IBT is on the stronger/darker side, Darjeeling is on the lighter side.

IBT should be rich, dark, high in caffeine, with a strong flavor that doesnt get overpowered by milk, or ruined by a little oversteeping. It can still be burned if you use water that's too hot.

Darjeeling should be amber-colored, light tasting, moderate in caffeine, and should have some floral notes. The flavors can be drowned out by milk or oversteeping in my opinion. Best black and lightly steeped in sub-boiling water.

I'd have to assume that the Irish breakfast tea you had before just simply wasn't Irish breakfast tea.

Darjeeling is one of the lightest teas, not good for much other than "afternoon tea and cakes at Gleneagles hotel" kinda thing

Try giving a cup of that to Bunny McGarry and see how fast he shoves a hurley up yer arse

Sounds like you've been drinking some shit twinings level Darjeeling.

Alternative

I think the £3 bottle of prosecco I got from aldi and the £100 Champaign taste the same.

I think you got ripped off. Darjeeling has a different taste than Irish Breakfast, but I'm terrible at describing tastes.

Are you comparing bagged tea or looseleaf? I feel like bagged tea tends to taste pretty similar, especially if sourced from a grocery store vs a tea shop.

OPs reasons may be wrong, but the conclusion is nonetheless correct: Big tea did scam you.

IBT is best tea and I will die on this hill.

Or maybe any hill. Perhaps I just want to die on some kind of hill? (/s btw:-P)

One time a friend brought me some good quality, loose leaf Darjeeling tea. The box said to drink without milk or sugar, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I am now a convert to plain black tea. That stuff was good!

do you mind me asking about the amount of tea you have used as well as the time you let it sit for? most black tea like darjeeling and blends of breakfast teas taste very similar if brewed too strong (i.e. too much tea or too much time). i like to use about a tee spoon full of tea for a mug size and let it sit for about 3-4min max.

If you don't notice the difference, well, your loss. I take a nice Darjeeling or Assam over a British Zombie Tea any time.

English breakfast tastes like Darjeeling according to Vampire Weekend: https://youtu.be/v0Jyn8uideU

Look at this fella, drinking tea on their weekend vacation. 🙄

This may be one of the most 'first world problems' worthy problems I've ever read...

edit: /S for the downvoting folks that take a shower thoughts post seriously

I'd argue that most people can't see nor taste the difference between similar products unless they are literally beside each other.

I love Irish breakfast tea, but I don't think I've ever had Darjeeling. Will have to pick some up soon to compare.

Darjeeling is just a region where tea is made right?

It's like my Keurig tastes the same as my hand ground coffee from Columbia?

Tea bags -- depending upon your locality -- are also a large source of micro plastic consumption. I've switched to loose leaf but it's ridiculously expensive and very worse.