No. 18 British Brunch (formerly known as Brahmin)

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Assam Leaves, Ceylon Black Tea, Chinese Keemun Black Tea
Flavors
Caramel, Molasses, Raisins, Sweet, Tea, Astringent, Bread, Malt, Smoke, Smooth, Wood, Honey, Toast, Cocoa, Cream, Floral, Leather, Orange, Roasted Nuts, Oak
Sold in
Loose Leaf, Sachet
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Mastress Alita
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 15 sec 12 oz / 362 ml

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62 Tasting Notes View all

  • “How do you accomplish several sipdowns in one night without drinking a thing? Pack up some tea for family/friends, including those smaller samples that you already tried, so they can try them to!!...” Read full tasting note
  • “mmmm had this waaaay earlier today since today is another gloomy day and i wanted some comforting teas. Still trying to manage my sipdowns and get through some of my larger packages of tea but i...” Read full tasting note
    76
  • “Good morning Steepster. This is a sipdown for me. Although it’s a nice morning cuppa, it isn’t my favorite from Steven Smith and probably won’t be a repurchase for me. Also their shipping costs...” Read full tasting note
    78
  • “I needed a good tea for wake up this morning. The tea bag is huge and I steeped about 16 oz of tea. The tea is robust, brisk, and malty. I get more of the ceylon taste than the assam from it but...” Read full tasting note
    79

From Steven Smith Teamaker

A rich blend of full-bodied Indian Assam teas paired with succulent Ceylon Dimbulla, intense and floral Ceylon Uva and a touch of smoky China Keemun from Anhui. Sophisticated and delicious any time of day.

INGREDIENTS

Second flush Indian Assam, Ceylon Dimbulla, Ceylon Uva and China Keemun full leaf teas.

PREPARATION

For best flavor, bring freshly drawn filtered water to a boil. Steep five minutes. Adopt a peaceful sense of command over all that you survey.

About Steven Smith Teamaker View company

Company description not available.

62 Tasting Notes

3294 tasting notes

How do you accomplish several sipdowns in one night without drinking a thing? Pack up some tea for family/friends, including those smaller samples that you already tried, so they can try them to!! Nothing old or stale, mind you, just smaller quantities. I haven’t done the math yet, but I have boxes in the works for My sis, Sil, & a few others. It will be fun to see what my collection numbers at by the time I’m done. And I think I’m going to start next week with a Sipdown Extravaganza!

This tea is almost gone. I believe I’m going to include the final cup in one of the above mentioned boxes, so that I can claim a sipdown on it as well. It’s bold, it’s bright, it’s pretty good with a robust breakfast (which is what I usually eat). Any other time it is way too Ceylon for me, & it really leaves a puckery shrill high not on the tip & center of the tongue, long after the cup is drained.

TeaLady441

Hahaha. That’s a great way to do it!

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76
14991 tasting notes

mmmm had this waaaay earlier today since today is another gloomy day and i wanted some comforting teas. Still trying to manage my sipdowns and get through some of my larger packages of tea but i needed comfy teas today. This is still a pretty tasty tea, though not as wonderful as 49. But i’ll never turn this one down.

looseTman

Do you have any #18 sachet preparation recommendations?
Per SST’s website, 212*F / 5-min. / oz.? – Thanks!

Sil

Mine is loose, but I typically brew this as I do most of my blacks 2-3mins at water that’s slightly less than boiling. I don’t think I had brewing instructions when I got this one so I’ve never done the full 5 mins :)

looseTman

Thank you.

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78
2816 tasting notes

Good morning Steepster.
This is a sipdown for me. Although it’s a nice morning cuppa, it isn’t my favorite from Steven Smith and probably won’t be a repurchase for me. Also their shipping costs are pretty outrageous unless you buy $75 of tea, in which case it ships free. Other companies have a much lower cost for free shipping.

I have been seeing more of their teas in the Bay area so maybe I’ll just stick to buying the ones I can get locally.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec
boychik

i just posted i dont know if you saw they have promo until midnight wed Teamaker Tuesday for free ship

TeaBrat

Really? I just went to the website and I didn’t get free shipping, they wanted to charge me $11.25 to ship 3 items… Is there some kind of a code?

boychik

the code is Teamaker Tuesday
plus they are going to include “Variety Cello” Includes One Each Of the following

Kandy, Bergamot, Peppermint Leaves, Meadow, Fez and Mao Feng Shui for free. i just spoke to them on a phone. do not put 6 cello in a cart. they will ship it along with the order for free
i just placed an order 2oz loose of Lord, Assam and Fez

TeaBrat

Great- thank you! By the way the ones you chose are my favorites from them. :)

boychik

I do have Lord and Fez but sachets version and never tried Assam. I find loose tea taste different than bags or even sachets( Kusmi, Harney etc)I waited for free shipping since May probably. I have so much tea that I can wait;)

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79
429 tasting notes

I needed a good tea for wake up this morning. The tea bag is huge and I steeped about 16 oz of tea. The tea is robust, brisk, and malty. I get more of the ceylon taste than the assam from it but its still very good.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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2887 tasting notes

Random adjectives: suede, burgundy, fruit, mahogany wood, smooth, rich.
Watched the sun rise as I sipped, that just took extra words away.

(thanks to Terri HarpLady)

Terri HarpLady

Glad you liked it! This is a really nice & complex breakfast blend, IMO, very well balanced too.
It was really fun putting a package together for you, & I love love love those cards you sent!

yyz

This is my favourite type of morning wakeup, enveloped in a quiet inspiring contemplative beauty sipping something warm.

gmathis

Terri, I rummaged through my Cricut dies, hoping I had a harp somewhere, even attached to a Christmas angel…no such luck. I have peas and corn to go with your radishes, though :)

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4843 tasting notes

We had some errands to run today before I had a chance to brew some tea and enjoy it, so we stopped at Brewed Awakenings to pick up some tea. I figured I was to be choosing from a selection of Tazo or Stash teas which are generally this area’s choices for bagged tea (since both companies are based in Portland) but was thrilled to find that they carry teas from Steven Smith! Now, if only they’d start carrying loose leaf tea I’d be one happy tea drinker. (although, it might be a good thing that they DON’T carry loose leaf because I could see it as a problem where I want to go there all the time. As it is, it’s nice to know where to go when I NEED tea but can’t go home for some)

This is really good. So good that I will have to get some the next time I’m at the Smith Teamaker shop in Portland, or if I end up resorting to placing an order. Delicious and rich. I like this one a lot.

I did notice though that tea tastes WEIRD when steeped and cupped in a paper cup. I can taste the paper. It’s not an overwhelming flavor, but it is bothersome enough that I may have to find myself a good “to go” cup to have in the car for times when I need tea.

Since this was a bagged tea and it was steeped and served in a paper cup, I am going to reserve a rating for it until I’m able to have it prepared properly.

Dinosara

I really hate drinking tea out of a paper cup, the paper taste is so distracting!

LiberTEAS

My husband kind of sneered at me when I mentioned it … like it was insane that I could taste the difference between tea served in a paper cup and tea served in a ceramic mug. But, its there. And it was weird, and I prefer the taste of tea over paper.

JacquelineM

I can so taste the paper too!

ashmanra

Ditto! I ordered tea at Barnes and Noble ONCE, and won’t do it again. There was nothing but paper taste, like when we were kids and the school cafeteria had little wooden spoons for eating the ice cream and all you tasted was the spoon.

Kittenna

I liked the wooden popsicle stick flavour! (Different from paper cup flavour though.)

Blake

Out of curiosity, what tea did you order at B&N? I work at Barnes & Noble, and was heartbroken to find that our hot water tap used for the teas doesn’t break 165. Now maybe that’s just ours, but I had wondered why my Earl Grey tasted so…bland. I don’t know if it’s company standard to keep the taps that low, or if ours is just bad, but I could see that being a factor. Now I’m looking to pick up a second electric kettle to keep at work.

looseTman

LiberTeas, Have you had a properly brewed cup of Brahmin’s Choice? Thanks.

LiberTEAS

Not yet … but, perhaps my next trip to the Steven Smith’s Tea shop I will pick up some … or at least ask them to brew a cup for me if my husband will indulge me the time to enjoy a properly brewed cuppa.

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361 tasting notes

I am currently sitting in a fancy hotel room in the Oregon wine country alternating sips between this tea and a Bloody Mary. Yesterday was my husband and my 5th wedding anniversary so we decided travel 15 miles out of town and go wine tasting and stay at a fancy shmancy hotel. Of course they offer Steven Smith teas as anywhere fancy in the Portland area does. And I like this one as a breakfast tea with cream and honey. It’s nice and strong with caffeine, which I need desperately today. And the Bloody Mary, also necessary!

Yesterday we went to one of favorite vineyards and the winemaker walked us through the whole winemaking process from the vine on up. I couldn’t help myself from thinking of the comparisons with tea growing/processing. It really is such a science experiment and art form all at the same time. And this is coming from an avid beer chick.

Anyway… Fun way to spend our anniversary, without having to travel much. Heading back to reality in about an hour. But also back to my tea stash :-)

Sil

sounds lovely!

Kaylee

Happy anniversary!

yyz

Happy Anniversary! Sounds like a fun weekend.

caile

Happy Anniversary!

TeaBrat

Have a great time!

Nicole

Sounds like a good time!

Terri HarpLady

Yay! Happy Anniversary! Sounds like a fun time!

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97
871 tasting notes

Steven Smith teas really intrigue me but I have no great way of getting them due to shipping restrictions, so I am very happy that TerriHarpLady shared some of this with me in our recent swap.

This one reminds me so much of an iced tea, except I am drinking it hot right now, ha ha. It is a beautiful blend of assam and Ceylon. The Ceylon is sweet but the assam is bold, they mix well together. There is just the slightest dry astringency in the aftersip but it works well with the taste of the tea.

Definitely want to try this one iced. I hope to have a chance to try more Steven Smith in the future. Impressed so far.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Terri HarpLady

Glad you liked it! I really enjoy this one with breakfast, but I should try it over ice as well.
When the weather warms up!
If you decide you want to order some, let me know. We could probably work out an arrangement
:)

Lala

I might have to take you up on that arrangement :P

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82
336 tasting notes

Still feeling sluggish at almost 4 in the afternoon on a Sunday off, so sipping this while putting away laundry and watching Slayers.

Once again, I get the feeling I accidentally underleafed this. I keep pouring 2 cups of water into the kettle, then taking out one cup’s worth of tea. Oh well. Item descrip says combination of Assam, Ceylon, and some other types of tea. I’m definitely getting a combination of mushroom malty and bright floral-y vegetal-y, although it’s hard to pin down flavors since I think I underleafed. A little on the astringent side, but enjoyable.

Thank you to Nicole for the sample!

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80
911 tasting notes

For a short time, this brand was popping up in my grocery store. I picked up their EG, which was quite tasty (though I forgot to rate it!) and that led me delve into some of their other offerings. Unfortunately, it seems the grocery store has stopped carrying this brand. Boo. I don’t know if the company makes my short “must order from now!” list but I’m tempted to put them on my long “could see myself ordering from them” list so I could try some of their other black tea blends as the two teas I’ve now had from them have been quite nice.

The smell of this hits me as full on Assam – sweet, honeyed, thick and malty. The taste is less Assam and more… Ceylon, I think. Sort of a higher, smoother taste almost like a mild or very lightly muscat-ed Darjeeling. Which I think is Ceylon (the “big” black tea I am least familiar with). The Assam is in full on back up mode, adding just a little fuzzy texture and thickness. The Keemun…? I don’t really get a lot of Keemun taste but it seems to kind of fill in the holes the Ceylon and Assam leave, making this much smoother than I would anticipate from something Ceylon and not really expensive.

The Ceylon makes this a fairly bright tea but the Keemun, I think, keeps the astringency to the “rather mild” category. Still a bit bright for me this morning as I think I really need some tea cuddles (sore throat) but quite a nice little tea. I originally picked this up to be a travel mug tea for the husband (read: taken with lots of sugar and milk), but I think a handful of bags are going to have to go to me and my unadulterated cups.

Terri HarpLady

I’d be glad to send you samples of some of their other teas, if you’d like. :)

Auggy

Terri, What a nice offer – I’d love to sample some, if you wouldn’t mind. I shall PM you!

gmathis

Yet another case of grocery store envy on my part!

Auggy

gmathis, they seem to have stopped carrying it if that helps with your envy any. ;)

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