(Tea gifted for purposes of review)
Happy new year Teaple! It’s New Year, Same Mrs Radfad Nonsense, so let’s get started with a rich black English Breakfast from Ceylon Teabox.
Ceylon Teabox, though based in Burnham, Buckinghamshire (a stone’s throw from where I grew up, very beautiful area!) sources their teas from… Can you guess? That’s right, Ceylon, better known since 1972 as Sri Lanka.
As you can see, tea is HUGE in Sri Lanka as a trademarked national export, and accounts for 2% of GDP, so the opportunity to try some pure Ceylon tea is exciting, because you don’t base a huge percentage of your economy on something you don’t excel at.
Wicky, the founder of Ceylon Teabox, was kind enough to send me through their English Breakfast blend, which according to the website is organic and sustainably sourced, so I gave it a go.
The description on the website conjures up a wonderful picture – “English Breakfast Ceylon Black Tea Loose Leaf begins with freshly hand-plucked tea leaves processed in our own Tea Processing Center, in the highlands of Sri Lanka. Our Pekoe 1 black tea grade is meticulously processed during the Western High Grown season“
The loose leaf looks as you’d expect for a black tea, happy little curls of tasty goodness. There aren’t any brewing instructions on the pack, so I opted for a standard 3 minutes – I later found on the FAQ’s page that they recommend steeping for 3-5 minutes.
The aroma of this tea is so rich, it echoes of molasses and I could hold my nose over the mug all day. Flavour wise, I have tried this tea with and without milk, and I think my preference really depends on the time of day.
There’s a lot of character and body in this bag, and without milk, a touch of drying finish. I find this combination quite enjoyable as a afternoon pick me up. The rich sweet nose and almost woody undertones are perfect for busting through after lunch.
But in the morning, and this an English Breakfast tea, I prefer it smoothed into more of a toffee with a splash of milk. I’ve said both on here and instagram before, I don’t consider this to be a cause for concern when it comes to an EB – 99% of everyday tea drinkers I know in the UK will add milk to their tea as a matter of course, so to produce something that didn’t shine when milk was added would be lunacy. Perfect with some hot buttered toast.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
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Mrs Radfad Drinks Tea 
Sometimes you really just can’t beat a classic this ceylon sounds great
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