Adventures in Tea: Irish Breakfast

Irish breakfast tea from VT Tea and Trading Co is bin #263 in City Market's bulk section.  The Wikipedia page says it's described as having a malty aroma; in the batch I drank, it was almost milky, as if it had been pre-added.  I remember that when I first tried Irish Breakfast (probably Twinings?) many years ago, it was too strong and bitter for my taste (I didn't then, and still don't, like to put milk or sugar in my tea), but now I quite like it.  And, like the Wikipedia page suggests, it's good at all hours of the day.

Irish Breakfast tea, loose leaf in my jar at home

Previous tea: Lipton Black

Adventures in Tea: Lipton Black

A few bags of this were left over from a kid's kombucha experiment. I do not have fond memories of Lipton's tea growing up.  AFAIK back then they only had the dreadful orange pekoe made from the leavings that couldn't be used for decent tea.  The "America's Favorite Tea" moniker simply means "we make the cheapest tea, and that's fine for making sweet tea, which is what we're being used for." As far as any caffeinated drink contributes to having a healthy heart... well, I guess it's better than soda.

All that said, I would be willing to drink this tea if it were available in a hotel room.  It is still greatly inferior to Nilgiri Blue Mountain as a plain black tea.

The box of leftover Lipton's black tea with tea bag

Previous tea: Nilgiri Blue Mountain

Adventures in Tea: Nilgiri Blue Mountain

Nilgiri "Blue Mountain" tea from VT Tea and Trading Co is bin #310 in City Market's bulk section.  The Wikipedia page says it's described as having citrus and floral notes; I do not detect that in the batch I drank.  This is just straight up black tea with nothing else added to it and it stands on the quality of the leaves.  It's quite good, and I would choose it when in the mood for plain black tea. 

Nilgiri Blue Mountain tea, loose leaf in my jar at home

Previous tea: Sherl Grey