Irish Breakfast

i mostly buy this tea bagged, except when i’m desperate. it makes a good strong cuppa first thing in the wee small hours. my local grocery store has stopped selling the bagged version though, so i’m screwed.

Brash and malty and best with a splash of milk and sugar.

This is a great breakfast tea in my opinion, and is very brisk and malty. There is a definite presence of an Assam tea (Not one of the highest grades). I prefer Twinings “Finest Assam 2nd Flush” tea, which contains a much higher grade of teas, and a better flavor.

Delicious. Very strong, and very full. A solid tea.

Malty, strong, kick-your-butt tea that is best taken, in my opinion, with milk and a little sugar. My favourite wake me up tea. This is a robust black. Say whatever you like about crappy bagged tea, but I can’t beat this for convenience. I love this stuff; another tea my mother drank often and raised me on. Always in my house.

Malty and hearty. I’ve never tried this tea black, as when I first tried it I was not experimental with how I took my tea, but it is certainly delicious with half-and-half and a pinch of sugar. In this sense, I find it very coffee-esque. I would certainly purchase this tea again.

Personally, when I think “I want some tea”, Twinings Irish Breakfast is usually the tea I’m thinking of. It more or less defines the very word for me. Robust, delicious, and not too fussy about water temperature or steeping time. I like mine hot with a generous spoonful of sugar and no milk.

(Backlogged from yesterday)

Still best brewed strong with cream

My daily religious tea. No matter how many other teas I drink, I can come back to this tea in the confidence it will give me a solid tasting bit of comfort. There is no bite on the aftertaste and it goes down smoothly every sip.

Despite its $2 price tag, this tea shouldn’t be snubbed at, as I find it one of the better mass produced black teas out there. It is a MUST TRY for all tea drinkers.

I think the key to this tea though is drink it hot! Any colder than boiling and a real bitterness comes through. This tea is perfect with one, perhaps two sugars, and just a dash of milk. It’s also not bad black with just one sugar.

This tea kicks my butt in the afternoon when I’m starting to get sleepy. Nice and strong, even seems surprisingly forgiving when I accidentally steep it too long. Distractions at work? Never! Probably because it is so strong that my tastebuds aren’t given a chance to notice anything tannic about it. I drink it straight, but it probably would mellow out with some milk.

This is my normal office tea. I tend to forget that I put a tea bag in and steep it way too long, but it’s still quite drinkable. I like the bitterness and astringency that it has (even when steeped a more reasonable amount of time). This is a serious no joke black tea.

This is my standby, always in the cupboard late night cup. Plenty hot with milk and sugar, and I can practically feel my nerves slowly smooth out and unfrazzle. Not the most adventurous cup, but a good reliable cup every time.

I think I get hungry with the time. I know my body isn’t telling me to eat because I just ate two hours ago and I’m still full. It is physiological. So, I break out the tea.

My brother came home from school early (half day) so I offered to make him a cup of tea as well. He chose Tension Tamer from Celestial Seasonings. I’m actually surprised anyone in the house likes it.

I got water ready and decided it is time for some Irish Breakfast. I picked out a bigger cup than usual so I might have had twice as much water than what I normally use but I don’t think it is much of a problem for this tea. It is really bold. It really reminds me of coffee and smells a little bit like my dad’s decaf JFG coffee to me. It would be really good first thing in the morning.

I put a little bit of milk in it with some agave nectar. It smoothed out the flavor a bit into something a little bit more low key for right now. Not by much though since I didn’t put that much milk in it. I had my brother try a little bit of it and he likes it. In fact, if I can get up early enough, he would like to have a cup before school. I think I would make it with a little more milk for him. Possibly only a 3 minute steep too so it would help him wake up better but not be too strong for him. He normally drinks herbal tea.

I do like it right now but I’m not really sure what to think about it. I think I would have to drink it a couple more times to really get an opinion on it. I do know one thing, I would probably get some packets of this to help me wake up in the morning at school. It would help wake me up since I am not a morning person and actually help me stay awake. That would be a good thing considering that I have an “early” class at 9 for next semester. And one of them actually requires thought while the other requires I be awake because it is physical activity.

So this was an interesting experience this morning. First, I’d been doing the decaf thing for a while so when I decided I would just do the full caffeine version… hmm. maybe not the wisest choice as I feel a bit jittery now.
As for the flavor. I took my first sip just after finishing a glass of juice. Not pleasant at all. I was terribly disappointed since I remember enjoying this tea. It tasted really old and stale.
After I got the juice/sweet taste out though, I continued and it was much improved. I used a small amount of milk in it and it’s very enjoyable over my eggs and toast. I’ll continue using this one in the am but I think I’ll try to remove some of the caffeine, steer clear of drinking it with juice and likely not add any sweetener just to be safe (I’m not a fan of sweet teas anyway.)

Dark, rich… almost coffee-like in its strength. Needs quite a bit of milk! (I’m a wuss.) An excellent morning drink.

My first Irish Breakfast tasting was a Twinings Irish Breakfast tea, and it was delicious. All I needed to add was a touch of sugar or honey, and that was fine enough for me. I find this to be a great way to bounce back from a rough morning.

Good anytime cup of brew, the perfect start to anyday!

I LOVE this tea! I drink it with a teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoon of milk, at least 3 mornings a week :)

Winter cupboard staple.
Feels a little watery this evening even at 5 mins but still strong enough to slap me awake and hearty enough to warm me up on a frighteningly chilly mid-western night.
Certainly one of my few bagged go-to’s especially during these seemingly arctic months.
Taken without milk and only a touch of honey.

My favorite breakfast tea to date. Very dark, like a cup of coffee without the nasty side effects for me.