aroma with a hint of natural sweetness, maybe honey. Smells wonderful. The flavor however, goes so much further beyond the smell, it is earthy and rich, it is smooth and sweet without any sweetener, there is a full-bodied flavor going on here without any effort at all.

This tastes like the ideal you hope to get out of every black tea they serve you at a restaurant; it’s like an older, now-stale bag, you know what you want to taste, and what you want to taste is rich, smooth, full-bodied range of pick-me-up and start-my-day tea. This is EXACTLY what you are getting from this French Breakfast tea, hearty yet delicious black tea. I am so glad I added nothing to this, I may have to go back and try all of the other breakfast teas I adulterated by adding milk and sweetener.

Also, as a note, expect a full array of ratings today, the day is young, and I have no where to be. Until then!

This tea smells suprisingly like warm honeyed biscuits! The taste is a bit like milky, toasted oatmeal— yummy!

I’m really enjoying this tea, although I wasn’t so sure I would. I’m kind of prejudiced against Ceylons because, from the few I’ve tasted, I’ve found them too mild, timid and non-descript—fit only as bases for flavored blends.

But this “French Breakfast” is opening my mind. It is mild, yes. But it’s mildy elegant . The flavor is present but in a soft and comforting way.

The harsh glare of morning may be too much for this “temperate” tea. It would be better suited for a lazy, luxurious brunch. Or as an afternoon repast—with plenty of milk and sweet nothings.

First… this is the only black tea I can drink without milk and be completely happy while doing it. In addition this is the only tea that says it has a subtle honey like flavor and I can really taste it along with the promise of it being smooth actually being true. So this review is starting out pretty well…

But really… the second steep is the best with all of the tannin taste being absorbed by the first steeping. So for the first steeping I usually add just a teaspoon of sugar in the pot but in the subsequent steeps I don’t think the rest of the steeps need that.

Sugar fixes all of the bitterness and makes this blend extremely enjoyable. So if you are looking for a plain black tea I think this one is the best. If I find a better one I will be extremely surprised.

backlogging yesterday’s GM Grab Bag Extravaganza :-) “French Breakfast”…not a name or type that I’ve heard before..might as well call it “Queensland Extra”. Seriously, I think they made up the name. Nonetheless, this was a fine Ceylon with a nice bright and sparkly appearance in the carafe. A bit of an earthy undertone, but with the normal briskness I expect of a Ceylon tea. I’d put it in the good/average class for a Ceylon…which means I’d be happy to drink it any day. I got two 12 oz steepings from the sample, the second being a bit peaked.

GM Sampler #ohmylordidon’tknow&amtoolazytotallywhat’sleft of 31 ;)

I awoke to such an overcast drizzly day that I knew I had to start my day with a black tea. But black teas are such a mystery to me. It seems like a lot are much too harsh for me, but then I love lapsang souchongs. I can’t tell the difference between Ceylons, Keemuns, or Assams and that drives me nutty cuz I want to! So I thought as I rifled through the sampler basket “Oh hey, this one’s Ceylon – I just need to make a note of this being a Ceylon and then go from there.” Well, that’s my hope. I think my theory falls flat since I don’t think that I have straight up Keemun or Assam tea handy for a comparison. D’oh!

Everything seemed like stereotypical black tea from the scent of the dried/steeped leaves to the cup’s aroma. The taste is really suprisingly pleasant. There’s this nice subtle sweetness that I’m digging. I feel sorta crazy(er) in that I almost feel like I’m drinking the pre-smoked tea that’s used for lapsangs, because this is the undercurrent taste I get while drinking GM’s LS, only a bit sweeter.

I’m on my second steep and there is a bit of dryness happening at the back of my throat, but not enough to dissuade me from drinking this again. But I’m not rushing to add this to my shopping list. But, I could see myself buying some to keep on hand for days I need a simple “reset” to my tea routine. NE

Another weekend, another Golden Moon Tea! See pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren_pressley/tags/frenchbreakfast/show/

This was a good black tea! It’s lighter than English Breakfast (in taste and color), has a hint of something floral to it, and kindof reminds me of yesterday’s Darjeeling.

Unfortunately there was a little speck of turquoise something in it, which I pulled out prior to steeping, but it kept me from fully enjoying the tea. Maybe I’ll give it another go in the future. Despite that, the part that I tasted was quite good.

Thank you to Sandy Stith for this sample (and all of the other samples that you sent as well- I look forward to trying them all!)

This is a very light breakfast blend- soft, sweet, honeyed flavor. There’s a brightness to it as well. I wouldn’t say that it’s enough to call it astringent, but bright. I’m also picking up a fruitiness. Figs perhaps? It’s making me think of fig newtons, so figs it is.

It isn’t a very robust tea, so I think it’d be one I’d drink in the afternoon rather than as a breakfast choice. It is quite lovely and something I would definitely drink a lot of :)

I rearranged what is left of my Golden Moon Tea sampler and decided to try this one. I wanted something smooth. This one was smooth. There was a hint of astringency lingering in the back of my throat, but this had a slight sweetness to it that sort of counter-acted it. I wanted to try this with sugar, and I found it more enjoyable IMO. :) A good everyday black tea.