best breakfast tea ?

[petr]

What is your favorite or the highest quality breakfast tea you have found?

I am looking for a B&B obsessive quality Earl Gray or other breakfast tea.

Loose leaf.

Currently I am trying Bellocq and it is a vast improvement over store front stuff.

Any ideas gents?

 

[LostHighway]

As far as I know there isn't any specific definition of what constitutes a breakfast tea. The only relatively close to universal quality seems to be that they tend to be full-bodied teas. In my case i drink mostly unblended single estate Assams or alternately Keemums for breakfast. Assam origins tend to be a primary component in English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Scottish Breakfast and East Frisian Breakfast teas but they are all typically blends and can also include teas from Ceylon (frequently), other areas of India and Nepal, more rarely Keemum or Yunnan Chinese teas and even more rarely Javanese teas. Taste is so personal that I'm reluctant to point you to specific teas just because I like them.

If you are lucky enough to have a good brick and mortar tea shop within reasonable driving distance I'd start there. If not, here are a few web tea vendors:
https://secure.uptontea.com/store/home.asp
http://www.jas-etea.com/
http://www.svtea.com/
http://verdanttea.com/

 

[TexLaw]

For Earl Grey, I am a big fan of the Earl Grey Imperior from TeaGschwendner. It's actually a darjeeling with real bergamot oil added. Tasty stuff.

 

[JohnYaddy]

Harney.com is another good online source. They have several Earl Grey varieties, from very light to full-bodied. They do samples as well, so you can try a variety.

 

[cvargo]

I like Lady Grey in the morning and Earl Grey in the evening. Just my preference.

 

[Dachshund63]

My personal favorite is NYC Breakfast Blend from Tavalon. I'd give that a look.

 

[Doc4]

As far as I know there isn't any specific definition of what constitutes a breakfast tea. The only relatively close to universal quality seems to be that they tend to be full-bodied teas.

If this is what the OP means ... then I'd suggest a good lapsang souchong.

 

[Saxonbowman]

I rotate among Keemun, Assam, and Darjeeling for breakfast. I drink them with milk and a little sugar. Later in the day I'll switch to something lighter like a green or oolong.

 

[auk1124]

Harney and Sons Irish Breakfast is quite good.

 

[petr]

Bunch of great ideas. I knew you guys would deliver.

Off I go to order some things. However, it is more expensive than I expected. Is this due to quality or marketing gimmicks?

 

[Saxonbowman]

Check out http://englishteastore.com (NFI) Great prices especially when you buy by the pound once you find out what you like. Good stuff.

 

[TexLaw]

Thanks for the tip. They have a lavender Earl Grey that sounds rather interesting.

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

Coffee

 

[windinthewillows]

Harney's premium Earl Greys are lovely, but the standard offering is . Their English Breakfast is a straight Keemun and my favorite.
A recent article mentions lead pollution from chinese industries is showing very high levels in tea and recommends brewing 3 minutes instead of 5- barbaric.

 

[LostHighway]

Harney's premium Earl Greys are lovely, but the standard offering is . Their English Breakfast is a straight Keemun and my favorite.
A recent article mentions lead pollution from chinese industries is showing very high levels in tea and recommends brewing 3 minutes instead of 5- barbaric.

That is interesting, can you link the article? Keemum/Anhui would presumably be worse than Yunnan or Fujian teas because the growing region is closer to the industrial heart of the PRC but so much out of China is misrepresented that actual origins and grades are murky, at best. If they are getting airborne lead deposits it is a fairly safe bet that they are also on the receiving end of cadmium and possibly mercury deposition, not an appealing picture. I don't know much about the geographic distribution of ground water or soil borne nasty elements like arsenic.
Most of the Indian tea growing regions are relatively far from their coal power plants and industrial heart and I tend to have far greater trust in Indian origins and grading. I do love Keemums, however, and giving them up would be painful.

 

[windinthewillows]

Sorry, it was one of those online articles you read and move on. I did send a link to Harney's without reply. Harney's makes lovely tea, but their customer communications is not.

 

[CurtisB81]

That's like women, eveyone got what they are looking for..Theres a SC,HI and OR grown teas that pretty good..Arbor teas are very good org and fare trade..

 

[H4nk]

Upton Assam's are nice as are their breakfast blends