English Breakfast Tea is a Healthy Morning Tradition Steeped in History
What makes English Breakfast Tea one of the most popular teas in the world?
Do you remember your first cup of tea? If you live in a Western country, chances are it was an English Breakfast tea. Black tea is the preferred choice for most people living in the West. And in England, of course, English Breakfast Tea is tea.
A breakfast tea made for hearty foods
English Breakfast Tea is a strong tea with a gentle dose of caffeine to perk you up in the morning. It pairs well with the hearty cooked breakfast foods typical of an English breakfast. Buying the right blend can make all the difference.
The breakfast tea blend was created for its rich flavor and copper color, complementing the milk well. Although the blend can be consumed without milk, most people drink it with milk and sometimes sugar.
Breakfast tea blends come in many versions, but the most popular is the English Breakfast Tea, which usually features teas from Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Assam. Irish Breakfast Tea uses Assam tea, providing a more robust tea.
Although some say it’s the base for a classic blend, Keemun teas from China are not always used; American blenders tend to use them more. Blend recipes are always a closely guarded secret.
Origins of breakfast tea
The story of how tea became Britain's national drink is quite fascinating. It all started when Catherine of Braganza arrived from Portugal to marry Charles II in the 1600s, bringing with her an absolute love for tea. Back then, tea was an exotic luxury, a beverage that most Brits had never tasted—a fact that might seem unimaginable in today's tea-loving Britain!
Due to her influence, Catherine's passion for tea swiftly made it the drink of choice among the aristocracy. By the 1700s, tea became a part of everyday life for all Britons. What began as a royal preference became a daily ritual deeply ingrained in British life and culture.
English Breakfast tea originated in the early 19th century and is believed to have been inspired by the British love for a robust and hearty tea that complemented a traditional breakfast. The blend’s origins are fascinating and often debated. Robert Drysdale, a Scottish tea master, created the breakfast tea blend in 1840. His "Breakfast Tea" gained popularity in England and was later called "English Breakfast Tea." Its strong, full-bodied flavor complemented rich, hearty foods like eggs, bacon, and sausages. Every major tea company has a proprietary breakfast blend.
Tea is “officially” healthy
Of course, tea consumption has long been considered beneficial to human health because it contains phytochemicals such as polyphenols and theaflavins. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally caught up.
On December 19th, the FDA issued a final rule updating the "healthy" nutrient content claim to help consumers identify foundational foods and beverages for a healthy diet:
"The comments mentioning tea refer to evidence for tea, derived from Camellia sinensis, supporting a beneficial effect of flavonoids, specifically flavan-3-ol on cardiometabolic outcomes. Some comments distinguish "herbal tea," also referred to as "herbal infusions" or "tisanes," from tea, derived from the Camellia sinensis plant. Comments describe "herbal teas" and "herbal infusions," hereafter referred to as herbal infusions, as a diverse category of beverages with about 400 different parts of plants from 300 different plants. The comments note that herbal infusions could be from a single plant species ( e.g., camomile or peppermint) or a mixture of different plants that could include tea ( Camellia sinensis). These comments support allowing unsweetened herbal infusions (flavored or unflavored, caffeinated or decaffeinated) to be eligible for the "healthy" claim, stating that this would incentivize companies to offer additional products without added calories or added sugars that can contribute to a balanced diet."
The final regulation was significant for the tea industry. It allowed tea and herbal products, including tea bags and bottled tea, to feature the "healthy" claim on their packaging, which the FDA has at last given its blessing.
Breakfast tea makes the grade
A tea blend is a mixture of teas. It can consist of teas of different origins or a blend of teas from the same origin, such as Darjeeling, but different estates. Commercial blenders create blends so that they taste the same each time.
Blended tea is unlike drinking single estate tea, which can vary in flavor and strength from year to year, depending on the growing conditions.
Professional tea blenders will taste hundreds of teas to create a specific blend and flavor profile to find the right mix. The ingredients might vary, but the result must be the same.
Tea blenders make a living tasting, buying, and blending tea for large commercial companies. Most tasters are trained through an apprenticeship program within the company.
Professional tasters become excellent blenders by tasting 36 teas in a row daily and cultivating the ability to recognize thousands of flavors and delicate notes within each tea. Their training encompasses all aspects of tea, from learning how it is grown to producing it. Some professional tea tasters are so valuable they even have their million-dollar taste buds insured.
English Breakfast tea blends
English breakfast tea is a very specific blend of various black teas. Black tea is known for its brisk flavor, fruity sweetness, and slight astringency at the end. It is often richer than other tea types.
However, this profile has many variations, with some black teas having secondary notes of roasted nuts or chocolate. These subtleties are considered when creating the perfect English Breakfast Tea blend.
Many countries produce black tea, which is used for breakfast tea blends. Once you understand the varieties of black tea and their characteristics, you will have a better time selecting the perfect breakfast blend for your palate.
South Asia
Sri Lanka: Ceylon is a former British colony that became an independent republic in 1972. Sri Lankan growers favor whole-leaf black tea, which produces a well-balanced tea with citrus or nutty high notes mellowed by a gentle warmth that avoids astringency. Most of their teas brew a brisk, golden-colored cup with a medium body, but each estate has its characteristics.
India
Assam: India’s most famous tea-growing region after Darjeeling. It’s a low-grown tea producing a bold and brisk cup of tea. Assam teas are often robust and made from the large leaf Camellia sinensis var assamica. They are well known for their warm, malty smoothness. But they can become quite astringent if over-brewed.
China
Keemun: China is famous for its green tea but also produces excellent black tea. One of the country's most popular black teas is Keemun, from the Anhui province. Keemun is prized for its rich, slightly smoky flavor and mild astringency. Its rich malt and dark cocoa character produce a dark, bold, and smooth cup. Many of the black teas from Anhui and Yunnan have that dark cocoa character, making Chinese black teas my favorite.
Africa
Kenya: Kenya has commercially produced tea since the 1920s. Black tea from Kenya is famous for its brightness, attractive color, and brisk flavor. Kenyan tea is manufactured using the CTC method, which stands for Crush-Tear-Curl. This mechanical method provides a much more intensely flavored cup than delicate whole-leaf teas. CTC tea is typically found in tea bags.
Kenyan tea is selected for its strength, depth of flavor, and color. A small percentage is produced using the traditional orthodox method for loose-leaf tea.
Is Earl Grey and English Breakfast the same?
No. Earl Grey tea blends black teas flavored with bergamot citrus oil.
Earl Grey is a blended, flavored black tea. The exact blend of black tea used, as well as the choice and amount of bergamot oil, will significantly affect its flavor. This is why the craft of the tea blender is so important.
A classic Earl Grey blends Darjeeling, Assam, and Ceylon black tea. Bergamot oil and bergamot peel give this blend its fragrant characteristic.
Caffeine content in English breakfast tea
The amount of caffeine in tea can vary considerably. The longer the tea leaves are steeped in water, the more caffeine is extracted during the infusion.
On average, loose black tea has 22-28 mg of caffeine per 1 gram of dried leaf. Most teabags contain 1- 2 grams of tea. Various laboratory tests report that an 8-ounce cup of black tea steeped for five minutes yields 47 mg of caffeine.
How to make English Breakfast tea
Water temperature, the volume of tea leaves, and steeping time are all part of the art of brewing tea. Different compounds are extracted at different rates depending on water temperature and steeping time.
The trick is to buy the right leaves and brew them with care. For more information:
READ: How to Brew Tea Perfectly Every Time
Amount of Tea - 1-2 tsp. loose tea
Water Temperature - 203 - 212°F
Steeping Time - 3- 5 minutes
First, warm the teapot and cups. Pour hot water into them, swirl, and pour it out—this helps keep the finished brew hot.
Use freshly drawn filtered water. Do not use reheated water.
Use an electric kettle with temperature settings for an accurate water temperature.
Place English breakfast tea in a teapot.
Pour hot water over the tea leaves and cover the teapot.
Steep for 3- 5 minutes.
Strain the tea leaves and pour hot tea into a warm teacup.
Add milk or sugar to taste.
Tip: Oversteeping makes the tea bitter. Use a timer, so you don’t brew longer than needed.
English Breakfast Teas
An English Breakfast Tea blend can sometimes be overly bitter, tannic, and bland. All the more reason to drown it with loads of lemon, milk, or honey to make it taste like something it’s not. But not all English Breakfast Teas are like that. Many fabulously delicious blends stand next to (or above) quality coffee. A top-notch black tea blend is worthy of brewing and is often a replacement for those trying to quit coffee.
Many excellent boutique tea houses specialize in orthodox and single-estate teas and do not offer blends. Therefore, when buying English breakfast tea, you must seek a vendor specializing in premium tea blends.
One of my favorite places to buy English Breakfast Tea is Adagio Tea. They offer high-quality teas and blends from China, Sri Lanka, India, and Kenya. Their English Breakfast tea is an excellent black Keemun tea blend with a balanced and honeyed aroma. If you prefer the maltiness of Assam, you might want to try their Irish Breakfast Tea, a blend of hearty black teas from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Assam (India). Scottish Breakfast is a rich blend of Assam, Keemun, Yunnan, and Sri Lankan full-leaf teas.
Cheers to your next morning cup — happy tea drinking!
I'm with you! I'm a diehard tea drinker. No sugar or sweetener, so I can taste all the floral notes.
I love Earl Grey tea and is why I started drinking tea. and yes it is different than english breakfast which I like as well. However I do like plain black tea. but I do put honey in my tea for added extra health benefit....