English Tea Store China Loose Leaf Tea, Keemun Panada, 16 Ounce

If you like an English breakfast tea but the price of a supermarket blend is forbidding this should serve the purpose with distinction. In fact, I prefer it.

This is our breakfast tea and is strong, flavorful but not bitter.

I drink mostly China black teas, and have loved a good Keemun or Yunnan for many years. I've tried various grades anywhere from $12 a pound up to $80. Of course I would drink a high end Keemun exclusively but they are expensive. This is not a high end Keemun, but it's at a very good price, and could easily be my daily morning cup. Calling it perhaps a low-end Keemun is not such faint praise - understand that this is still much better than basically any tea you will find in a supermarket. It has the characteristic smoothness and sweet richness, lack of astringency even when long steeped, pinot noir hints and maybe a very slight cocoa hint. Not smoky but it's better to be lacking in smoke rather than have too much in a Keemun. All of these characteristics will be more pronounced in a higher grade tea, they are a bit dialed down here. Not much in the way of fragrance. I don't find any cloudiness as some other reviewer noted. If you like a good English Breakfast, but the best tea you've had is a mass market Twinings Prince of Wales, or a Lipton Black Pearl, you will find this tea a nice introduction to finer things and hint of what a really good China black can be. If you appreciate this then you will find a reason to spend the money on a really good high end Keemun and appreciate it (practically nirvana in a cup to me). If you're looking for this to be a $50 a pound Keemun at a quarter the price, well no.I will be buying some more.I used to buy my teas faithfully at SpecialTeas, who had a fine array of fairly graded and fairly priced China Blacks from low to high end. But they were since bought and shuttered by Teavana, a horribly overpriced boutique whose marketing geniuses essentially dumped the really high end varieties and doubled the prices of the low-mid grades. I have tried Imperial Tea Garden, and just fount Upton, which looks like they have a good selection of various grades and fair prices, perhaps my new SpecialTeas. My advice to English Tea Store is maybe offer a couple of higher grade Keemuns and I don't see any Yunnans in their listings.

We just love this tea...straight or blended. It has a lovely light Smokey overtone, and a rich and robust palate. We also blend it with a good quality Assam, for a bit of difference.Definitely recommend this tea...if you're truly a Tea Drinker.

This is not your top-of-the-line Keemun, just a well priced and very good flavored tea. I sometimes drink it straight and love the slightly smoky (I don't know how else to describe it) flavor of Keemun. Mostly, however, I create my own breakfast mix with a little Keemun for flavor, Assam for wake-up strength and astringency and Nilgiri to mellow it all out.

This tea is wonderful, we are on our 10th pound. We use it to make Ice Tea, the taste and color are second to none.it does not have a after taste or upset my stomach like other Ice Teas does. We will keep buying for years to come. To make the Tea we use a coffee maker with a 1/4 cup of tea, 1 cup sugar and full carafe of water, put in fridge to cool. Add ice before drinking and enjoy.

Excellent Keemun has been delicious and nostalgic for me as I first tried Keemun in the late 1960s when I had a friend that was a gourmet food salesman and he gave me some Keemun. The delicious Keemun Tee brings back nice memories for me. I like it hot and plain but also make superb Ice Tea with fresh lemon and raw sugar added.

I have been buying my Keemun at World Market for a number of years. When they discontinued it, I went online in search of my favorite tea. I should have lectured myself that , "You get what you pay for". Three plus ounces of Keemun at World market was $9.99 and 2 ounces at my favorite tea shop is $6.00. I should not have bought based on price - $11.99/lb. This tea does not have the good strong, fresh flavor that my favorite Keemuns do. I have since read that only a low grade Keemun will be murky when brewed, not nice and clear as it should be. This tea is very murky. Don't hate it, but don't like it.