Irish Breakfast

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Assam Black Tea, Black Tea
Flavors
Bitter, Licorice, Perfume, Wet Wood, Fruity, Honey, Nutty, Astringent, Wood, Earth, Malt, Oak, Cream, Smooth, Sweet
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Kosher
Edit tea info Last updated by DAVIDsTEA
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 13 oz / 387 ml

From Our Community

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30 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Decided to go out of order for this one since I’m behind anyway and Irish Breakfast seemed like it should be, well, breakfast tea (or at least early in the day). I think what I’m learning through...” Read full tasting note
    40
  • “2021 Sipdown 30/365! (DavidsTea 80) In contrast to Mocha Orange Biscotti, this was not as good as I remembered. In fact, it was downright boring. It’s coming on 6 years old, maybe that’s part of...” Read full tasting note
    65
  • “ Day 10 of my DIY 24 Days of DAVIDsTea! Glad to be starting my day with a hearty plain black tea! This one has a prominent astringency and bold flavour. There’s plenty of malty notes from the...” Read full tasting note
  • “I was not at all fond of this tea. it is terribly bitter and has a weird licorice note to it with an over-current of woodchips and dirt. I love the way it smells, and I enjoyed the smoothness of it...” Read full tasting note
    15

From DAVIDsTEA

Ireland is one of the biggest tea drinking countries around. And trust us, they know their stuff. Traditionally, they go for strong black tea, often simmered on the stove all day long. And this rich, full bodied black tea is no exception. A blend of teas from Assam and Sri Lanka, it brews up nutty, fruity and bold, with hints of wild dark honey – and a robust taste that can stand up to a bit of milk and sugar. If there’s a better way to start the day, we don’t wanna know about it.

About DAVIDsTEA View company

DavidsTea is a Canadian specialty tea and tea accessory retailer based in Montreal, Quebec. It is the largest Canadian-based specialty tea boutique in the country, with its first store having opened in 2008.

30 Tasting Notes

81
31 tasting notes

Very creamy and nice. Worth the price? Maybe, but for me cheaper stuff is just as good.

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77
55 tasting notes

I haven’t had much experience with Davidstea (I think I tried one or two teas by them from the traveling teabox, but I’ve never ordered from them) so hopefully I’m not too biased, lol.

This is a pretty good breakfast tea. It’s not my favorite, though. It reminds me of Lipton for some reason. Next time I’ll try slightly different brewing specs to see if I can avoid that. (I don’t think I steeped it too hot, but I don’t have a variable temperature kettle and my thermometer’s not that reliable so you never know really.) Thanks to TheLastDodo for sharing! :)

White Antlers

If you strat trying the “builder’s teas” aka the malty breakfast teas like Irish and English breakfast breakfast, you will notice a relationship to Lipton. They all mostly have the same lineage.

sensiblyscript

Interesting! Why are they called builder’s teas?

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89
23 tasting notes

LOVE the breakfast teas from DavidsTea. So soothing, with enough of a pick me up suitable for any morning adventure.

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90
14 tasting notes

This tea is a great for an everyday black tea pick me up. It is alway stocked in our house. The price is a great too. Definitely would recommend to a black tea lover

Flavors: Earth, Malt, Oak

Preparation
7 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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95
58 tasting notes

I ordered 100 grams of this as a way to get free shipping on my advent calendar. I knew I wanted a non-flavoured black, and I wanted something that would be around $10 for 100 grams. I also must have browsed Steepster for an hour to find the highest-rated, cheapest unflavoured black. This tea fit the bill at $11.40 or so.

When I opened up the box, I was a little disappointed at first that the tea came in two fifty gram bags and a tin on the side. However, then I realized that I could gift the other 50 grams of tea for Christmas— so long as I don’t finish it before then.

Nose: Strong notes of honey and perhaps a bit of malt. It smells like a fresh box of Tetley or other bagged teas. The leaves are much tinier than Nepal Black, and they are not gold tipped like the latter.

Colour: Brews to be around the same hue as a regular bagged tea. The colour is nothing out of the ordinary.

I was happy I went on here before I made my first cup. Many reviewers suggested steeping it for no more than four minutes. I tried to aim for the 3:30 to 3:50 mark the first time. My favourite preparation so far is one cup of Irish Breakfast, steeped for just under four minutes, topped with two tsp of milk and one tsp of sugar. I should really work on drinking teas black again.

My SO can’t tell much of a difference between this one and regular breakfast tea in bags. I beg to differ. I think this tea has less of a tannin flavour than many common tea bags, and also tastes sweeter even without the addition of sugar.

Taste: Like a high quality cup of afternoon tea with grandma. I can picture the floral couch covers, the crocheted tea cozy, a muted game of golf on TV in the background, and an offering of months-old cookies in the glass jar on the counter.

This tea is definitely a keeper, and may provide a subtle step up for an after dinner tea offering at future dinner parties. I think its main use will be to keep me company on my drives to work.

Flavors: Astringent, Honey, Malt

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 45 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Kristal

About 2-3 years ago I remember ordering 250 grams of a tea from DAVIDS and it used to come in one giant bag (with the tin on the side. I think they prob always do the tin on the side to avoid tea spilling everywhere. As for the 50 gram bags I think it prob makes sense for them to grab however many 50 gram bags needed instead of all different sized bags for different amounts. I hear where you’re coming from, though!

Alyssa

Wow! Did the 250 grams stay fresh for long? Yeah, perhaps they’re less lazy about weighing out the proper amounts as well. I know I’ve gone in there and asked for a certain amount, and they’ve been wildly wrong about it.

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96
10 tasting notes

Never get tired of this tea.
hot, with a dash of milk.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec

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40
737 tasting notes

Thanks to TheLastDodo for ordering from DavidsTea and then splitting some of those teas with me! Really really had high hopes for this one, but of course, much like pretty much every other unflavored tea from them, it disappointed me. xD
They need to stop trying to do unflavored teas, it’s just not working. Like at all.
headdesk
I steeped it for the right time and everything but it was just bitter and inky as if it had been steeped for 10 minutes or something. Had a little malt, but not enough to make it a good Irish Breakfast tea. So glad I didn’t waste my money on more of their bad teas, this one would have been another big mistake!
So thanks so much for splitting it, TheLastDodo! It was so much fun to swap with you! I’d totally do it again! Was my pleasure! :D

Flavors: Bitter, Malt

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308 tasting notes

This has been my go-to on mornings when I want a straight black cuppa. I find it to be quite strong and bold yet smooth. Most mornings I have this tea I add a touch of non-dairy milk (or creamer, depending on what’s in the fridge) and some sweetener. My preferred sweetener for this tea is raw honey. I find it really complements the malty flavor and the honeyed fragrance of the tea. I haven’t tried any other “breakfast” blends from DT, but my interest has been piqued.

Flavors: Honey, Malt

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652 tasting notes

1.5 tsp for 300mL @100C, steeped four minutes, drunk bare.

A blend of Assam and Ceylon teas. Dry leaf smells of raisins and honey— that’s the Assam, I expect. Dry leaves are long, tight, and dark brown, with some amber leaves. Wet leaf smells of brilliant sunshine — even of laundry dried on the clothesline — and, faintly, of copper: that’s the Dimbulla Ceylon. Wet leaf is uniformly coppery-brown. Liquor is dark copper with a little foam on top, that puckering froth some Ceylons deliver. As the tea steeps, the aroma develops notes of dark honey and bread.

At four minutes, this tea is malty and strong and just tending towards bitterness; I wouldn’t steep it much longer. Plenty of malty pucker. Its not a subtle tea, but then it doesn’t claim to be. A very good blend, living up to its packet copy, and priced low. In fact, I’d call this one a steal.

‘Irish Breakfast’ is, like ‘English Breakfast,’ an almost meaningless label. There is no one recipe for either ‘Breakfast’ blend, though those labelled ‘Irish’ usually have some Assam in them, and often some Kenyan. Those labelled ‘English’ often had some Keemun in them, but that’s getting rare. It’s always worth trying different brands of Irish and English Breakfast.

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82
94 tasting notes

I think I had little hearts in my eyes the first time I smelled the aroma of a cup of this. The hint of honey is just perfect!! A rich flavour, doesn’t taste as watered down as my NourishTea Canadian Breakfast.

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