Irish Breakfast

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Bitter, Earthy, Brandy, Malt, Oak, Biting, Earth, Tannic, Roasted Barley, Citrusy, Dark Bittersweet, Nutty
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Jack Gallagher
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec 4 g 12 oz / 349 ml

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From Our Community

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14 Want it Want it

48 Own it Own it

  • +33

55 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Some mornings - like the mornings it takes three times as long to get your eyes open and twice to get dressed because nothing feels cozy enough - you just need to grab the first bag that doesn’t...” Read full tasting note
    79
  • “This tea oils my engine. It’s not the rolls royce of teas, however, when double bagged it packs quite a punch. It’s malty and is a workhorse for those who just want something strong and black. ...” Read full tasting note
    100
  • “The only thing worse than Trader Joe’s tea is Trader Joe’s bagels. I mean really, have you tried those awful things? my friends have this story about the bagels. So back in their old place i guess...” Read full tasting note
    14
  • “This is the first “plain” Irish Breakfast tea I’ve had (that I can remember) and I have say…I am not fan. It brewed up very dark and looked like coffee, which is neat. Surprisingly it wasn’t...” Read full tasting note
    23

From Trader Joe's

Countless treatises have been written on Irish culture and its impact on the world at large. In our opinion, though, not enough of those treatises have been about tea. Though they drink their share of coffee as well, the Irish have one of the world’s highest rates of tea consumption per capita. We think it’s safe to say that when people drink this much tea, they know their stuff. We’ve developed Trader Joe’s Irish Breakfast Tea with these traditions in mind.

Whether or not you’re Irish, if you’re a tea drinker, we think you’ll love our Irish Breakfast Tea. It’s a full-bodied blend of teas from the Assam Valley at the base of the Himalayan Mountains — a region renowned for its high quality teas. The traditional Irish breakfast is rich, and hearty enough to nourish body and soul for much of the day. Trader Joe’s Irish Breakfast Tea was created to be bold enough to hold its own with such a big breakfast. In the cup, it’s full-bodied, earthy and mellow, with or without milk — milk being a customary addition for the Irish. We’re selling each box of 80 tea bags for $2.99 — that’s less than 4¢ per cup! Talk about a wow value!

About Trader Joe's View company

Company description not available.

55 Tasting Notes

79
2887 tasting notes

Some mornings - like the mornings it takes three times as long to get your eyes open and twice to get dressed because nothing feels cozy enough - you just need to grab the first bag that doesn’t require anything but hot water. This fit on a bad clothes day when nothing else did (beverage or apparel, either one.)

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100
33 tasting notes

This tea oils my engine. It’s not the rolls royce of teas, however, when double bagged it packs quite a punch. It’s malty and is a workhorse for those who just want something strong and black. It needs cream and sugar. I cut open the bags and dump into a tin to use as a base for my homemade masala chai. It tastes almost identical to the Irish Breakfast tea I purchased by Fortnum and Mason. It does the job, no frills, just function.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
Marie

I gave this tea 100 because it’s a workhorse tea that is inexpensive. I just get so tired of the enormous markup on teas.

Dom

I drink this tea all day long; 8:00am-8:00pm, M-F. I have tried tons of other teas, both loose and bagged, but I always come back to this one. It is convenient to procure, inexpensive, and tasty.

Marie

Dom, I just tried their English Breakfast Tea…excellent. I highly recommend. It’s strong and bracing without the malt if that’s what you like.

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14
16 tasting notes

The only thing worse than Trader Joe’s tea is Trader Joe’s bagels. I mean really, have you tried those awful things? my friends have this story about the bagels.

So back in their old place i guess they used to have a raccoon problem. raccoons would break into the trash all the time and tear all that up. anyway one day i guess some raccoons break into the house and pretty much destroy the kitchen. they get into everything and eat everything they can get their hands on. everything EXCEPT for the Trader Joe’s bagels, which were totally out and they didn’t even touch them. those bagels aren’t even consider food for wild hungry animals!

so yeah the tea is almost as bad as those bagels.

Cherry

That story is too funny.

takgoti

HAHAHA!

JustDuckyInNE

Great story.

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23
96 tasting notes

This is the first “plain” Irish Breakfast tea I’ve had (that I can remember) and I have say…I am not fan. It brewed up very dark and looked like coffee, which is neat. Surprisingly it wasn’t bitter at all.

But the flavor….gag me. I love English Breakfast and black teas, but this just didn’t work for me. To me, it smells and tastes like salty yams and garbage. Someone else’s tasting note said “sewage”, ha. I had tried Adagio’s Aries blend, and it had the same yucky taste, which I assumed was from the chai…nope. It must have been from the Irish Breakfast mixed in.

If this is was “malty” tastes like…well, I don’t think I like malt, then.

takgoti

Eep. Not having tried this tea, I can’t speak to how I think it rates as a malt taste, but malt is often used in milkshakes, and some beers are malted. Erm…whoppers are malted, too. If you’ve ever had those Carnation instant breakfast things they can take on a malty taste.

Knowing this from listening to a recent podcast that was coincidentally discussing malt, malt is comprised of barley grains that have been soaked in water until they sprout. Then it is dried before they grow into actual plants and is ground up to make malt powder. Something to do with releasing certain sugars.

I need a shooting star with the tinkly music. The More You Know!

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55
58 tasting notes

Well it’s been a while since I’ve updated my tea log. Mostly because it’s been a while since I’ve had a new tea to drink. But in the interest of keeping up a vibrant community presence…

Blech. This whole box of tea has been really distasteful. No floral, no tobacco, no nothing. Just stale, and old. It’ll have to do for now though…

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C
Heyes

Normally this tea is a good in-a-pinch tea, but this box in particular has been like drinking diluted spitoon juice. Well, I have no idea how that would taste, but it’s been just bad.

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25
41 tasting notes

A grim, joyless slog born more of a sense of duty to sunken costs than any desire.

li-chan

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

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65
46 tasting notes

This is a bagged tea from a grocery store superchain. If you expect perfection or fine estate assam, you’re probably not going to get it here. However, for a strong, tasty punchy breakfast blend that is easy and fast. This is it. I bought it for my tea cupboard at work and it comes in extremely useful every day at 3:00 pm when I’m lagging. I like it with cream and sugar. Its a bit bitter and punchy and while not my favorite tea, it definitely does the job.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Tabby

It’s also good for southern-style iced tea.

June's Flame

Oooh good to know! I’ll try that!

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57
377 tasting notes

Strong and stout and not sweet…like I like my women…..kidding. A good brew for a cold afternoon I’m liking it more getting a little more maltiness… not too bad really.

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65
17 tasting notes

It’s a staple in my tea cupboard… but I can’t say that I enjoy it black. It’s bitter, tannic, and incredibly strong.
But it’s great with milk and sugar. It’s English Breakfast’s stronger, meaner brother. For when you feel like punching Lipton in the arm.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 45 sec

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10
48 tasting notes

Smells bad, tastes bad. This is my first Irish breakfast tea and I wonder if they are all like this? I love English Breakfast and don’t mind a stronger tea but the sewage aroma is difficult to stomach.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Heyes

You mention a sewage aroma, that leads me to wonder if the quality of your water might play a part in your experience with this tea. This isn’t meant as a slam, but I only bring it up because I have had far worse bagged teas (even bagged Irish Breakfast Tea) than Trader Joe’s.

li-chan

Ha, maybe. This tea was shared at our office ;) But the tea bag itself did smell not so pleasant. I was curious though! :)

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