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I like my Irish Breakfast tea very strong – a legacy of early morning criminal justice classes, where tea was usually the only thing keeping me going, and I brewed it by hastily throwing a tea bag in my travel mug, adding water, dashing out the door to catch the train, and the tea reaching a drinkable temp just as I got into class. This tea definitely doesn’t disappoint on that front – it’s “strong enough to knock over large livestock”, as a friend puts it. It’s a fantastic tea for a bit of a boost to get going, or to finish the last few tasks of the day.

Got a tin of this at World Market earlier, and am overjoyed that the weather has cooled off enough this evening for me to have a nice cup of tea. I have to admit, the smell was a little overpowering when I opened the tin, but once I brewed a cup, it smelled much nicer, and the first sip once it was cool enough to drink reminded me so much of those lovely mai tais I had at the luau on Kauai last fall. This is a seriously escapist cup of tea!

As others have noted, this does have the typical lack of tea flavor exhibited by most Lipton teas. The peach flavor is most prevalent, with just a hint of green tea behind it. It’s not bad, but it’s not leaping to the top of my list, either.

One of my dear adopted sisters sent me a package recently, and threw in a bunch of teas for me to try, including this one. It smells amazing – the blueberry and cranberry definitely come through – and it tastes almost as good as it smells. The white tea is subtle but pairs nicely with the fruit flavors. Good stuff :-)

For a box of tea bags that was on sale at Albertsons, and a total impulse buy, it’s really not bad. Doesn’t hold a candle to, say, the pomegranate tea from Whittard of Chelsea, but it’s pretty good, all things considered.

A dear friend from Canberra sent me a box of this in my Christmas package, and I’ve been enjoying it enthusiastically for the past few days. It’s very smooth, and pairs perfectly with a bit of French bread and cheese for an afternoon tea break.

This is the only tea you will ever see me time the brewing of precisely. I’ve admittedly ruined many a cup by forgetting to set a timer for 5 minutes, and employing my usual “make it, set it down to cool to a drinkable temp, and walk away, sometimes forgetting it for upwards of 20 minutes” method. Beyond 5 minutes, it gets so bitter as to be utterly unenjoyable. But, at 5 minutes, it makes a good cup.

And this is about my 4th cup of tea today. It’s just been THAT kind of day, apparently…

Found a stash of this in a Tupperware of assorted teas, hiding in mom’s pantry. I think I recognize the teas in that box from a canister (with a cute little ceramic sheep on top of the lid) that resided in a cabinet in my childhood home, so it’s probably at least 10 years old. I have the feeling the black tea in this was mediocre anyway, but age has definitely not been kind to it – there’s barely any tea flavor. The sweet-spicy flavor of the cinnamon makes up for it, though. Not a bad cup, in spite of the odds being stacked against it.

Woe, for I am on my last tea bag of this, out of a sampler my dear friend gave me as a present. Dry, it has a subtle floral, almost fruity smell, and brewed, it gets a little bit stronger, but not overpowering. The taste is much like the smell – somewhere between floral and fruit. I definitely need to get some more – winter’s coming on, and who doesn’t need some blossoms to see them through the dreary snow? ;-)

So, I didn’t drink this one plain – I used 2 teabags of it, and 1 teabag of Bengal Spice, in a HUGE mug, and added a splash of milk to make kind of a cinnamon apple chai-type thing. I was prepared for the spice to potentially overwhelm the apple flavor, but it was pleasantly surprising when I took a sip and got both the cinnamon-spice and the apple flavor. Going to consider the experiment a success!