Tea: English Afternoon
Reviewer: Alex Zorach
✓ 1453 teas reviewed
✓ 501 of Black Tea
✓ 954 of Pure Tea (Camellia sinensis)
✓ 36 of Twinings
✓ 168 from ?????
Review of English Afternoon
November 22nd, 2013
| Aroma | Flavor | Value | Total |
| 6 of 10 | 2 of 5 | 3 of 5 | 53 of 100 |
| Good | Mediocre | Reasonable |
I received this as one of the three samples in Twinings free samples program. One thing I like about using a program like this is that I can be sure that the bag is fresh--which isn't always the case if I obtain the tea bag in a trade or sample it when out at some event or at another person's house. Twinings only gave me one teabag, so I didn't have the opportunity to experiment with brewing. I was careful to brew this properly--I warmed up the mug and used boiling water, steeping for exactly 3 minutes. In retrospect, perhaps 1 minutes would have been better because I liked the resulting cup's aroma more than its flavor.
The dry teabag has a mild and relatively flat, but pleasing aroma.
Upon pouring water over the bag though the aroma develops more, a typical black tea aroma with both malt, like Assam, a faint hint of smokiness, like Keemun, and a lightness that I associate with Darjeeling or high-grown Ceylon teas.
The flavor is disappointing relative to the aroma. I found it a bit harsh (read between the lines--Twinings says "this tea is best served with milk and sweetener" and that may mean that it is a bit harsh when drunk straight), although significantly smoother than Lipton. It also had a cardboard-like taste when drinking, and left a slightly unpleasant peppery sensation on the palate.
I set aside a small amount and tried it with milk, although not with any sweetener, and I agree with twinings that it was better with milk. I do not usually enjoy tea with milk though.
I thought this one was a bit more complex than Twinings Ceylon, but I think I would still prefer that tea to this one.
Somewhat enjoyable, and I think one of Twinings' better teas. I certainly preferred this to their English Breakfast. But I can't imagine drinking this when I had access to loose-leaf tea or even better tea bags.
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Comments:
 | Kelci wrote: on November 23rd, 2013 |
I tried to sign up for the sample program, they said that they had an overwhelming response and their pantry is bare. Here is the link: http://pantry.twiningsusa.com/ I was bummed.
