Tag Archives: black tea

Orange Pekoe and Pekoe tea. Looking those terms up on Wikipedia, I see that they both basically mean generic medium-grade tea. Apparently Orange Pekoe does not refer to an orange flavoring, but rather to a sign of quality because the tea leaves came from the estate of a certain Orange-Nassau who was royalty from the Netherlands.

Red Rose Tea boxes also have miniature figurines inside. I once managed to collect an entire series and tried to sell the combined set on ebay for $1 — no takers!

It would be very sad if the figurines were the main selling point for the tea, but luckily that’s not the case. Red Rose Tea is tasty. It has a nicely oxidized taste and is stong enough to handle some milk. There’s also something slightly sweet about it too so I find I need less sugar.

So mid-grade generic tea is not half-bad! And certainly a better value than golden monkey tea or some other nonesense that you can spend many $$$ for.

My, my… Teavana’s Golden Monkey Black Tea is pretty much as they describe it. Smooth, low in bitterness, with a distinct flavor. I originally thought I was drinking oolong tea rather than black tea so I had to check the packaging. I suppose the only difference between oolong and black teas is how long the leaves are left to ferment, so perhaps that’s part of the reason why they sometimes taste similar.

After following the brewing directions, I left the leaves in the water for a really long time to see how bitter the tea would get. Not very bitter at all was the answer.

So the million dollar question (or in this case, the $18.50 question): is this tea worth $18.50 for 2 ounces? Well, certainly from the perspective of the extra preparation it requires (the youngest, whole, undamaged leaves rolled and completely fermented), the answer is yes. From a taste perspective… maybe not so much. Maybe $15.

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Twinings English Breakfast Tea (decaffeinated) is actually a nice cuppa! It has a flavorful tea taste and dark color. Not super-bold, but definitely rich. There’s barely any bitterness (although I actually do like a bit of bite). I’d highly recommend this brand if you love to drink tea all day long, but need to cut back on the caffeine!