Description
Here’s to Ireland, the country that can lay claim to the honor of having the most tea drinkers per capita in the entire world! The average Irishman, when not hoisting a Guinness, imbibes an average of 6 cups a day. Even with the country’s relatively small population of 3.9 million, that’s almost 24 million cups a day!
Tea and Ireland go way back. The drink was first introduced to the country in 1835 by British traders when Ireland was still part of the British Empire. Maintaining a secure supply was never a problem as Ireland relied on British importers for a steady flow of the drink – that is until WWII. During the war, Britain was forced to ration foodstuffs of all kinds, tea included, throughout the Empire. The problem for Irish tea-drinkers arose when part way through the war, much to the consternation of the British government, Ireland declared itself neutral in the global conflict. The British retaliated for what they saw as an act of subversion by cutting their tea ration down to almost nothing. Undaunted, the enterprising Irish government set up its own tea importing company, Tea Importers (Eire) Ltd., and tea drinkers throughout the Emerald Isle rejoiced!
In honor of the tea drinking spirit of the hardy Irish, we’ve discovered this good strong blend. This blend, like most tea consumed in Ireland these days is made from East African and Ceylon varieties with a special addition – a good strong Assam. The addition of the Assam adds a depth to the tea that is beautifully offset by the addition of cream, another Irish favorite. This is one tea that’ll have you standing up singing Danny Boy in no time!
Abigail (verified owner) –
I prefer black tea to any other kind, but I dislike teas that are either too earthy or too astringent. This is a smooth Irish Breakfast that strikes a nice balance in the middle. It doesn’t taste flavored or sweetened, just smoothed out. I’m also highly skeptical of any tea that claims it can be steeped twice (I haven’t found any Earl Grey that can do it), but this actually does create a second cup that’s still tasty. (I steeped the first, larger cup at lower than boiling, and the second, smaller cup at boiling, and put milk in both.)