A pleasant and drinkable Irish Breakfast, true to the style: very strong. Nothing amazing, but decent quality for a tea bag at the low end of the price range. A sample from the Philadelphia Coffee and Tea Festival.

A very strong tea, and true to the Irish Breakfast style, but I thought it was just a tad harsh. Contrast with Red Rose's English Breakfast, which I thought was too weak.

With breakfast this morning I drank Ahmad Tea's Kalami Assam, a straight Assam with a similar character to Irish Breakfast teas, and I have the spent leaves sitting next to me in a dish, and even after steeping them for 8 minutes, they still smell much richer and more aromatic than the cup of freshly brewed Red Rose Irish Breakfast tea I'm sipping now.

In this tea, there's a little malt aroma, and an aroma of sweet rice typical of some Ceylon teas, some tones of spice, like mace and black pepper. Very full-bodied, strong tasting, but beyond the point of richness, and to the point of being harsh. Finish is astringent, but not overwhelmingly so. I find I want more aroma.

Good price though. This is a lot cheaper than most mainstream bags of tea bags and I think it's better than them. A little better than some of Twinings black teas, and much cheaper, although I do prefer the Twinings Irish Breakfast to this one.

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