Cream Irish Breakfast

Have you ever heard of a cream Irish breakfast? I haven’t. I even checked out our database to see if any other places had something. Nothing! How unique.

I got this as a sample at the Great Wall during my last visit. I’m pretty much a regular there now (to the point that I’ve gotten to meet The Other Regulars, and also help out with Advertisement—when Lauren, the owner, explains “tea to go” to prospecting customers, I hold up my cup and display it like a fancily-dressed Show Lady). It’s a wonderfully social area, and I’m allowed to do my homework there. If I’m not chatting.

But more on that in Place Reviews.

Tea!

Brought the steeping temperature down to threeish minutes due to the high Assam content of Irish breakfasts. The dry leaves carry a hint of sweetness in their smell, and if you put your nose right into the brewed tea, you get a good Vanilla whiff. Sipping it, it’s definitely no Irish Cream, but it’s such a wonderful hint, and it oddly works so well—it’s like a pleasant, sweet surprise for your breakfast blend. I figure milk might bring it out a bit more—I should try some with it later. Maybe a bit of sugar, because that always coaxes along vanilla cream flavours.

The Irish Breakfast itself is solid, malty but subdued by the non-Assam teas in the blend (Ceylon, I think, is in there, but I can’t guess the others).

Can I just say that I LOVE the flavour of Assam?

I’m a bit of a “straight up” person when it comes to tea, but this one I’ll add about half a pack of cane sugar to (I know, living on the edge here). The flavours come together with the perfect amount of sweetness and the creaminess is definitely there. I love this tea in the morning because of the wake-me-up factor. And I really appreciate the simplicity of this tea in that it doesn’t have a lot of things added to it and yet it is so delicious.