Good, bold, English breakfast/afternoon tea

I'm still mostly a coffee drinker, but since my wife doesn't like the smell of coffee unless it smells like vanilla or caramel, my lovely Quick Mill sits cold on weekends.

In London, I had an amazing English afternoon tea, but it was a proprietary hotel blend. It reads like this from the menu:
A superior blend of malty Assam, high grade Ceylon and second flush, Single Estate Darjeeling. The tea is malty, rich and rounded with notes of fruit and spice

Does anyone have a recommendation for a strong blend that might be along these lines? Loose or bag, although for flavor it will probably be loose leaf from what I'm learning. Until this, my favorite was the basic Twinings English Breakfast.

Check with Upton Teas. They have some nice blends.

Taylor's of Harrogate Yorkshire Red. Good, strong, flavorful. Doesn't have to be loose, as the bags have more tea than the standard size teabag, but it comes in both varieties. I've tried dozens of breakfast blends, and this is easily my favorite. Yorkshire Gold is good too, but I prefer the Red for flavor.

Sounds like a regular high grade second flush Assam
Twinning perfect afternoon sounds close

My wife drinks a bold tea named "Builder's Tea". We got it at World Market here in the Dallas area. It is pretty strong, according to her. The box has a statement "This country (England) was not built on Camomile". I can't vouch for the taste myself, as I am a coffee drinker.

H4nk said:

Check with Upton Teas. They have some nice blends.

Click to expand...

+1

Whatever else I order from Upton, and it's usually some nice estate stuff, I always add a bag of their English Breakfast or Season's Pick Assam. The Season's Pick Assam has never disappointed, though Assam by itself doesn't make a breakfast blend. And it's only a tad more costly than Twinnings.

Twinning's English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast tea's are fantastic.

Twinning's English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast tea's are fantastic. Also, if you're looking for a really authentic English tea, my good friend in Birmingham, has always told me that PG Tips is her favorite tea. I've had it a few times and it's quite strong....

Larry C in Texas said:

My wife drinks a bold tea named "Builder's Tea". We got it at World Market here in the Dallas area. It is pretty strong, according to her. The box has a statement "This country (England) was not built on Camomile". I can't vouch for the taste myself, as I am a coffee drinker.

Click to expand...

I've had that one too. Although it has the same amount of tea per bag (3.1g) as Yorkshire Red or Gold, for some reason it's not as strong unless you use less water. In a "teacup" it's good, but not so much in a "mug." The bold body is lacking, but it still has good flavor. Must be the blend of tea.

H4nk said:

Check with Upton Teas. They have some nice blends.

Click to expand...

+2. They have some great blends, and I find their descriptions of their teas to be very accurate. You can easily find something with the same "ingredients" on their site.

Another vote for the Taylor's of Harrogate if it is available over there. For a really strong cup though my favourite is Glengettie. Sounds Scottish but is actually a Welsh tea. Very much doubt you'd find that over there though, it's not that common in England!

I can only find it in Aldi or Lidl (can't remember which) and I only live about 25 miles from the Welsh border!

Gareth

Check out Murchie's ... they provide the tea blend for "afternoon tea at the Empress hotel" in Victoria, B.C. ... and they sell on the internet.

I bought some PG Tips when it was on closeout at Kroger (?). That is great tea. Otherwise I found it expensive.

H4nk said:

I bought some PG Tips when it was on closeout at Kroger (?). That is great tea. Otherwise I found it expensive.

Click to expand...

PG Tips is a standard cheap tea over here!

My officemate grew up in London and Edinburgh. She recommended it as "better than whatever you are drinking now". Our local grocer store (we only have large grocery stores) carries lots of "British" items for large prices over in the International section. Things like pork and beans and pickles, as if we can't get them locally.
PG Tips is the only British tea they carry yet they have a massive tea section over in coffee and tea. The Kroger English Breakfast is tolerable.
But once you have tasted real tea, you can't go back. Upton's East Frisian Blend is a boatload of Assam malty goodness. The Richmond Park blend is a great afternoon cuppa. I'm drinking Upton's Irish Breakfast Blend right now and it is pretty good.

Our leaf tea of preference is the D J Miles West Country Blend - it is blended to suit hard water areas. The difference is quite noticeable when compared to other tea brewed with our hard water.

http://www.djmiles.co.uk/Speciality-Leaf-Tea/catalogue/25/

It's surprising how much difference hard water can make to a cup of tea.

Cheers
Steve

If you don't mind the premium price, this is one of my favourite teas...

http://www.harrods.com/product/no-18-georgian-blend-50-tea-bags/harrods/000000000001861736

I suspect this will not be easy to get in the US, but Co-Op Indian Prince loose leaf tea is very good. Lots of flavor, but with some subtle quality notes and not like well stewed pennies.

Heespharm said:

Sounds like a regular high grade second flush Assam
Twinning perfect afternoon sounds close

Click to expand...

That does sound spot on but I can only find a box of bags for 30 quid, plus shipping from the UK. That's probably not going to cut it.

On Amazon I found a couple of options. Ahmad Tea English Afternoon might work if you have bags. If you search, you can find people who are selling similar in loose.

My one local trusted person at Teavana suggested Capital of Heaven Keemun, which I've had before and it is delicious. It's not a Ceylon/Darjeeling mix, but it is malty. (It also happens to be on sale on their Website, which according to my source it may be the only place to buy it right now.)

Something completely different: Try Twinings Prince of Wales. It's a Chinese tea blend that you can find in tins for cheap, and I remember it being quite smooth. It isn't going to have that malty thing going on though.

Gwen;s Teas has a very nice English Afternoon tea.
It is a blend of Assam, Ceylon, and Darjeeling teas.

http://www.gwensteas.com/