It’s a perfectly blah day outside. Perfectly blah Monday. Time for some effortless, better-than-blah black tea. I often scoff at teabags but they certainly have a place in my cupboard, especially for days like today where I’ve got a mad case of the blahs and don’t feel like doing anything. Even measuring tea is a tremendous expense of energy today and you can forget about cleaning out used leaves post-brew. Boiling water is almost beyond me today. No, today is time for a good bagged tea – simple, bold, and black. So very black.
Dry: Pyramid bag filled with tiny black tea leaves. Actual tea leaves btw. Not dust or fannings or anything questionable. Smells like… bold black tea. What a surprise!
Brewing: coffee mug, 1 bag, 210*, 1m 30s (label suggests 1-2min)
Aroma: Bold, black tea aroma (more surprises, I know). Smells like the promise of a caffeinated afternoon.
Flavor: Tastes like… bold, black tea (echo echo echo…). A little less bold and in-your-face than it smells like. Longer steep time usually yields more punch. I go for 1m 30s when I don’t want the bitterness on the end. A tiny bit of sweetness as well. It’s a very plain, no-nonsense, clean tasting tea. Very black. Very predictable. Good, solid black tea in general and especially big flavor for a teabag.
Additionally, this was one of the teas where upon consumption, I saw the light and knew that there were more enjoyable teas than Tazo or Stash, and thus started me on my journey through Teaism. Sometimes I take it’s flavor for granted now but when I first tried it, it was quite a wake up. I remember first drinking it and thinking, “what is this… do I actually detect.. flavor? You mean tea is supposed to actually taste like something? And it can even taste good?”
What: Black Tea by Teatulia
Type: Black
Cost: $5.00 (6 bags), $9.22 (16 bags), $23 (50 bags)
Cost per Bag: $1.20/bag, $0.58/bag, $0.46/bag (respectively)
Resteeps: 2
Cost per Cup: $0.29 (including 2 resteeps per bag)
Tea Score: 82 – Good, solid, clean black.
Cupboard Score: 80 – Tasty, but I prefer Teatulia’s Breakfast Bengal for my go-to bagged black.
