Irish Tea

[SteveBuscemisRheumyEye]

Afternoon! Perhaps a silly question, but to those who've drunk "English" tea would you say that Irish brands (like Barry's) taste different?

I bloody love tea and am wondering if it's worth getting my hands on some

@IsFuzzyBeagMise

I am now experiencing a strong urge to take a photo of my next cup of tea

It must be lockdown. I was thinking of some kind of Lyons/Barry's duel, with photos.

@IsFuzzyBeagMise

I am now experiencing a strong urge to take a photo of my next cup of tea

Such was offence at anyone calling my beloved Lyons grey that I was moved to post a photo.

In a blind test I wouldn't know which was which.

@LadyEloise

In a blind test I wouldn't know which was which.

A Pepsi challenge for Irish teas!

Barry's all the way in this house

My DH buys Lyons because of the biodegradable teabags.
He's from Dublin, so I suppose I have to make allowances

I can't tell Pepsi from Coca Cola either in a blind test.

And I prefer the Tesco dupe to the real Mars bar.

I like Lyons. Barry's is very watery I find.

I like Barry's (the red one), but I'm almost equally happy with Yorkshire tea. Yes, YT has a slight dusty flavour, but I kind of like it. Tesco red tea is perfectly fine too.

I don't like Lyons much, and Tetleys is a disgrace.

The plastic teabags are bad all right fuzzy. Is that why you drink the loose stuff or is it you just prefer it? We always had loose tea when I was a child and at some point switched to bags. I remember my DF giving out and we all ganged up on him. Same with Dairygold, he wanted real butter, we wanted to "spread straight from the fridge" or whatever the ad said!

Actually, I prefer the taste of loose leaf, Apile. I also like blocks of butter. I'm very hard core

Oh we all went back to proper butter long ago! I'm sure the loose tea is nicer all right. Still feel guilty about bullying DF! Particularly now we know more about hydrogenated fats and microplastics!

Ah, I went through a phase of buying the stuff in a tub too, even Flora at one stage (not envy).

Barry's Gold Blend is my weekend treat...I put up with the Supervalu own brand version during the week, but I want a pot of loose leaf Barrys at the weekend.
I do think PPs are right about the water thing. I used to bring Barry's back with me when I lived in London and it never tasted quite right.
(never succumbed to the plastic "butter" abominations... a plain block of good butter all the way).

@Americanhousewifefan

I'm Irish and live in Ireland and I like PG Tips. I use 2 teabags though.

Ditto. :o

Does anyone else use a teapot? I hate a teabag in a mug but no one i know bothers with a teapot any more.

When I once lived in a place where it was only possible to get single-varietal posh teas (or undrinkable blends...) I discovered the following:

Pure Assam tea is a good substitute for Barry's gold blend. Most Irish breakfast teas are vast majority Assam tea from various places, which gives a characteristic bite with strong tannins that stands up well to adding milk. Mmm.

A blend of Darjeeling and Assam teas is a good substitute for Lyons and punjana. Not my thing as Darjeeling is a weaker more delicate tea, so the blend has a less punchy flavour which some people prefer. Many English breakfast teas use majority Darjeeling with a touch of Assam.

Pure Darjeeling tea is a delicate tea that is largely obliterated by adding milk, but a decent option for those who drink tea black or with lemon. Some English breakfast teas are pure Darjeeling.

Thus endeth the tea sermon

@Deadringer

Does anyone else use a teapot? I hate a teabag in a mug but no one i know bothers with a teapot any more.

I have four teapots, but one of them is a tiny one that I use every day.

@MarDhea

When I once lived in a place where it was only possible to get single-varietal posh teas (or undrinkable blends...) I discovered the following:

Pure Assam tea is a good substitute for Barry's gold blend. Most Irish breakfast teas are vast majority Assam tea from various places, which gives a characteristic bite with strong tannins that stands up well to adding milk. Mmm.

A blend of Darjeeling and Assam teas is a good substitute for Lyons and punjana. Not my thing as Darjeeling is a weaker more delicate tea, so the blend has a less punchy flavour which some people prefer. Many English breakfast teas use majority Darjeeling with a touch of Assam.

Pure Darjeeling tea is a delicate tea that is largely obliterated by adding milk, but a decent option for those who drink tea black or with lemon. Some English breakfast teas are pure Darjeeling.

Thus endeth the tea sermon

Gosh! Impressive knowledge of the Tea Leaf

That's really interesting! I did notice on the Barry's box about the Assam the other day. Knew Lyons wasn't as strong! Now I know why.

I use the teapot when DM is here. Bag in a mug for myself but I really should take the time to be nicer to myself.

Fuzzy, what's the packaging like on the loose tea, is it recyclable?

We had this ancient tea-caddy growing up that was so old it took me years to realise it wasn't originally black and once had pictures on it. Tea used to be lovely then, looking back. I live in a hard water area now but I wonder would the loose leaf make a difference.

@Apileofballyhoo

That's really interesting! I did notice on the Barry's box about the Assam the other day. Knew Lyons wasn't as strong! Now I know why.

I use the teapot when DM is here. Bag in a mug for myself but I really should take the time to be nicer to myself.

Fuzzy, what's the packaging like on the loose tea, is it recyclable?

We had this ancient tea-caddy growing up that was so old it took me years to realise it wasn't originally black and once had pictures on it. Tea used to be lovely then, looking back. I live in a hard water area now but I wonder would the loose leaf make a difference.

The cardboard box is recyclable, Apile, but the foil bag inside is not, so that's not really good either!

@MarDhea

When I once lived in a place where it was only possible to get single-varietal posh teas (or undrinkable blends...) I discovered the following:

Pure Assam tea is a good substitute for Barry's gold blend. Most Irish breakfast teas are vast majority Assam tea from various places, which gives a characteristic bite with strong tannins that stands up well to adding milk. Mmm.

A blend of Darjeeling and Assam teas is a good substitute for Lyons and punjana. Not my thing as Darjeeling is a weaker more delicate tea, so the blend has a less punchy flavour which some people prefer. Many English breakfast teas use majority Darjeeling with a touch of Assam.

Pure Darjeeling tea is a delicate tea that is largely obliterated by adding milk, but a decent option for those who drink tea black or with lemon. Some English breakfast teas are pure Darjeeling.

Thus endeth the tea sermon

Excellent sermon, nice to learn something new!

As you can tell I'm up north but have any of you tried the suki loose leaf tea made in Belfast. I love it!! Its a realy treat, my favourite is the green tea genmaicha aka popcorn tea. It is delicious!

Goodness me altogether, Dwangela, that sounds most exotic. I am still getting used to green tea, never mind that variety of it

I drink buckets of the Aldi green tea with lemon. I've probably been fooling around with green tea for 20 years but that's the only one I really like. I think there's a Robert Roberts version which is probably nicer but three times the price. I can't do much caffeine, it used to make my mind race so I found out hard to sleep at night (we used to have a mug of tea before bed when I was a teenager!) but I actually overdid it on the Barry's on Monday and had a thumping heart for my troubles. Strictly a morning drink for me and not too much of it. Unless I've got a long drive ahead or I know I'll be having a couple of glasses of wine.