I find this to be a bit of a fascinating tea. Unlike H&S's other English Breakfast offerings (that I'm aware of), it's not a full-leaf tea. Instead, it comes in what looks to be small granule-like pieces. Unlike fannings, these look to be deliberately ground, and it is surely ground finely - I wouldn't suggest using mesh strainers for it.

The scent of this tea is absolutely fantastic. It has one of the richest, maltiest aromas of any black tea I've ever had. It truly has a heady smell to it. The flavour is typical of any English Breakfast, but with a more astringent note to it, as well as definitely a fuller body and mouthfeel.

While the price is quite good for the amounts that you can get (4oz and 1lb), there's no in-between the two amounts (I typically like to get around 8oz of teas I like) so a little bit has been taken off for that.

Not many teas need milk, in my humble opinion, but the astringency is a bit much on this, so I'd recommend a small splash.

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Comments:

Difflugia wrote: on May 17th, 2018

The "deliberately ground" look is a result of the CTC production method. The fresh tea leaves are run through a machine that rolls and chops the leaves into tiny pellets. This allows for more consistent results, but CTC teas tend to be somewhat more bitter and astrigent than "orthodox" (traditionally produced) teas. The vast majority of tea sold in India is produced with CTC machines.

While most CTC tea is packaged as pellets (PG Tips, for example), some brands (Tetley, Yorkshire) crush or grind the pellets further, I presume for more consistent blending.

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