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I typically really enjoy senchas – and the flavouring seemed spot-on when I sniffed the bag – so I’m not sure what went wrong with this one.

The sencha base tasted really bland – more of a generic “green tea” than the more nuanced and complex flavours I’m used to – and although there was a great artificial grape smell when the tea was hot almost none of it came through to the actual flavour of the tea.

So I wasn’t all that impressed with the tea. I wanted it to live up to the expectations built up by the delicious scent…but it looks like it just couldn’t.

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This is a rather standard black, albeit one that tastes rather delightful. It comes across as smooth and woodsy nuanced…takes sweetener well and holds up to multiple steeps without issue.

It’s comfortable and tasty and I’d happily drink it again…but I’m not sure if I’ll go out of my way to buy it.

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Ever burned your marshmallow and then decide to make a s’more out of it anyway? Yeah…that’s what this particular cup tasted like – all smoke and singe without the sweetness of marshmallow or the pastry of graham cracker to back it up.

I brewed it up to take to class this morning and I must admit I’m rather disappointed in the whole mess. Perhaps others have had better luck with the blend, but it’s just not the tea for me.

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Man, this is another tea that I really wanted to enjoy…but it just hit me as being generically fruity and crisp. The black tea base is solid and the flavouring is well-executed, but I didn’t get “cranberry” as a flavour.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s another cup that didn’t manage to impress me.

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This tea smelled amazing and I couldn’t wait to try my first sip. Luckily, it was able to (mostly) live up to my expectations…there were subtly layered tropical fruity notes – mostly mango, possibly some pineapple or peach-esque flavours – that went rather nicely with the black base.

It took sweetener rather well and was a lot of fun to drink, but it still didn’t impress me to the point where I’d want to order it in the future….I think I’m getting picky.

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I’ve come to realize that Coconut is just in the Evil League of Teavil for me…there’s something almost vomit-esque about the flavour that keeps me from fully enjoying any tea that it’s in.

I had forgotten that when I brewed up this cup…it brewed up to a lovely rich brew, so I decided to give it a try. Verdict? I still hate coconut.

There was an overwhelmingly oily coconut flavour that completely smothered the earthy tones of the pu’erh and that just made the whole cup revolting. It went down the drain, but for the sake of those who can tolerate coconut I’ll refrain from rating this particular cup of bleargh.

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This one seems to be a nondescript green base with a fairly realistic layer of strawberry flavour over the top. It wasn’t a chore to drink, but also wasn’t particularly impressive…so I’m rather unlikely to order it in the future.

Meh.

Recently had another go at preparing this tea – it seems that the magic brew is 1 bag into 16oz for 1min (and not much over) at 200F. It’s still not a good tea, but at those specs it becomes something I’m willing to throw in a thermos and take to class with me.

I still haven’t found any friends to offload it on, so this’ll be my default way of drinking it for a while.

16oz water + 1 bag Afternoon Blend + 1 cube crystallized ginger, sliced + 1tsp raw sugar + 1/2 tsp honey at 200F for 1 min (leave ginger in a few minutes longer for more flavour)

I’m not going to say that this is amazing, by any means, but the addition of ginger gives an otherwise bland (and unenthusiastic) tea enough kick to make it drinkable. Yay, me.

The tea in question: [http://steepster.com/teas/keep-calm-and-carry-on-beverage-company-ltd/40331-afternoon-blend]

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First off, I’m really impressed at the difference that having a proper tea scoop makes in your tea…the brews I’ve made with it have been much better than the ones before.

With that said, I’m completely in love with this tea. Completely.

I mean, if I had to forsake all other EGs I think I could live quite happily with this blend as my one and only – the oolong is simple and clean (a little woodsy and vegetal, but in a good way) and the bergamot is wonderfully balanced. With a little sweetener to give it some attractiveness this one was great to pair with watching The Musketeers on BBC and avoiding my physics homework.

I can’t get over how much I love this tea! Each sip makes my mouth happy all over again and I’m looking forward to getting up ungodly early for my morning run just so I can brew up another batch…and I’ll definitely be buying quite a bit more of it once I run out.