Irish Breakfast CTC

[liralen]

Bought: From Upton Teas just three months ago. I just bought a sample, kept it in the foil pouch until I wanted to try it and then popped it into one of my empty sample tins from Adagio.

Brewed: Full boil (at altitude this is 202°) 10 ounces of water to 1 rounded serving teaspoon of tea for about 2-3 minutes.

Leaf Quality: Now that I've actually seen a Crush Tear Curl (CTC) tea, I won't mistake simply torn or small sweepings tea for CTC. The leaves actually make tiny balls, just like in the picture for the tea, and when the tiny, twisted balls hit boiling water they give off a lot of air bubbles. It's pretty cool. Even spent, the leaves stay in the little ball and can be used for two steeps, as the first was so fast.

Liquor: It's strong tea. Malty, dark, dark, dark tea that stands up well to milk and sugar if you're so inclined, and a beautiful, strong, malty assam if you're not. It did get bitter on me when I brewed it too long. Brewing it "too strong" (rounded serving teaspoon per 8 ounces boiling water) didn't make it bitter, but the body of it was nearly like coffee at that point. I just added more hot water. Definitely a breakfast, Wake Me Up kind of brew. Workmanlike and solid, sturdy, every day stuff. I could probably drink this every morning instead of coffee. Not that it seems to have a lot of caffeine (unlike my pi lo chun, which sends me through the roof).

Rating: 7 of 10

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah, it definitely doesn't do well if you let it steep too long. it's my favorite "settle down on weekend morning and do bills/get work done" tea.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

I can now see why. It's quite nice.