Irish Breakfast

Whee! Fun updates! Looks great, Steepster Overlords! (Now if we could just edit the comments we make….)

I spent my drive to work this morning pretty much doing three things: listening to OK Go, trying to ignore that I need to get gas (it’s literally freezing outside… I am not mentally prepared to stand out in that to pump gas) and trying to figure out what it is that this tea lacks.

I’m not saying this is a bad tea. Far from it. I quite enjoy it. I even caught a whiff of cinnamon today from the dry leaves. I tried to find that taste while drinking it, too and decided that maybe there is a hint of it on the tail end. Maybe. But anyway, I like this tea. Stout, wakes me up, but isn’t mean about it. It’s a 4/5 star for me. It’s just missing… something. Something that would give it just that little extra depth of flavor to push it into a 5/5 star tea (I am horribly stingy with 5 star ratings – out of the literally hundreds of teas I’ve tried, maybe 25 have gotten a 5).

Also this morning, I think I’ve fully figured out what malt tastes like. Others have done a great job describing it but going from acknowledging what it should taste like and really understanding what it tastes like took a few tries for me. Anyway, to me it is what comes across as a combo of bake-y and cardboard. Today I got more cardboard from this tea, but not bad cardboard. Gourmet cardboard. Not the licking-the-dirty-and-already-used-cardboard-shipping-box in-your-face-ness that I get from ROT’s Lucky Irish. This was good, clean, nice quality cardboard.

I promise, it’s not a bad thing.

But yeah. I like this tea but can’t quite love it (though it will definitely be a go-to tea for me until I find a 5-star Irish Breakfast). Now that I’ve had a chance to get to know this tea, I think I enjoy Assam Harmony more so I’ve dropped the rating just a hair to reflect that.

It’s wednesday, my regular day off and I’ve taken the rest of the week off as well. (This, btw, has nothing to do with illness, it was already planned, so no worries there). After the restorative power of yesterday’s Assam, I felt like giving this on the that TeaEqualsBliss sent me.
I didn’t really find any aroma to speak off, but my nose feels a bit like it’s considering acting up a little bit, so I don’t fully trust my sense of smell. I don’t think it’s all there at the moment.

The flavour, however, reveals the cardboard-y note of Assam. I probably wouldn’t really have picked that one out so easily if it hadn’t been for yesterday’s Assam and the revelation that was the cardboard note. (Sometimes I feel like I’m nicking all of Auggy’s words, but they’re such good words!).

It also has a surprising sweetness. Smooth, almost creamy. I’m not the sort of person to put milk in anything, even if it is recommended to me. I always try it plain first, and usually that’s the way I’ll drink it. Milk is an added occasional luxury. Maybe that’s why, to me, it doesn’t take very much for a tea to taste like it already had a drop of milk in it.

Maybe it’s some sort of phantom flavour. Like phantom pains where a patient may still feel the sensations of the amputated limb. I can almost taste the flavour that isn’t there. Or something.

It’s not really something that I would connect with a Ceylon, though, so I think that’s because of how the blend is coming together.

Funny thing is that if I were to break this apart and have the Assam on its own and the Ceylon on its own, then I don’t really think I would be more then fleetingly impressed with either of them. But together it’s a different story and they come together quite well.

I have a good amount of this and it could easily become one of my stable teas, but I have put the Irish Morning Tea from A C Perch’s on my shopping list for when I run out. The European Adagio shop carries the Irish Breakfast, but I thought it would be nice to get some comparison and some
different perspective on it. (Besides A C Perch’s is probably quicker and cheaper for me, what with being a danish company. Especially since I’m shopping there anyway)

Of course I had to add the A C Perch’s blend to the site first, and then I unleashed the full force of OCD on the A C Perch’s teas already in the database. They all have pictures and proper descriptions now, except the one that I couldn’t seem to find. (I hope I didn’t accidentally step on anybody’s toes with this) I even discovered that the genmaicha I had from them wasn’t their genmaicha at all, but a variation. The things you learn…

Anyway, this Irish Breakfast. Quite surprisingly yummy. I don’t know what’s going on with that, I’m supposed to prefer Chinese!

I got some of this from ever-awesome Lena in a swap and I decided to start my morning off with it. However, I’m going to have to leave a rating off of it because my morning also involved reading for a class and, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pay very much attention to the tea.

I’m going to try it at a shorter steep time next go round because this was a little bitter for me. It had a slight smokiness to it and an even slighter sweetness at the finish. In some aspects, it nearly reminded me of coffee, but the flavor wasn’t as full and it didn’t have that roasted quality that I usually get from coffee. I also didn’t get any maltiness from it, which I was expecting to at least get a hint of.

But anyway, this could all be for nought because I really wasn’t doing a good job of paying attention and, let’s be real, if acoustical wave forms are actually able to hold my attention in the morning I need to let that ride.

What I can say with certainty is that the caffeine didn’t take very long to kick in and I was feeling antsy before long, which began to disrupt my reading kick a bit so I didn’t finish the cup. Caffeine jitters and being snowed in do not mix very well – especially when you’ve been cooped up in the house for almost a week.

No, wait, it’s actually been a full week now. I have literally been stuck in the house for an entire week. Our street still hasn’t been plowed. The tea I was supposed to get in two days ago has been delayed yet again because of “adverse weather conditions” [this being the order that includes my greatly anticipated Caramelized Pear]. Steepsterites, I am going to lose my mind if these roads do not become drivable very soon.

So thanks for the tea, Lena! Sorry this entry bites pretty hard. I’ll try to get some better thoughts down next time. In the interim, have some snow pictures.
http://bit.ly/aHprnD

sipdown!

this is a very middle of the road average ordinary every day tea. Nothing much going on, but nothing to offend either. I’d drink it, but i wouldn’t order it since there are many more fabulous irish breakfast teas out there that make for a little more OOMPH in my day :)

Wow.

So this one’s actually pretty interesting for me, because I think I’m beginning to be able to detect taste differences between different varieties of teas!

This one steeps to a medium-colored amber. It’s drastically different than the color of Twinings’ brew, which is so dark and murky it could be mistaken for coffee.

Even though I haven’t ever tasted Assam tea by itself, because I had some Ceylon last night, I was able to pick out the Ceylon taste immediately. In the first couple of sips I kept thinking “buttery” once again for Ceylon. This disappeared as I got midway through the cup, but it was still interesting. After each sip, I’d get a dark and interesting kick. Not bitter (and I think there’s a fine line here), but I guess a taste that could be described as “malty,” as Adagio and Lena have said. And I thought to myself, that has to be the Assam!

I really, really enjoyed this cup this morning. But here’s the crazy thing – I actually wanted it to be even bolder. I think the ratio of Ceylon to Assam is okay, but I would have actually wanted more of an Assam kick. I wanted the brew to be a bit more in-your-face, kicking ass and taking names. Towards the bottom of the cup, the Assam was definitely more present, and I felt myself grinning through those last few sips.

This is definitely more endlessly sippable than the Twinings blend, but I sort of like how assertive and RAWR-worthy Twinings’ Irish Breakfast is. Thinking back on it, it’s probably because they’ve dialed it up on the Assam a bit. Their blend made me feel like a scurvy pirate, slugging down my brew with a big “ARR.” It’s almost masculine. This one was more of a “rawr” without Caps-Lock. Not to say it isn’t delicious – because it is – but I was actually expecting it to be a bit stronger.

I drank this in the morning, but forgot to log it.
It didn’t really seem like an Irish Breakfast, to me.
I mean, when I think of Irish Breakfast, I think bold, deep, “Wake up”.
I want to take a sip, & open my eyes to find Colin Farrell sitting across the table from me, saying, “pass me a sip, lass”.
This tea didn’t do that for me. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t Colin Farrell Fantasy worthy either.

I don’t know too much about unflavored black teas. Some day I want to have a little side by side taste test. But for now, this tea. I can’t pick out the individual flavors too well. It’s overall nice and smooth, but it didn’t stand out in any particular way. I think this would be good for me as a breakfast tea (big surprise there, eh?) when I’m not really going to be examining the flavors, but looking for something that tastes pleasant enough and has caffeine. Normally I like teas better without milk, but this one seems to benefit from the addition of just a bit.

This morning we are trying straight blacks out. I felt I needed a pick me up. I slept the appropriate amount of time last night but I’m still groggy.

This is a full bodied, malty tea ending pleasantly sweet. The mouth feel is almost creamy. There is a touch of astringency that keeps this tea from truly feeling creamy for me. I don’t think it will grab me by my nonexistent chairs and shake me awake as well as some of the CTC irish breakfasts I’ve tried. Those teas that look like they may possibly be instant coffee really seem to pack a punch. I enjoy this one more. It’s more civilized.

I’ve been meaning to try an Irish Breakfast so for one to come by way of the TTB was perfect! And this one seems pretty well liked…I did find it first by searching “Irish Breakfast” so that’s something.

I do have a lot of black tea blends, so I’m not sure I want to have any more of this than one cup, but it being Assam and Ceylon also makes me want to reconsider.

Steeped it up and added milk, because I just need something with a bit more body to it right now…isn’t it supposed to be spring?

It’s not bad, I’ve had better blends. It’s a pretty hearty mix, but surprisingly sweet. I assumed an Irish Breakfast would have a bit more oomfph to it, I imagine them to be more of a CTC type and this isn’t at all. When I don’t have a ton of tea I’ll try some others. For now, this will move along in the tea box because of that.

Thanks, alphakitty, for including this in the teabox! This one is okay. It doesn’t have the flavor I’d like for kick-me, wake-up morning tea. (I like to think that is why they are called “breakfast” teas!) It has a sweet, malty, breadlike flavor, I just wish they were stronger flavors! I steeped it for a few minutes too.

So, this is one of Adagio’s highest ranked teas. I didn’t end that sentence with a question mark…I’m still forming an opinion as I type this.

For my 1st cup I added milk and sugar. It was a highly enjoyable cup…much stronger than English Breakfast, by far. The second cup I tried plain, nothing added. It was a little too “AHHH” in your face, so I added sugar. It has a bold taste. Very malty, a tad smokey, maybe a bit earthy? The smell is not that great.
It seems to me that if you can drink this tea plain, or even with sugar only, that you would like plain rooibos. I know there are some rooibos haters out there. For some reason these two strike me as similar…minus the malty taste in Irish Breakfast. Where rooibos lacks “malty” it makes up in “earthy”. I don’t know…I’m rambling.

Ok, with milk and sugar, I can see why this tea would rank so high. I’m a fan. Off to make another cup.

This one’s been sitting in my cupboard for a while but I totally forgot about it. So I figured, it’s breakfast time- why not!

This is a very standard breakfast tea. It doesn’t really stand out in any spectacular kind of way. Nothing that makes me want to jump over the moon, but still a good traditional cup to start my day. Not really sure what else to say about it, other than that.

Another purchase guided by the folks here at Steepster-78 is not an awesome rating, but it’s pretty solid considering well over 100 reviews. Also, this blend has Ceylon and Assam-the teas that make up RoT’s “Lucky Irish” Breakfast Blend (which I USED to love).

This is my first order from Adagio and I hate the packaging of the tea. It is a similar pouch that many companies use, with the mylar-type foil on the inside-but thinner than others. And the outside looks and feels thinner and cheap. There were some spots on the outside that looked like oil. It could have just been air-bubbles under the label, but I don’t like having to wonder about what it is. Some pouches are really nice and I don’t mind storing my tea in there-not this one. It went straight to a tin. Also, there is a hole in the bag for it to hang on a hook. I hate to think of my tea just being pulled off the shelf in a retail store-hope David’s doesn’t do that.

The tea itself-the dry leaves smell ok, aromatic enough-a little malty I suppose. Wet leaves, the same, just a bit more so. This is intended to be a first thing in the morning tea for me-not a sit there and ponder all the aromas and flavors type of tea. Liquor is mahogany brown. Flavor is good. Malty. However, not as strong as I would expect-this was consumed straight. I think tomorrow I will add a half teaspoon of tea and/or an extra minute of steep time. I may adjust my preliminary numerical rating after further brews.

I’ve been drinking this for the past few mornings. I took a leap and bought the 3oz bag, having never actually tasted it before. It’s good, but it’s not the greatest Irish Breakfast that I’ve had.

Backlog—
I absolutely love this tea. I haven’t tried many straight black teas, and only a few English breakfasts, but this beats all of them out by far. It’s bold, malty, full-bodied, and gets you going in the morning. The dry leaf aroma is divine. Definitely stands up to milk & sugar, or maybe even cream if that’s what floats your boat. It’s perfect for washing down a big savory breakfast. I order the 3oz package & have never had trouble finishing off the bag.

I found this item at a reduced price at our local Earth Fare market yesterday. This is my first foray into Irish Breakfast tea and my second venture into Adagio Teas.

Even if you don’t like Adagio Teas, you have to award them a high score for innovative packaging. They give you a fairly large and strong round tin with a solid tension-clipped plastic lid for tight resealing. In addition to the lid being clear so you get a good view of the tea leaves inside before purchasing, Adagio claims that the lid blocks ultraviolet rays to preserve the quality of the tea. Very cool!

When I sprang open the lid of the tea, the aroma that burst forth was like a spicy pipe tobacco. The unmistakable smell of Ceylon tea was also present.

I steeped the tea at 212 degrees for five minutes as prescribed by Adagio. The brewed liquid was a dark amber color.

The first sip contained fruity and standard black tea flavors. A tad of sweetness was also peeking in. I did notice a slight bitterness to the aftertaste. This may have been due to an extra spoonful of leaves that I might have tossed in when I lost count. The astringency dissipated with subsequent sips and complexities in the flavor began to appear.

My tastebuds are not experienced enough yet to immediately recognize all of the various types and growing locations of black teas. However, in this tea, I can tell that there is more than one variety involved. And, it so happens that this selection is a blend of Assam and Ceylon teas. It is a tasty combination with just a hint of sugar and spice.

I found this tea to be enjoyable and bold enough to start my always challenging Monday morning. It also seems to be a little more flavor-inclusive than some of the English Breakfast teas that I have tried. I am sure I will reach for this one again to help crank up my day and week.

A decent plain tea. Strong and hearty, which I need most mornings. Not the best Irish Breakfast, but not the worst.

This is a great Irish Breakfast. I first started drinking tea when I was in Ireland, and it became a habit that carried over when I came back. I much prefer Irish Breakfast to English Breakfast now. It’s heartier, more flavorful, fuller.

This is one of the better ones I’ve tried. It’s dark and malty without being bitter, and sometimes I get little notes of cinnamon. I really like it hot and plain, but it’s fantastic when iced with a splash of milk. (Interesting, because when I was in Ireland, I NEVER added milk or sugar to my tea, or drank anything iced.)

I just got a small sample size from Adagio – I’m definitely ordering more now.

This is a good Irish Breakfast tea, but not my favorite. I can taste both the Ceylon Sonata and the Assam Melody, but the Ceylon is dominant. It lacks the punch of Harney and Sons or Twinings, probably because it has less Assam in it. I was unable to get a good second steeping out of the leaf, which makes me wonder if I am doing something wrong.

Yet another tea included in a package from home. I’m at a loss of what to say or expect here. I’m not skilled in black teas the way I am in Green, in White or in Oolong. I’m ususually not a fan of these darker teas with the possible exception of Earl Grey. But can I honestly refuse to brew a cup of tea based on it’s color? No. That’s absurd. I’ve found only one tea that I could not stand and that was Twinning’s Earl Grey.

I will say that the tea leaves fresh out of the cannister, smell like a chocolate store to me. But I will forewarn that this may be because the cannister is an old recycled cannister that had once contained Yunan Noir.

When brewed, It has a darker and earthier aroma than English Breakfast. And it’s liquor is dark bronze. The taste is a rich coffee like flavor, but to my ultimate dismay I can’t voice it’s difference from English Breakfast. I can tell that there is a difference, possibly in terms of strength and definitely in terms of aroma, but I can’t describe it.

It’s a great black tea, if black tea is your thing. I wouldn’t dare insult this tea with a lower than sixty rating. And it definitely will not spoil in my tea cabinet. But when it comes time to order another black tea, I will think Yunan Noir before I think Irish Breakfast.