Irish Breakfast

I’m recently back drinking tea regularly as I had been mostly drinking specialty coffee so I’ve been having fun exploring brands and blends. In the old days, (20 years ago) I drank Earl Grey and English Breakfast and assorted herbals and growing up in the Boston area English teas were the norm; Lipton, Tetley, Salada and the like were in my folk’s cupboard. My dad was full-on Irish so he preferred a bold and strong cuppa with milk and sugar. Anyway.. being half-Irish my review of an Irish tea can only be 50% valid so there’s that! To the tea, I think TJ’s blend is pretty much what I’d hoped for in an Irish Breakfast; strong, malty, dark and boisterous. This tea is not kidding. If you want a morning or afternoon pick-me-up, this is a great choice. Don’t steep past 5 minutes to avoid some bitterness and definitely add milk & sugar. And lastly, some reviews can be quite snobby but this is not a tea for you. This is a 4¢ bag of in your face black tea that you probably shouldn’t drink after 5 pm unless you’re on the night shift.

Way too bitter- I can’t even drink it without a heaping spoonful of sugar, and I generally drink all tea straight. That said, when sweetened it’s not bad per se, just rather plan and lacking in any interesting flavor. I see this as pretty much the tea equivalent of how I see coffee- strong, bitter, and good for a caffeine boost.

Very, very bitter, even for a black tea. Also makes me way too jittery to drink regularly, even though I can handle many other black teas.

Directions say to use one roughly 2.8 g sachet per 8 oz water. I used two sachets and 14 oz. The recommended steep time is from 3-5 minutes, so I went for 4. Decent Assam. Not too bitter, I like a bit of honey in mine.

I enjoy a hearty tea in the morning, and this one does not disappoint. It is robust, malty, and does well with milk and sugar. For an off-the-shelf tea bag option, this one is a winner!

Bearing in mind that this note is in the category of ‘bagged teas,’ I was pleasantly surprised by this selection. The only other Irish breakfast tea I have tried is Twinings, and I find this to be quite different. In my opinion, this tea does a perfect job of being exactly what it purports to be: a strong, malty black tea with some bright notes. I enjoy both loose leaf and bagged teas, and I’d like to mention that I found this tea to have some subtlety of flavor not common amongst bagged teas. If you’re the kind of person who likes a bagged Irish tea, and I realize that not everyone does, then I expect you’ll be greatly satisfied with this one.

I have to say, I was a little too harsh on this one last time. It’s not a great tea, but it’s not bad. I had it today, I’m kind of neutral about the taste. It’s fairly plain, but the strength is good. It definitely fills the need if you want some caffeine. I gave this a 60 before, but I’m bumping it up to 70 since I kind of enjoyed it today…I wouldn’t recommend it, but I’ll drink it once or twice a week until I finish the 80 bags.

A cupboard staple. Basic and strong.

This is my favorite tea. It is designed for cream and sugar. I like Yorkshire Gold Loose Tea too, but this is the one I drink at least 6 times a day. Actually tea is the only thing I drink. I add Splenda and Half and Half. Best thing about it is that it tastes like tea and is inexpensive. Most of the time I empty the bag into a pod and run it through my machine because I am in a hurry. I get 14 oz. out of 1 bag.

If you like your tea to taste like weak cardboard/sawdust with one bag per cup and like full-brewed cardboard/sawdust with two bags per cup, then this is the tea for you. It’s awful. I know, I know, it comes from a chain store and you get what you pay for, but stick to Twinings for grocery store tea that is potable. I’m actually going to take it back to Trader Joe’s for a refund, since the manager who talked me into buying it told me to bring it back if I didn’t like it. I"m sure he didn’t expect the return, but it is awful tea.