1.5 tsp for 300mL @100C, steeped four minutes, drunk bare.
A blend of Assam and Ceylon teas. Dry leaf smells of raisins and honey— that’s the Assam, I expect. Dry leaves are long, tight, and dark brown, with some amber leaves. Wet leaf smells of brilliant sunshine — even of laundry dried on the clothesline — and, faintly, of copper: that’s the Dimbulla Ceylon. Wet leaf is uniformly coppery-brown. Liquor is dark copper with a little foam on top, that puckering froth some Ceylons deliver. As the tea steeps, the aroma develops notes of dark honey and bread.
At four minutes, this tea is malty and strong and just tending towards bitterness; I wouldn’t steep it much longer. Plenty of malty pucker. Its not a subtle tea, but then it doesn’t claim to be. A very good blend, living up to its packet copy, and priced low. In fact, I’d call this one a steal.
‘Irish Breakfast’ is, like ‘English Breakfast,’ an almost meaningless label. There is no one recipe for either ‘Breakfast’ blend, though those labelled ‘Irish’ usually have some Assam in them, and often some Kenyan. Those labelled ‘English’ often had some Keemun in them, but that’s getting rare. It’s always worth trying different brands of Irish and English Breakfast.
