Breakfast teas are a staple in the homes of many tea lovers. Traditionally, they are hearty and filled with caffeine. Therefore, these teas are an excellent choice when you’re looking for a cup to pair with a morning meal. There are a variety of breakfast teas on the market today. The 3 most common are English, Irish and Scottish Breakfast. There’s a good chance you once found yourself wondering what exactly makes one of these teas different from the other. While they may appear similar at a quick glance, their flavour profiles and strengths are not the same.
What is “breakfast tea?”
Breakfast tea is a black tea or a blend of black teas that is commonly enjoyed at the start of the day. This is because they are characterized as a full-bodied, robust and sometimes malty cup of tea.
They are not difficult to come across. Many tea companies will sell at least one. You also can often find breakfast style teas in cafes, restaurants and especially afternoon tea rooms.
Although you will come across decaffeinated versions, these black tea blends have high caffeine levels. Therefore, they provide that morning jolt and might appeal to coffee drinkers as well.
These made for the morning tea blends can stand up to milk and sugar, too.
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The Difference Between English, Irish and Scottish Breakfast Tea
These 3 breakfast teas are black tea blends. While they may be similar in that case, there is a difference!
The type of black tea and ratio is not the same. That greatly affects the overall taste and mouthfeel. These teas also vary in strength.
Please note though that these blends are not all the same depending on the tea company. There is no specific recipe for English, Irish or Scottish Breakfast. Thus, tea drinkers will need to sample a plethora of these teas to know which one their taste buds actually enjoy best.
In addition to each other, these breakfast teas also differ from Earl Grey and other earl grey variations. Learn more about that here.
Teas in Breakfast Blends
These tea blends will usually consist of black teas from the following places:
- China
- Sri Lanka
- Assam
- Kenya
- Indonesia
English Breakfast Tea
Possibly the most popular type of breakfast tea, English Breakfast has a variety of origin stories. The exact history is up for debate. But, many sources suggest that, despite the name, it may have been created in Scotland.
Robert Drysdale, a Scottish tea purveyor, was credited with creating this breakfast style tea in 1892. It was labeled as such to make it clear that it is recommended to consume with the first meal of the day.
Originally, this tea was just a blend of Chinese black teas which was perfect to pair with a full traditional English breakfast that included some heavy foods.
Today, English Breakfast consists of Ceylon tea and Assam tea. It is predominately Ceylon tea.
It can also include Kenyan black tea or Keemun which is a Chinese black that has a light smoky flavour (not to be confused with Lapsang Souchong black tea though).
Overall, this blend has a bright flavour and brisk astringency. English Breakfast is also the lightest of the varieties.
Irish Breakfast Tea
The concept of a “breakfast tea” caught on and more were created!
Irish Breakfast can consist of the same black teas as English Breakfast. However, the main difference is that it usually has more Assam tea leaves in the blend than other black teas. This gives the blend a reddish hue and a rich, malty flavour profile.
Since Ireland is popular for dairy products, it’s suggested that a strong blend was important because most may want to add milk to it, too.
Therefore, Irish breakfast is bolder than English Breakfast. So, if you’re looking for a stronger cup of tea in the morning this variation may be for you.
Scottish Breakfast Tea
When compared to the other two, Scottish Breakfast is the lesser known variety.
Scottish Breakfast can be blended with the same black teas like English and Irish breakfast. But, in addition to Assam and Ceylon, it can also consist of black teas from Indonesia or China.
It is thought that Scottish Breakfast was originally created to overcome Scotland’s soft water, so the blend makes it the strongest breakfast tea when compared to the other two. It can be malty like Irish Breakfast but also oaky.
Therefore, when you need a really robust cuppa, reach for this tea!
Other “Breakfast Tea” Variations
The above 3 teas are the main types of breakfast tea. However, you can also find other breakfast blends that may be just unique to a brand and area.
Here are just a few of the others I have come across in the past:
- French Breakfast
- China Breakfast
- Russian Breakfast
- Canadian Breakfast
- Ontario Breakfast
- Yorkshire Breakfast
- Melbourne Breakfast
- Sydney Breakfast
Don’t Forget: Breakfast Teas May Vary
There is no standard recipe or formula for these breakfast blends. That means the ingredients you find in an English, Irish and Scottish Breakfast tea from one company can be completely different from another.
Therefore, when shopping for the perfect morning brew for yourself, it’s best to sample a variety and pick your favourite taste.
Quick Recap
- English Breakfast: Strong blend, more Ceylon black tea in the blend
- Irish Breakfast: Stronger blend, more Assam black tea in the blend
- Scottish Breakfast: Strongest blend, similar to Irish Breakfast but more malty and oaky
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Do you have a favourite out of these three? Let me know your preference in the comments!
Loved this post! Very informative. Always exciting to learn about tea.
Hi Rachel, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
I always like deep dives into teas like this! I really appreciate the breakdown and chart. I also had no idea there was a Canadian Breakfast!
The first time I heard of a tea labelled as “Canadian Breakfast” was from Red Rose! But Murchie’s has one as well that is even blended with maple flavouring to make it more Canadian, lol.
Great post, good to clarify the differences! I love Cupan Tae’s Irish Breakfast, exactly as described above.
Thanks Steve! Irish Breakfast is my favourite out of the three, so I’m going to have to look up that one 🙂
Good review of the Breakfast teas. I have two more bits to add for you. First the events that made blending breakfast teas necessary was war between England and China. Until the war started, the British Empire’s morning tea was a blend of Keemun teas that came to be known as Empire Keemun. The war made this Chinese tea unavailable to the British, and the result included the introduction of tea cultivation in India, Ceylon and eventually Kenya. Thus the need to blend teas from these regions to recreate the taste of the Keemun tea. Second point, there are also Welsh Breakfast teas. The most readily available brands are Murrough’s and Glengettie. At devotea.com, we also offer both Empire Keemun and Welsh Morning among our many choices. Keep up the good work!
Hi Al, thanks so much for reading and providing more history information! I really appreciate it. There are definitely more breakfast teas I am missing/haven’t experienced yet.
I love all three breakfast blends! I love a good eye-opener in the morning. I brew up a pot every day. Thanks for the info. It was especially interesting seeing all the other breakfast blends.
That was a very informative blog. I enjoyed reading every word of it. Thanks for sharing the differences.
Great post! ❤️ Very informative and extremely well thought out! I find that you can never quite know enough about tea! There are always such interesting facts to be explored! I have never heard of a French Breakfast tea but it sounds so interesting! Something I did read when researching Irish Breakfast tea that I found to be extremely fascinating is that you are supposed to pour your tea into your milk, and not the other way around as it can affect the taste and lead to a tea film! But regardless, great information, thank you for sharing!
What a good article for all kinds of tea peeps! I have a few favorite ‘breakfast’ blends: The TeaSpot “Bolder Breakfast” has some pu’ehr and dark chocolate essence, and Fava Tea “French Breakfast” is phenomenal! Fava Tea Dublin Breakfast is very nice too – and adds vanilla which is always welcome in my tea cup. Now, we just need scones to pair with these teas 🙂
Thank you for the blog, LuAnn.
I recently found Equal Exchange teas and love drinking them because of their Fair Trade mission. My favorite tea has been English breakfast for many years, but when I tried Equal Exchange Irish Breakfast I found a new favorite! Thanks to Lu Ann for all the interesting information about these teas.
Very informative.
Could add some information to include what’s afternoon tea as well.
Thank you!