Afternoon Blend

I made the mistake of letting this brew for five minutes once. Undrinkable.

But at just the right balance of strength and milk, I find this really comforting. It’s a good black tea with the right amount of floral taste and it still has a kick to it.

Very nice, light tea to drink at any time of day. I drink it with a splash of milk usually or very few leaves and no milk. Refreshing, zingy after-taste too.

Thank you my IG friend Sewwie for this sample!

I haven’t looked up the ingredients for this one, but it sort of just tasted like a simple “breakfast style” black tea with a bit of rose and maybe bergamot? The floral rose was the strongest note for me, and I enjoyed it it with this kind of classic feeling base tea. Smooth, simple, and consistent throughout the cup!

A tea bag from Izzy I drank in the afternoon. Thank you Izzy!

I made same steeping parameters as in the morning. So, boiling water, 300 ml, 3 and half minutes. Worked as a charm again.

When I took the tea bag out of its foil prison, strong (too strong IMO) aroma of lemons, bergamot and limes hit my nose. Moreover, it smelled like some cleaning agent, not really enjoyable.

But when steeped, and sipped, it is completely different world. It is like earl grey, but something more is there! Tea base is light, but noticable. I think the more is jasmine and/or rose petals in. On tongue it is mellow, as well when drinking it. It is really nice to drink something hot when there is 15°C outside, foggy and rainy – typical autumn weather, or typical English (never been there) weather. It seems that summer is all gone.

This tea, well it is far from best teas I had (loose leaf is loose leaf), but from bag – I have to rate it really high. Mostly for great drinkability, no funky notes and tastes, just do not avoid it because it is over perfumed. It was punch into face, which turned out as great tea. Another example how dry and wet aroma can be different!

Rating 83 – as for tea bag. Maybe loose leaf will cause drop my rating a bit. But for tea bag?

Enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. I’m usually guilty of overbrewing this tea and then quickly gulping down the bitter liquor to finish it as quickly as possible. But, as this is review time, I made sure to time it perfectly. 1 minute 30 seconds was just right.

The aroma is tantalising. Dry, it has a lemon and lime zest aroma – like when you’re zesting a lemon and that fine spray goes everywhere. Pour over water, and suddenly it’s smoky and earthy which was completely unexpected but I love smoky so I was breathing that in deeply. About 2 or 3 minutes after removing the tea bag, the aroma switched back to bergamot, citrus and floral notes. The smokiness just evaporated but I’m certain I didn’t imagine it.

The flavour is delicate and refreshing. It’s a pretentious tea in my opinion. Supposed to be eaten with tiny sandwiches and cakes. The texture is silky smooth and I love how it glides over my palate – sometimes citrus sticks to my throat and gets a little tingly, but that didn’t happen here.

The body is medium-light but the floral and citrus notes are undeniably pungent – it’s a weird light/heavy combo that upsets my stomach if I drink it without food. It’s also weird that this tea contains a mix of black, green and oolong teas. It works!

The 70 score is accurate though. I’m not falling in love with this tea or craving another cup. A once-a-month tea when I have to be in the mood for it.

Full review with some nice pictures: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/whittard-afternoon-tea-review/