17 Comments
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Ellen Kornmehl MD's avatar

I'm with you! I'm a diehard tea drinker. No sugar or sweetener, so I can taste all the floral notes.

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Mary Ann Rollano RN's avatar

Me too, obviously! I usually only put a 1/2 tsp of sugar in my black tea. But that's the beauty of tea -there are so many different ways to enjoy it!

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Michele Aucoin Schroeder's avatar

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....

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Mary Ann Rollano RN's avatar

I put honey in a lot of my herbal teas.

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Joyce mann's avatar

when I was younger and growing up. My mother always gave us black tea with lemon, and I hated black tea. It wasn't till I was in my 20's that someone said to add milk.

Big revelation, now love black tes, still don't like lemon in any drink

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Mary Ann Rollano RN's avatar

That's funny! The addition of milk gives it a completely different flavor and mouth feel. It makes a difference.

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Notsothoreau's avatar

Strand Tea has excellent products. I bought a Breville tea maker and don't regret a penny I spent on it. I do milk and honey in my tea.

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Mary Ann Rollano RN's avatar

Thanks for sharing! The Breville tea maker is great. Strand Tea is new to me.

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Notsothoreau's avatar

He's in the Portland OR area. Was in the Peace Corps and made contacts that he used later for his business. I think I've been ordering from there for about ten years. Good selection and you get a few butter cookies with your order.

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Mary Ann Rollano RN's avatar

Ohh. Thank you. I’ll have to check them out>

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Danni Macfarland's avatar

So, would brands like Red Rose, or Tetley black tea also be an English Breakfast tea? It usually just says black tea on the label.

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Mary Ann Rollano RN's avatar

The generic "black tea" labeling means a milder or less standardized blend. Often from lower quality leaves. Specialty tea and better quality blends use the first two leaves and bud (more flavor as they are newer growth leaves.) Many commodity black tea will use a broken leaf grade of tea. English Breakfast is a more robust blend typically using higher quality leaves.

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Danni Macfarland's avatar

Thank you for clearing that up. 😀.

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Claudia Byers's avatar

I have finally acquired a taste for teas after a friend introduced me to herbal teas. My cupboard is full of different blends. Right now I only have the Earl Grey tea but want to try the English Breakfast blend now after reading this article. I learned so many new things about tea. One I have not been able to tolerate is green tea. I don't like how my mouth feels afterwards. Also, I like my tea straight up. No milk or sugar.

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Mary Ann Rollano RN's avatar

Green tea is much different in taste and in brewing. When you’re ready to venture I have an article on Green Teas you may find helpful.

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Vanessa Picano's avatar

I used to hate green tea but a few years ago, I give it another chance and man oh man!!! It’s one of my favourites - matcha, regular green tea. It’s taken a lot of trying different brands and the addition/subtraction of honey or milk but it’s worth the try!

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Vanessa Picano's avatar

This is so interesting and greatly timed - just last week by colleague and I were talking about where English Breakfast Tea came from and here we are! 😆

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