Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘First Test’

Irish breakfast tea should need no mollycoddlin’; it should be a tea that will allow you to stagger into the kitchen on a weekday morning with your eyes half closed and throw an indiscriminate amount of leaf into the cleanest cup you can find in the sink, dump in water at the first hint of a kettle whistle, and there! Bob’s yer uncle.

I’m not sure Golden Moon’s take on Irish Breakfast can handle that kind of mistreatment, but it’s definitely tasty. I made my first test cup on a leisurely weekend so I had time to fully open my eyes and give it a good look. The first thing I noticed was that, even at a full five minutes, the color was lighter than I expected. Taking a second look at the dry leaves, that’s not a surprise—there’s a generous amount of blonde golden tips in the mix.

While rolling around possible adjectives for this tea, stout and robust didn’t make the list at all. Golden Moon Irish Breakfast is more malty and fruity than one would expect, but still has enough character to stand up to the “breakfast” category. No milk needed, but a.m. additives don’t weaken its taste or personality.

According to Golden Moon’s website, the type of Irish Breakfast I described in the opening paragraph might be considered “too bitter for the faint of heart.” Thus, their blend, hand-picked from a market in Cork, England, has toned down the kick to make a cup that says “top o’the mornin’ to ya.”

You can purchase the Irish Breakfast directly from the Golden Moon Tea website.

My general aversion to bananas goes back to one greasy teenage summer schlepping banana splits at the Dairy Queen; I’d come home with fiber under my nails and reeking of overripe peels. (To this day, I won’t eat one raw—playing the “it’s a texture thing” card.) Thus, you’ll understand why I approached this tea with a bit of caution.

The first thing that struck me was how pretty this tea is. Heavy on the chamomile flowers, it would be pretty in a potpourri jar. (If you’re a fan of Adagio’s Foxtrot, it’s similar in character, minus the peppermint.) A test sniff didn’t turn me off; didn’t seem too heavy on the banana, so I gave it a go–about a teaspoon per cup, an approximate boil, an approximate five minutes, and …

…wow! The chamomile, banana, and coconut work really nicely together–you can’t really taste where one ends and the other begins. It’s difficult to pick out the other goodies individually, but they blend to make a really pretty red cup of herbal sweetness.

I downed half of my first test batch to prime myself for mowing the lawn; then iced down the rest to reward myself for doing so. Of course, the tea lost a little bit of strength on ice, but that can be remedied next time by upping the steeping strength. I can see Banana Dulce as a base for some add-ins–maybe orange juice or pineapple juice–for some nice, cool summer sipping.

You can purchase the Banana Dulce directly from the Art of Tea website.