Afternoon Ritual

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Dried Fruit, Leather, Malt, Sweet, Almond, Grapes, Honey, Mineral, Orange Zest, Pine, Pleasantly Sour, Tannin, Toast, Tobacco, Wood, Apricot, Black Pepper, Caramel, Chocolate, Cream, Earth, Menthol, Metallic, Milk, Straw, Sweet Potatoes, Astringent
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec 4 g 10 oz / 296 ml

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8 Tasting Notes View all

  • “My afternoon ritual general involves a green tea of some sort. But this unassuming blend is perfect for any time of day. Light on flavor with gentle woody notes. Wet forest floor filled with twigs...” Read full tasting note
    84
  • “admittedly i don’t remember much about this one because it’s been a loooong day already. I know that i enjoyed it so i’m glad i have a bit more to try out from variaTEA to get in a proper review...” Read full tasting note
    70
  • “I don’t love this one. It’s got a briskness that for my tastes is drying. It’s fuller bodied and more sharp so based on my preferences, this is not for me. It’s not bad, just not my cup of tea.” Read full tasting note
    62
  • “Thanks again for the samples, Teakruthi!   A fantastic robust black tea here.  The leaves look unique to me — they remind me of the pelt of some feral wood creature for some reason.  Dark, wiry,...” Read full tasting note
    96

From teakruthi

Pure Ceylon Black tea (FF EXP)
Loose leaf · From Kandy region · Ethical Tea Partnership certified

This medium grown tea is from a low country plantation belonging to a beautiful estate that sits high and overlooks the fields and rain-forests below. The Vithanakanda Estate is highly acclaimed for its high quality, award-winning teas. There is pride in the tea from seed to cup, from farmer to drinker. Just a walk through the halls of this estate will give you a glimpse into the world of their success, where their various awards are proudly displayed on the walls. Our Afternoon Ritual blend produces a sweet honey fragrance and appears a warm russet hue in the cup. Aromatic and fine, this tea is the perfect afternoon blend.
Tasting notes

Aroma Hot honey, unsweetened chocolate, and faint apricot notes Liquor Copper Taste Sweet, woody, warm fruity

Health benefits of our Afternoon Ritual tea

Afternoon Ritual is the perfect alternative to coffee, providing a healthy dose of caffeine to get going. Afternoon Ritual is rich in antioxidants that help reduce cholesterol and the risk of heart disease, and contain Polyphenols have been shown to reduce the risk of Breast and Ovarian Cancer in women and Prostate Cancer in men. Learn more about the benefits of Afternoon Ritual and our other black teas on our blog.

Servings
1 tsp (2.0g) per 1 cup (6 oz, 180 ml)

Brewing
Near boil at 95-100 C (203-212 F)

Steepings
3 to 5 minutes, up to 3 times

Suggestions
Drink plain

About teakruthi View company

Company description not available.

8 Tasting Notes

84
1233 tasting notes

My afternoon ritual general involves a green tea of some sort. But this unassuming blend is perfect for any time of day. Light on flavor with gentle woody notes. Wet forest floor filled with twigs and a few leaves. The aroma is balanced and fair. Nothing too crazy. Soft hints of hardwoods and treebark. A tea like this is not suited for milk or sugar but for those purists like myself who like a cup that has refined flavor and nothing to sit and overthink about. Sometimes it’s nice to just sit and sip and not think about every little flavor and aroma in the cup.

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70
15006 tasting notes

admittedly i don’t remember much about this one because it’s been a loooong day already. I know that i enjoyed it so i’m glad i have a bit more to try out from variaTEA to get in a proper review haha

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62
6444 tasting notes

I don’t love this one. It’s got a briskness that for my tastes is drying. It’s fuller bodied and more sharp so based on my preferences, this is not for me. It’s not bad, just not my cup of tea.

tea-sipper

I’m drinking this RIGHT NOW. :D

tea-sipper

Should probably stop with the caffeine though…

VariaTEA

Haha 9:30 might have been a bit late for caffeine though, I ended up drinking caffeine as well around 10:30…but it was in milk so that doesn’t count, right?!

Martin Bednář

Guys… you will make me order from Teakruthi after few years again! Haha.
I wish I had some tasting notes for those teas :/

tea-sipper

I’m amazed you ordered from Teakruthi years ago, Martin. I thought Teakruthi was a new company!

Martin Bednář

I don’t even know where I found them tea-sipper. But yeah, I found them and… made few orders. I should do another one; probably.

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96
4169 tasting notes

Thanks again for the samples, Teakruthi!   A fantastic robust black tea here.  The leaves look unique to me — they remind me of the pelt of some feral wood creature for some reason.  Dark, wiry, short leaves with touches of gold.  It somehow just appears slightly different than a usual black tea! (Maybe I’ve been watching The Witcher and it is AMAZING.) The flavor is like the image.  Robust, tough, strong, wild, but also malty with touches of sweetness and a bit of starch.  Reminds me of leather somehow, in the best way and dark dried fruits.  It’s so mysterious yet the flavor notes really meld together well.  So drinkable and comforting. A black tea I’d give an award to.  Tough to describe the details, but simply perfection on that first steep today.  I did start drinking this in the morning and it makes a great morning OR afternoon tea.  The second steep wasn’t as special with either steep session.  The first session, I didn’t brew it at boiling like I normally would for the second steep of a black tea.  But the second session was more like how I’d brew a second steep and it was a little bit brisk, with the characteristics mostly like a drying coppery assam.  Both first steeps were FANTASTIC though.  With adjustments, I can probably make the second steeps just as good. This is exactly what I look for a strong black tea and I will certainly stock up.
With much embarrassment, I’m finally finished reviewing the teas from Teakruthi, since they were so kind sending samples a while ago. Most of the teas that I tried, I would definitely buy! ANNNNDDDD… I already went ahead and placed a smallish order since I already had rewards points to use anyway. I usually like to order from a shop if they send samples. It hooks me every time…. wish I had ordered a bit of this though. Next time! But Teakruthi is a new favorite tea shop, that’s for sure.
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 14 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 10 minutes after boiling //  3 min
Second steep session:
Steep #1  // 1 1/3 teaspoons for full mug // 23 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep*favorite steep
Steep #2  // 7 minutes after boiling //  4 min

Flavors: Dried Fruit, Leather, Malt, Sweet

AJRimmer

I started watching the Witcher, but I stopped 30 minutes in because I figured I didn’t want spoilers for the game if I ever get around to playing. But maybe that’s silly.

Eelong

LOVE the Witcher from what I’ve seen so far! Renewed my Netflix subscription specifically to watch the rest. It’s a great show for when you want to curl up under a blanket with a strong cup of black tea.

Roswell Strange

I really liked The Witcher as well; I watched it with my brother over the holidays. The timeline was a little tricky for me to follow without having any context from the video games, but it all clicked in the end. When you get to “Toss a Coin to your Witcher” you’ll have that stuck in your head for weeekkkks.

tea-sipper

AJRimmer – I don’t know, google says to not play the game to ruin the plot of the show. haha.

Eelong – I signed up for netflix just to watch The Witcher… and catch up on other things I suppose.

Roswell – that freakin song! The NAMES are what I can’t get a handle on.

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84
413 tasting notes

This is my last plain black tea from Teakruthi. (Thanks as always for the sample.) I loosely followed Eastkyteaguy’s parameters and steeped around 4.5 g in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of pine, prunes, malt, and something pleasantly sour. The first steep has notes of pine, prunes, roasted almond, malt, toast, honey, and (thanks to Eastkyteaguy’s review) orange zest. There’s a fuzzy, not unpleasant astringency. I also get a hint of green grapes as I’ve done in a lot of Ceylon black teas. The second steep has softer notes of roasted almonds, honey, toast, malt, wood, and tobacco, along with a coppery aftertaste. The third steep is much weaker, with notes of malt, tannin, wood, and minerals.

This is a pleasant, complex black tea that’s still a lot more mainstream than Teakruthi’s other black tea offerings. I think it would be a good starting point for exploring Ceylon black tea.

Flavors: Almond, Grapes, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Orange Zest, Pine, Pleasantly Sour, Tannin, Toast, Tobacco, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 355 ML

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85
1048 tasting notes

This was my most recent sipdown as I finished what I had of this tea earlier in the afternoon. You know it’s funny that the opportunity to try this tea and some other Ceylonese offerings came along when it did because I’d been getting steadily more curious about Ceylonese tea over the course of the year, and then Lasith at teakruthi came along and offered the opportunity to try some free samples in exchange for Steepster reviews. Naturally, I jumped at this opportunity. I was going to be setting aside some money to purchase some new Ceylonese teas in the fall months, but I figured if I could get some free Ceylonese tea instead, then I may as well do that and use the money I was going to be setting aside to make a few other tea purchases instead. More tea, especially more free tea, is never a bad thing, and quite frankly, I’d been getting a bit bored of Chinese black teas and needed something new and exciting to keep me going during the season’s long, grueling work days. This tea certainly fit the bill.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped approximately 3 grams of loose leaf material in 8 ounces of 194 F water for 3 minutes. I did not rinse the leaf material prior to steeping, but I did follow up the aforementioned 3 minute infusion with a 5 minute infusion and a 7 minute infusion.

Prior to the first infusion, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of honey, malt, pine, straw, orange zest, and chocolate. I noted new aromas of cream, steamed milk, and toast afterwards. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of pine, straw, toast, cream, honey, malt, orange zest, chocolate, caramel, prune, steamed milk, and roasted almond that were accompanied by faint hints of apricot and slightly stronger hints of beeswax, minerals, earth, and leather. Each swallow yielded menthol, black pepper, and tobacco notes that imparted a combination of prickly and cooling sensations on the tongue and back of the throat. I could also pick up the expected coppery tang that seems to be so common to Kandy black teas.

The second infusion saw the tea’s bouquet greatly soften. Roasted almond scents emerged alongside stronger aromas of cream, malt, and steamed milk. A slightly amplified earthiness came out in the mouth alongside stronger notes of malt, steamed milk, roasted almond, and cream. New notes of sweet potato emerged, and I also was still able to discern some lingering honey and caramel notes as well as slightly muted black pepper, menthol, and tobacco impressions after each swallow. Interestingly, I picked up far less of a coppery note in the liquor, though I could still make it out to a limited extent.

The third and final infusion saw the liquor lose virtually all of its bouquet. On the palate, the liquor was soft and subtly malty and creamy. The previously subtle minerality was greatly amplified at this point, and much of the liquor’s other notes had either completely disappeared or were so muted as to be just barely perceptible at most times.

This tea was a pleasant surprise for me. It was deeper and more complex than I was expecting, and it also displayed more longevity than I’m used to getting out of many Ceylonese black teas. I could easily tell that this was a Kandy black tea due to it frequently emphasizing body and texture over individual flavor components and the fact that it displayed that unmistakable coppery note. This being a flowery fannings grade tea, I was not expecting much, but this tea delivered on all fronts. Though I would have liked to see greater separation between some of the flavor components at several points, this was still an incredibly likable offering that would probably be especially enjoyable for drinkers who look for a good deal of body and texture in their brews but who also appreciate strong aromas and flavors. Essentially what I’m getting at here is this struck me as a very well-rounded Ceylonese black tea that had a bit of everything to offer. It would be well worth a try for those who are looking for a great value black tea suitable for afternoon consumption.

Flavors: Almond, Apricot, Black Pepper, Caramel, Chocolate, Cream, Dried Fruit, Earth, Honey, Leather, Malt, Menthol, Metallic, Milk, Mineral, Orange Zest, Pine, Straw, Sweet Potatoes, Toast, Tobacco

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec 3 g 8 OZ / 236 ML

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76
439 tasting notes

I was very happy to get some new tea to try, thanks for the samples, Lasith. This one has a definite metallic taste, not quite coppery but a sharpness to it. I think I could brew it stronger, I may try that with the next cup. I brewed western style with a tablespoon like the instructions said. There’s a bit of a harshness to this tea, maybe I’m used to mellower black teas from Yun nan. It did soften the metallic taste a bit when I put it in my go cup. I probably wouldn’t purchase this tea unless I wanted to blend it with another to smooth it out.

Flavors: Astringent, Metallic

Lasith at teakruthi

Thanks for taking the time for the review, Michelle. Sorry, it didn’t rock your world :(

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