Just an Irish Breakfast

Tea of the morning. This is another sample that came to me from the kind Naylynn via the Christmas Card Swap. Thank you!

When I think Irish Breakfast a few words automatically pop in my head: strong, bold, and malt. Irish breakfast teas are famous for their thick malty flavor that stands up to cream and sugar so very well. Today I learned there are Irish Breakfast teas (or at least one tea) that break that rule. I love a rule breaker.

The first thing that caught my eye was the low water temp for this tea. It’s recommended at 195°F, and since I’ve never had this tea before I followed the directions. I’m glad I did. I took my first sip and possibly gave myself whiplash. You can imagine the double take I did at my mug when I sipped this and found a distinct lack of malty notes. I sipped again and what I tasted was a rich, creamy, wonderfully thick tea that tasted like the French rolls my favorite bakery sells. Oh… holy… yum. As wonderful as the bready note was the texture of the tea was what had me smiling. It was like sipping velvet. As the tea cooled the malt flavor began to appear, and I got more of a traditional Irish Breakfast feel from the tea, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Next time I have this (Naylynn sent a generous sample!) I might add cream and sugar just to see, but this is wonderfully tasty all on its own.

Oh man! I didn’t pay attention to the recommended steeping temp and steeped this way too hot. It ended up wicked bitter, but adding cream and sugar made if palatable again. It’s not the same as the first time I had it, but there is a little malt shining through and it is helping me wake and recover from a rough night with a sick two year old.