Signature Collection English Breakfast

I’m going to keep this review short. It’s Friday, I barely got any sleep last night, and even though I have not been at work a full hour, I have already had an absolutely miserable, unbearably stressful morning. Some of you may recall me mentioning purchasing this tea in a note I wrote back in November. I had yet to try it at the time and it had been on my to do list ever since. I finally cracked it open earlier in the week, made it through 4-5 cups, and ended up throwing the rest of the sachets out last night. I have literally never done that before with fresh tea, not even with a tea I greatly disliked.

The first turn-off for me was the visible presence of safflower in the blend. I hate safflower. Anyone who claims that it does not contribute a smell or taste to whatever it is blended with has no clue. Anyway, the second turn-off for me was that odd thistle, pepper, and saffron-like smell of the dried safflower. It obscured the tea base, which to be honest, did not seem all that interesting. In the mouth, I got an awkward mix of thistle, malt, caramel, toast, and black peppercorn. The peppery note dominated the finish, leaving an odd, slightly unpleasant tingle coupled with oiliness in the back of my throat.

Now that I have once again failed miserably at keeping things short and simple, allow me to state that this was not for me. Maybe some folks are cool with this blend, but I am certainly not one of them. I found the tea base weak, lifeless, and boring which caused the dreaded safflower to stand out when it really shouldn’t have. This was just an unpleasant experience for me, and I cannot say that I would be willing to recommend this tea to fans of English breakfast blends.

I opened the box and found a bag. Ugh. I did it again, I bought a bagged tea that comes in a non-resealable bag. I’m fine with loose tea that needs its own container, but I use tea bags differently, and it’s no fun having to keep them in an airtight container. I want tea bags to be portable and something I can store in a drawer in my office so that I have a wide selection available at any time without much fuss. Also, while satchets are satchets, they’re small and extremely restrictive.

The scent of this strikingly red, black tea is sharp and woody. It smelled like there would be a lot of tannins leaving me with a less smooth aftertaste and a lip-smack, but the tea was surprisingly drinkable. I’m not really certain what the safflower brings to the table aside from color, although I worried it might upset my ragweed allergy (it didn’t).