Tea: Awake English Breakfast Full Leaf
An English Breakfast from Tazo Tea
This tea has been retired/discontinued.
| Brand: | Tazo Tea |
| Style: | English Breakfast |
| Region: | Blend |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Loose? | Sachet |
| # Ratings: | 2 View All |
Reviewer: Alex Zorach
✓ 1453 teas reviewed
✓ 40 of English Breakfast
✓ 501 of Black Tea
✓ 24 of Tazo Tea
✓ 317 of blends
Review of Awake English Breakfast Full Leaf
May 29th, 2013
| Aroma | Flavor | Value | Total |
| 6 of 10 | 3 of 5 | 3 of 5 | 60 of 100 |
| Good | Fair | Reasonable |
Of all the teas I've sampled from Tazo in both the old tea bags, and the new full leaf sachets, this is the one that I think improved the least.
I thought the old tea was already pretty complex, above average for a tea bag, but I think this one is below average for a whole leaf sachet.
Aroma is mostly malty, typical for an English Breakfast, flavor is more sour than bitter, and there's quite a bit of astringency. Robust and full-bodied.
The one thing I really notice though is how they stuff an insane amount of leaf into the sachet! Seriously, this is like about twice as much leaf as I use for brewing a regular cup of tea, and it's considerably more than I've seen in some of the other Tazo teas, like the China green tips I recently reviewed.
The result is that this bag produces a very strong brew. I'm not convinced that the tea itself is particularly strong, that they just created the strength of the brew by using more leaf than normal. I dissected the bag and looked at the leaf, and it doesn't contain much tip (contrast with the China green tips, which actually DOES contain more tip, as the name suggests).
I recommend making a single brief steeping, only a minute, because this tea is so strong, and then following it up by brewing a second cup.
This is perfectly drinkable. Is it better than something like PG Tips? I don't really think so. Contrast with some of Tazo's other offerings, which I would say really are better.
