Irish breakfast tea

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A box of Irish breakfast tea sold by Twinings

Irish breakfast tea is a blend of several black teas, most often Assam teas. Irish brands, notably Lyons, Barry's, Bewley's, Nambarrie's, and Punjana, are heavily weighted toward Assam. Many tea producers make Irish breakfast tea blends specifically for the United States market.

Serving and flavour

Because of its strength, Irish breakfast tea is commonly served with milk, but may also be consumed plain or with sugar. In Ireland, where milk and dairy products are traditionally a major part of the diet, most people drink tea with milk. Being of black teas, it has a strong flavour and higher caffeine content than green, oolong, or white teas, albeit somewhat less than coffee. The marketing of the tea as, "breakfast tea," is somewhat misleading, as it is drunk throughout the day.

Packaging

As with other teas, premium Irish breakfast teas are offered in loose leaf form which allows the consumer to inspect the proportion of hand-picked buds and whole tea leaves to broken fannings of indeterminate origin. When brewed, the tea varies in colour from very dark red to brown. Irish breakfast tea can also be bought in tea bags but with more variation in quality.

See also

• English breakfast tea
• Full breakfast
• Tea culture in Ireland