Friday, May 18, 2012

Punjana Irish Breakfast Tea


I am, in general, a fan of Irish Breakfast tea. So I'm sure that you can imagine that I was excited to find this large bag of the stuff at Big Lots for such an affordable price (80 bags for $4.00). Unfortunately, my excitement was rather short lived, as Punjana's Irish Breakfast tea is a good bit too bitter for my tastes. Being a black tea, Irish Breakfast tea in general usually has a bit of bitter kick to it, and I have come to expect that when trying out different varieties. But Punjana's tea is just too bitter. When I first tried the tea, I just assumed that I had let the bag steep too long, so I tried again...multiple times, each time at a different time interval. However, none of them seemed to make much difference in the bitter flavor, even after a round of steeping the tea for only one minute. Each time I was met with the same overwhelming bitterness that hid most of the actual flavor of the tea.

Nothing that I did really seemed to help much, and although adding cream and sugar may have been a more immediate solution than repeatedly trying to fix the tea "properly," I decided just to skip the alterations and enjoy some Adagio Irish Breakfast tea, instead. I am generally of the opinion that if you have to dress a tea up to enjoy it, then it's probably safe to say that you just don't like that tea. 

So, if you like teas with very heavy tannins, then Punjana's Irish Breakfast tea may suit you just fine. But I can only handle so much bitterness in my tea, and as a result I unfortunately can not recommend this one.

Verdict: Not recommended

Purchased: Big Lots [Greenwood, SC]
Size: 80 tea bags
Price: $4.00 [discounted]

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