Organic Irish Breakfast Deluxe

Alright, I’m back again with another review. This was another of the tea samples I received from The Teaguy in the spring of 2017 in exchange for a Steepster review. I finally got around to finishing it during the latter part of August while I was off my feet due to the snakebite I have mentioned in several previous reviews. Even though I have shied away from black tea blends like this over the course of the past year or so, I still found this to make a very drinkable and energizing cuppa.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 4 minutes. I neither rinsed the leaf blend nor attempted any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material produced aromas of malt, raisin, and wood. After infusion, I detected a smooth, dominant malt aroma underscored by wood and citrus hints. In the mouth, the tea liquor was milder than expected. I detected notes of straw, wood, malt, lemon zest, leather, roasted chestnut, and roasted walnut that faded towards the finish and revealed a very faint raisin note. The finish was surprisingly brisk and astringent though some lingering roasted nut, malt, lemon zest, and molasses notes were still evident.

Generally, Irish breakfast tea is not one of my favorite black tea blends. By the time I got around to trying this one, I had been shying away from blends like this for a considerable length of time, and honestly, I continue to avoid them. If I need a brisk, malty, woodsy, and astringent cup to get me going in the morning, I tend to lean toward single origin black teas from Yunnan Province or Vietnam and very occasionally will still break out an Assam black tea of some sort. Still, this was a very appealing Irish breakfast blend. It took me a couple tries to get it dialed in, but once I did, I could see why the other reviewers enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, I think this may have qualified as one of the best Irish breakfast teas I have tried to this point. If you are the sort of person who enjoys blends of this sort, give this one a shot sometime.

Very good Irish breakfast, with malt and honey notes.
I steeped it for a good 7 min and it didn’t even get slightly bitter.
I’m not sure if I’ll repurchase because I prefered the Canadian Breakfast from the same brand but this is still very good, with or without a splash of milk.

Thank you to the Tea Guy for this sample. This is a strong, very malty tea. Although I didn’t put any in it would hold up well to milk. If this tea doesn’t wake me up nothing will. It has a nice sweet note oon the back burner that I don’t know how to describe. I have not had too many Irish Breakfast Teas but I like this one. It is very good but a little stronger than I am used to. Hopefully it has a nice caffeine kick to jump start my day but I won’t be sure of that until I finish my cup.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 minutes.

Hello Steepster, it’s been a while! I was recently contacted by The Teaguy and asked if I’d like to review some of their teas. Who would say no to that? Anyways hello, and sorry it’s been so long since I last posted.

The samples arrived today, St. Patrick’s Day, and with an Irish Breakfast among the samples. So of course that’s the first tea I’ll try.

It appears to be a blend of CTC and other broken leaf; not unusual for an Irish Breakfast. The dry aroma is sweet with notes of honey and barley.

I followed their brewing instructions: 2tsp for 3-4 minutes at 90C. 90C is lower than I normally brew blacks, but that makes sense to balance out the strength and bitterness of the CTC and broken leaf leaves.

The result is quite good! Mildly sweet with honey, malt, and barley notes and a slightly floral background. It’s bold and slightly bitter, but not overly so in comparison to how Irish Breakfasts can be, and none of the metallic quality they sometimes have. It reminds me of Grape Nuts cereal in beverage form. Very drinkable with or without milk, this would make a great first cup in the morning.

*Editing to say that this tea definitely has a lot of caffeine! I felt a coffee-like punch after drinking it, so I wouldn’t recommend drinking it late in the day.