Second Breakfast by Whispering Pines Tea

Second Breakfast by Whispering Pines Tea....and ghostie. 

I love good black tea blends.  What I mean by "I love good black tea blends" is that I love good tea in good tea blends.  Because Whispering Pines sells so few straight black teas, and all I have tasted have been to my liking, it was easy to know I would like this tea.  

Second Breakfast dry leaf in incredibly chocolatey smelling.  Not cocoa.  Chocolate.  The chocolate note joins with the sugar cane quality in the Ailaoshan black tea to give a strong scent of warm chocolate syrup.  Wet, the leaves unfurl long and beautiful.  The liquor of Second Breakfast is a warm amber brown that smells of earth and chocolate and a touch of dark stone fruit.  In the cup, the keemun's earthiness mutes the usual boldness of the Ailaoshan black.  It expands the base flavor profile of this tea so much so that there isn't much going on the middle of the cup.  There is some grain and a touch of malt as a middle note, which is a pleasing combination with the earthy chocolate bottom note.  Top note is a dark stone fruit and a dark forest floral note.  Nothing bright in this cup, but nothing overly dark and brooding either. If this cup was a forest and you were Lil Red Riding Hood, you'd continue on your way to your grandma's house. The audience wouldn't be waiting for a big "BOO", and hopefully, when you got to grandma's house, she'd have a lovely large cup of Second Breakfast waiting for you.  Warm, earthy and comforting, it is a good cup of tea with a lovely deep flavor profile.  

You can find this tea here.