Brodies Famous Edinburgh

Brodies Famous Edinburgh is a black tea blend from Scotland.  I've only been able to find it in bags, which is a shame, as I'd really love to try a smoother loose leaf version of this, but we'll make do.  The tea is available all over the internet, but I've only seen it in person at Mrs. Bridge's, our local tea house.  Though I've never been intrigued enough to purchase it myself, it's become a favorite of my Mom's, and I'll usually make a cup when we're there visiting.

My favorite quality of Scottish teas is the flavor attributes they sometimes share with Scotch, and the Famous Edinburgh is no exception.  The base of the tea is most likely Assam, lending some malt and oak, much like Scottish Breakfast, but the Assam is blended with something lighter and spicier, probably a Ceylon variant.  The resulting blend is interesting:  malty, oaky, and a little spicy.  The addition of milk and a sweetener, preferably honey, brings about a halfway decent cup of tea, at least somewhat reminiscent of a complex single malt.

I did have some quibbles with an otherwise pleasant tea.  As mentioned above, this is a bag tea, and not the highest quality.  The bags themselves are rough paper, and the tea is not exactly full leaf, but my biggest issue is that they're small...I find myself doubling up two bags to make one cup of tea.  Another reviewer was perplexed at the weak cup of tea one bag produced, and actually ripped apart tea bags from Brodies as well as several other companies, and found the Brodies had about half as much tea as most other companies.  Perplexing...were they truly looking to validate old fashioned Scottish stereotypes?

So then, I like the blend, but not the questionable quality or the rather parsimonious portioning.  I'll have to continue my search for a malty, spicy Scottish tea that more closely resembles a good single malt.  Score:  75 (C)