Barry's Tea

I like Barry’s tea my mum let my try it and i liked it and i still do

My favorite tea! Barry’s Gold Blend Tea bags are very strong, easily 2 cups from one tea bag; possibly more if you boil for awhile.
I microwave or boil because I like a very strong tea; and I prefer it with half and half or cream, and various non-sugar sweeteners.
I have not tasted Barry’s Breakfast Tea or their stronger version.

good taste

nice tea

This is the tea that turned me on to Tea! I received a free box at an event and started drinking it on my days off. My kids started to ask for it and then I had to find it in a local store. Lucky for me there are plenty of stores that carry this tea. I have moved on to loose leaf teas, however there is nothing like a great cuppa Barry’s to get me going in the morning.

This is a robust tea, hardy enough to join the Fianna and as smooth and consistent as a well worn scabbard. From the minute you start pouring water over the bag, this tea is ready to fight for you. It will lift the fog and fend off the damp with a balance of grace and brute force.

A good English or Irish Breakfast tea should be bold and strong, but not astringent, and Barry’s has it pegged. After 2-3 minutes, this tea brews up to a nice reddish brown and the tea is the perfect vehicle for a bit of milk and sugar. This tea has a lot of Assam, which people tend to love or hate. If you’re looking for an even more robust cuppa, try Barry’s Gold.

This is one of my favorite teas.

This was another birthday gift. My mother and stepfather gave me this one so that I wouldn’t “forget my roots”. But my mom’s family drinks Red Rose, so I know my stepfather must have picked this one out…

Robust and pungent, they’ve got that right!

I’m quite biased because I grew up drinking teas very similar to this. I prepared this without milk or sugar, but I think that in the future I will drink this tea the way I used to drink black tea when I was a kid: 4 oz. of water, 2 teabags, 5 minute steep, 5 tablespoons of sugar, 4 oz. of milk. Prepared that way, it kind of reminds me of a lukewarm Thai iced tea.

Last time I tried this it was like I was the 98lb weakling at the beach getting the sand kicked in his face by the muscle bound bully. Glad my girl wasn’t with me. Whew! Just because its St Patrick’s day I thought I would try this Irish Breakfast again. This time I first signed up for the Ju Jitsu lessons in the back of my Batman comic. Ooh-Wah! I am so ready!

Just for giggles I only steeped this about 30 seconds. It is still very dark but the taste is far more to my liking. It is NOT astringent in the least. The flavor is kind grape/wood. This is a nice cup but I think it would have been a little better at 45 seconds. A little stouter I would like. I am definitely not a 3-5 minute person with this strong tea.

I got this from Brett who seems to have vanished. Like the PG Tips of yesterday (also from Brett), this is another I have heard about for years but never tried.

What did I think? Hmmm. (snippet from my blog review) I am not sure how to describe this tea. The sip starts nice and gentle, polite even. Just as I start to relax in its company, I am grabbed by the throat, terrified of what comes next. Then, just as suddenly, it releases me and walks away with a grin. My eyes are wide open. I am left unscathed with but a memory. Yeah, this tea is like that. It won’t hurt you. It just wants you to think it will.

Edit – Once the cup cools down the big scary late sip calms down to an enjoyable level.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

was so busy looking for a teapot and cups at the thrift stores, and a bunch of other things that i didnt realize that i hadnt had any tea until after dinner.

my mom and i were looking around at world market and saw tasting booth for this so i had some and tho i didnt like the first irish breakfast i tried, this one was ok. good, even. (or maybe it was just coz i missed having tea today or my tastebuds are getting used to it hahaha)

liquor: dark gold
taste: strong enough that i can sip but not gulp, it was perfectly brewed by World Market
effect: enough caffeine to make me more alert

as im not a breakfastfast tea fan, i would rather buy other teas but would be happy enough to drink this again.

I have been drinking this tea almost non stop this winter! I have fairly early classes this semester, so I make a cup of tea before bed, and then when I get up in the morning I just pop it in the microwave for a minute or so and then I dash off to class!

I really like this tea. It is not as astringent as some other black teas that I have had before, and I am still trying to decide how I feel about it. As far as a good breakfast tea goes, I will definitely be reordering this one when I am finished!

I drink this tea with a spoonful of honey and a dash of milk. It tastes exactly like you would imagine a typical breakfast tea to taste. It is warm and full bodied, though not as strong as I was almost hoping. It is very good though! Generally when I make it, I steep it for 4 min in boiling water.

Flavorful, but has an unpleasant bitter aftertaste, and even with milk and sugar the bitter aftertaste lingers a long time afterward. Stronger than Twining’s Irish breakfast and more bitter; it is also much stronger than Barry’s Gold.

Barr’y Gold had a pleasant, mild, though somewhat bland flavor (with milk and sugar), even though I steeped it for five and a half minutes. It also had an unplesant drying, astringent affect on the tongue and palate.

This was the perfect pick-me-up on a chilly October afternoon! I added more milk than usual, so the tea wasn’t quite as strong as usual, but it was still delicious and robust.

No notes yet.

Again, this morning, I was very rushed; I only got out of bed about half an hour before class. Barry’s is always there for me, though! I love drinking this quite hot, even though I didn’t get to savor it for very long this morning.

I actually can’t remember how long I let the tea steep today, but it was as fantastic as ever despite me letting it cool for too long. I still have yet to taste any bitterness whatsoever.

I should note that I am a tea lover, not a tea expert. Barry’s Gold Blend tea is what I usually drink in the morning. It is a robust black tea that holds its own, even with plenty of milk. I myself drink it with skim milk—no sugar, although I am sure that it could take quite a large amount of sugar. I actually do recommend it with milk because I think that the tea brings out a certain sweetness in the milk.

To prepare the tea, I place the bag in my mug and pour in my milk while the water is in my electric kettle. I try to pour the water as soon as it reaches its boiling point, although sometimes I scramble to do so. Usually, I let the tea steep for about five to seven minutes, but this is only a rough estimate since I make my tea while I get ready for the day. I like my tea good and strong, and this blend offers both.

Not one of my favorites. I usually avoid drinking it ‘straight up’. I’ve been adding two bags of it to some organic rooibos to add some tannin and caffeine to iced tea. Works well enough there.

I have a few breakfast teas that I enjoy-most notably Butiki’s Organic Irish Breakfast and Mark T. Wendell’s Indonesian. However, I am not one to have the same cup or two day after day-I do like my variety.

I’ve also been on a kick buying some teas that are popular in Ireland and the UK-such as PG Tips, ToH Yorkshire teas, etc. It’s fun to try what people in other countries like-even if it is not necessarily high quality loose leaf.

Anyhow, Barry’s is apparently the big tea in Ireland, so I had to try that. The tea is a blend of Kenyan and Assam teas. Breakfast blends are generally not much to look at, but this is even less so-the CTC process makes this loose tea look like grape nuts cereal. Had I known this was just a CTC, I probably would have bought the bag form of this sold in a local grocery store. Anyhow, as I’ve been noticing while buying teas popular in Ireland and the UK, Kenyan tea is included in all of these. In the States, I don’t recall coming across an Irish Breakfast or English Breakfast with Kenyan in it. This tea distinguishes itself from the EB’s because it has a higher ratio of Kenyan than the EB’s I have tried. This makes it a little stronger, but in my opinion, a little less flavorful. Also, as Kenyan teas (in general) have a little more caffeine than their Assamica cousins from India (because the Kenyan tea trees are younger) this should mean a bit more caffeine and a bit more energy if you need it to start your day.

The cup brews dark brownish copper in 3 minutes or so. I’ve gone up to 4 on this. It’s strong, but I didn’t really have to adjust to it like I did with say, an East Frisian Blend. With more Kenyan, the flavor seems a bit roastier and not as lively. Not really bland, but not exciting. I don’t really taste any bitterness or astringency, but there is a tannic taste on the back end. I’m sure that in Ireland most people drink this with some sort of milk and sugar. That’s not really my thing-I like even breakfast teas straight and plain. I did try it once with soymilk and sugar and it was okay. Different, but not better. It might help you get the cup down if this is too strong for you or if you don’t care for the taste. For me, the only tea I NEEDED soymilk to get through it was TG’s EB.

Overall, it’s a decent tea. It’s in my rotation because I bought so much of it. I’ve had this at least half a dozen times by now. I can’t say that it’s growing on me though. So far, I feel about the same about it as when I first tried it. Maybe that will change over time. If you like a good dose of Kenyan in your Breakfast tea or if you want to try a blend popular in Ireland, this might be something you’d like to try.

I bought this from The English Tea Store. It only came in 250 gram boxes-which is A LOT of tea when you have as much as I have. I’d never buy it in such great quantity ever again. I THINK the bag inside the box is foil-I just bought a big tea tin for it. It’s possible other places online have this in a smaller quantity if you don’t want that much. Or check your grocery store for the teabag version.

Have been drinking this regularly lately — and decided to rate it more highly than I have in the past, although still not up to the Punjana rating that I consider my #1 for irish breakfast teas. Very malty, and pleasant even when steeped longer than 4-5 minutes. I can drink this either weak or strong, and it seems to be just as good. I will say that it’s best when piping hot — if I let it cool a bit, the astringency seems to rise a bit and it’s not as good as if I drank it closer to right off the boil.

Robust, slightly more tannic than Twining’s. Good with milk and sugar. I think at 2.5 minutes this might be a little weak, but 4 minutes of stepping seems perfect! May have found my go-to cup of IB. I like Punjana too… but this one seems to have a bit more character and punch.