Decaf
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Commercial Description
...freshly blended with the same high quality leaves as our Gold Blend. The good news is it less than 0.2% caffeine, but tastes just as good. It’s the perfect choice for those late night cups just before you go to your bed.
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 3 reviews
69 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5Difflugia (170 reviews) on Apr. 8th, 2022
This is another box of tea from iherb.com. I'd about given up on finding a decent decaf black tea, but I had a discount and so the price was right.
These are the loose, tagless tea bags typical of Ireland and the UK, containing 3g of tea each. The dry tea smells surprisingly strong for a decaf, but as others have noted, there's a component of the aroma that's "off." To me, it smells like wet paper or cardboard and is common to most decaffeinated black tea.
I steeped for four minutes in boiling water. I let other decaf teas steep far longer, often ten or fifteen minutes to extract every smidgeon of flavor. I tried with the Barry's earlier, which resulted in an unpleasantly bitter brew, but which left me optimistic for this time.
The steeping aroma is just about like other "everyday" irish teas. It's malty and tannic, reminiscent of dry oak leaves. There's a faint shrimp smell that I've noticed in other decafs, but it's muted enough that not a top note.
The flavor is full-bodied and balances bitter. It's tannic and earthy, like a mixture of new and old oak leaves. Unfortunately, there's little malt. The bitterness is pleasant, though, and lingers on the sides of the tongue. The flavors in the finish are slightly bitter and woody, like cherry bark. Overall, it's rather flat compared to any of Barry's caffeinated offerings, but it's better than quite a few caffeinated teas I've had. This is really good for a decaf, especially for those that like bitter tea. I actually got a weak second steep out of it.
Barry's US website sells an 80-count box for $5.88 plus shipping, but I paid $3.46 (regular $4.44) for a 40-count shipped from iherb.com. That's a little cheaper than Bigelow teas, so excellent for a decaf that tastes like tea.
65 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5Tchuggin' Okie (401 reviews) on Feb. 17th, 2022
My samples of Barry's Decaf came from a motel where the "regular" tea was Lipton. As such, I haven't tried the normal, caffeinated breed of this tea yet for comparison's sake. Both there and at home, I tried it before bedtime, as the website advocated (but without knowing of said suggestion yet).
Dry-bag aroma was pretty much nonexistent, as I'd expect from most decaf black teas. Things change much when poured! The leaves in the pouch are very finely chopped—almost powdery, but not quite to the consistency of matcha, ground cinnamon, snuff, or other forms of truly powdered plant material. I'd say they're about the size of immature aphids. Still, this likely explains why the liquid turns dark fast, in addition to the probable use of a high-tannin tea to start. Drink this daily and your tooth fillings may turn brown rather soon. The tea swells up and fills out nicely in the rectangular pouch; Barry's isn't skimping on quantity here.
In-cup, the scent is faintly sweaty, but not as much as other decafs that can smell like an old locker room. The aroma mainly is rather moistly woody, reminiscent of the outer part of raw/fresh-cut oak or hickory. Still not ideal, but hey...if you haven't read some of my other reviews, trust me here, I've had far worse in decafs. The same general sentiment applies to flavor. Something still seems a bit "off" compared to most regular black teas, but I dare say this tasted closer to a tea not sabotaged by the decaffeination process than the vast majority of decafs I've had. And since the flavor isn't bad at all (clean, quite dry, tolerably astringent, mildly bitter, definitely tannic, and very faintly peppery), that element gets a higher mark than I've given most decafs too. The heavy tannins manifest more in the aftertaste than the actual sip or chug, so you might feel like taking a cue from The Cranberries and asking, "Do you have to let it linger?" when drinking this. Still, I'll recommend this product over probably 90% of decafs I've had, if you want to chug straight tea before bed.
93 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5saks1962 (2 reviews) on May. 16th, 2012
Terrific decaf black tea! Good, full flavor that many decaf black teas don't have. In my area I find it in the International aisle of the supermarket, as opposed to the coffee and tea aisle. Definitely worth the extra price for a solid and delicious cup of decaf black tea!
Page 1 of 1 page with 3 reviews
More Black Tea Blends from Barry's Tea
Original Blend (Green Label)
| Style: | Irish Breakfast |
| Region: | Blend |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Teabag |
45
3 Ratings
