A Decadent Riff on Breakfast Tea - Mi Lan Black Tea (Dancong)
Mi Lan Dancong black tea, served in a Wedgewood cup
Breakfast tea is often what we drink when we drink tea for the first time. It is not only likely our first experience with tea, but unless we are avid tea enthusiasts it is also more likely what we continue to drink on a daily basis.
Breakfast tea is a loose term. There are no earnest specifications that must be met in order to carry the moniker of breakfast tea. Instead, it must simply serve a purpose. Breakfast tea need only be a robust brewed cup of tea to simultaneously play both foil and accompaniment to a hearty breakfast. It must stand up to a savory, laden affair as well as it can with the confectionary bent, served in baked goods. …Oh, and it is usually black; though it wasn’t always necessarily, and though it doesn’t really have to be. But actually, breakfast tea is simply breakfast tea because you call it that.
In early-18th century England two events occurred which set the stage for the creation of breakfast tea. Tea prices dropped and Queen Anne started taking tea in the morning instead of ale. The accessibility of tea along with the predictable trend of the British following suit with known habits of their sovereign, had the immediate effect to extoll breakfast tea as an enthusiastic fashion for the realm.
English breakfast tea, like any good origin story, isn’t entirely clear. The notion of the naming itself hints at the likelihood of an external origination. One possibility is that British immigrant and tea merchant Richard Davies invented it in New York in 1843. Supposedly by combining an appealing blend of Chinese tea, (Congou, Pekoe, and Pouchong) in doing so, English breakfast tea was born.
Apparently priced right and rather good, the concoction met with early success and just as quickly, spawned imitators. An 1876 edition of the Daily Alta California seems to support the notion, as it cites an earlier “New York commercial journal,” dating the birth of English Breakfast to 1844. Similarly, an American publication in 1884 made a testament that Bohea (Wuyi) teas were known to trade as English Breakfast, and were, “forming the staple shipment to England.”
On the other side of the pond, the view is a little different. Scots tea merchant Robert Drysdale is purported to have developed the blend dubbed “Breakfast Tea” in 1892, when he judiciously incorporated leaves of Ceylon, Keenum and Assam teas together. While at the royal residence, Balmoral, in Scotland, Queen Victoria is said to have tasted the result in 1892. Her fondness for the tea blend inspired her to return to England with a large sum of it in tow. Eventually the adoption by her majesty earned the tea the “English” attribution, and Drysdale’s “Breakfast Tea” was, from then on, forever known as “English Breakfast Tea.”
Oolong and black teas have almost exclusively comprised breakfast tea in addition to its predecessor. During the days of high prices and heavy taxation in England, there was a growing black market in response that included a litany of ridiculous adulterations, collectively known as “smouch.” Passing off bogus green tea was a far easier task it seems, so black and oolong tea became more popular as an inherently authentic product.
As alluded earlier, it wasn’t uncommon for breakfast teas to be sourced from Wuyishan; be they oolong or black. Wuyi Rock Tea was well known and well regarded, and counts among its storied ranks, Lapsang Souchong, which is itself the world’s first black tea, as well as being the origin of Earl Grey. …An entirely fascinating, criss-crossing story for another time.
Consider a different region now, this time in Guangdong Province, nestled among the rocky peaks of the fabled Phoenix Mountains. Oolong cultivars for tea aficionados are the equivalent of the Syrah grape for wine lovers. Their mutual fondness for rocky terroir and harsh environs brings out diverse but always dazzling expressions that delight, and overtime, become the basis of lore.
Mi Lan Xiang tea is produced from a varietal commonly used in production for some Phoenix oolongs. It is appreciated for the honey orchid flavors for which it is named. Because of the bold, sweet aromas it is accessible and tends to be considered an introductory Phoenix oolong. My description is not meant to do a disservice, but simply to highlight the tea’s broad appeal. Another consideration is that the better permutations of this tea are Dancong. Dancong translates as, “independent bush.” They grow as wild plants. The deep root structure in part distinguishes them from cultivated plants often propagated from cuttings and without a taproot system. So too, the age of the tree and the elevation are crucial to quality. The older, more mature trees and the examples at higher elevation generally being greatly esteemed… Some trees are well over 500 years old, and on Wu Dong peak, attain a growing altitude of 1,300 meters or more.
This particular 2020 Mi Lan (Xiang) Black tea was produced by Huang Rui Guang, a tea producer, accomplished author, and considered locally as a cultural treasure. Through his effort, Master Rui Guang has crafted a black tea from this traditional Phoenix oolong variety by allowing it to oxidize naturally over 24 hours before being carefully spread, baked and tumbled. I liken the entirety of it to a deep sea convergence zone. Placid expectations are attained, day in, day out; devoid of further consideration. Until unexpectedly from nowhere, the water surface ripples, rock miraculously wells…finally breaching into daylight with spectacular creation. The result is instantly appreciated because much of the sweet, floral aromatics are retained amidst the altogether new canvas of a robust, nuanced black tea. In fact, an earlier version earned a gold medal in 2015 at the Sixth Guangdong Tea Expo. While the elevation for the sourcing of this tea is moderate at 600 meters, and the age of the trees are scarcely known, we can be sure the favorable pricing offers considerable value for the unique, well-made offering.
I am not partial to a sweet, overly indulgent morning routine. Actually, it is no rarity for me to dispense with breakfast altogether. But I never disregard morning tea. Mi Lan Black is a meal in itself. It is like drinking breakfast, although much more palatable than a protein shake. Funnily enough, and more realistically maybe, it could well be a pancake breakfast! If I can be forgiven for being so vain as to highlight my own tasting notes at this point: “Honey elements hum; though less on the floral side. The expression shows buttery, brown sugar notes to go along with the fry bread aromas. Think buckwheat pancakes for breakfast! Apricot and plum are elevated by star anise and cinnamon. A tingling texture and viscous palate weight are fondly regarded. The leaves pleasantly fill the air with apricot, spice and brown sugar.” At the day’s end this tea is an “all day” tea, just as those preferred tea to be since the inception of the breakfast tea concept. It can be drunk on its own or with anything you might be inspired to partake as a morning meal.
Maybe eventually someone can christen this worthy potion “PNW Breakfast Tea,” or wherever it happens to dig in its deepest roots of popularity. If such is the case, I will realize as I do now that I didn’t do a thing. There was no process, no trial and error, no resultant blend, or the aha moment that comes with it! But the bones of the matter are I am choosing this tea. And choosing is good enough.
So I ask you, make space and consider another tea, and the very idea of it, when you have your morning cuppa. Mi Lan Black could be the next breakfast tea. And it all starts tomorrow with your next cup.