Cheryl Send Message

Cheryl drank CTC Irish Breakfast Blend (TB12) by Upton Tea Imports

136 tasting notes

2nd of 5 breakfast blend samples from Upton … tested with T. of honey.

I remember testing Adagio’s Irish Breakfast and liking it … setting it aside to retest later, and it seems to have gotten buried by so many others which have met the same fate (one of these days, I really need to revisit that box).

This blend is VERY strong. I’m one of those people who hates (capital H) coffee. I am not trying to substitute for coffee, but am looking for a non-Coke morning caffeine boost. This tea is very bitter, and is getting more bitter as it cools. I’m not even going to try and temper it with milk or cream. This one goes into the “omg NO” pile (thankfully a much smaller group).

Preparation

Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

I Like This

8 likes

0 comments

People who liked this

Profile

Bio

Originally started testing teas, to replace a lifelong Coke (Coca-Cola) habit. Now I’m just amazed at all the choices. Still in beginner stage of tea education. Until I get really good at iced/cold tea, the Coke habit remains, but is down to a minimum.

My cupboard here on Steepster was ridiculous, containing each and every sample size that I have been accumulating. It now only contains non-sample size teas. Loose leaf outweighs the bagged teas, but it doesn’t look that way by the list (over 100 samples).

I started my tea journey testing flavored teas. My favorites are chai and mint flavored teas, along with Earl Grey. Also like chocolate, caramel, coconut, almond, vanilla, cinnamon, clove and some others. Most flavors are better with a nice black tea base. The mint ones seem best paired with greens. I’m branching out now to unflavored teas and it is way more overwhelming then the flavored category. Phew.

My (grown) son has decided that he wants to try to find tea that he likes too, so I’ll be passing along the ones I don’t care for to him (with instructions to then pass them on to his sister…evil plot? yes!). So I’ve removed my shopping list from Steepster and moved it to a spreadsheet (swaps are out for now). My shopping list had grown to 197! By going through each one, I was able to split that in half (since many were added in beginning, before I knew what I like/don’t like).

While not swapping, if there’s something in my cupboard that you’d like a sample of, please feel free to ask : )

Ratings (for now):
90s: Must have in personal rotation. Crave it.
80s: Makes me a happy tea drinker. Very good. Unsure of long term relationship.
70s: Like this. Will drink what I have (sample/tin/box), but unsure of whether I’d buy again.
60s: Probably a good tea for what it is. Just not to my personal liking.
50s and below: Do not like…at all. Either poor quality, yuck flavor or … (see tealog).

Old (and still current) obsessions: books, music and fragrances. Hopefully my tea collection stays much more “normal” then those. (too late)