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Rare English Breakfast Loose Leaf Black Tea

14 reviews
$14.49
$14.49
Sale Sold out

25p per cup

Style

Blended in the style of the original 19th century English Breakfast from only the finest leaf. A combination of some of our most sublime single estate black loose leaf teas to create something even greater than the sum of its parts.

Tasting Notes

It has a unique depth of flavour that combines the power of a Breakfast Tea with an elegant complexity. A rich and aromatic honey nose with a deep malty finish.

Cost Per Cup

25p per cup based on 2.5g of tea per 150ml of water and 2 infusions.

Origin

Fujian, China
Satemwa Estate, Shire Highlands, Malawi
Temi Tea Garden, Sikkim, India

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Recommended Infusion Guide

  • Quantity

    Use 0.1 oz of leaf per 5.5 fl oz of water.

  • Temperature

    For the optimum infusion use 176ยฐF water. If drinking with milk, raise to 194ยฐF.

  • Time

    Infuse for 1 - 2 minutes, tasting regularly.

  • Infusions

    You can infuse this tea at least twice. With each careful infusion, different subtleties of flavour are revealed.

1 3

More infusion tips

How to infuse your tea is very personal, and these are just our recommendations based on experience. Please experiment with these variables to your heart's delight. These are our recommendations, not hard and fast rules. The most delicious tea is the one you love.

Our guide uses a standard tea cup size (150ml/5.5 oz) as a measure, please adjust the quantity of leaf accordingly for less or more water. Our whole loose leaves are of such a high quality that you can infuse our teas at least twice, and the second infusion is often better than the first, with different flavours revealed as the leaf softens. If you prefer your tea stronger, add more leaf, donโ€™t leave it for longer (this will just make it bitter).

Origin & Craft

The term English Breakfast was invented in New York City in around 1901 to describe what English people drank for breakfast; a blend of black teas. Never before had tea been blended - this is what the British brought to tea. Up until this point teas had been sold and drunk much like single malt whisky. Keemun came from Qimen, Anhui, China. Darjeeling from the slopes of the Indian Himalayas. It was a profound breakthrough in the evolution of teas to begin to blend teas from such diverse terroirs.

The result was so fantastic it sealed the fate for many of us - we are hooked and enslaved to this most wonderous of drinks.

The point was never make something cheap and bland - like modern, industrial, dusty blends hiding in tea-bags - but to make something GREATER than the sum of its parts. This beautiful blend combines the finest Chinese black teas with the best from around the globe.

(There is no Assam in this blend, which would have been traditional, because we have always struggled to find a farm crafting orthodox (hand-crafted), organically grown tea of amazing quality, that also supports the people who live and work on the land in a way that makes us proud to be associated with them. But we have always found Malawi tea can substitute superbly - far better indeed.)

Serving Suggestions

This tea was designed to be drunk with and without milk โ€“ depending on your preferred morning ritual and what you're having for breakfast. You might want to try it with milk if you're having a traditional English Breakfast fry up โ€“ but if you're having marmalade on toast, we recommend it black.

There are no rules. The most important thing is your personal pleasure. It's also just as delicious in the afternoon, quite frankly we believe it's always tea time.

Shipping, delivery & more...

Shipping Information

UK Shipping Rates
FREE UK Tracked when you spend ยฃ30 or more
FREE UK Express - Next Day* when you spend ยฃ60 or more
UK Tracked - Two Day Tracked ยฃ3.99
UK Express - Next Day* Tracked ยฃ5.49
UK Express - Next Day* Courier from ยฃ8.49

USA Shipping Rates
FREE DHL Tracked/DHL Plus Tracked when you spend $30 or more
DHL Tracked/Plus Tracked from ยฃ4.99
USPS Priority from ยฃ8.99
FedEx Home Delivery from ยฃ16.99

Europe Shipping Rates
FREE Europe Tracked when you spend ยฃ50 or more
Europe Tracked Delivery from ยฃ4.99
Europe Express Courier from ยฃ21.99

Canadian Shipping Rates*
FREE DHL International Tracked when you spend $40 CAD or more
DHL International Tracked from ยฃ5.99
FedEx Courier Delivery from ยฃ34.99

Worldwide Shipping Rates
FREE Worldwide Tracked when you spend ยฃ50 or more
Worldwide Tracked Delivery from ยฃ5.99
ROW Express Courier from ยฃ20.49

*Subject to next day cutoff and postcode location. Availability of rates depends on location and order weight. For a complete overview of our shipping rates please see our delivery page. All prices quoted in GBP and will be converted to your local currency if available.

IOSS for EU Orders

Rare Tea Company uses IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) for EU orders placed on the website.

How IOSS works and how it is applied on the website.

The IOSS scheme allows us to collect VAT during checkout on your behalf, meaning that no VAT is due when your order is assessed by your local authority.

  • If the combined value of the products in your cart are equal to or below โ‚ฌ150 (excluding tax), VAT will be included at the point of sale and you should not be charged any fees when your order arrives.*
  • Once the โ‚ฌ150 threshold is exceeded VAT will be removed from the items in your cart and from this point onwards when your order ships you will be liable for local VAT, duties and import fees.**

To avoid unnecessary import charges, keep your orders under โ‚ฌ150 (excluding tax and shipping). Tax is included on all applicable products at Rare Tea - if your order is applicable for IOSS tax will be shown at the checkout.

Valid for IOSS

Not valid for IOSS

Your order confirmation and shipping confirmation emails will also confirm whether your order is valid for IOSS.

As with all complex shipping methods, the IOSS system isn't foolproof, and orders that are valid for IOSS are occasionally incorrectly charged VAT by customs.

If an order shipped via IOSS and that you have paid VAT on does get incorrectly assessed by customs, please don't worry. It's usually just a mistake that can be fixed by contacting customs and explaining that the order shipped via IOSS with VAT already paid.

If this does happen to you then we suggest the following:

  1. Please contact us before speaking to customs.
  2. We will double check that the order was valid for IOSS.
  3. We will provide a VAT receipt and a shipping label as evidence.
  4. Contact your local customs for assistance, using the shipping label as evidence.
  5. If all else fails we will attempt to get our shipping provider to investigate, but this process can take a while.

*Please note - this does not include any applicable duty charged when the item is cleared. Within the EU tea is free from duty, but your region might have a different rules for non-tea items such as tins and teaware. Any duty charged is payable by you, the customer before delivery via your local customs authority.
**In special cases where custom fees have been unexpected we have retroactively refunded these in select cases. As of the 15th February 2023 (the start of IOSS) we have discontinued this process.

What is IOSS?

The Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) is the electronic portal businesses can use since 1 July 2021 to comply with their VAT e-commerce obligations on distance sales of imported goods.

Up until the 1st July 2021, no import VAT has to be paid for commercial goods of a value up to EUR 22. New VAT eCommerce rules abolished this provision as of 1st July 2021. Thus, from 1 July 2021, all commercial goods imported into the EU from a third country or third territory is subject to VAT irrespective of their value.

What is IOSS for?

IOSS allows suppliers and electronic interfaces selling imported goods to buyers in the EU to collect, declare and pay the VAT to the tax authorities, instead of making the buyer pay the VAT at the moment the goods are imported into the EU as it was previously the case (for products over 22 EUR).

What are the advantages of IOSS?

IOSS facilitates the collection, declaration and payment of VAT for sellers making distance sales of imported goods to buyers in the EU. The IOSS also makes the process easier for the buyer, who is only charged at the time of purchase, and therefore does not face any surprise fees when the goods are delivered. If the seller is not registered in the IOSS, the buyer has to pay the VAT and usually a customs clearance fee charged by the transporter.

What countries does IOSS apply to?

IOSS applies to the EU member states of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

It does not apply to the EEA.

How much tax will I get charged?

Tax will be charged at the base VAT rate of the shipping country.

Full details of IOSS can be found on the European Comission website.

Any questions? Please get in touch!

Send us a message using the form below, or call +44 (0) 207 681 0115 (9am - 5pm GMT, Monday - Friday).

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