188/365
This is the blend that used to be called 1706, and which I remember really enjoying as a teenager before I “found” tea properly. It’s nice to revisit, although it’s not quite as impressive as I remember it being. I feel like it used to have more presence, and more to differentiate it; it was somehow “softer” than English Breakfast, less tannic, with a lot of sweet maltiness. Now, I think I’d have trouble telling the two apart.
Today’s cup, I’d say, was a slightly more tannic version of English Breakfast. It’s a good, hearty “builder’s” style tea, for sure, absolutely great with milk, and robust in flavour. I could say the same about their English Breakfast, though, which I find noticeably stronger and maltier than their Everyday blend. The effect you get with English Breakfast and English Strong Breakfast largely depends on how long you leave it to steep – ESB is perhaps a little quicker to achieve strength, but you can get there with EB quite easily.
I feel like these two are basically the same tea, and I don’t think there’s a need for both of them in a range that already has a lot of black breakfast-style blends. 1706 used to be a heritage blend, rather than just an EB clone; I’m kinda sad seeing what it’s become.
