Description

For those who love a very spicy English Breakfast taste. The leaves for this black tea blend were selected from Assam and Sumatra, combining to give their unique flavor profile. They offer a dark, spicy taste and traditionally, this is the tea that’s mainly drunk with milk and sugar.

Ingredients

Black tea

English Breakfast Tea

English Breakfast tea is a popular black tea made from a blend of two different types of black tea leaves. The exact combination and ratio vary from blend to blend. At Thee.be, we opted for a combination of Assam and Sumatra – so, a touch of India combined with a touch of Indonesia. Other cultivars frequently used include Darjeeling, Ceylon tea, Kenyan teas, and Chinese Keemun. Typical for English Breakfast tea is that an Assamica cultivar is always incorporated, providing the robust, dark, and malty taste with slightly bitter yet sweet undertones for which English Breakfast is renowned. Its rich body with roasted undertones sometimes slightly resembles coffee.

English Breakfast tea is a true morning tea and perfect for those looking for a coffee substitute that still gives a strong boost. Like other black teas, English Breakfast contains about 30 to 50 milligrams of caffeine which can kick start your morning. The L-theanine in it means the caffeine releases more slowly, providing longer-lasting energy and notably reducing the typical crash often associated with drinking coffee.

Thanks to this tea’s robust body, it’s also perfect to combine with milk and sugar. The British reference in its name isn’t there for no reason. Whether you’re a MIF (milk in first) or a TIF (tea in first), that choice is up to you!

A Bit of History on English Breakfast Tea

English Breakfast tea has a long history. The combination of different tea cultivars didn’t actually start in England, but in America, where in 1843, an English immigrant in New York combined Congou and Pouchong. The tea was popular, and blending teas soon became more widespread. Legend says that Queen Victoria of England, looking for a more robust tea for breakfast rather than the typical ‘afternoon tea’, first tasted such a blend in Scotland and loved it. This is how the term ‘English Breakfast tea’ supposedly originated.

How to Make the Perfect English Breakfast Tea?

1. Heat your water to 96 to 100 degrees Celsius. (If you don’t have a temperature-specific kettle, you can go for 100 degrees, but tea connoisseurs prefer around 97 degrees Celsius).
2. Use a filter in a cup and add 1 teaspoon of English Breakfast for about 200 ml of water.
3. Steep the tea for about 3 to 5 minutes. If you’re adding milk and sugar, go for 5 minutes; otherwise, opt for 3 minutes.
4. Remove your tea filter or tea infuser and optionally add milk and sugar.

English Breakfast Latte

English Breakfast tea is perfect with milk and sugar, and thus it’s great for lattes. Here’s a basic recipe:

Ingredients (for 1 glass of English Breakfast Latte):

• 2 heaped teaspoons of loose English Breakfast tea
• 120 ml water
• 1 sugar cube (adjust to taste)
• 75 ml milk (or a plant-based alternative)
• Ice cubes

Recipe:

1. Infuse the loose tea in 120 ml boiling water (using a tea filter or infuser) for about 5 minutes.
2. Remove the tea leaves by taking out the tea filter. Add sugar for easy dissolution, then let the tea cool.
3. Fill a large glass with the sweetened and cooled English Breakfast tea and dilute with the milk.

Enjoy!