Need’s a Cup of Tea

Quite often tea is associated with Ireland and the United Kingdom. There is definitely a deep seeded love for the hot beverage here. And since both countries are known for drinking black tea, I have decided to talk about a couple of blends of the popular Irish brand called Barry’s Tea. This brand has been around in Ireland since 1901.

The taste of Barry’s Classic Blend before adding any milk or sugar is bitter, although it may not be as appealing a taste as green tea plain. I have found that letting the tea steep till it is a dark brown color allows for a better balance of flavor when adding milk and sugar. Their Irish Breakfast blend is not as bitter as the Classic blend before milk or sugar has been added. Personally the classic blend has more flavor than the Irish Breakfast, especially when sugar and/or milk is added. Even with milk and sugar added to the latter does not make it better than the Classic blend.

Personally, I have found that I also prefer my tea to be rather strong. Steeping the tea longer gives more wiggle room in case you add too much milk or sugar. When I make a cup of tea for myself, I add one teaspoon of raw sugar and a splash of milk so that it looks like a dark caramel color. The raw sugar is a personal preference of mine since I do not like a lot of sugar and sweets. Although the reason I prefer raw sugar is not for health reasons, but it does not have an odd after flavor like regular sugar does. It is hard to not accidentally put too little or much of sugar and milk into the tea. Perhaps the least appetizing thing that could happen to the tea is if there was not enough sugar and too much milk was added.

A note for those who are curious about how much caffeine is in black tea compared to coffee, the answer is black tea has a lower level of caffeine. An 8oz cup of brewed black tea has 25-48mg of caffeine. Whereas the same amount of brewed coffee contains 95-165mg of caffeine.

There is another extremely popular brand in Ireland besides Barry’s called Lyon’s. There is an hilarious video on YouTube done by an Irish YouTube channel called Facts. where several Irish people try tea for the first time. Facts is based out of Dublin, Ireland that creates rather entertaining videos where the focus is generally centered on Irish people trying unusual foods and drinks. A question that often pops up in many of their videos, which illustrates this obsession with tea, is “Does it go with a cup of tea?” While the foods they try may not generally go well with a cup of tea, their love for this traditional drink is understandable.

Picture Credit to Pooria Asteraky on Pixabay