Gold Blend Tea Bags

It’s a white Christmas in New York! :-) I’m visiting home, so this is what’s in my cup. Merry Christmas, Steepster!

I should note that I am a tea lover, not a tea expert. Barry’s Gold Blend tea is what I usually drink in the morning. It is a robust black tea that holds its own, even with plenty of milk. I myself drink it with skim milk—no sugar, although I am sure that it could take quite a large amount of sugar. I actually do recommend it with milk because I think that the tea brings out a certain sweetness in the milk.

To prepare the tea, I place the bag in my mug and pour in my milk while the water is in my electric kettle. I try to pour the water as soon as it reaches its boiling point, although sometimes I scramble to do so. Usually, I let the tea steep for about five to seven minutes, but this is only a rough estimate since I make my tea while I get ready for the day. I like my tea good and strong, and this blend offers both.

Barr’y Gold had a pleasant, mild, though somewhat bland flavor (with milk and sugar), even though I steeped it for five and a half minutes. It also had an unplesant drying, astringent affect on the tongue and palate.

It’s been a long road since I’ve last reviewed anything on here. My dad passed away from cancer, then I was diagnosed with rectal cancer. Then chemo with radiation, surgery, then more chemo and 9 months with an ostomy bag. I had that reversed about six weeks ago and now readjusting again.

But I had a few constants in that time. I’m a mail carrier, and I kept delivering during it all. And I drink a good amount of tea daily. One of those cups is in a thermos on my route too.

This is one of those dependable teas for any time. Rich, malty, comforting. Along with teas like Yorkshire or Thompson’s, I tend to drink this for comfort. Perfect on a cold day or a big breakfast. Or a few shortbreads. It won’t let you down.

Had my normal cup of Earl Grey before leaving the house this morning.
But as it’s so rainy and dreary, I decided I needed another cuppa something warm when I got to the office. Something with a bit of pep, since it’s Monday and all…
My boyfriend bought this for me in loose leaf awhile ago, and I’m not sure why it didn’t make it’s way into my “daily use” teas.
The flavor is bold, the caffeine enough to give me a good kick in the morning.
It’s got the faintest hint of astringency to me, that adds to the enjoyment rather than taking away.
I’ll be keeping this on hand at the office, for sure.
Just ordered their Irish Breakfast, so I’ll be looking forward to that.

It’s straightforward black tea.

Daily breakfast tea, in a big travel mug with low fat milk and a bit of sugar. It’s a proper “tea” flavor, good Assam punch that stands up to breakfast whatever it may be that day, and is a bit of a comfort tea. Uncomplicated, tasty, good malt and tea flavors.

Having grown up in Ireland, this is my everyday tea. I drink it morning, noon, and night, and leave the tea bags in the pot between cups, as I like my tea strong enough to stand up for itself. Always with milk and sugar for me. Delicious, tastes of home, and will always fix what ails you (as all Irish mums know, for more serious injuries, just add more sugar!)

Yum! Super strong black tea to have with milk. So good.

But now I’m out of milk, so I really do need to go to the store and stop cleaning and baking.

(Yes, baking. I made a cake with a coffee swirl and crumble top. YUM.)

Edit: Also mega thanks to MissB and Kittenna. :)

So yesterday I worked until 11:00 and instead of waiting to catch the bus at 11:30 and getting home after midnight, one of my supervisors very nicely offered to drive me home. I kind of felt like a charity case, but it saved me like an hour of time so I humbly accepted. And God – I’m so glad none of my coworkers are on Steepster, because damn. The supervisor who drove me home? He is fine. He’s European (but I can’t for the life of me remember what country he immigrated from – I think maybe Bulgaria?), so he’s got a really sexy accent. And, he’s sarcastic and witty and is very, very artistic. It just all comes together to be…

Well to be damn. He is literally “damn”.

So he drove me home last night and like the whole time I was mentally thinking stupid stuff like “Don’t do something awkward” and “Shit you’re in his car” and “This is so sweet of him”. Stupid, stupid really God awful cutesy shit. But really, it was no big deal. And he’s SO VERY out of my league anyway, in addition to him being my superior at work. But that’s not the point; the point is more…

He is a CRAZY driver. Now, my belief is sort of that since I can’t drive myself I don’t really have a right to criticize the way other people drive – but he like sped the entire way home, and because we’re in fucking Saskatchewan and there’s snow and ice and shit everywhere we were sliding around the road. I felt kinda unsafe, not gonna lie. He’s maybe kinda fucking crazy? Just a little. And, I think he noticed that I noticed he’s a crazy driver ‘cause just before we got to my house he said something along the lines of “Yeah, I used to race a lot”. What the fuck!? We’re in fucking Snow Central, Saskatchablah Canada! And it’s nearly midnight! Not the time for ‘racing’…

And that’s the other story I kind of wanted to share…

As for the tea…

This sample comes from MissB. I, admittedly, wasn’t really looking forward to this one but during the brief time I was in Steepster chat this morning we were talking about bagged teas and something (I’m sorry – I don’t remember who) mentioned this one by name as a really decent bagged tea, so I definitely had to try it sooner, rather than later, to understand what the fuss is about.

Dry it didn’t smell very monumental at all, but steeped up there was something very rich and comforting about it. Maybe it was the faint baking bread aroma; but it reminded me of home and my Grandma’s house? As corny as that sounds.

Taste wise, it was very brisk and bold without any astringency or bitterness and it had a lovely baked bread flavour with just a touch of malt to it. I don’t know why; I just really, really liked it! I only have one my bag left, but I got the impression that with just a splash of milk this would be very, very good – a smooth, comforting breakfast blend. So, I think I’m going to finish it that way.

But again, thanks MissB – this was delightfully surprising, and really good for a teabag.