British teas vs. Irish teas
Hey guys I’m brand new to this site and wanted some feedback. I just got into drinking hot tea (I’m from Southern U.S. so Sweet Tea has been my thing), and I really enjoyed the Twinings Irish breakfast tea. Naturally, I searched for more. I went looking for legitimate British and Irish brands and have tried PG tips, Yorkshire, Yorkshire Gold. Is it just me, or is there something weird about how those taste? I tried bewleys gold and loved it, just like irish breakfast but I don’t know what the big difference is. Anyone else notice a sort of nasty taste and aroma from British tea?
English breakfast tea is a blend (Ceylon, Kenya black tea & Assam) whereas Irish breakfast is VERY heavy on Assam alone.
There is a difference in taste.
Yorkshire Gold is a very good (bagged) English breakfast tea.
I’d go for Lyons or Bewley’s for a Irish blend.
most of the traditional blends are bagged teas. You could try for a loose leaf builder’s tea (nothing but tea UK has a nice one) this company http://www.tea-and-coffee.com/traditional-tea-blends/c16 also has various breakfast blends (either bagged or loose leaf. I have their Pluckley tea and it’s very good.
Hi Woody, I think you might enjoy exploring some straight teas from different areas of the world. Try some Assams, some Ceylans, some Yunnans, etc. You will find a whole new world beyond supermarket tea.
I think I just enjoy a heavier amount of Assam, I love Twinings irish breakfast, and bewleys gold blend. The difficulty is finding these in stores in Central Florida. It’s either bigelow or Lipton in most stores, and if you go to a place like a health food store or World Market the only other teas are Asian style teas like jasmine or oolong. I’m open to trying everything but I am sort of obsessed with the Irish teas. I asked publix to special order Barry’s Gold blend, Taylor’s of harrogate Scottish breakfast, and also Twinings irish and English breakfast LOOSE tea, We will see if they can do that.
There are a few tea shops, but they are all like “mango tropical, coconut delight, apple jasmine” or weird stuff like that. None of the straight black teas that I am looking for.
On an additional side note, I enjoy milk and sugar in my tea.(in my case it’s soy cream because I am lactose intolerant, which isn’t as good and messes with the flavor some but, you gotta do what you gotta do).
If you have Target check there, they have some good teas you might like. Harney (look for tins around knee level) has some good ones.
I only saw an English breakfast (which surprisingly I do like the Twinings version of) and earl grey. I drink the Twinings earl grey in loose leaf form (it’s the only type if loose leaf Twinings they sell at publix or anywhere I have found).
Grace Rare Tea has a nice Pure Assam Irish Breakfast, but I don’t know if it will be hearty enough for you!
If you’re finding you prefer Irish Breakfast to English Breakfast you might also want to give Scottish Breakfast (my favourite!) a try. It’s also heavy on Assam, and has a wonderful bold and malty flavour.
I would love to but can’t seem to find any in local stores. I hate ordering online (don’t trust internet with my monetary info, and don’t trust freshness of product), but that seems to be my only option. Do you know of any good straight Scottish blends (that aren’t crazy expensive)
I can’t help with your concerns about e-safety but as for freshness of product, many online shops have a much higher product turnover so you are likely to receive fresher tea that has been opened less than if you went into their storefront. So that’s something! :)
Another option is to build your own. These are usually just blends of straight teas. If you know what you like in a breakfast tea or you see a ‘recipe’ online that intrigues you, make a small batch yourself by mizing a few base teas in varying proportions. This requires a bit of tea up front but allows you to make the perfect blend for you!
Any suggestions on good recipe sites and/or good places/websites and types of tea to buy to “build my own”?
“Any suggestions on good recipe [•••] and types of tea to buy to “build my own”?” [7 yrs later lol]
I grew up with Barry’s and Lyons’s — I don’t know what the mix in them is, but here is what I like.
Get a good Assam, and a good Darjeeling. Mix about two or three to one (I’ll e.g. put two spoons Assam, one Darjeeling in a pot). Heat your teapot well, pour water as it starts to boil (or if it is boiling hard, pour on the tea from a height to oxygenate it). Keep the pot warm (e.g. with tea cosy or night light). Stir after a minute or two and leave it stand again for another couple of minutes. Generally I find the tea leaves settle to the bottom of the pot and don’t go into the cup, but you may have to use a sieve. I warm anything I use (spoons, sieves, cups etc.) with hot water so as the tea will be as warm as possible. Re amount of tea, best to experiment. I never measure anything beyond trowing it in the palm of my hand — you’ll have to get to know your teapot and how much tea it needs. Brewing time also relevant, more tea shorter time, or less tea longer time brewing. It your tea gets bitter after a longer brewing, generally means the quality not so good, but it may taste good with the more tea/shorter brewing option.
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