Thursday, March 17, 2011

Scottish Breakfast Tea -or- A Tea for Scotch

As I've noted before, I thoroughly enjoy breakfast teas.  I like the bold flavors and the malty Assam teas that tend to dominate the style, and I like how well the blends go with milk and a little sweetener.  Of the breakfast teas I've had, I usually pick Scottish breakfast as my favorite.  It has a fuller flavor profile than Irish or English breakfast, with more malt and fruit notes, and a hint of oak....all tasting notes shared with the world of Scotch, which may help explain why I'm such a big fan of this tea.  If I had to guess, I'd say there are Ceylon and possibly Keemun teas mixed with the Assam, but I'm far from an expert at picking out teas in a blend.  Scottish Breakfast tends to be a bit harder to find loose than its cousins, but happily, Culinary Teas (pretty much my go-to for loose tea these days) has it in stock.

Nothing unusual in the brewing.  Typical for a blended black tea, one rounded teaspoon per mug, water at a rolling boil into a warmed teapot, steep for about four minutes.  Scottish Breakfast brews up as dark as Irish Breakfast, but lacks the sharp astringent note I often find in Irish Breakfast blends.  The flavor is bold, round, and strong, with lots of malt and some pleasant oak. It's a great cup with a big breakfast, or on a chilly winter afternoon (I've never been one for so-called "afternoon" teas anyway).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Scottish Breakfast makes a fantastic hot toddy type of drink when mixed with Scotch, especially a sweeter malt.  The similar flavor notes blend together and complement each other very well.  Now, I can't exactly endorse mixing a good single malt with tea, as I'm a firm believer in not diluting fine whisky in any way, but a smooth blend or maybe a bargain single malt would go well.  A cup brewed a bit strong, with plenty of milk and sugar, and a generous measure of whisky makes a great restorative hot drink to ward off the chill or soothe nasty cold symptoms.  Be wary, though--strong, sweet tea can hide a fair bit of whisky, and this drink is so good, it's easy to forget it's also pretty strong.  Score:  90 (A-)

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great way to sneak some Scotch whisky into your breakfast. I definitely prefer Scottish morning tea to Irish or English and am glad you encouraged me to try it some time ago.

    The Scottish Morning Tea standard profile sounds like a young, malty Speysider. Are there any variants on it that emphasize honey or spices?

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  2. Honest, I've never actually snuck Scotch into breakfast! No, really! I have had a dram or two on a fine Christmas morning, I guess, but aside from that...

    I'd love to find a variant with some spice or honey. Brodie's or somebody makes a Famous Endinburgh which may be a bit lighter and naturally sweeter. Short of that, I can learn to blend teas myself, which sounds fun and interesting, but a bit daunting. I'll keep looking, and of course, any tea taht makes me think of Scotch gets a review here!

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