I like Irish Breakfast Tea. Think English Breakfast Tea, but for manly Celts instead of Brits. I’m kidding, but it is a stronger, maltier tea. I didn’t drink coffee until just a few years ago when I got drafted for a project that turned into many 20 hour days over a 2 year period, and the Irish Breakfast Tea was my equivalent for a pick me up. I don’t do milk, but I do like a dollop of honey in it.

Now that I’m working normal human hours again I need to break my coffee addiction. Switching back to tea sounds like a fine idea.

I think what got tea popular was a combination of the light caffeine kick and the smell. Few things to me have as inviting a smell as a good strong tea. Smell is an important component of taste. Ask anyone with chronic sinus issues. I also agree with everyone above who believes that it was out spat with England that turned the US off of tea. Sure, they also drank beer and whiskey, but by that point we were distilling our own spirits and brewing our own beers. Tea was still mainly an imported good.