English Breakfast 1

After my Ceylon search of a couple years ago, I settled on two "everyday" teas. Both were from Gong Fu Tea in the East Village in Des Moines--their Organic Ceylon Black Tips and their English Breakfast. Prior to this tea journey, when I thought of English Breakfast, I thought of the bland bags of black tea I grew up with...no offense to my parents--I'm not trying to criticize your tea selection. Some will do in a pinch (although I never drink tea on airplanes anymore, ugh), but since I've started brewing my own loose tea, the only bagged tea I really use is the occasional herbal tea. It can over-steep for an hour and still be drinkable--not a bad thing! (Especially when you have two small children who, um, distract you from your tea drinking!) Anyway, I've stayed away from "English Breakfast" loose tea, in an inexplicably snobby way. Well, on my search for a good Ceylon, I came to really enjoy English breakfast, and not just at breakfast. For those of you who don't know, English and Irish, or any "breakfast" teas are blends of some sort, usually Ceylon or Assam mixed together or with something else. This first is a Ceylon blend. Here is their description:

A full-bodied and flavorful Ceylon blend of select Ceylon BOP. An excellent morning tea, especially suited for the addition of milk and sugar.

(BOP=Broken Orange Pekoe)

Name: Ceylon English Breakfast
Source: Upton Tea
Price: $5.20 for 4 oz. (Actually, it's per 125 g, which is more like 4.4 oz) (Good value!)
Recommended steep time: 3 minutes
Comments: Very fine (crushed) leaves is a pretty good indication that this will be a strong tea! (It's also heavier than the big flakes or curly pieces that take up more volume in a tin--just f.y.i.) Oh boy, it was strong! Don't steep for more than 3 minutes! Without trying to sound too negative after my aforementioned disinclination towards English Breakfast, this is the closest thing to what I used to think of as "English breakfast", in terms of flavor. I'm NOT saying it's bland or tastes like bagged tea. I guess it's a close match to my memory of Twinings English breakfast. I prefer just milk in my tea, but this could almost stand some sugar. It's just a bit on the bitter side for me.
2nd Steep: After 5 minutes of steeping, it tasted of a watered down version of the first steep. "Duh", you say? I was actually a little surprised. With second steepings, tea usually tastes more or less bitter, and most of the time weaker, but with the strength of this tea, I had high hopes for its flavor holding through, maybe with a bit of the edge taken off. It was more like dirty dish water. Disappointing.
Rating: 2 cups