Irish Breakfast Tea

I stopped by the local health food store to get something. I haven’t been in that store in ages, & now they are carrying bulk teas from Frontier, a company I used to order herbs from. I bought small amounts of several different teas to try, including this one.
It’s not as bold & Malty as I expect an Irish Breakfast to be, but it’s also not bad! Next time I’ll use more leaf…

Meanwhile, my Butiki order arrived! YEAH!
Turn the kettle on baby, momma’s gonna steep some tea!

The last time I reviewed this was during the Great Snowpocalypse of 2011 (that was a year, lemme tellya!) and I was fortifying myself to help hubby tackle 18 inches worth of snow shoveling.

Just for the record, this is not the same batch. But it is the same basic, inexpensive bulk no-frills, black tea I remember. Flavor profile reminds me of dark pumpernickel or Ry-Krisp crackers. Takes milk well. (I’m ready for milk in my tea again … like y’all, certain flavors and combos are strictly seasonal, and that’s a fall/winter thing for me.)

I had this tea a really long time ago today. It appears that the story of my life these days is to make tea, be busy all day and barely have time to formulate my thoughts on the tea until late at night when i just want to go to bed :)

This one was a pretty average every day black tea for the morning. It was pretty mellow and on the milder side but still a relatively nice breakfast tea! Thanks terri!

Picked this one up on my recent excursion to Wooster. The long straggly black leaves are enticing and I love a good Irish Breakfast…Tea and actual Irish Breakfast. A malty aroma eminates…and then. Eh I have to say this is a soft cookie Irish breakfast. There should be a lot brightness to it. It’s fairly smooth but have that subtle peppery bite that you would expect from Irish breakfast.

Sipdown from Terri! This is not as bold as I’ve come to expect from Irish Breakfasts, but it is a very good Irish Breakfast tea, that takes to milk, and to rebrewing very well. I think that I got around five full flavored steepings out of it. Thank you Terri! Definitely one for the shopping list.

This loose leaf tea was another selection that I picked up at the local Earth Fare market. In the store, it was very loose, as it was contained in large clear cannisters from which you could scoop out as much (or as little) as you wanted into clear plastic bags.

Other reviews that I read about this tea said it was a little on the weak side. To minimize this potential characteristic, I steeped it for five minutes at 212 degrees. The golden red beverage that resulted had the conventional breakfast tea scent.

In spite of the heavy steeping, the flavor was not strong, but adequate. The taste was mildly malty with perhaps just a hint of spice. There was no bitterness and the aftertaste was pleasant. Although I wanted to crank up the volume on the flavor, I still found it to be complete and tasty.

Even if you prefer your tea on the mild side, I would recommend that you steep this blend for at least five minutes to obtain the full flavor effect. With this method, you might have a satisfying selection to add to your breakfast tea assortment.

It looks like a lot of other people have the same story with this tea — bought at some kind of all-natural/local/organic/“hippie” store, smells like an Irish Breakfast, but isn’t strong enough. Huh.

I got mine at the local co-op in bulk — I was only going to get an ounce or two, but the canisters they use for bulk teas are the kind where you pull a lever and the tea spills out… so I got a lot.

This really isn’t a breakfast tea. It’s more like an after-work tea. I think this would be a good base for delicate blends with something like rose buds. I’ll probably finish what I have but not get more.

A good all-around tea…maybe not the most exciting, but good for when you want a cuppa and a good one to offer to people who are not “into tea.”

Taste tea

Kinda weak, and it only stands up to one infusion. It’s not as malty as I like in Irish Breakfast.