What-Cha Irish Breakfast Black Tea

I had hopes for this Irish blend....especially after tasting What-Cha's English black blend tea and finding it quite lovely and complex.  Dry, this leaf is intriguing, with it's deep dark assam leaves mixed with twisty ceylon and the green touches from the Nepal tea that create this blend.  The smell from the cup....well, this is not your typical Irish Breakfast tea.  What-Cha has taken the concept of a tea that has a notoriously heavy flavor profile (which is why we who like Irish Breakfast teas love them to begin with!) and updated it with a briskness that balances the bottom notes with youthful abandon. There is beautiful deep malt and cocoa as bottom notes that are joined  by mid notes of a green wood spiciness and a lingering apricot top note that gives this tea a long malty sweet finish.  The true beauty of this blend's finish is held in the buoyant briskness that the ceylon brings. The deep lovely malt and cocoa notes are not lessened by the briskness...they are enhanced....brought to a fuller, rounder mouthfeel than most Irish blends possess.  There is a touch of astringency to the cup, but it is just enough to make you look forward to the next sip.  Which is hard not to do.  If you are a black blend drinker, give this one a try.  It is a captivating alternative to what you're used to.

You can find this tea here.

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.