Merkaba2

There's nothing like sitting down to a feast of soda bread, barn brack, fried eggs, tomatoes, thick bacon rashers and pork sausages in the
morning. It needs only one more thing, a cup of Irish Breakfast Tea to top it off. The Irish have always been great tea drinkers. They drink
their tea brewed very strong. In fact, there is a common saying among the Irish that a proper cup of tea should be "strong enough for a
mouse to trot on".

The good old traditional Irish Breakfast is a true favorite. Our combination is made up of a stout robust blend of black teas from Kenya
and Assam (India). The resulting blend is a dark brown tippy leaf that brews up a deep red liquor that is hearty, malty and rich in flavor.
2nd flush Assams give a deep malty astringency and the best make your mouth feel dry they are so astringent. This astringency leads to a
malty character that is almost so thick you feel like you could chew it. The seasonal Kenyas have a golden coppery color with an almost
floral note that give a complex depth to the tea. Furthermore, you will see that the grade is CTC - cut, torn curled. The green leaf whilst it
is being processed passes through a machine the cuts, tears and then curls the leaves into tiny balls. This ‘mash’ ferments very quickly
after which firing takes place to ‘lock-in’ the flavor. These tiny tea balls when infused release their full flavor, more so than whole leaf
tea. The reason is that there is more surface area on the tiny balls which can infuse as compared to the whole leaf tea. This is how the
Irish like their tea!

As its name implies, Irish Breakfast tea is an ideal accompaniment to a morning meal. It smoothly blends the high notes of a high-grown
Ceylon with the malty underscore of a hearty Assam. With its robust flavor, is usually enjoyed only in the morning (except for the Irish
who drink it all day).

The longer you allow this tea to brew the stronger it becomes. This tea is best enjoyed with milk since the casein in milk renders the
tannins in tea insoluble and reduces the characteristic bitterness of strong teas.

Regarding the addition of milk, there is the age old argument of when to add the milk to the cup -before you add the tea or after.
Milk-firsters argue that adding milk last scalds the milk noticeably and therefore the milk should be warmed slowly with the addition of
tea. Milk-lasters argue that adding milk after the tea has been poured is the only way of judging the proper amount of milk to add by
watching the color of the tea change. Non users of milk regard the whole issue as silly.