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).
