Gold Blend

This is the tea I drink most often, and it’s a perfect one. The taste is comfortable and substantial enough that its satisfying to drink and sufficiently warms you up, but it’s not an overpowering flavor. I always add a bit of sugar and milk.

When I am watching my 7 mo. old daughter, making breakfast and putting a lunch together, at dawn, this is a go-to tea. I love loose leaf tea, but a bag of Barry’s and a splash of milk is hard to beat in that situation.

I brew one bag with 12oz water in a 17oz porcelain teapot. With a generous splash of milk, it comes out to one of the smoothest tasting strong black teas I’ve found.

I really LOVE drinking this tea, it is one of my go-to favorites…any time of day!

The aroma of this tea is the typical black tea aroma…somewhat bold, smooth and a little caramel.

The color of the steeped liquor is a dark amber.

As for the taste, it reflects the aroma, it is bold but not assertive, bright but not astringent, very smooth for a black tea more so than say Lipton with a caramel sweetness that is always present but does not overpower the taste profile or characteristics of this tea; also, the taste is very smooth for a black tea…no matter how long it steeps, it never gets bitter or astringent, it stays bold, smooth, sweet and enjoyable.

The aftertaste on the tongue and palate is smooth and mellow; there is no bitterness, astringency or drying mouth feel.

I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this tea…a must buy!

Autumn, possibly winter, has blown in today. Lake Michigan looks like Galway Bay today. A golden cup of Barry’s is reliable and comforting. On this side of the window, anyway.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The Sipdown Challenge for today is to drink either an Irish Breakfast tea or a green tea!

I won these bags of Barry’s Gold Blend from Blue Monkey Tea’s “virtual” vendor booth during the Virtual International Tea Festival last year (along with some Yorkshire Gold and Glengettie). Since this was the Irish brand out of the three UK teas I won, I decided this would be a good morning for it!

Tea smells nicely bready. I’m getting a malty, baked bread flavor, with a subtle hint of raisin and molasses.

A satisfying breakfast tea! Leaves perhaps a very slight astringency after the sip, and if I brewed my blacks stronger, this could easily be hearty enough to be a milk-and-sugar tea, but it’s smooth enough I am having no issues drinking it straight-up.

Hopefully I can sneak in a cup of the Gyokuro Karigane from my March Madness brackets this afternoon as my green tea, as I’m still working on sipping it down, though I did start the morning with a lovely lime-and-rose flavored mango matcha smoothie. Yum!

It’s my birthday today in the long line of Pisces Steepsterites. Happy birthday Tiffany, Ashmanra, Roswell, Variatea, Derk, and those folks I inevitably missed!

I got this in a group buy with Sara.

I brewed one bag in about a 16oz mug. Mmm, the brewed tea smells malty, almost like molasses. I added a few ice cubes to bring it down to where it wouldn’t burn my tongue.

It tastes malty and sweet! I’m even getting a bit of baked bread flavor at the end of the sip. This is a fine black tea, and it rivals Yorkshire Gold for me. I can imagine sipping this and eating some Irish soda bread at a cafe in Dublin, while a server reminds me that it’s almost closing time, and I should finish up, but I want to stay and savor another minute.

I bought this tea more out of curiosity about Irish tea for two main reasons. First because I am part Irish and second because I know that as a nation the Irish consume even more tea than the British. Bary’s Tea was not kidding when they said that they used only teas from the top few CTC tea factories as this was the fist time that I found a CTC tea that was enjoyable and not on the bitter side when drank straight, and this is coming from guy that drinks almost exclusively whole leaf loose Chinese teas. This tea is strong but smooth and stops short of bitter. This tea literally changed my mind about CTC processing as I now realize that better quality teas are possible, especially when mixed with skillful blending. I have a feeling this will not be the last box that I buy of Barry’s teabags

Thank you MissB for sending this my way. Tbh I was nervous when I brewed this up because my first introduction to tea was a plain black tea bag and I hated it. It took me years to consider trying a new tea after that because I was so put off. As a result, I am always hesitant of plain black tea bags. However, this one is surprisingly decent. Granted it’s a bit astringent but still malty and sweet. This cup is actually enjoyable however given I have other straight black teas I prefer, I am okay with saying goodbye to this. 201.

This is my favorite tea to drink in the morning with a splash of milk. Always smooth, very little (if at all) astringency compared to other black teas. Faint caramel notes.

My suitcase would be full of this when I had to leave Ireland go back to England to work.